76 Forms of Salutation and Address 



And what we call an infant in arms, they more loosely call 

 ep«3@©cao (ata-lamaya), a child in the hand. So, what we call 

 the family, or inmates of the house, they appear to call <q*g$ 

 G\?5iZ d -ztj (anto-jana), the people inside. 



As respects an inferior servant, a cooly, a slave, or a person 

 of low caste, he is &o)o(^> (bola) ) dross and rubbish — one whose 

 demerit has sunk him low. 



For the weaker sex in general, and ®$<Sv (bheerce) or the 

 timid one, seems a favourite epithet, the Singhalese have many 

 names expressive of desirable female qualities. But these 

 are mostly of a sensible kind ; and when a word of affection 

 is used, it seems to have more of passion than an English 

 phrase in the like case. Their sorrows seem to partake of 

 the same character. For when they are bereaved of a beloved 

 object, or suffer any ill, they but say, §<^c30 (iniya) Hech 

 me ! it is my misfortune— -the consequence of some demerit 

 of mine in a former life ! unless it be the death of a person, 

 for then it will probably be imputed to his own sin ! * 



In the Kandyan Districts, or among the Singhalese strictly 

 so called f there are terms by which they designate their 

 children as to size. "What a big heavy boy ! This is ^(30^ 

 (loku) ; What a little tiny thing! This is {tikiriya). 

 Similar to this, and no less descriptive, is the appellation 

 given to the attending servant of a Budhist priest, epM^escsa 

 {aebiltaya\ a bit boy ! which indeed, in point of fact, he 

 commonly is. The term may be connected with the ebeter and 

 ebetikos of the Greek, youthful, a stripling. 



And here it may be observed,, that the distinguishing terms 

 characteristic of the priest and the layman are c^t^el^ {gra- 



* See the poetess Gajaman's elegy on the death of her father, ap. Sidath 

 Sangarawa, p. ccxvi. 



f The Kandyan or hill country is distinguished from the lower or maritime 

 districts by the name Singhalese ; and the town of Kandy is Maha nuwera, tho 

 Megalo-polis, or great city, the metropolis. These names are easily accounted for, 

 but they are accorded as given. 



