84 



ON THE ORIGIN OF 



does. As already remarked it is a mistake to suppose that this 

 is at all a characteristic which distinguishes the Sinhalese from the 

 Sanskrit; for in the latter, as stated by Professor Monier Williams 

 (See his Grammar p. 348) 'the verb is commonly, though not 

 always, placed last in the sentence/ 



Such is the evidence which I promised to adduce; and so far 

 as historical testimony, lexical, grammatical and syntactical analo- 

 gies go, I believe I have supported my position with the 4 unequivo- 

 cal testimony 7 which others have claimed for a contrary theory. 

 Doubtless there are few Dravidian words and Grammatical forms 

 to be found in the Sinhalese; and these, which, like the oases in the 

 desert, are few and far between, I have not failed to point out. 

 But, which is the confessedly Sanskritic dialect that has not 

 departed more than the Sinhalese from its parent stem? In order 

 to establish an original identity between two dialects it is not essen- 

 tial that there should be a resemblance in all their words and 

 Grammatical forms. 'Philology (says Bopp) would ill perform its 

 office if it accorded an original identity only to those idioms in 

 which the mutual points of resemblance appear everywhere pal- 

 pable or striking; as, for instance, between the Sanscrit daddmi, the 

 Greek Lithuanian dumi, and Old Sclavonic damy. Most European 

 languages, in fact, do not need proof of their relationship to the 

 Sanscrit; for they themselves shew it by their forms, which, in 

 part, are but very little changed. But that which remained for 

 philology to do, and which (he adds) I have endeavoured to the 

 utmost of my ability to effect, was to trace, on one hand, the 

 resemblances into the most retired corners of the construction of 

 language, and, on the other hand, as far as possible, to refer the 

 greater or less discrepancies to laws through which they became 

 possible or necessary 



In the comparisons, however, which I have instituted, it was 

 even unnecessary to resort to the ' most retired corners ' here spo- 

 ken of. For, the resemblance which the Sinhalese bore, both 



