Page:The history of the Bengali language (1920).pdf/267

Rh Orissa. More examples need not be multiplied here. How one is liable to mistake one old language for another allied speech, may even be illustrated by an example of a sentence composed in a modern language. The line of our poet Rabindranath which reads, হে আদি জননী সিন্ধু, বসুন্ধরা সন্তান তোমার, can be easily pronounced as Assamese if the Bengali metre is disregarded; Aryan Vernaculars other than Assamese can also very well claim the line to be theirs, but for the grammatical form তোমার, which occurs at the end of the line. How very careful therefore we should be, to avoid reckless assumptions in determining the provincial character of a speech of a time, when the provincial speeches were being formed and differentiated, can be easily appreciated. To trace the history of our words, we have to look alike to those outside and inside influences which have been at work in the province of Bengal in the up-building of our speech. Just to throw out some hints as to the right procedure to be followed in such an investigation, I take up to discuss the character of some words, which have come to us from various sources. No doubt I have spoken of these sources before, but some illustrative examples may be of practical help to those who are new in the field of investigation.

The Dravidian sources.—I have said a good deal before how the Dravidians—best represented by the Tamil-speaking people of to-day, have influenced the Aryan tongues; I have also said how words of foreign origin may simulate the appearance of Aryan words, and how by comparing the roots and idioms of different languages we have to determine the real character of the words. Some additional examples are adduced here to make the matter convincing. কটু, কুটি, or কুটীর, কুটুম্ব, and খট্টা, are words without roots in the Sanskrit language, while they are found