148 



An Essay on the Relationship of 



[Jan. 



language too great a number of words with p, and probably many 

 misunderstandings would be occasioned. That nation has, therefore, 

 been driven to an uncommon expedient, \h. to change the letter p into 

 h, in all words which they have in common with the Tamulians. 

 Thus the Tamul word, pon (gold), is pronounced, hon in Cana- 

 rese ; and Ponnur or Ponnavur is pronounced in Canarese,, 

 Honnavur, (generally pronounced Honor e by the English) ; patti 

 [LJl—L^ a shepherd's hut, in Tamul, is hatti (hutti) in Canarese ; 

 hence the places Guzul-hutti, Dim-hutti, and many others. 



Y (the consonant) in Tamul words is in Canarese constantly 

 pronounced and written s ; hence ©L-/tfJ.T 0 r ^ LJ ^' (peyer or per) 

 is in Canarese changed into heseru. Also in some Tamul provincial 

 dialects this change takes place, and some words of this class have 

 come into the Tamul dictionaries ; e. g. yamam {u-irTLGLb) \ s a i s0 

 written samam. Attention paid to such peculiarities makes the acquire- 

 ment of a language more easy and amusing. 



18. — S and r exchange. — Iron is eisen in German ; — hare is haase ;—> 

 I was, thou wast, is in German, ich war, du warest ; — 



is dur in Sancrit, hence turasei, turitchei (evil desire) and turyosenei 

 (evil thought, evil advice) in Tamul ; auris is in ancient Latin, ausis, 

 hence, auscultare ; nasus=nares ? 



19. — The letter h becomes not only h and k (as mentioned before), 

 but also s ; frequently it is dropped, sometimes it is softened down into 

 the semivowel w and occasionally into y. " 



Mankind in their first stage of cultivation expressed their feelings 

 and thoughts with unshackled freedom* warmth and energy ; hence the 

 simple aspirate h abounded in their dialects ; — thus we find it still in a 

 great measure in the remnant of those languages which were most 

 anciently fixed by writing, as the Hebrew (with the Arabic), and the 

 Sanscrit. 



But when, by the increase of ideas, more words were required, and 

 perhaps also merely in consequence of the greater exercise of the organs 

 of speech, these aspirates were variously modified, in order to produce 

 more words differing from each other inform and sound; and also 

 when those tribes, by more frequent intercourse in different circum- 

 stances, found it necessary to give more substance, more body and bones, 

 to their language ; it may be supposed that the simple aspirate was in 

 many cases changed into % or h, k> ^ and More particularly those 

 tribes who removed to, and remained long in, wild mountainous coun- 

 tries, where the continual noise of the winds shaking the trees, made it 

 necessary to produce still harsher sounds, as j, sh, chj whilst those 



