52 THE ORMURI OK BARGISTA LANGUAGE. [§ 116. 



In the formation of the genitive it does not employ the izafat, which we meet in 

 Persian and in most of the western dialects, but uses the preposition ta or tar, which 

 is to be compared with the P'sto preposition da, and with the Kurd, genitive formed 

 with de. It is, nevertheless, to 'be remembered that the use of the izafat in the 

 western dialects is considered by Professor Geiger (p. 419) to be a borrowed practice, 

 due to the influence of literary Persian. 



§ 116. Attention must be drawn to one point of inflexion in which Ormuri 

 agrees with Old Persian and Persian as against the Avesta and most of the dialects. 

 This is the plural of the first personal pronoun, wax, we, to be referred to the Old 

 Persian amdxam, Persian ma, as against Avesta ahmakgm. In this Ormuri agrees 

 with Old Baloci max, and SiyUi mas. The singular az, I, occurs also in Kurd, and 

 TaHs az, and is derived directly from Av. az9m. On the other hand, we have seen 

 that the nearest form to the plural of the second personal pronoun tyus, you, is the 

 Panjabi tusl (§ 64). Although occurring in an Indian language, this last word is 

 almost certainly of Pisaca origin. 



§ 117. So far as I have been able to compare them, Ormuri also agrees with the 

 Non Persian dialects, as against Persian, in vocabulary. Thus, the Persian word for 

 ' to speak ' is guftan, derived from the O. Prs. \/gauh-, gaubataiy, to speak ; but the 

 0. ywek, to speak, as in the case of the corresponding words in Non-Persian dialects, 

 nmst be referred to the Av. ^/vac- (§ 31, 3). Again, the Persian sir, milk, is derived 

 from Av. x^i^^^-, while the O slpi, milk, as in the other dialects, is derived from Av. 

 xsvipta- (28, 8a ; cf. GIP. 3, ii, 414-5)- 



§ 118. To sum up : — While Ormuri agrees in a few points with standard Persian, 

 it undoubtedly belongs to the group of Non-Persian forms of Eranian speech. Situ- 

 ated as its speakers are in the heart of a P '§to-speaking country, it would be extra- 

 ordinary if it had not, — as it has, — adopted a few peculiarities from that language. 

 In some respects it shows points of agreement with the Pamir dialects, and in two or 

 three important particulars with the Pisaca forms of speech. In other points, — such 

 as the use of the letter 4 sr the prefixing of y or / to words originally commencing 

 with V, and the formation of the plural of its nouns and participles, — it occupies a 

 somewhat independent position ; but on the whole it agrees generally, and closely, 

 with the western Eranian dialects, including Kurdish. 



This conclusion is confirmed by the form taken by one remarkable word. Ac- 

 cording to Herodotus, the Medic (i.e. North-West Eranian) word for ' dog ' was (TTidKa. 

 The corresponding Ormuri word is spuk, agreeing almost letter for letter with the old 

 Medic form. No other Eranian language has preserved this word in its entirety. 

 Persian has sag, and the dialects have varying forms such as saba, espa, sipa, spai, 

 se, and so forth. In none of them are both the p and the k preserved. In each case, 

 one or other has been lost. Ormuri alone has preserved all three consonants. 



