150 
1S83.] A. F. Rudolf Hoernle— Note on the preceding Essay. 
#T »rrf% ‘ from the first, have I had this 
fear,’ 6, 21. 
—^TRl^T ^3553? qfiTWTTF, ‘ the mouths of all began to water, 5, 2. 
S,—vifr #rc, ‘ the eyes of Hari became filled with 
tears’, 9, 52. 
#7 ‘he goes out from the courtyard,’ 3, 2. 
Note on the preceding Essay.—By A. F. Rudolf Hoernle, Ph. D. 
The great difficulty which one still too commonly meets in the com¬ 
parative study of the Gaudian languages, with regard to the derivation of 
their inflectional forms, is the want of continuity in the descent of the 
latter. We know them in their modern Gaudian stage, and in their ancient 
Prakrit stage ; but very often the intermediate links are unknown. These 
would have to be looked for in the popular literature of the period inter¬ 
mediate between Gaudian and Prakrit ; that is, about 700 to 1000 years 
ago. I say, the popular literature, because the Gaudians are not descended 
from the Literary Prakrits, but from the vernacular (Apabhramsa) forms of 
Prakrit. Of such popular literature, if it existed, very little has -survived 
or, at least, is known to have survived. One of the oldest specimens is the 
Hindi Epic of Chand, the Prithirdj Rasaio, which is about 700 years old. 
Moreover, this as well as nearly all of the older popular literature known 
to us is in verse, while, for the particular question of derivation, prose 
literature would be far more useful. 
Besides such fragments of survived popular literature, some help is 
afforded by those portions of the later Prakrit grammars which treat of the 
Apabhramsa Prakrit, and in which their authors have embodied many com¬ 
paratively modern forms, current in their own time, mixed up with much 
older forms known to them traditionally. This remark applies, for example, 
to the grammar of Hemachandra, who lived about 750 years ago. 
Whenever the intermediate links are wanting, it is both natural and 
right to bridge the gap by the help of conjecture, and it is nothing sur¬ 
prising, that conjecture sometimes takes differing lines and arrives at different 
results. There are, however, instances of forms, of which the series of links 
of descent is almost, if not entirely, complete; and it may be hoped, that 
gradually, as our knowledge extends, their number will increase. 
One such instance occurs among the forms referred to in the preceding 
Essay. This is the form ending in ^ # or ^ and occurring in such words 
as or ft# “behind” or “afterwards”, “ etc. These forms 
