59 
1891.] L. A. Waddell —Place and J River-names in SiJchim , Sfc. 
the peculiarity that such words are not pronounced directly as they are 
spelt, the following modifications generally following De Koros’ system 
have been introduced :—In transliteration all the words are fully spelt 
(and not as in Jaschke’s method which seems to me too contracted and 
symbolic), and the silent letters are put in italics. Diacritical marks 
are only used in the alternative spelling which gives the pronuncia¬ 
tion : the letter 6 has an aw sound like the aw in law and awful , it 
literally represents the spelling in the written form; the vowel sound 
e is as in French, and 6 and il are as in German ; a subscribed dot to a 
final consonant indicates that it is almost silent. The following Tibetan 
letters are transliterated thus :— 
X = ch. %j = ph. z; = ng. 
db <= chh. £ = tsh. = ny. 
= th. q = zh. = n. 
and the nasal n is represented as n. The Lepcha words are spelt 
phonetically—their vowel sounds are so very complex and the lan¬ 
guage so decidedly tonic in character, that it is frequently almost 
impossible to express the exact sound in writing even by compound 
diphthongs. 
Division of the names. —In detailing the etymologies of the local 
names it is convenient to arrange these in groups according to their 
Lepcha, Tibetan and Pahariya origin ; and also to divide the place- 
names into names of mountains, passes, gompas (monasteries) and 
village or ordinary place-names. 
THE RIVER-NAMES. 
Of Lepcha origin , the majority. —In so mountainous countries as 
Sikhim and British Bhotan the rivers are very numerous. Most of the 
river-names in Sikhim proper are known only by their Lepcha names to 
both Bhotiyas, Pahariyas and the English. The Lepchas have no special 
word for ‘ river,’ but employ instead the word for water, viz., ung in a 
variety of combinations. The Bhotiyas in adopting the Lepcha river- 
names substitute for the Lepcha suffix ung, the suffix chhu which has an 
identical meaning. While the Pahariyas substitute Jchola (which in 
Parbatiya literally signifies ‘ a valley ’) or nadi the ordinary Hindi 
name for rivers. Thus the Rang-nyet tmg of the Lepchas is the Rang- 
nyit chhu of the Bhotiyas, the Rang-git nadi of the Pahariyas and the 
Rungeet river of the English. 
Lepcha River-names . 
The majority of the Lepcha names for rivers contain the prefix Rang 
