LITERARY REGISTER SUPPLEMENT: 
AND CEYLON 
"NOTES AND QUERIES." 
[Under this heading, in future, we mean to give a four or eight page " Supplement " with oux Tropical 
Agriculturist, from quarter to quarter, according as there is matter of sufficient value so to be preserved.] 
AUGUST, X901. 
THE SINHALESE LANGUAGE: ITS ORIGIN 
AND STRUCTURE.* 
A REVIEW. 
{ Communicated. ) , 
WHERE THE SINHALESE CAME FROM AND HOW 
THEY GOT THEIR LANGUAGE, 
Some years ago the late Dr. Rest, Librarian of 
the India Office, iu writing to a friend of the writer, 
remarked on the giowing interrst manifested by 
Euiopean scholars in the language and literature of 
Ceylon and lamented the want of facilities afforded 
to the Continental student in procuring books 
publi.^hed in this island. That this interest in the 
subject has grown with years and has borne good 
fruit appears from an elaborate treatise just 
publi heci in Germany by the Erlangen Professor 
of Sanskrit. 
Dr. Gfiger, who spent some time in Ceylon col- 
lecting materials lor his great work, has clearly 
indicated the exact place that Sinhalese occupies 
in the family of languages, its near kinship to 
Mahrathi ; and has ascertained its original home 
to liave been in the North- West Provinces. 
Before the Professor came into the field, the 
ethr ological questions regarding the origin of the 
Sinhalese had long since been settled and the 
verdict of the historical scholar that they are 
an Aryan people has been stiangely confirmed by 
the philological student. Though the history and 
origin of the Sinhalese people have long been ex- 
amined carefully by Orientalists at home and 
abroad, the subject; of their language had not 
received that critical attention which it de- 
served. But we may no longer complain ; light 
has burst from two opposite quarters, from the 
East and West, rt'hen it was least expected. 
Simultaneous with the publication of Prof. Geiger's 
work iii Germany, there is pablisheii in Ceylon an 
interesting brochnre. with the title of che heading 
ef th s ariicle, by that veteran Sinhalese scholar, 
Mr. W P lianesinghe. Both student.'* have had 
the Cdurage to grapple with a subject, wliish 
• The Sinhalese Lanauage : ItB Oiigin and Struc- 
ture, London. Luzac & Co. la 6d ; Colombo Rl. 
has for a long time baffled Orientalists, owing to its 
intricacy, and altiiongh vvi)rkit\g independently they 
have arrived at practically he same conclusions. It 
is foreign to my purpo^^e to notice at length the 
work of the German savant, and I shall tur» 
with interest to the no let's important contribu- 
tion by the Sinhalese scholar. 
Mr. Kanesinthe, in his preface, after re 
viewing the efforts hitherto made to show the 
affinity of the Sinhalese language to Sanskrit, Pali, 
and Hindi, says : — "But no effort has been made in 
either of these treatises to set forth the various 
changes which words have undergone in their passage 
from Sanskrit, Pali, and the Prakrits into Sinha- 
lese ; much less to account for such changes. I have 
attempted to show the changes, and to find reasons 
for most of the changes which these words have 
undergone. While engaged in this task I found that 
there was a certain uniformity in the way these 
changes had cak-n place, and that they are rega- 
lated by ceitain fixed piinciples. I have sought 
to deduce these underlying principles and have 
set them forth as rules, supporting my position in 
each case by several examples. I have also not 
thought it foreign to my purpose to print the 
Indo-Aryan equivalents side by side with their 
Sinhalese cognates, so that the reader may see at 
a glance how nearly related Sinhalese stands to 
the Sanskritic dialects of Modern India." 
Mr Kanesiughe has here given us an insight as 
to the method of his work, and the ditliculty of 
his task can only be realised by those who have 
attempted any similar work. The author can 
fairly claim the credit of having made the " first 
attempt to reduce the intricate suhjpct of Sinha- 
lese word- formation into scientific form" and the 
success he has achieved is as much due to hig 
energy as to his intimate knowledge of 
the Sinhalese language and the heterogeneous 
elements which go to the composition of it. 
The book contains four chapters, the first two 
of which include letter-press dealing with the 
origin of the Sinhalese language, whence it is 
derived, and the natureof the character.s in which 
it is written. The inreiesting problem, as t» 
what language Prince Wijaya and his war band 
spoke, is here discussed, ami for the first time a 
satisfactory solution is oflered. " The language ef 
