82 A. F. Rudolf Hoernle— Essays on the Gaurian Languages. [No. 1, 
oblique form. Namely (1), neuter nouns in which have an oblique form 
in ^T, are derived from a Prakrit base in ) ; and (2) neuter 
nouns in qf which have an oblique form in qr, are derived from a Prakrit 
base in ; and (3) neuter nouns in which have no oblique 
form at all, are derived or rather modified from Prakrit neuter nouns in 
vjqjf ( == v^est). Examples will explain this further. A neuter of the first 
class is cub; in Sanskrit the word is fqn: masculine, hut the neuter 
(in diminutive or endearing sense) would he fir#. The latter, in Prakrit, is fq# 
or fquqi or fqwqj. Again, the last of these fqwqj, changes in Gaurian to fqfrT 
and this to fqw\ The latter is the present Marathi direct form of the 
word. Now the genitive of the Prakrit fquqj is fqW'^qH' or fqirqn^r or 
fq^T^F^. The last of these becomes in Gaurian fqsp^T or (contracted by 
Gaurian law) fqwi, which is the present Marathi oblique form of the word. 
Again, q^T boil is a neuter of the second class. The Sanskrit is masc. 
or Terg^f neuter. In Prakrit the latter becomes q^qj, which must have 
had a (probably- vulgar) bye-form q'^qj; ami this form q^qj changes in 
Gaurian to q^rq (or perhaps q^jq), and this to qq5f, # and this to q<|f, 
which last is the present Marathi form of the word. Now the genitive of 
the Prakrit q^qj is q^^TOf or q^w or q^qjpq. The last of these forms 
becomes in Gaurian q^p^T or (contracted by Gaurian law) qqqT, which is 
the present Marathi oblique form of the word. Dadoba in his Marathi 
Grammar admits only this form ; but the Manual apparently admits also a 
form q^rqT. If this be correct, the oblique form in ^qT, doubtlessly, is 
merely a euphonic modification of the original oblique form in UT, in order 
to obviate the difficulty of pronouncing a double consonant.f Again 
is a neuter of the third class. I know no Sanskrit or Prakrit etymology 
for this or most of the neuters of this class, though, no doubt, some of them 
may have such an etymology. But they all have been evidently so much 
phonetically modified by the Gaurian, that their origin is almost unrecogniz¬ 
able. And having thus a purely Gaurian form, it is no wonder, that 
they are subject to Gaurian law, and admit no oblique form at all; that is, 
they belong to the proper Gaurian element. I ought to mention, however, 
that Dadoba (in his Grammar, §. 198., p. 72) does not admit these neuters 
at all ; neither is any of them found in Col. Vans Kennedy’s Marathi 
dictionary ; and, lastly, Marathi Pandits of Benares, of whom I have enquired, 
do not know them.J Even according to the Manual which enumerates them 
on p. 29., §. G7, 7., they are only a very few (about 18 altogether) ; and 
even of these some are optionally Frdhritic and admit the oblique 
fo rm in qr or q(T. They are the following 
c\ <\ Cv C\ C\ 
* In Ban gall or commonly change to qg, seo Forbes’ Gr pp. 160-4. 
f The separation of a compound consonant by means of an inserted euphonic 
q? or ^ is rather common in Gaurian. 
X I have seen, however, since that Molesworth gives them all in his dictionary. 
