53 



ON THE OKT©lN 



is this peculiarity to be observed— that the n is simply a plural 

 euphonic addition in a compound rendering. 



But the resemblance to which Dr» Stevenson refers is, that this n 

 is a general characteristic of the genitive singular. It is decidedly 

 not found as a singular suffix in the Sinhalese ; see Sidatsangara, 

 p. 178. Even if it were, the fact would furnish no evidence in 

 favor of the analogy which Dr. Stevenson seeks to establish. For, 

 as remarked by Caldwell " both in the Sanskrit and in other mem- 

 bers of the Indo-European family, we may observe distinct traces 

 of the adjectival or the genetival use of a particle, of which the 

 consonant n is the most essential element. 5 '* He also adds in the 

 same page, " The Lethunian goes farther than any other indo- 

 European tongue in resemblance to the Tamil in this point, for it 

 not only uses n as a sign of the pronominal possessive (of the first 

 person,) but it adopts this genetival man as the inflexional base of 

 all the rest of the oblique cases of the same pronoun." 



Moreover, the analogy which Dr. Stevenson supposes to exist 

 between the Sinhalese ge and the Telegu yokka, entirely illusory. 

 Between the g in the Sinhalese genitive, and the k in the Telegu, 

 there is, I feel persuaded, no relation whatever, since the Sinhalese 

 genitive sign represents the ge or * the habitation' in the sense of 

 the "possession" which this case implies. 



A peculiarity connected with the Sinhalese case-signs of the 

 genitive, exhibits its very near relation to the Sanskrit. It is this. 

 In the Sanskrit, the genitive is constantly interchangeable with 

 the dative and the accusative, etc. 4 This vague use of the genitive,' 

 says Professor Monier Williams f ' to express various relations, 

 prevails also in early Greek.' It likewise prevails in the Sin- 

 halese. Compare the case-sign given in the Si^atsangara, p. 37, 

 as those peculiar to the genitive, the dative, and the accusative. 



* Caldwell's Dravidian Grammar, p. 238. 

 f See his Sanskrit Grammar, p. 354. 



