Page:The history of the Bengali language (1920).pdf/88

66 Those who try to trace all our words to some Sanskrit origin, may on reference to the foregoing list suggest some Sanskrit words for the Dravidian words depending upon very remote sound similarity; for instance the word আকালি may be rejected, as the Sanskrit word কাল may anyhow be made to be a component of আকাল. With a view to point out the right method that has to be pursued in such an enquiry, let me show that the suggestion of the Sanskritists on the point will be wrong. We do not get any word, either in Sanskrit or in the old Prākṛtas, which has 'কাল' for stem to signify the idea conveyed by দুর্ভিক্ষ (famine). What led our ancestors then, to coin a new word in Bengali agreeing with Tamil and Gondi, to express an old and familiar idea, is difficult to imagine. It is curious that the word which was current in Prākṛta was given up and an unidiomatic expression was introduced in a slovenly way by joining আ and কাল together. If আকাল be said to be a corruption of অকাল the argument will not be stronger, for no Sanskrit or Prākṛta lexicon will give us the word অকাল to signify famine. A word may anyhow be made to look like a Sanskrit form, but it is to be seen whether such a form or its prototype was at all in common use in old time. In their zeal to derive all Bengali words from Sanskrit roots and stems, such old and obsolete words are at times drawn out of the Sanskrit Dictionary as were not even in use in Sanskrit for centuries previous to our time. We cannot avoid looking to the people and their antecedents in our inquiry relating to language. Let me also cite an example of contrary character to illustrate the right method of getting a derivative. The word সাঁকো (bridge) looks like a deśi word and is treated as such, for it is difficult to see the word comes from সং + কৃত. With our knowledge of Oria we can see that সঙ্খ is the Oria word for a bridge