94 A. F. Rudolf Iloernle —Essays on the Gaurian Languages. [No. 1, 
the oblique form of the latter originated, as I have shown formerly, from the 
genitive of Prakrit bases in ; and, as there is no reason to suppose that 
the oblique form in of the neuter nouns in y differs in nature from it, 
the former must also he derived from the genitive of Prakrit bases in 
E. g., curcls has the oblique form i- e. = 
which is the Gen. sing, of a base in 
Similarly the obi. form of yfi ^ gold, must be ijTR^T = = 
= (^fybfi^), i. e., the Gen. sing, of a base in 
There can be little doubt, then, I think that the Marathi oblique form 
in "SJT postulates a Prakrit base in and so also the Hindi oblique form 
in y, which is evidently identical in nature which the former. And I may 
here add, that this is true also of the Panjabi oblique form in y which is 
identical in nature and form with the Hindi obi. form in y. In consequence, 
it must be assumed that while the direct form in y , ^ , of neuter 
nouns is derived from the nominative Sing, of a Prakrit base in the 
oblique form in of the same nouns is derived from the genitive Sing, of a 
Prakrit base in into which the Prakrit base in degenerated in the 
course of transition into Gaurian, in consequence of the final of the word 
having become heavily weighted in the genitive. 
5. Moreover in Hindi, there is one instance which affords us positive 
evidence of the fact, that the obi. form termination y is equivalent to ^T, 
and not to ^5JT. The oblique form of the proximate demonstrative pronoun 
in the Braj Bhasha, is ; on the other hand in Ganwari it is y. E. g., 
in this is in the Braj Bhasha in the Ganwari yij ; of this resp. is 
and to this and ycfrT, etc. There can be no doubt that the 
Ganwari y is merely a contraction of the Braj Bhasha ^j. This is easily 
confirmed by a further comparison of the Ganwari and the Braj Bhasha. 
It has been already remarked that in Gaurian is often contracted to y> 
to ^fr, ^ to and ^ to Now the Braj Bhasha oblique form of the 
distant demonstrative pronoun is and this, in the Ganwari, is represented 
by %; e. g., Braj Bhasha has ^T$T, ; but the Ganwari 
%^T, Again while the Braj Bhasha has here , there ; the 
Ganwari has and . 
There is still a point remaining for settlement concerning these neuters ; 
viz. the Prakrit original of the final y of the direct form. The Marathi final 
y corresponds to the Hindi final yjf, or (High Hindi ^T); e. g., 
Marathi gold is equal to Low Hindi ijTwf or yqcf (H. H. %5TT])} 
Mar. done is = Hindi faraf (H. H. fc&^T) ; Mar. doing = Hindi 
or (H. H. 3frC*TT), etc. The terminations ^f, there can be 
A 
no doubt, are the modifications of the Prakrit terminal form It is, 
therefore, prim a facie probable, that the Marathi y is also a modification 
of the Prakrit termination into by inserting *j, which afterwards 
contracted into y. But this is merely Gaurian law ; and the existence of 
