2 



INTEODTTCTIOlSr 



[Extra No. 



great however that Major Mockler's works are of small value to the 

 student o£ Northern BalocM, v^hich is of most importance politically speak- 

 ing. Partly to supply this want, and partly as a contribution to the study 

 of an interesting group of languages, I have compiled this vocabulary, for 

 whicti I have been collecting words for four yeai-s on the Southern Derajat 

 Frontier, and in the Sulaiman Hills, and for a short time in Sibi and Kachi. 



3. Balochi is as regards vocabulary a mixed language. The original 

 old Persian stock has formed the nucleus round which the alien elements 

 have gathered. The principal borrowings have been from Sindhi or the 

 South Panjabi dialect which is nearly akin to it. Correspondences are 

 pointed out in the vocabulary, Indian words being generally marked as 

 Sindhi, as that is the source from which they are immediately derived. 

 But by pointing out the corresj^ondence I do not mean to assert that in 

 every case Balochi has borrowed from Sindhi. Sometimes Sindhi may be 

 the borrowing language, and in many cases both languages are indebted to 

 modern Persian or Arabic. Though the numerical proportion of Sindhi 

 words as shown in the vocabulary may seem very large it is not so in actual 

 practice, as many of these words are of rare occurrence, and others only 

 locally used. Nearly all the words in commonest use, especially the verbs, 

 are jjure Balochi. 



4. I prefix an outline of the grammar of Balochi. Lassen has 

 already treated of the sounds, but the materials furnished him by Leech 

 were too imperfect, and too h\l\ of misprints to be a safe foundation to 

 build on in every case. Although, however, he was led astray in individual 

 cases, the true character of the language did not escape him, and the 

 remarks that follow are based on his. 



