216 Report on Writing Indian Words [No. 8, New Series, 



Wilson would write mdmul, and ndlband, leading to the 

 supposition that the mark denoted a long a ; whereas the a 

 in both words is short, though it is true that this a, which 

 precedes the is with the ^sounded as in English aa or 

 with a lengthened sound. So Wilson spells ^Jfe and 



the same, namely all ; whereas the former means lofty, and 

 the latter the name of Muhammad's son-in-law. 



1 5. Again the circumflex stands in the way of a long 

 vowel accent. Thus in the word ^xj^ a festival, the i is long, 

 but Wilson writes it " id or did" (instead of *id,) as if he 

 were puzzled how to manage it. So he renders J jlc by 

 dddil, thus as before departing from his own rule, that ^is 

 represented by a circumflex ; for in this case it is represent- 

 ed by d, or both circumflex and vowel. Other discrepancies 

 are also observed. Thus he writes itld ; here the ^is 

 again both circumflex and vowel. The same i that is used 

 for the long i in id is used for izzat <j^>j£. where it is short. 



(See para. 10.) Again is written rabid, where ^is again 

 represented by d ; and this in a word in which there is no 

 sound of terminal a at all. Still he writes jdmi for j-^Ip- 

 which if rabid is right, should be jamid. 



16. Shakespear's plan is objectionable on the same 

 ground as Wilson's, so far as the initial is concerned. (See 

 para. 11). The symbol must always have the appearance of 

 having been superscribed after the completion of the vowel, 

 and the initial position of the ^is apt to be overlooked. It 

 is also objectionable inasmuch as it is used over a vowel like 

 an accent, whereas it is a consonant, and should have its pro- 

 per place in the word. 



17. Besides this, the symbol * can hardly be called the 

 for it is only the medial form of it ; also it is ill adapted 



to long vowels, if they are accentuated in the usual fashion. 



