OCT. — dec. 1856.] Toda Vocabulary. 



103 



VIII. A Vocabulary of the Dialect spoken by the Todas of the 

 Nilagiri mountains. By the Rev. F. Metz of the German 

 Evangelical Mission. 



[Previous notices have appeared in this Journal, descriptive of the man- 

 ners and customs of this peculiar race, the Todas, Vide an article entitled, 

 u The antiquities of the Neilgherry Hills, including an inquiry into the de- 

 " scent of the Thautawars or Todars. By Captain H. Congreve" Vol. XIV. 

 No. 32,1847. See also ' '- An Essay on the Kelationship of Languages and 

 " Nations. By the Eev. Bernhardt Schmidt Vol. V. No. 14, 1837. But no- 

 thing like an useful Vocahulary of the Toda language has yet been publish- 

 ed. Ed. M. Jour.] 



The pectoral pronunciation of the Todas in speaking their 

 language is the reason why so many Europeans, who heard 

 them speak, believed that it had no relationship at all with 

 any of the S. Indian languages. If these Europeans had lived 

 longer among the Todas and if they had understood the Bada- 

 ga dialect, they could not have given such an opinion. In my 

 opinion the Toda language is a rude dialect of old Canarese 

 and I can find nearly all its words in the Badaga lan- 

 guage, only I must keep in mind, that according to the rules 

 of Toda pronunciation a common Canarese word is so much 

 changed that it is difficult to recognize it again as such and 

 it requires a long time to get the ear accustomed to their 

 jungle language. I find it nearly impossible to get their lan- 

 guage reduced to writing with such perfection, that any one 

 who reads my Toda words can be understood by the Todas. 

 On this account I may say, that the Toda language can- 

 not be properly learned except by living amongst the Todas 

 and by hearing their conversations. 



As the whole life of a Toda is concentrated inhis Buffaloes 

 and as no great variety of words is required for the purposes 



