THE SINHALESE LANGUAGE. 



60 



well as the proximate i is more clearly allied to the Indo-European 

 than to the Sinhalese and the North-Indian. 



Tamil. Sinhalese 



i-idu (proximate) me * this' 



i-van me-ka 'this one' 



i-ngu me-tama "this place' 



i-ndu me-da 'this day' 



In the North-Indian dialects the radical i is used more syste- 

 matically than the 'remote' a. In the Sinhalese, however, the 

 personal pronoun ma is compounded with other words to convey the 

 proximity to 4 ego.' Here the word ka, compounded of e and me, 

 is derived from the Sanskrit ha=eka, ' one,' and comes from eka. 

 So likewise tcena comes from sfhtina, and da from da. 



There is, another demonstrative base which enters into an 

 adverbial expression. It is it in Tamil, and a and ara in Sinhalese, 

 Besides these, to which I have now referred, it would seem, the 

 Dra vidian languages have no pronouns, properly so called. * 



INTERROGATIVE^. 



I take the following comparative table of interrogatives from 

 Caldwell, p» 344, shewing their Sinhalese equivalents. 



Prox. i Remote, a Interrogative Sinhalese. 



Mas. Shi. ivan, hie avan, ille ev an, quis? ko (i)-(e) ka 



Fern. do. ival, hac aval, ilia eval, quae? ko (i)-(e) ki 



Neuter do. idu, hoc adu, illnd edu, quid? ko (i)-(e) ka 



Epieine pi. ivar, hi, ha avar, illt, ilia evar. qui, qua? ) ^ a 



Neuter do. ivei. haec avei, ilia evei. quae? 3 



Though the Tamil presents a great similarity to the Latin 

 in having as many demonstratives designed to express ' so many 



* All other words which correspond either in meaning or in use to the pro- 

 nouns of other languages will be found on examination to be nouns regularly 

 formed and declined. Caldwell's Comp. Grammar, p. 349. 



K 



