24 
A. F. Rudolf Hoernle—J Essays on the Gaurian Languages. [No. 1, 
nouns in ^ have alternative forms in clearly showing thereby that the 
termination of those nouns is a modification of ; for the ending '^T has 
resulted from by the elision of first becoming in Prakrit, 
afterwards in Gaurian (by the Gaurian law inserting a connecting conso¬ 
nant between hiatus-vowels) E. g., beside *3^1 chalk there is 
beside handful also (Pr. Skr. 7}TS3TT). Of these alter¬ 
native forms the longer ones in are merely Prakrit which have been 
transferred as such into the Gaurian, while those in ^ are the same Prakrit 
words, only having become proper Gaurian by becoming subject to 
Gaurian laws; e. g., take the Skr. chalk; in Prakrit, it becomes 
next in passing into Gaurian, the Gaurian alternative law comes 
into play, of either inserting the connecting consonant or making sandhi 
of the hiatus-vowels. Hence in Gaurian, it becomes, either by inserting 
■5EJ , which is the Lrakritic form of the word, or, making sandhi, it 
becomes subject to the disintegrating action of the further Gaurian law 
(explained in Essay III.) of reducing a final long vowel (in the present case 
^t) to its inherent short vowel (i e., here ^), whereby it becomes a proper 
Gaurian word. Thus instead of we have now and now (by 
sandhi) the final becomes contracted to ^; just as Prakrit 
water is contracted in Gaurian to rrnift or TT«ft; Pr. theft (Skr. *$[>5') 
Gaurian ^PCt, etc. Thus we arrive at the present proper Gaurian form *§^§4. 
The truth of this theory (that the fern, termination ^ is a contraction of 
S^f) is born out by the fact, that in the old Hindi of Chand sometimes a 
final ^ is found as a mere compendium scripturae for as the metre shows ; 
e. g., in the verses 
V'Z II 
*rt*r ^ ^ i 
<T^T II Devagiri Prast. 
The metre requires eleven instants in the first and third line and the last 
syllable to be short; it is evident, therefore, that is merely as it were a 
stenographic or modernised writing for (as, indeed, it is still occasion¬ 
ally written), and likewise tpgftfor (or Chand must have 
chanted and forms almost Prakrit, or halfway between the old 
Prakrit and the modern Gaurian forms. 
Yi hile Sanskrit feminine nouns in ^^FTT end in Gaurian always in on 
the other hand, Sanskrit feminines in end in Gaurian sometimes in 
sometimes in gy If we keep in view the fact, that in Prakrit an amplified, 
but equivalent, or materially identical base is formed by the addition of the 
affix ^r, so that Skr. bases in are represented in Prakrit by the two equi¬ 
valent base-forms in ^ and ^cjf, and the Skr. fern, in by the equivalent 
