Page:A Comparative Grammar of the Modern Aryan Languages of India Vol 1.djvu/34

12 in exactly the same form as they wear in Sanskrit, such as दर्शन, राजा, कवि. The only change which these words have undergone is that in pronunciation; the final ah, am, of the Sanskrit masculine and neuter are rejected, and we hear darshan, nimantran, for darśanam, nimantraṇam.

Tadbhavas are those words which, though evidently derived from Sanskrit, have been considerably changed in the process, though not so much so as to obscure their origin. Such are H. आंख "eye," from Skr. अक्षि; कोइल a "cuckoo," Skr. कोकिल; गद्धा an "ass," Skr. गर्दभ.

Desajas are those words which cannot be derived from any Sanskrit word, and are therefore considered to have been borrowed from the aborigines of the country, or invented by the Aryans in post-Sanskritic times; such as पगडी a "turban," डाब an "unripe cocoa-nut," डोंगा a "canoe," and the like.

This classification supplies an additional method of arriving at a determination as to the proportion of these various elements in the seven languages. Tatsamas are all Sanskrit; even if the Sanskrit word were originally borrowed from non-Aryan sources, it has become, as far as the modern Aryans are concerned, pure and classical. Tadbhavas too are all Aryan, either Sanskritic or not; but there is so much to be said about these Tadbhavas later, that they may be passed over for the present as Aryan. We have then only Desajas left; and in considering them, it must be borne in mind that these seven languages have never been subjected to close scientific scrutiny: it is not yet known what are their laws and principles of derivation. A long string of writers, from Vararuchi downwards, have enunciated certain general rules which guide the transition of words from Sanskrit into Prakrit, but no step has been taken beyond this. Indian Pandits will not often waste their time on the vernaculars, and, if they do, are content to note such words as afford examples of any of the rules of Vararuchi or his successors, and to set down all words which cannot by the