167 
1872.] Hoernle — Essays on the Gaurian Languages. 
those of the PrdJcritio elements. Whenever, namely, the final of the noun is 
^ or a consonant (which has an ^ inherent), it takes VX ; in every other 
cases it takes ’C ; e. a., flvrnj man has sen. Tf*fnjX ; afviwvr wise has gen. 
1 J ^ ^ i vi ■”* ~ 
; hut xxtTT God has gen. ^«?<TTX ; xffm earth has gen. ; 
•TK) woman ha§ gen. XTXlx ; tfjq beast has gen. rnjX> etc. 
In conclusion it may he well to recapitulate briefly the main results 
of the foregoing enquiry : 
1. Th Gaurian languages consist of three parts ; a., the Pralcritic ; 
b., the Gaurian; c., the Sanslcritic. Of these, speaking generally, the 
Pralcritic is the oldest, then comes the Gaurian Proper, then the Sanslcritic. 
2. The PrdJcritio element consists of all those nouns which have 
come into the Gaurian from the Prakrit, and which have preserved traces 
of the old organic inflexion of the Prakrit declension ; vis., the Prakrit 
nominative and genitive. The former (i. e., the nom.) constitutes the 
inflexional base of the nominative or the 'direct form of the inflexional 
base in the Gaurian declension. The latter (i. e., the gen.) constitutes 
the inflexional base of the remaining cases (which among themselves are 
distinguished by post-positions) or the oblique form. The distinguishing 
feature of the nouns of this class (vis., of the Pralcritic element) is their 
possession of an oblique form, different from the direct form. 
Note. — Bangali and Uriya are exceptional in so far as the oblique 
form of their Prdlcritic nouns is not the organic genitive, but probably 
the crude base of the Prakrit declension, and the apparent identity of the 
. oblique form and the direct form of such nouns is the accidental result of 
phonetic modification of the direct form. I admit, however, another view 
is possible which would allow to the Bangali and Uriya no Pralcritic element 
at all but onlyj proper Gaurian. 
3. The proper Gaurian element consists of all those nouns which 
have been contributed also by the Prakrit, but which have not preserved 
any traces of the organic declension of the Prakrit. They have been trans- 
ferred from the Prakrit into the Gaurian in the form of the Prakrit nom. 
sing., and this form constitutes their unchangeable inflexional base for all 
eases of the Gaurian declension, (which distinguishes the various cases 
among themselves by the various post-positions). The distinguishing feature 
of the nouns of this class therefore is their non-possession of an oblique 
form different from the direct form. 
4. The Sanslcritic element consists of all those nouns which have 
come into the Gaurian language direct from the Sanskrit (not through 
the medium of Prakrit) and which like the proper Gaurian element admit 
of no oblique form ; their unchangeable inflexional base being the form of 
the nom. sing, of the noun in Sanskrit. 
