138 Contributions towards Vernacular Lexicography. [No. 2, 



letter and the reduplication of the second. Thus for ^^g? in Sanscrit, 

 we have ^^i in Prakrit, as well in the older dialect Pali ; so for 

 ^fr-^'Sr ; StTW-^f^r. In short, this application of the laws of eupho- 

 ny is to be found in all strong vocalic languages, and in those in 

 which pronunciation is slurred, indistinct, and hasty. And though 

 we know every educated Bengali calls the mirror in common con- 

 versation ^rT3"PT, from ^TW*f, the vulgar pronounce it as ^srnrf*T. 

 Some again go so far as to transpose the r and call it 3"f <Tf*T. Simi- 

 larly ^IT<R1 becomes ^TT?^1. *f^ is common both to the high and the 

 low, though it is derived from Prakrita *n§, Sanscrit c*f1. Here it may 

 be noticed that in Prakrit and Bengali, the diphthong vowels ^ and 

 ^ are simplified into distinct sounds of ^^ and "^^ constituents 

 of the compound sound, and sometimes one of these simple sounds 

 is even elided, as ^Tf*? in Sanscrit is ^t" in Prakrit, and %i$ in 

 Bengali. This elimination of the 3", as in ^t^f^T, is used by the 

 very lowest classes. The 7[ is left out in such words as 2JJft*T and 

 3Tf3£, and they are in Bengali f*T^*f, f*t^"sr, *f*ft*l, and TT'Jr or 3l*T, 

 as also ^Tt^ ^T^T or n5JT3\ The double Tf in f*f5fr*f is evidently 

 owing to the rule of pronunciation in Sanscrit, which lays 

 down that the consonant preceding a compound is always to 

 be doubled ; so also consonants following a visarga. As regards 

 3l*f from 3JT3J", in Bengali sf and "5T are generally interchan- 

 geable, as c^rrsrijl from ^3"3"«^. The same may be said of $ 

 and Tf, T> and \Jj. Compounds of a liquid and an aspirate are gene- 

 rally modified in Pali, Prakrit, and Bengali by elision of the former. 

 The Sanscrit ^tr becomes ^^ in all three, as also ^PiST, *\*a, and 

 ^f^gl, ^f^}^1. Here in the derivation of the dialectic form *f*»t we 

 find a clue to the custom peculiar in Bengal of pronouncing conso- 

 nant compounds of n in a manner so as to give a nasal sound to 

 it. The only exceptions to this are ^P*ft?r, "*Tt«TsrcTt, 3"TcTsft3>. In 

 Sanscrit and modern Hindustani, the "sr after ff is distinctly pro- 

 nounced. 



To the Prakrit many of the Bengal forms may be traced which 

 cannot be so easily referred to the Sanscrit. 



Thus the Bengali numerals : — 



