84 THE EVOLUTION OF MALAY SPELLING. 



however, strongly in favour of the received method of spelling 

 these words. 



(4) Another remarkable difference between the spelling of 

 our ALSS. and modern Malay spelling is in the use of the ortho- 

 graphical sign taskdid, which means " strengthening," and indicates 

 that the letter over which it is placed is to be doubled or sounded 

 twice. This sign is now hardly ever used by Malays, except in 



Arabic proper names, Such as Allah <u)\ and Muhammad ^f- but in 



our MSS. it is used with great frequency. 



(a) It is used over the weak letters wan and ya whenever 

 the preceding consonant bears the corresponding vowel sound, 

 thereby showing that the said weak letter answers the double 

 purpose of vowel and consonant. Thus the word diet is con- 

 sidered as consisting of the two syllables di-ya, and is written 



not <Jj> but ^j and hvat is considered as consisting of the two 



syllables bu-wat and is written not JL>^\ but o"y This use 



of taskdid appears to be precisely the same as is found in the 



Arabic words iyalc i\\ niyat ±# and in the termination <, 



This appears to be sufficient to account for this method of spel- 

 ling, which is found in the following words in the old MSS., 



hnat 



di.a 



didm 



dim 



ia 



jiia 



luar 



//mat 



o *> 



•ST 



o < 



^> 



& 



' ■$> 



7) 



• ■*> 



°y. 



iS* 



e 



"^ 



yr 



o r 



This double use of the weak letter, first as vowel and then 

 as consonant, finds its counterpart in the Dutch language, where 

 one meets such words as huwen, vrouwen, etc., and it is therefore 

 not unnatural that the Dutch have adopted this peculiar spelling 

 of Malay, even in the roman character, thus : — diya, buwai, 

 diyam', dttwa, iya,juwa, linear, mmvat, etc., though one or two of 

 the Dutch scholars have protested against the use of the w and y 

 as being redundant. For instance Dr. Gerth v. Wijk writes in 

 his grammar, p. 21: " Although in the Javanese, for instance, 



