Page:The history of the Bengali language (1920).pdf/115

Rh derived. It is worth noting here, that this particular word "মশান" as the অপভ্রংশ of শ্মশান, is in use in some parts of Western India as well; the Pali apabhranśa form was "সুসান," from which our "শশান," has originated. I may notice one অপভ্রংশ of this class, which is in common use all throughout Northern India: শ্মশ্রু was first reduced to মশ্রু and then to মস্&zwnj;সু in old Prakṛta, and from this মস্&zwnj;সু the forms মোচ্ and মেছা came into use, and are still in use in some modern Vernaculars. I have shown in a previous lecture, that the peculiarity here noticed, is fully in accordance with the rule of grammar, as obtains in the Dravidian speeches; according to this rule, the initial letter of a word can never be a compound letter, and that double or triple consonants of different vargas, cannot occur anywhere in a word. The word জ্ঞান (জ-ঞান) has the pronunciation of 'gân'; but when the compound letter is a medial as in ধর্মজ্ঞান, the pronunciation will be 'Dhamma-ggân' without any nasal sound.

য, র, ল, ব.—Though these letters are regarded as consonants, their real character as compound vowels, has always been admitted by the old Sanskrit Grammarians. That য় is a compound sound of ই + অ has been pointed out before. As য is pronounced as জ in Bengali and Oriya, special mark has been added to the letter to signify the 'y' sound. It is worth noting, that in old Prakṛta speeches, we get জ for য and যৌবন for instance was pronounced as জোব্বন.