VIII PREFACE. 



Z does not occur, and when occurring in Arabic words is replaced by s, as the holy 

 well at Mecca , zamzam is called samsam. 



The great simplicity of the construction of words and sentences forms the chief dif- 

 ficulty in the language. The nouns are not declined — the verbs are not conjugated, but 

 are modified in meaning by prefixes and suffixes. The most usual prefixes are ha, mi, 

 pa, pang, pi, ba, be, sa, se, ta, te, and suffixes an, eün , ken. 



Thus hadé is good, hade'an , is to make good , to mend; pihadeanean , is somethino' 

 which must be made good or mended. seuri, to laugh , langhing; piseurian and piseu- 

 rianeun something to laugh about, a laughable subject, dua , two, midua, to divide , to 

 part in two. kolot , old, pangkolotan, the most old, the oldest. gebug , to strike, pan- 

 gebug, a bludgeon, a stick to strike with. b e Ie dog , the report of a gun or fire works. 

 Bebeledogan, squibs or crackers, lénjo, to look from a far, iétenjoan, a distant view. 

 Kayu , wood, kakayon, timber in general , varieties of trees. Verbs are formed from subs- 

 tantives and adjectives by prefixing nga , as Jiidi, a fish spear, ngahidt, to kill fish with 

 such a spear. hearap , a fishing net , ngahëurap to take fish with a net. gantang , a 

 rice measure, ngagantang , to receive rice by measure. When the word so used in com- 

 position is an adjective, it has generally suffixed an, as hadé, good, gahadéan, to make 

 good. lémbong cleared away , ngalémbongan , to clear up or put in order a bit of ground 

 or a garden. 



To form a plural the Sundas like the Malays duplicate the substantives and say imah- 

 imah , houses . jalan-jalan , roads , tuan-tuan, gentlemen, mandor-mandor , heads of villa- 

 ges, gunung-gunung , mountains. 



Verbs and adjectives are made plural by a peculiar process of lengthening the word 

 in its middle, for which purpose the letter r, and sometimes l, is generally associated with 

 a cognate vowel of the word with which it comes in contract , and which R or l and its 

 cognate vowel is generally duplicated, unless the consonant R or L already occurs in the 

 crude and singular from of the word. Thus kudcl kade a good horse ; kuda hararadé , 

 good horses. hadéan, to make good anything, hararadéan, to make good severel objects. 

 Kayu panjang , a long bit of wood, kayu pararanjang , long logs of wood. Batu panus , 

 a hot stone, batu pararanas , hot stones. Jélema paih , a dead man, jélema pararaih , 

 the people are all dead. Buwah buruk , a rotten fruit, buwa/t bururuk , the fruit is all 

 rotten, tong bochor , a leaking tub , tong bololochor , the tubs are all leaking. Boro, to 

 go to wards (if one person who goes) , bororo , to go to wards in a crowd , several persons 

 going tovvards. Tarik kayu iyo, drag this piece of wood, tararik kayu na, drag those 

 lo£s of wood. 



When the word begins with a vowel, that vowel with r after it , is prefixed to the 

 word which has to be made plural, as chai na éksél , the rivulet is very scanty, chai na 

 di gunung itu êrèksél amat , the rivulets from those hills have very little water in them. 

 gunung-gunung ururugan , the mountaius have shot down from urug, 



The initial consonants L and R in adjectives are also frequently duplicated to from a 

 plural. This duplicated consonant is then foliowed by the vowel a, and not by the vowel 



