30 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, ( CEYLON BRANCH.) 



17) Wada waedi. Both these words are derived from 

 Vvrdh ; wada is Gerund of wadanawa " to increase" v. mu. f 

 used adverbially in the sense of " more ;" waedi is = Skt. 

 vrddhi. 



18) Haembu according to the whole context seems to 

 mean " novice/' but I have not met with this word else- 

 where, nor do I know its derivation. 



19) Sat denakjhat a to seven persons" (saptan + jana.) 

 This is what is called in modern Singhalese Grammar the 

 indefinite declension, but it does not, properly speaking, 

 deserve this appellation. 



Ancient Singhalese, as will have been noticed in the 

 earliest inscriptions published, was very fond of the suffix 

 ka. In later times this was gradually supplanted by ya, 

 but before this process was accomplished, when still in a 

 transitional state, the want was felt of a suffix for dvigu 

 compounds, Accordingly ka was pressed into the service, 

 and the final a being dropped, the suffix appeared as ah 

 Sat + dena combined becomes satdenak seven persons, a 

 simple dvigu compound. So we find ran sat kalandak 

 " seven kalandas of gold" etc. In modern times this was 

 changed (but not always) to kalandahatak " seven kalandas, 

 but the old form remained the sole in use for compounds 

 with dena. In the same manner we find ak used in other 

 compounds, as me-dleyak " the drawer of this," or more 

 correctly "whosoever makes this drawing, engraving" etc. 

 There was however a word kenek* "any, anybody," plural 

 kenekun, used with animates to express indefinition, which 

 left to the noun combined with it its last portion eh Ek and 



* Mr. Childers (Notes II. 12) explained kenek through ekdenek, 

 which was perfectly justifiable from an exclusive Simhalese point of 

 view, but it is an interesting fact that we find the same word in the 

 Asiatic Gipsies in the form kdnek, kanek "a noun" (see Paspati, Lea 

 Tchingianes) from which the Simhalese form cannot be separated. 



