238 



JOUKNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). 



[Vol VIII. 



of the resemblance that word bears to gahanava [" to beat"], 

 lest a yaksayd who happened to be just within hearing 

 should (whether purposely or not I am not aware) make 

 an unfortunate mistake as to the word used, with con- 

 sequences unpleasant to the talkers!* 'Tree' is therefore 

 spoken of as peletiya, a word which ordinarily means " a 

 small plant of any kind." So for yanavd [" go "] , they say 

 issaraha balanavd [" look ahead"], and for katuvak enund ["a 

 thorn has pricked me"] the expression used is parandalak 

 issaraund, meaning literally, ' a dried leaf has come 

 forward.' For bar a [" heavy"] in this lingo its opposite, 

 sehellu [" light "] , is substituted. Karund karanavd [" to be 

 kind "] has several curious significations. Thus, umbald mehe 

 karundkale kavaddda means ' when did you come here?' 

 (lit., ' favour this place with your presence') ; and api heta 

 gamaia karundkaranda hitd innavd means 1 we are thinking 

 of returning home to-morrow.' Perhaps these expressions 

 are used by people who wish to be extraordinarily polite to 

 each other ; but it is carrying politeness to an excess to 

 say for 'a tick is biting me,' ibbek karundkaranavd ["a 

 tortoise is doing me a favour"]. 



There seem some grounds for believing that, with the 

 progress of education, this practice is gradually dying out 

 both among Sinhalese and Tamil cultivators. It is very 

 often only in the memories of the elders of the village, or 

 of the pitisara minissu [" country people "] that the words 

 still linger. The words used by the Sinhalese cultivators 

 are not to my knowledge to be found in book or manuscript 

 of any kind, but are handed down from generation to 

 generation. t Hence it is, perhaps, just as well that as 



* " A man -will not use the word ' take ' lest the yaksayd should con- 

 sider it as a permission, and steal the paddy." — Mr. levers, in C. A. S. 

 Journal, 188O, p. 50. 



f I may here remark that although several of the Tamil conven- 

 tional words and expressions are given in Winslow's and in Spalding's 

 Dictionaries, I have not been able to find any of the Sinhalese words 

 (except those ordinary words, which are used by the cultivators with 

 a different and conventional meaning) in either Clough's or JBridgnell's 

 Dictionaries. 



