Page:The Indian Antiquary Vol 2.djvu/115

 Arm, 1873.] DIALECT OF TIIE PALIS. 101 ON THE DIALECT OF THE PALIS. By G. II. DAMANT, B.C.S., DINAJPU'R. AS might be expected from the peculiar cus¬ toms and isolated position of the Palis, they use many words and forms of expression which would not be understood by-an ordinary Bengali. Their pronunciation in itself is very indistinct and difficult to follow ; the letter r they seem quite unable to pronounce, and ignore it altogether w’lien it is an initial; again in many words they insert an initial h—thus ami, the personal pro¬ noun I, is invariably pronounced ha mi, with a strong accent on the first syllable; and the common expressions ci sthdne, se sthane are corrupted into hiti, huti. The use of the common forms of the personal pronouns is very rare, except in speaking to superiors. Among themselves they always say mui and tui. Some of the forms they use as terminations of tenses and verbs are curious. In place of ami jdibo, ‘ I shall go,’ a Pali will say mui jdm, or, if he is speaking to a superior, Juimi junto. For chhildm, ‘ I was,’ they say dchhilam. The plural form gala is used instead of the common Ben¬ gali forms dig or gan. I have appended a list of Pali words, which appear to have been hitherto unnoticed, in the hope that some one may be willing and able to give satis¬ factory explanations of them. In some instances I have ventured to hazard derivations, but they are mere conjectures. These words have been selected from a list of several hundreds, from which I have eliminated all that I could derive with certainty from either Sanskrit, Bengali, or Hindi. s&flRTT Karoya, the person who arranges a marriage; answers to the ordinary Bengali word ghatak. R1!?!JT Labarang, a cloth made of two pieces sewn together. CR7T Harang, a kind of purdah formed of split bamboo, used in place of a door. TTfcTT qrfcT^T Paila, patil, names for a large kind of earthen pot. ^Tro&r Noka, painch, the young shoots of a plantain tree. N u k i, the young uncurled leaf of a plantain tree. Noka and n ii k i may possibly be both derived from lukiina, ‘ to be hid,’ n and l being constantly inter¬ changed. STJTr^ D a m a 1, a raised path across rice-fiehls. ■TRT r a u 11 a, c h a r i, earthen pots. 2FIT3T Kainta, the portion of land which adjoins a house. L a g a t c—first, ‘near;’ second, ‘quickly;’ in the first sense undoubtedly derived from lagana. qr£p7c*r P a t i p e 1 a, the inner apartments of a house. B^TIT Sundar, the land which adjoins the front door of a house. Can this be a corrupted form of > Kk. s i n h a d w a r a, the principal gate of a house ? B a t k h u r a, the sitting-house. arrf^T Daliuiiki, a small trowel. L e 1 a n, to cut grass with a d a h u h k i. ft? II i r, a field of sugar-cane. J h a k p a r a, to fall senseless. Nadayi, a newly-married woman. It may be a mere ^corruption of Sansk. n a b o d h a. Kahin, widow-marriage; answers to the Musalman n i k a. qfr K h u t i, an earthen jug. JTfJC Gabur, an old woman. JT^R' G a 1 a n, to search. tJnT*T P li a i k, many. iJl'T B h ft n t i, a torch made of straw. ?rir H o k o : this word is used by the Palis as the name of some kind of evil spirit. I have not been able as yet to ascertain precisely wliat they mean by h o k o, but it appears to be a spirit of the air. qfy'TqM Paksliipayal, plural of bird. I cannot explain paydl, unless indeed it is a mere repetition of pakshi, likeyaZ tal. J u k a 1 e, if; probably. Sk. y a t kale. 6r»3r K li e r i, thin. Dhareya, a mouse. Salcya, a rat. Sal eh a, idle. ^*731 Nengara, the rope attached to a plough. Kuris, a club, mace, cudgel. J? Tui, the roof-tree, top of a house.