1872.] Hoemle — Essays on the Gaurian Languages. 149 
of the nouns which do not admit an oblique form. 3. The Sanskritic 
element containing the remaining part of the nouns which do not admit an 
oblique form. And from what has been explained above, it follows further 
that these three elements or classes represent three, in the main, successive 
stages in the development or periods in the history of the Gaurian lan- 
guages. The PrdJcritic element exhibits the Gaurian in its earliest stage 
(probably before 800 A. D.) Next comes the proper Gaurian element 
which shows the Gaurian in its middle stage (extending probably from 
about 800 to 1300 A. D.) Lastly comes the Sanskritic element showing 
the Gaurian in its modern form (beginning probably with about 1300 
A. D.) 
I may remark here en passant, that the nouns (now post-positions) %T 
(Naipali), (Hindi) ; (Panjabi), 5TT (Sindhi), «rr (Gujarati), since they 
exhibit the phonetic peculiarities of the Prakrit (for they stand for the 
Prakrit [fai^T or 3iT37 or rather for] or and the. Sanskrit 
[sRri: or) as explained in Essay II), and since they admit of an 
oblique form (i. e., ^TI, if, 'ft), belong to the Prakritic element of the 
Gaurian and hence to the earliest period of its history ; to that tune of its 
history, in fact, when it was yet merely a modification of Prakrit. The 
Gaurian was not established as a separate and distinct language until after 
these nouns had assumed fully the nature of mere inflexional post-positions. 
This fact it is important to bear in mind, when we come afterwards to the ex- 
planation of the nature of the oblique form of nouns ; and also because, as 
it will be observed, it tends to confirm the theory of the origin of the geni- 
tive post-positions, given in Essay II. 
Another point I may also dispose of here, before I pass on to the 
examination of the oblique form in the remaining Gaurian languages, 
(Marathi, Bangdli, Uriya). It has been stated that it is a principle of the 
Hindi-class Gaurian languages that they assume as their inflexional bases 
the nouns of their parent languages (Prakrit and Sanskrit) in the form of 
the nominative singular and preserve this form throughout in all cases. 
Here two phonetic laws come into play which have the curious effect of 
making the terminations of many Sanskritie and proper Gaurian nouns, 
which would otherwise have been widely different, identical ; so that looking 
simply at the termination, it would be impossible in some cases to judge, 
to which class of elements such nouns belong. These two phonetic laws 
are ; first, the well known law, that final short vowels in Gaurian are 
quiescent or not pronounced, so that a word, though ending in reality in a 
short vowel, virtually terminates in a consonant and is treated accordingly. 
In most Gaurian grammars such nouns and those ending really in conso- 
nants are considered alike as constituting the consonatal declension and are 
subject to identical rules of inflexion. Eor clearness of distinction jn these 
