124 



ETHSOLOOY OF TITE IlTDO-PACirTC iSLATniS. 



Inhifil, it, is hardly |iosRil)le to nppprtnin the niiTnl)^*r nnd forma of Ihe 

 prinmrv Himiiliiii- defjuitives. The history oftli* lri!)iiii iji tlrnir. It j^tilt 

 rf tiiinf» itii priitritivf imd earlier jsft'oiulnry npplicHtion^, huiiuii), mulf' nnd 

 feiiitile, unimiite &«\ its frjtn^ffi* to innninmtv ohjprts was mobsiMy 



iirinuirdiiil, lifonise in |inrnitive st-ii'iice iill thiniirs are liviiij.'- ajtj scxunl. 

 ^he jijTitfurnl wm probnidy nlso nnimate ntid .hi^xumI. ns in Chmene. In 

 Aiiiim it is* tf'm. and jjianimatp^ and in Bhutiari inaiiiinate. How far the 

 other d*fimtivf's arf merely phonetic variations ut rli*' pntiind, and how- 

 far rhey are primitively distinct, if i.i difficult, if not inipoHsihle, todHer- 

 niinf with fompleteiuturacy. In many caseii they lire cltnirly n-feraliJe 

 to it. Hut the prevali-nct! of tlip liquid la, rn, nu, lu, ru, im &o. 

 n,H an aiiimnte, a masciiline, and, to a less* extent, as a iV-m. rotit, in the 

 Chino-Hijoalaic vowibubricrt, luakerfit pot^Mihlf t]iat the iifjuitl def. is re- 

 femble to it in pomif caseH, nnd nnt to k throutrh t, d. in luuny nf the 

 names* for man and the lower animal:* it is a .sex detlidtlTf or quulitive ; 

 find 8H the labial in Jill it,-!! tormri was early transferred to inanimate ob- 

 jects, it is probable ihiit the hquid v,'as al.-^o. The sibilant aftiwara to 

 have been n very tmcient, as it is one of the mofit extensively drftn^d, hu- 

 Tiian nnd sexual— irenerally feminine— form? of the definitive, and iw it 

 ocuuint with it!* pniiiifivo suhjitantive mGnnin^iii the Chinu-Himaiaio vu- 

 efibularie-s it may have early been applied to inanimate objec ts. The 

 ea.sy interehanfie of t, th with"}*, h, and of 1, r with s, render!* the hi.s- 

 tory of the sibilant a^ a distinct preiix ver^- nnrertain. But aa the pa<*- 

 Baoo of the |_% k, d, t into the th, t, z tmd h prchx is free from doubt, 

 and the sibilant is not common a sniwtantive fexoal root, it may be 

 concluded that, in general, the sibilant jircfix of the Uimaiair ;^ln!iHrnies h 

 a secondflrj' form derived from the puttund throuL^h the dental or the 

 liquid, 'j'he ctmimou series of mutations arc k, kh ; d, t, tli ; z, 

 li, j, ch, y : t, d, n, I, r, k, s ;— ), or r, y. 



it is prol)al>le that in the eiirliest sta^re of the deflnitivea the labial wag 

 npjdied to anininto and the frultural with it^t variu ions to inammatc ob- 

 ject;*. In thntstaire the numeral and the qitalirive prohubly took the def. 

 of the 8nb>tantive a,'^ in Zinibian, But before oven the oldest prr tiAea 

 now extant in the y-lossarit^s concreted ivith the r^ otn, they had either 

 aeqnired an absolute U8c, or life sinU sex were attributed lo inonimale 

 objects, 



Af'tor the prepo:*ed definitive.'? berame prefixGS, they tended to merffa 

 ijn the root ; but d4'tiiiitives beiofr-^tilt current at* Be{)aratf parlieleHi, they 

 \\ei'e Ui-nl with wortls* which bad concreted prefixes, hi diHerent dii^lcctii 

 -the common pretixcs, or thpirfonuH and application?, varied. Thus whiJe 

 'ouc. n.-^ed the lahiul ihiofiy or wholly, another nsed the jiifuttural or one of 

 ijtK forms. The winie dialect varied in dilfen-nt eras in ihU rertf»Pft. A 

 furiher source of divt rsity Mnd irre>ruhmty in tiie pietixes of each dia- 

 li xt been the muniid action of the dialect^. Thus « lien one vrhjch 

 aift cted the kbial prdlx came tnider the infitifnce of another wliich used 

 the «;uttmfll, and adopted it. .^onie word.^ nn^iht httve the old and .'^omc the 

 new preiix ; hut the old would, in uenenil, either be di[*n^ed or ( oocrete 

 with the root. Thu;* Im-ti wtynld hecome *-ri, nnd then A^/-h-ri. in tbo 

 fsanie way the arehuic k, t, 1. r prefix mi<iht nierue in tl>e root, or ba 

 ri twined .ts a ]iretix, while the later current detinitiTo labial or <4'iitrnral 

 •in :ij* superadded //w-ru or tf-r» would hcoomo ka f/-rii, — /,'i-m, ti-Jii, n»- 

 •ui or i-ni, woald become ka s-ni, ma jf-iii &c. lii some cases the concreted [-ro- 



