54 



ETHNOLOGY OT THE iKDOPACiylC 1%L^JS1IB. 



Rejecting the poeisegsire postfixes^ the S. Dravlrian roots 

 n|»|>ear to be 1, on, 2^ ^r, im, em, r^, (euphonical !y 

 ren he) ; 3, we/.j 4, m/j 5, ai, (eiiphonicatly am» a?*, J'c); 6, a j 7, 



8 (2, 10) J 9 (1, 10). If -r/w, -J*f, -nduf -njti &c., -t'w, -fc, 

 -mt, -tu, -dUf 'Zha^ -ta^ -ia^ -at*, -di^ -jij -tl, -d&f ^dkc, ard all merely 

 ilexional variations of the possessive (jostfix^ as ie evidently the case 

 the root of 5 is ai^ and not a km, an or anj. If this view of the 

 basts of the Dravinan iiaineml& be correct, it follows that it was 

 originally tbrmedfrom a few definitives, further diatinctneBs having 

 ultimately been attained in each term by slight variations ov 

 llexions both in the roots and in ihe common po9t6%Lml {wsaes- 

 stveg, variations similjir to ivhat take place in all aggliilitiative an-l 

 llcxioiiiil languages. Thus in Tamil ttio postEx takes the forms 

 -rUf 3, 3, -dut 2, 9; -htf 4 ; -juj S-^-zku^ 7 ; 8i -toj 9; 

 —in Malay alani -na^ 1 ; -da^ 2, 9 1 3; -ra, 6 ; -la^ 4 j -Jaf 5 ; 

 -ska, 7 -J -fa, 8, 10 in Tuluva -jli, I, 5^6 ; -rf, 2j 4u, 4 \4, 1 ; 'nu, 

 5; 'tiif 10 in Karnat. -du 1,2,5 } -m, a, 6 \'h 4 ; -lu, 7 -tu^ 8, 



9, 10 ;--in TaJugu, -fi, l;^du, % 3, 5, 7 j -/w, 4 ; -r«, 6; -if*; 8, 

 10 in Todava, -c/a, I, 2 ; -J^, 3 ; 4 ; 7/, 5 ; -m, 6 ; -/a, ~U 6, 9, 



10. From the easy convertibility of most of ih^e form**, any origi- 

 nal regtilarity in their flexion — if such ever existed — was not likely 

 to be preserved. But^me of tho languages maintain a manifest 

 connection between 1 and 6, and between 8, 9 and 10, the former 

 being [>robably dependent on an archaic qtiinary scale^ while the 

 tulter intimates that wlien the scale became decimal, the bwer 

 numbers in the vicinity of 10 wei*e named with reference to it. 



From I he general character of the variations in the forms of the 

 postfixes and the faJntneas of any traces of real flexion^ it is pro- 

 i>able that none of them !iad ever any function but the simple 

 ptissessive- They are similar to the ordinary variattolis of (he 

 l^ossessive, the consonant being d, t, r, I, n, zb, nd, nt, nr, and 

 the vowel u generally, but sometimes a (iVIalayalam),ori (Tuluva), 

 [See lUc reutarkft an the final vowels affected by dii^erentdtiilects]. 



X rirviHffn. jnopff . iit? ' . 



1, «n-r«r I, m-fa 



2, ertk-dn ttar-ia 

 3- mu-dit tf. op-f« 

 4. mt'hi 4. pm-ia 

 ^ iyi dm S. laor'}* 



