46 A. F. Rudolf Hoernle— Essays on the Gaurian Languages. [No. 1, 
sideration (viz., the base in ^«T with a nominative in ^ and genitive in 
cannot well he the original of the oblique form of the nouns in E. g. 
TTT^rt gardener, might at first sight be supposed to be identical with the 
Sanskrit and Prakrit noun nominative singular of the base ; 
but then, the genitive of that noun is Sanskrit TrTl%*P, Prakrit ?nf%ffy, 
which foym (i. e. wf%vri) could not well have been the original of the 
oblique form ?TP3jT (Mar.) of the Gaurian noun ; for it would be 
necessary to assume the elision of the nasal 'mr and the change of the final sqy 
to ^T, both phonetic modifications, otherwise without precedent.* But 
besides ?nf%»r, the Sanskrit and Prakrit have another base with the identical 
meaning, viz. The genitive of this base would be Skr. 
Prak. or or TTlf%3jr^; Gaur. (contracted) ■JTT^qr (orig. 
■5RT^r^), which is the present oblique form of the Gaurian noun ?ry^ft. 
Hence it follows necessarily that the Gaurian direct form *TT^ft, must be also 
a modification of the nom. sing, of the base i. e. Skr. Prak. 
Similarly the Gaurian noun oilman must be derived from the 
nom. sing. (Skr. of the base ; for its oblique form 
leads us back to a Prak. genitive or or 
belonging to the nom. (not to of rff%«T ). 
It remains to examine the oblique form of those masculine nouns which 
by means of inserting the semivowel \ or \ have preserved the Prakrit 
termination %, and therefore terminate in T^fT, ^T. 
In High Hindi (not in Low Hindi, where they may be used without 
any appreciable modification of meaning) and in Marathi, these nouns are 
commonly used to express smallness (and hence affection or contemptf). 
* Prakrit final is in Gaurian always reduced to or (quiescent) ^; but Pra¬ 
krit (^fj) contracted to Gaurian or 
f In the manual these nouns are not noticed at all. Dadoba in his grammar notices 
those in (i. e. ^?jy) only, see page 274. But the others do also occur occasionally. 
Molesworth in his Mar. dictionary mentions, e. g., f^^y (i. e. f^j^^y) sharp, a small 
dagger (of scorpion), corresponding to Hindi fsf^y or py^y.. Another means 
of forming these affectionate or contemptive diminutives is the affix ‘ST ^t % (Mar.) 
or ^y ? pp (Hindi). So, e. g., in the Low Hindi verse — 
TUT ft II 
^ToTT ^t II 
^JITT II 
II 
Here we have the diminutives epyii^y crow (<?fyji) and ^fy^y pinnacle (^ft), 
of the one kind ; and *jy£tt mother (*y£), ^TJ soul (^ or off), iy^% palpitates 
(irr%), °f the other kind. Regarding the Mar. diminutives in ^y } see Dadoba, p. 272. 
Manual, pp. 113, and 34. 
