gender of substantives very clearly; such languages have only natural, not grammatical gender, and even the natural gender only in a limited number of instances finds expression in the form of the word used.

§ 30. Sanskrit has all three genders, so have the Prakrits. In the modern languages, only Gujarati and Marathi have all three. Sindhi, Panjabi, and Hindi have only masculine and feminine; Bengali and Oriya have no gender at all, except in the pure Sanskrit Tatsamas, now so largely introduced, which retain the form of the Sanskrit gender, but even this only in the higher style. In B. they say “a little boy," छोट बालक छोट बालिका “ a little girl,” and छोट वस्तु “ a little thing.” In the highflown literary style they would write "a handसुन्दर नर some man," "a beautiful woman;" but in the common style, which is, after all, the true language, one would hear for "a beautiful woman," without regard to gender. The same holds good in Oriya, and in both, even in the high style, there is no distinction between masculine and neuter. In this Chapter, therefore, we may dispense with these two languages altogether.

In Hindi, Panjabi, and Sindhi, the reduction of the three genders to two has been effected by turning both the masculines and neuters of Sanskrit into masculines; and as the common people in the two first-named countries are very careless about the use of the feminine, it may almost be said that grammatical gender scarcely exists out of books. The use of gender is still further reduced, even in literature, by the fact that a great number of the adjectives in those two languages end in consonants, and do not possess separate forms for masculine and feminine, so that they afford no clue to the gender of the substantive, which is only perceptible from the numerous participial forms of the verb.

In Sindhi some of the neuter nouns of Sanskrit have become

feminine, but the most part are masculine. As before mentioned, all nouns in Sindhi end in a vowel, and the distinction of gender is therefore more clearly recognizable than in the other languages wherein consonantal terminations abound. There are, however, some adjectives, mostly of Arabic or Persian origin (though some are pure Sindhi), which, although ending in a vowel, do not change either for gender, number, or case; as “plentiful,” Skr. ; "mixed," Skr. ; Skr. ; which are Sanskritic; and "whole,"

حيران

मर्सु

"easy","

"good,"

"distressed," which are Arabic and Persian. Marathi still retains in full and every-day use the whole three genders, and the same is true of Gujarati. Not only have the substantives three genders, but the adjectives also, and the greater part of the tenses of the verb, being participial in form, have also three genders, so that to a foreigner the difference in this respect between these two stilted languages and the simple, easy, but in no whit less expressive Bengali, is at every turn. apparent.

In all the five languages which have gender expressed, the masculine is used to denote large, strong, heavy and coarse objects; the feminine small, weak, light and fine ones; and the neuter, where it exists, represents dull, inert, and often contemptible things. So far is this carried, that in cases where the original word was only masculine or neuter, a feminine form has been invented to express a smaller or finer article of the same kind; and, conversely, where only a feminine form existed, a masculine to express a larger or coarser object has been struck out. Instances are:

Skr. Hg “pot” (n.), H. ¿İET “a large cooking pot" (m.), gizt “a small cauldron," or "earthen pot” (ƒ.).

Skr. गुड and गोल “ball” (m.), H. गोला “ cannon-ball" (m.), गोली "bullet," "pill" (f.).

Skr. रश्मि “rope” (m.), H. रस्सा “ cable” (m.), रस्सी “ string,” "cord" (f.).

Here the final i of raçmi having been lengthened, and being universally regarded as a feminine termination, a masculine in á has been created. This distinction runs through all the languages, and is even found in B. and O., which, although careless in the matter of gender, still recognize the difference between the termination in â, as denoting larger objects, and that in f, as denoting smaller. This will be more fully treated under the heads of the various terminations.

In M., with its three genders, the different shades of a common meaning, as indicated by gender, are illustrated by the following examples:

fael (m.), "a large piece torn from a plantain leaf, used to

wrap up goods in."

fat (ƒ.), “a small piece of the above."

चिरणा (m.), the same as चिरटा.

fat (f.), the same as

fat, also "a small chisel.”

fa (n.), “a small chisel," "the act of tearing.”

TET (m.), "a large cart, or waggon, for conveying loads."

गाडी (f.),

66

a small cart or carriage for conveying persons."

(n.), “a clumsy or ricketty old car or dray.”

(m.), “a cable."

(f.), “a thread.”

IT (m.), “a string,” “thread,” “streamlet,” “track.”

ist (m.), “a stone.”

vist (f.), “a large mass of rock." (Here the fem. expresses the larger object, which is unusual.)

. In the case of animals, the masculine and feminine indicate the respective sexes, and the neuter either the young or the whole species collectively; as

ETST (m.), "horse."
घोडी (f.), “ mare.”

बकरें and बकरूं (n.), “ a kid,” also the goat species in general.

The same practice exists in Gujarati; as

ast (m.), "horse."

att (ƒ), “mare.”

a wretched screw of a horse," also horses in general1

or collectively.

9137 (m.), “ a buffalo-bull.”

1st (ƒ), “a buffalo-cow."

чT (n.), “a buffalo-calf.”

These peculiarities of gender and its terminations will come out clearly as we work through this Chapter, and need not be further illustrated here.

§ 31. The adjective in all the languages exhibits the general type of the terminations for gender, and is so fixed and regular as to afford a standard for each language. The general type of the adjective is as follows:

It is not of course meant that these are the only terminations of the adjective or participle, but that among the numerous

1 Narmadâs'ankar's example is: "When the Gaekwar came to Bombay, he brought a great number of horses (ghanun ghoṛun) with him."

terminations that are found these are the chief, and, so to speak, radical ones; the others may be regarded as exceptions and deviations, to be explained in their place.

In the participial forms which so largely enter into the construction of all verbs, these terminations are unvaryingly used for the respective genders, except in some instances in Marathi, in which the incorporation of the substantive verb into the participle has, by the operation of euphonic laws, wrought a change in the vowel.

Taking then the terminations of the adjective as the central type, it will now be necessary to go through the range of substantive terminations in order, so as to get at a clear comparison of them all, and to ascertain which are regularly derived from the central type, and which are exceptions, to be accounted for in other ways.

§ 32 (1). The masculine termination â in H. P. M., and occasionally B. and O., corresponds to the termination o in S. and G. in a large majority of instances: as

H. “child,” and so in all; but G. JAI, S. ZAI.

This termination is in S. masculine, without any exceptions; in G., however, some words in o are feminine, in which the o is not the pratyaya, or formative syllable derived from the Sanskrit -as, Pr. -o, as in the above-mentioned class, but arises from some phonetic corruption of the root-syllable. Such are the feminine nouns.

The number of these words is not large, nor are they in themselves important.

The termination in a exists throughout the whole seven languages, including G. and S., in certain words: these are—