fat "sale" is treated as feminine, though derived from Skr. fa (m.). In M. several words which are neuter, of this termination, are written with anuswâra as, because the anuswâra, being derived from the final of Sanskrit, seems to the people to be more appropriate to that gender. Thus they write "water," at "pearl," and others. It is by the operation of a similar tendency that we in England now treat such words as riches, alms, as plurals, though they are really singulars corrupted from richesse, almesse; so also our old singular pease, from pisum, has been changed into a plural peas, and a singular pea formed from it, though the s has nothing to do with the plural sign, but is a genuine radical part of the word.

(3). The termination is masculine, as in the cases of the other long vowels, in words derived from Skr. masculines. This rule is a good guide, in spite of a certain number of exceptions, in all terminations, namely, that the gender of the Sanskrit original is fairly kept in all modern words, and affords a clue to the many apparent irregularities; as, for instance, in the case of words like, at, etc. Inasmuch, therefore, as the termination in Sanskrit is of all three genders, we cannot say that it is either regular or irregular for a word in any of the modern languages to be masculine, feminine, or neuter. We must in each case trace the word back to its origin; and we shall, in a large majority of cases, find the modern word retaining the gender of its parent. In Gujarati no distinction is practically made between long and short u; and even in Marathi some confusion exists. In Marathi, however, and Sindhi, the long ú is generally masculine; in H. and P. words of this termination are about equally divided between the two genders. No examples of the masculine nouns of this termination need be given. The rules for the formation of the stem contained in

The translators of our English Bible knew better when they wrote "an alms" (Acts iii. 3), though they use "riches" as a plural, "Your riches are corrupted."

the preceding Chapter will serve to guide towards the Sanskrit word from which the modern word is derived, and the gender can thus be easily ascertained.

(4). The short vowels are generally elided at the end of a word in Hindi, as well as in P. and G., and to a very great extent also in common Marathi. It will therefore be more convenient to reserve the consideration of such words till we come to the section on consonantal endings. When the short vowel is not elided, it is frequently lengthened, to enable it to retain its position, and the words in which it still remains as a short vowel are all Tatsamas, like fa, fafu, g, 3, the gender of which is identical with that of the Sanskrit.

It is only in Sindhi that short vowel terminations are of any account, and our discussion of them is confined to this language. Short u is the typical ending of masculines.

Short a is the typical ending of feminines.

Short iis chiefly feminine.

Masculines in are derived from the Prakrit termination o, and represent the class I have called barytones in the last Chapter, thus corresponding to the masculine consonantal endings of other languages.

Under this head come also nouns derived from Sanskrit masculines and neuters in, thus

There are also a few words in which the final u

is derived

=

from the of Sanskrit, as quoted in Ch. I. § 14, fua fq3, etc. तृ There appear to be no instances of masculines in a , and very few in. Of the latter, instances are, from Skr. ufa “lord;” विरसपति, from Skr. वृहस्पति “ the planet Jupiter;” हरि

1 This is Trumpp's derivation (Sindhi Gr. p. 33). I am disposed to derive the

word regularly from Skr. मद, Pr. मदो.

"Vishnu;" and as shortenings of from, as noted above in (2, a), केहरि from केशरिन् “ lion;" सहाइ for सहाई, from "helper," are familiar examples.

§ 33. As in the masculine, so also in the feminine terminations, there exists a double system. The termination â, which is typical of the feminine in Sanskrit, is in the modern languages a resultant from o, and typical of the masculine; yet it is found as the termination of many fem. words, just as , the modern fem. type, occurs in many masculine words.

(1). Final & is feminine in the seven languages in the following classes of nouns.

(a). In Tatsamas which are feminine in Sanskrit, such as पूजा " worship,” चिंता “ thought,” रसना “tongue," कथा “ story,” and many more very common words.

(8). In a considerable number of modern Tadbhavas, which, though changed from the pure Sanskrit form, still retain the distinctive termination, and with it the gender: such as

Skr. "patience" (ƒ.), H. fæЯ, QAI, P. S. fGAI, G. TAI,

بر الله

Skr. यात्रा “ pilgrimage" (f.), H. जात्रा, P. जातT, S. जाटरा, G. id., also जातT, M. जत्रा, all f.

Skr. क्षुधा “hunger” (f.), H. खुधा, P. खुद्धिश्राः

Skr.

आग्न्या.

“order” (ƒ.), H.

Ê, P. MfiIM, S. M₪, G.

Skr. "murder” (f.), S. FI.

(y). In some words of uncertain origin, but purely local in type, as

H. fefqe (ƒ), “a small box," but in all the rest m. in a, with a fem. in 1.

H. fafget (ƒ.), “a bird," in P. and M. without the final syllable and ƒ. H. aftur (ƒ.), “an old woman.”

In these three very common words the final is probably recent addition, and the words were originally, as they are still in the cognate languages, डिबी, चिडी, and बुढी, the i having been shortened, as is usual in Hindi, in consequence of the additional syllable. Or we may suppose them to come under § 9 (2), and to have been feminines of the form fa, where the suffix ika has been softened into iya, though it would be useless to look for a Sanskrit original for the two first words. The third may, however, well come from a Skr. form fam.

This remark leads to a consideration of somewhat extended application. It may be asked why â, which is in Sanskrit a fem. ending, should in the moderns be so typically and universally a masc. ending, and similarly why, which in Skr. is quite as much a masc. as a fem. ending, should have in the moderns so almost exclusively attached itself to the fem.? The answer would appear to be found in the extreme prevalence in Pr. of the practice of adding the suffix aka to nouns of all classes. We have to begin with the oxytone nouns in Skr., which become nouns in o and â in the moderns, and to them we must also add the Pr. formatives in aka=ao, of the type ghoṭaka= ghoraoghora; the union of these two sets of words results in a preponderance of mascs. in 4-o. Now, as the feminine of aka is ika, and ik becomes iyâ, and more frequently still i, if we suppose that to every one of the words to which Pr. tacked on aka for the masc., it also tacked on ikå for the fem., the preponderance of as a fem. ending in the moderns is explained, the more so that we can add to the i from ikâ a large class in which already in Sanskrit the masc. in -as forms its fem. in i; such as: (m.), F(ƒ.). Moreover, the typical ending सुन्दरी of the adjectives being a-o for the masc., and i for the fem., it was natural to use an adjective ending in í, with a substantive of a similar termination; and so it comes to pass that all grammarwriters treat masculines in and feminines in & as exceptions, though few of them attempt to account for their existence.

(2). Final is feminine then in all cases except those noted in the last section, and this holds good for all the seven languages. Final ú is feminine in words derived from Sanskrit feminines, as भू “earth,” वधू “ daughter-in-law,” H. बहू, P. बोह, S. वह, etc. In Sindhi, as noted above, the feminine terminations are a and, and the majority of these words are identical with the feminines in mute a of the other languages, which have been shortened from Skr. feminines in â.

(3). In some classes of adjectives, mostly very common and vulgar, a feminine in o is found. This is very common in Panjabi, and frequently with the suffixes, , or , where एलु, the o may be regarded as a lengthening of the u of the masculine. Such are

“(a cow) that thrusts or butts," masc. धकेलू. "whore," from "cunnus," also written चुड्ड

चुड्डो “whore,”

चुत्तो.

झुट्ठो,

t, get, and

"adulteress," from "to copulate,” masc. 4.

ziz “a woman with projecting teeth," from

“tooth," masc.

दांदू.

“a coquette,” origin uncertain.

"

नाजो “ an immodest woman” (probably from नाज, for लाज = लज्जा ).

Most of the words of this form are words of abuse used by women to one another, the fair sex in India being possessed of a remarkably fertile invention in the matter of vituperation. In Marathi also is often a feminine ending, as in

woman," where the o is probably a lengthening of the masculine. In Oriya, when addressing women, they always use ਪੀ.

§ 34. The neuter has less variety of termination than the other genders, and exists only in Marathi and Gujarati. The type of the neuter is M., G., but M. also has a neuter in,

VOL. II.

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