I Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 165 



scheme appeared also the more promising, as being suitable to the 

 German mind, so fond of speculative theories. The Society went to 

 work right earnestly. Even for the names of the Greek and Roman 

 mythologies, German equivalents were substituted. But what was the 

 end ? The people of Germany would not accept the proposals of a learned 

 Society ; the invented compounds were laughed at, notwithstanding 

 their general excellence. The fact that the language could form the 

 compounds was no proof that they would become naturalized. The 

 whole scheme is now-a-days forgotten, but it ought to be a warning to 

 the whole world, and especially to Englishmen, who justly boast of 

 looking at the practical side of every question. 



With such examples before us, I cannot say why the case should 

 be different here in India, as, I speak with all due deference, the 

 pundits here will not be able to form more acceptable compounds 

 than German savants. 



I have to mention a few other facts. My learned friend, Babu 

 Rajendralala Mittra, was very enthusiastic in speaking of Sanscrit 

 compounds. But are the Hindus the only class, for which a new 

 terminology is intended ? 



We have a large proportion of Mahomedans in this country, will 

 they accept Sanscrit compounds ? The answer will be, No ; you must 

 take them from their classical language, Arabic. Now I maintain — 

 and I know that every Arabic scholar will be on my side — that the 

 formation of compounds is altogether against the genius of the Arabic 

 language ; so much so, that our largest Arabic dictionaries do not 

 contain a single compound, not even a coined compound. It is only 

 in the very modern Arabic, that a few compounds have been attempted, 

 but they are not yet generally received. Thus I may mention the 

 modern Arabic word for rose water, j>jijUJ| for djj>h^. The position 

 of the article before the word L* shows plainly that ^jL-Mis a compound. 

 Under these circumstances, we would have to take words which are 

 not compounds," i. e. we should have either to give new meanings to 

 existing Arabic words, or invent new roots. Both things are im- 

 possible, especially the latter, as all languages on earth which are not 

 absolutely savage, have long ago lost the power of creating new roots. 

 This explains the fact that numerous foreign terms have been intro- 

 duced into every living language. The Arabic is no exception to 



