266 journal, r.a.s. (ceylon). [Yol. II., Part II. 



Such a style, especially in the Bible, is calculated speedily to 

 impoverish the Sinhalese as a language, and is unfit for any com- 

 position above juvenile books or little tales for children. 



* # * * * 



Without omitting any of the words above given, the following 

 would be preferable : — 



®CCf ©£) <£38S(3 2 ' C3l®^ ©®@>ed §GSJi*S*cg5)908. 



€f«5® :— 3. §gg«*0 ex)c^dd23cs q>g-d3 ^eas ^SSfoqcatas) fcs 



***** 



Nor, as far as we can be guided by the English version, does 

 the above appear to us to be a correct translation, o^e) has no 

 equivalent in English, esgaxa is singular, and not " multitudes." 

 83§)33C33 £353 in the old version is preferable to the above, though 

 rendering the English literally it should be S3§2oca^ &sa. " When 

 he sat " conveys " after he was sat ": and the Evangelist evidently 

 wishes us to understand the period of time when the disciples 

 came — " when he was sat, the disciples came unto him." The 

 Kotte version, however, does not give one an idea as to when the 

 disciples came. According to the distinctly separate periods into 

 which the above passage is rendered in Sinhalese, it is perhaps not 

 unreasonable to suppose that the disciples came unto Our Lord 

 before he was sat. ^©9 is "near"; but "unto" required ®e) ao. 

 A person may come unto one, and yet not come near him. qpSocs 

 for the third person plural is ungrammatical : it should be qp@*e)Jc3. 

 Here we find a change of expression by the translators, who, in 

 the controversy regarding td and obawahanse, object to 9an*£f®e$, 

 upon the plausible ground of a violation of the prohibition solemnly 

 given in Revelations xxii. " Opened his mouth " is rendered c^fS 

 @^sa©3, which means "tuned" or " sounded." To such an ex- 

 pression we do not positively object ; but e3i©@><^ is incorrect : 

 it should be C3i&)<£ ssod. But wherefore change the English 

 expression, which is in the Oriental idiom, and foreign to the 



