Page:The history of the Bengali language (1920).pdf/285

Rh confounded with the identical form, which is an   indeclinable to indicate 'for that reason': the pun on the word by Bharat Chandra in 'অনেকের পতি তেঁই পতি মোর বাম' may be referred to; the primary meaning is—He, who is the lord of many is my husband, and the other meaning   suggested is—My husband is also the husband of others, and for that reason he is not favourably disposed towards me. They are identical in form but different in origin: তেঁই (for that reason) is derived from তর্হি = তহিঁ and our 'তাই' signifying the same meaning is a variant or a changed form of 'তেঁই'; this 'তাই' being wrongly spelt as 'তাহাই' is confounded with the provincial form 'তাহা + ই' of emphasis; the latter form is derived from তহ = তদ্. In our honorific তিনি, there is the pronoun 'ন' in an manner; in Pāli, we get this 'ন' in the accusative case only in the form of নং (= তাহাকে); 'that respected he' is the round about expression to indicate honour: তেনার and তেন্‌রা (his) are not unusual in the mouth of our vulgar people. The Bengalis who settled in Orissa, long ago, carried with them, as a matter of course many archaic forms, and their descendants now, not being in touch with the progress and change effected in Bengal, use তেনার (his), তান্‌রান (they), etc., very commonly. The forms, যিনি (occurs as জিনি in old Bengali), ইনি and উনি, as are peculiar to Bengali should also be taken note of here. I think, that the ন of direct pronominal origin, as has been noticed here, is not the ন which we get in কোন; signifying certain person or certain object. কোন appears to me to be the decayed portion of কেনচিৎ, since কৌণসি almost representing কেনচিৎ obtains in Oriya as well as in Hindi. That the ন of কেন comes directly from ম of কিম্ need not be pointed out.

I may note here that both the earlier emphatic form of কে (who) as কেহ, and the later form কেউ, are in use in