[No. 2, 
160 Hoemle — Essays on the Gaurian Languages. 
final long vowels) becomes in Gaurian Marathi and finally ^TJI. 
Other such feminine nouns are ftift (for Sanskrit ftrfyjs, Prakrit fVnft) ; it® 
(perhaps Skr. (for Skr. ^f®i, Pr. Wt); (for Skr.tp^ft, Pr. 
%Pf) ; -u-Nf (for Skr. waift, Pr. q^ft) ; (perhaps for Skr. tj'llf) 1 ; iw (for 
Skr. Pr. irrl, cf. Pr. Prak. I, G). They form their gen. ^TtPl ^7, fhrft 
^T, it®) ^T, ^r, ^T, etc., etc. And following the analogy of these 
nouns the Smskritic nouns in S' form their oblique form also in y; ; thus gen. 
^T. ^T, Wt ^T. With the Sanslcritic nouns in ^ it is a similar 
case, there is a small number of nouns (masc. and fern.) in long '3; which 
belong to the Prd /critic element and form their oblique form in long 'S. 
Their oblique form is not identical with their direct form, however it may 
seem from the form ; on the contrary the termination 'at of the oblique form 
is analogous to the termination y; of the oblique form of nouns in y ; while 
the termination 'Si of the direct form is the Prakrit substitute for the 
Sanskrit final tg: . All such Marathi nouns in 'S; namely, are derived from 
bases in '3\ which in Sanskrit form their norm sing, in '3- which in Prakrit 
changes to 'at, and is retained anomalously in the Gaurian (instead of being 
reduced to r® and then made quiescent). Examples of such nouns are 71 y 
mount Meru, etc. The gen. of fly: (or regularly fly) is fl^yT, just as ^TJI 
(or ^nfii) forms gen. yjTflt yi. Now following the analogy of these nouns in 
'at (or as it ought to bo according to the strict Gaurian law y) the Sans/critic 
nouns in y make their oblique form in long 'S ; thus has gen. ; 
r^Trj has gen. yffjyr, etc. — Beside that class of feminine nouns in y which 
form their oblique form in y, there is another class of feminine nouns in W 
which form their oblique form in y ; e. g., 3ff)fl tongue, gen. sftflyT. The final 
y of this class is the Sanskrit and Prakrit final yi shortened to y according 
to the Gaurian law ; thus 5 t)*T stands for the Sanskrit fsjyr, Prakrit sflyr or 
gjjflT (cf. Pr. Prak. I. 17.) Now in consequence of the native grammatical 
fiction, that the vowel y is inherent in all consonants all foreign feminine 
nouns which really end in a consonant, are supposed to end in y ; and hence 
it comes to pass that they are treated according to the analogy of the 
Prdkritic feminine nouns in y. But as the latter admit a two-fold oblique 
form either in y or in y, the foreign feminine nouns also form their 
oblique form, some in y, others in V. There seems some rule to obtain 
whether they should form the oblique form in y or in y. But I find a 
great difference among Marathi grammarians as to that rule; e. g., according 
to the Manual all foreign fern, nouns in <T, y, »f make their oblique form 
in x. but all abstract nouns formed by the Arabic formative 7T, as rnytH, 
<ry)fl, <TKt*3, <TTyflfl, etc., form their oblique form in y. On the 
other hand in Dadob&’s Grammar some of the abstract nouns with initial 
<T are said to form their oblique form in y, as crytfl ; others as mylfli 
rn'Tly) even in yt, as if they were mascul. nouns (according to the ana- 
