G08 On tlie Peculiarities of the Gdtlid Dialect. [No. 6. 



second. Thus ahja (lotus) is converted to ajja ; karma (work) to ham- 

 ma. In compounds of a liquid and an aspirated letter, the former is 

 invariably elided without reference to its position, and accordingly 

 "padma" [lotus] is changed to padda, " sadma" [house] into sadda, 

 and haridrd [turmeric] into haliddd. The Italian, which is by far the 

 most vocalic of all European languages, has this tendency in a promi- 

 nent degree. In it, the Latin subjunctivus passes into saggiuntivo, 

 perfectio into perfetto, absorbeo into assorbire, &c. &c. In languages 

 which abound in consonantal finals, compound consonants are segregat- 

 ed by the interposition of a vowel between them, the final vowel being 

 occasionally elided ; thus in the Hindi, the Sanskrita word " marma" 

 [a joint] is, by the interposition of an a after the r and the elision of 

 the final a, converted into maram ; dharam, haram, and parab are in- 

 stances of the effect of the same rules. These rules, however, are not 

 universal in their application, and exceptions are very frequent. 



B. The provincialisms of the Gratha include (a) neglect of gender, 

 number and case, (/?) abbreviations and omissions of declensions, 

 (y) corruption of pronouns, and (8) new forms of conjugation. 



a — Of the neglect of gender, number and case, the following may 

 be taken as examples : 



fa^lf^PB^ for ft^ffawT^p. 292 (singular for plural). 



SIT^ for TT^Nnftj p. 292 (ditto). 



rTTwr for rrrefa p. 291 (plural for dual). 



^T^f?T«rT for ^TC«Tffi p. 177 (instrumental for ablative). 



^Tfa^Rf for qifa^prcTOp. 462 (objective for ablative). 



^k ^M\ for ^%i ^Ifr p. 324 (plural for dual). 



^f%^^rxrT^ for ^f^3PTT^5T .P- 324 (locative for instrumental). 



f^IT3f for fa%r^1 p. 316 (neuter for feminine). 



3rt"^f for ^TTT^TfiT p. 325 (singular feminine for plural neuter). 



•r^TT: for «r^Tfor p. 236 (masculine for neuter). 



*pTK for ^WT^Tx:: p. 237 (dative for nominative). 



WRf for *Tf <if: p. 237 (ditto). 

 P — Under the head of abbreviations and omissions of declension, 

 the most remarkable peculiarity appears to be the use of ^ in the 

 room of all Sectional affixes. This helps in a great measure to 

 give sweetness and variety to the style, but at the same time it con- 

 tributes to render the meaning dubious 3 and the study of the Gatha 



