50 THE ORMURI OR BARGISTA LANGUAGE. [§ 105. 



agree in being more nearly related to the old language of the Avesta than to Old 

 Persian. Although the word ' dialect ' has been used in the foregoing remarks, it 

 must be understood that under the term are included all the other known Eranian 

 languages, such as Kurdish, P^sto, Baloci, and the Pamir dialects. We thus get the 

 following classification : — 



A. Classical Persian; most nearly related to Old Persian. 



B. Non-Persian Dialects; most nearly related to the language of the Avesta. 



a. Western : — 

 Ossete. 



The Western Dialects of Persia, 

 The Central Dialects of Persia. 

 Kurdish. 



b. Eastern :— 

 P'§to. 

 Baloci. 



The Pamir dialects. 



Our task is to discuss where in this arrangement we should put Ormuri. 



§ 105. Ormuri agrees with Non-Persian dialects in representing an Indo-Euro- 

 pean ^1 by s, and an Indo-European g,, g^h by z, and not, as in Persian, by h and d, 

 respectively. Thus, 0. das, but Prs. dah, ten (§ 37, ib) : 0. zli, but Prs. dil, heart 



(§ 38, i«). 



§ 106. Ormuri also agrees with Non-Persian dialects in the change of original 

 initial dv to b. Thus, while the O. Prs. duvitiya-, Sanskrit dvitiya-, is represented in 

 Prs. by dl {-gar), another, the corresponding Av. bitya- is represented by 0. bt (§ 74); 

 and Av. dvar-, a door, becomes O. bar (§ 14, 4). 



§ 107. Most of the Non-Persian dialects preserve an initial v unchanged. In 

 Prs. it becomes in some cases b, and in others g. In Baloci this latter change is also 

 common, and in Ormuri there is a regular similar change to y or j. Thus, the Phi. 

 vaca-k becomes baca in Prs., and veca, or some such word, in most Non-Persian 

 dialects. But in Bal. it is gu>as-/c, and in O. it is ywa^, a calf. Similarly, Av. visaiti, 

 Prs. but, Bal. gist, 0. jistu, twenty. An interesting point here is that, while the 

 general Persian rule is that v before a, e,i, iy, becomes b, and before u, i, r, becomes 

 g, in O. it becomes y before a, i, a, and /, before i (§§ 14, 2; 27, i). The two de- 

 velopments, though somewhat similar in result, run therefore on independent lines. 



§. 308. In the Non-Persian dialects, an original medial c generally retains its 

 palatal character, but becomes z in Persian. In this respect Ormuri agrees with 

 Persian as against the dialects. Thus, Av. >/pac-, to cook ; Prs. pazad, O. bizi, he 

 cooks; Av. raoc-ah-, Prs. ruz, 0. ryuz, a day (§ 38, 2); but, for the dialects, e.g. 

 W. pocam, I cook; G. ruj , a day. At the same time, S. and Sq. have z like O. and 

 Prs., as in S. pezam, Sq. pezam, I cook. Ormuri is therefere not a solitary exception 

 in regard to this general rule for the dialects. 



§ 109. In certain of the Non-Persian dialects there is a tendency for an original 



