1852.] Foreign words occurring in the Qordn. 109 



as inanimate things are comparatively seldom introduced as agents, 

 the necessity for calling in the aid of a particle to signify that they 

 were not agents, but objects, would be felt chiefly in nouns denoting 

 persons.* 



V. The etymological relations of the dative particle. 



It may not be without its weight to observe that the other Bengali 

 form for the dative and accusative (vfic?r) closely resembles the common 

 genitive {&$). Now the dative is very nearly connected (on two dif- 

 ferent aspects) with both the genitive and the accusative. Grant the 

 dative, then, as the intermediate starting point, and one can understand 

 how the forms for the genitive and the accusative may approximate : 

 but not otherwise. 



Precisely the same will apply to the other terminations C<$ and y, 

 when compared with the Hindustani genitive (£. We can understand 

 the similarity of is-ko to is-ka, if ko be the original property of the da- 

 tive, but not if it be a true accusative termination. 



And now let us conclude with a conjecture ; is not this termination 

 the same with that which universally marks the dative in the Tatar 

 languages ? " The characteristic ending of the dative in the Tatar 

 dialects generally is (£ or && ka or ke : — changed after a vowel or 

 hard consonant into l* or ai gha or ghe" (Kazim Beg, u. s.) If so, 

 may we not further infer that the basis of the Hindi-speaking races 

 is not Indo-Germanic, but Mongolian ?" 



Foreign words occurring in the Qordn, by A. Sprenger, M. D. 



Jt is an unexpected and interesting fact that there occurs a 

 foreign word in the first Surah of the Qoran. The word sirat io\j»c 

 we are told by Soyiity is Riimee, i. e. Latin ! and we have no 

 difficulty in ascertaining from what term it is derived, we recognise at 

 once in it the word strata (via) which has been preserved in the same 



* To the same cause we may refer the use of ^ to designate the agent case. 

 On the other hand the logical character of the arrangement of our nominative verb 

 and object in English, is what enables us so readily to dispense with noun-inflec- 

 tions. 



