Page:Tamil studies.djvu/194

Rh குதியும் வடமொழிக்கில்லை. தமிழ்மொழிக்குப் பிரதமாவிபத்தியும் இலிங்கத் திரயமுமில்லை.

With such authoritative admissions before us, the complete independence of Tamil from Sanskrit must be accepted, in spite of the futile attempts of later Tamil grammarians to trace one from the other. All that we can say at present is that Tamil occupies the sane postition in the Dravidian family that Sanskrit does in the Aryan — that is, Tamil is the oldest and the most cultivated of the Dravidian or South Indian family or languages.

But it cannot altogether be denied that Tamil or at any rate its Dravidian parent and the Aryan languages, though they do not possess the least morphological features in common, did not influence one another before their separation. Dr Caldwell gives the following Indo-Europeanisms as discoverable in the Dravidian languages :

(1) The use of n, ன், as in Sanskrit and Greek to prevent hiatus. Ex: Skt. a + adi = anadi; Tam. ni + a= ninà.

(2) The existence of gender in the pronouns of the third person and in verbs, and in particular the existence of neuter gender. Ex: அவன், அவள் and அது.

(3) The existence of a neuter plural, as in Latin, in short அ. Ex: T. வந்தன, Lat. templa (temples).

(4) The use of d or t (த) as the sign of the neuter singular of demonstrative pronouns, or pronouns of the third person. Ex : Skt. tat ; Tam. அது. &c.