248 R. B. Shaw— A Grammar of the Language [No. 3, 
an auxiliary verb. Thus kilrum is by them supposed to be formed from 
the participle Icilur and the word im “ I am” (which is in reality no verb, 
but a pronoun). M. de Remusat, in his most learned and interesting re¬ 
searches on the Tartar Languages, sees an anomaly in the fact that, while 
both in Osmanli and in Ouigour (defined as “ encore actuellement la lan- 
gue des habitants des villes depuis Khasigar jusqu’a Kamoul”) there 
exist the tenses, kilur-um and kil-dum formed respectively with two 
tenses of the substantive verb, viz., im (uni), “ I am”, and idum (-dum), “ I 
was” ; yet this verb only exists in Osmanli, and not in Ouigour. In other 
words, that tenses in a primitive Turkish language, (Ouigour) are formed 
by means of another verb which only exists in a later dialect (the 
Osmanli). 
“ Pourquoi n’y retrouve-t-on pas plutot le radical Ouigour erdi, ou 
dour, ou dourour ? Quelle cause peut avoir introduit un element etranger 
dans la conjugasion des verbes, la partie la plus intime de la grammaire P 
Ce fait peu connu, si j’avais reussi a en bien exposer toutes les circonstances, 
offrirait, ce me semble, un probleme philologique assez curieux a resoudre.” 
The answer is interesting and illustrates the jDrogress of language. 
The seeming problem results from the degree to which forms, clear enough 
in Eastern Tiirki, have become corrupted and obscured in Western Turkish. 
Taking the Past Tense, idum, &c., first, this certainly exists in Ouigour, 
where it is . written erdim (p^^l). The modern Kashghari sujyplies the 
missing link by writing this word as above erdim or irdim and pronoun¬ 
cing it idim. Thus the Ouigour “ radical” or auxiliary erdi which M. de 
Remusat desired, is really present in the tense ‘ kilduni, ‘ kildV , under its 
later form 4 iduni, 1 idi\ whose absence from Ouigour he laments. 
Next taking the Present Tense kilar-um, formed with a supposed 
Pres. Tense of the Verb Substantive, viz. im “ I am”, &c.—the following 
comparison with the corresponding Ivashghar (so called Ouigour) or more 
primitive tense will solve the problem, or rather will show that there is 
none:— 
Osmanli. 
Primitive. 
Participle. Supposed Verb 
Kashghae (Ouigour.) 
Substantive. 
Participle. Affixed. Pronouns 
S. 1st. 
kelur 
um 
kelur 
... man ( = 1) 
„ 2nd. 
kelur 
sen 
kelur 
san (=thou) 
„ 3rd. 
kelur 
— 
kelur 
... — 
PI. 1st. 
kelur 
iz 
kelur 
mix ( = we) 
„ 2nd. 
kelur 
siz 
kelur 
siz (=je) 
„ 3rd. 
kelur 
lar 
kelur 
... lar (=they) 
