251 



Lexicographical coincidences in Khasi and 



Malay. 



By E. 0. Wixstedt. 



Sir George Grierson reviewing Pater Schmidt's ' Die Mori- 

 Khmer- Yolker Zentralasiens unci Austronesiens' in Vol. I, 1907 r 

 of the •/. B. A. S., pp. 187-191, observes how Schmidt has shown 

 that there exists in Further India an' important group of languages, 

 embracing Mon. Khmer, Palaung, Wa and a number of minor 

 forms of speech, including Semang and Sakai, which was neither 

 Thibeto-Burman nor Sinitic, while on the other hand it was closely 

 related with the Khasi spoken in Central Assam. We have 

 " presented to our view, a group of cognate languages reaching 

 from the Punjab, through Central India, Assam, the Xicobars and 

 Further India to the Malay Peninsula." This group, which 

 Schmidt termed the Austroasiatic family falls into several sub- 

 groups : — 



I. (a) Semang. 



(b) Senoi, Sakai and Tembe. 



II. (a) Khasi. 



( b ) Xicobar. 



(c) Wa. Palaung, Reang. 



III. (a) Mon-Khmer. 



(6.) Munda. 



(c) Cham, etc. 

 Schmidt surmises " that the first two are in a stage of develop- 

 ment earlier than that of the last, a fact which is important for 

 determining the relative times of the migration of each group to 

 its present seat.*' In 1899 Schmidt connected this Austroasiatic 

 group with the Austronesian group in a paper which may be read 

 conveniently in the Bulletin de YEcole Frangaise d' Extreme-Orient, 

 tome VII, 3 and 4, under the title ' Les Peuples Mon-Khmer, trait 

 d' union entre les peuples de 1' Asie centrale et de 1' Austronesie/ 

 Since that paper appeared, the connection has been accepted. 

 There is affinity between Khasi and Malay: and my present paper 

 is an attempt by one acquainted with Malay to give further evidence. 

 For Khasi I have used the Ehasi-Englisli Dictionary bv II. Kissor 

 Singh, (Shillong, 1906). 



This paper is not strictly scientific. Xow that the B. A. S. 

 has printed Mr. Blagden's translation of Brandstetter's philological 



Jour. Straits Branch B- A. Soc, No. 77. 1917. 



