Page:Tamil studies.djvu/182

Rh thinks, Sanskrit has borrowed from Tamil. They are, அக்கா, அத்தை, அடவி, அம்மா, ஆணி, கடுகு, கலா, குடி, கோட்டை , நீர், பட்டணம், பாகம், பலம், மீன், வள்ளி &c. Some are common to both languages and a more rational view is to believe them to have come from a common source. They are,—அடி, ஊர், கட, கிழி, குறி, (short), கெடு, தீ, நெய், பல, பாடு, பொறு, பேசு, பூ, வல், &c. The following canons will be of some help to detect such words.

(1) When a word is an isolated one in Sanskrit without a root and without derivatives, but is surrounded in Tamil with collateral derivative words, that word is of Tamil origin.

(2) When a word is not to be found in any of the Indo-European languages allied to Sanskrit, but is found only in Tamil, that word does not belong to Sanskrit.

Words of this kind are very few and form too slender a basis to prove the linguistic affinity or othrwiseotherwise [sic] between Sanskrit and Tamil.

Let us now pass on to grammar.

ORTHOGRAPHY : Sanskrit has 46 letters or Varnas—13 vowels or Svaras and 33 consonants or Vyanjanas, or 47 including ள which occurs in the Vedas. Besides these there are anuswara and anunasika, represented by a dot, and a crescent and a dot respectively. Thus there are in all 49 letters. Whereas we have in Tamil only 12 vowels, 18 consonants and a semi-vowel. Of these, two vowels and four consonants (including ஃ) are peculiar to Tamil and are not to be found in the