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Romani les and Sanskrit Tasya

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 December 2009

R. L. Turner
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Extract

It is generally agreed that the nominatives ov and oy are formations from the demonstrative stem u which appears in most of the modern Indo-Aryan languages, e.g. Nepali: direct u, oblique us.

In the oblique formsles, la and lenMiklosich {ber die Mundarten und Wanderungen der Zigeuner Europa's xi, p. 15) saw the stem of Skt. ta, which forms the oblique cases to the nominative s and s. Professor A. C. Woolner (Journ. Gypsy Lore Soc., New Series ix, p. 128) opposes this view for the very cogent reason that there seems to be no other instance in which an initial IndoAryan t has become lin European Romani: it becomes I regularly only in the intervocalic position. He derives it instead from a Prakrit pronominal stem na. This however presents nearly as great a phonetic difficulty, for the regular representation of initial n is by n : there are a few exceptions only in some cases of metathesis or dissimilation, such as len river (if from nodi), lilai and linai beside nilai summer (nid;ghh).

Type
Papers Contributed
Information
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 5 , Issue 1 , February 1928 , pp. 43 - 51
Copyright
Copyright School of Oriental and African Studies 1928

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References

page 44 note 1 Of which Sir G. A. Grierson has kindly shown me the proofs.

page 45 note 1 My attention was drawn to this fact by Dr. Siddheswar Varma.

page 47 note 1 Usually in the phrase sa ca. Professor Rapson, in a communication he has very kindly made me, holds that sa is here equivalent to asa < asya, and that the representative of Skt. sa is se (very rarely se ׃ fem, sa or s). Nevertheless, there appear to me cases of its use in which the context is better suited by a derivation from s than by an equation with asya. If this is right, se would be the fully stressed form, which has survived in other I.A. languages (e.gr Sindhi so, Bengali se). I confess, however, that the interpretation of sa still remains in doubt.

page 47 note 2 This and following figures must be looked Upon as provisional only, pending the publication of Professor Bapson's index.

page 50 note 1 According to a communication from Mr. N. B. Jopson, whom I have to thank for bringing a number of details concerning Welsh to my notice.