A Comparative Grammar of the Modern Aryan Languages of India v1.c5.87

v1.c5.87

The breaking down of a and â into e seems to be one of those points where non-Aryan influences have been at work. The Sanskrit admits of the modulation of i into e by the addition of an ă-sound, but it does not include within the range of its phonetic system the opposite process of flattening a into e by the appendage of an i-sound. This transition is foreign to the genius of the ancient language, in which e is always long. The Dravidian languages, however, possess a short ĕ as one of their original simple vowel-sounds, side by side with the ē corresponding to Skr. ए. The Tamil further substitutes for the Skr. ऐ i.e. आ + इ a sound ei, i.e. ĕ + i. This short ĕ of the Dravidians is often found in Canarese to replace the ă and â of Sanskrit, and in Tamil ei corresponds thereto. Thus, Skr. काक “crow,” becomes in Tamil kâkkei, in Telugu kâki (probably by kâkĕ), in the Kota and other forest dialects of the Nilgiris kâkĕ. Skr. घोटक (seemingly a non-Aryan word) is traceable in Tamil kudirei, Canarese kudurĕ, Kota kudare, etc. So also “the long final â of Sanskrit abstracts becomes in Tamil ei, e.g. âśâ, ‘desire,’ Tamil âsei; Chitrâ, ‘April-May,’ Tamil Sittirei. The same â becomes e in Canarese, e.g., Gangâ, ‘Ganges,’ is in Canarese *Gange* or *Gangeyu*.¹ The first trace of the adoption of this short *ĕ* by Aryan populations is found in Prakrit, and takes the form, not of a distinct sound from the long Sanskrit *ē*, but of a shortening of that sound itself. Thus, words which in Sanskrit exhibit long *e* followed by a single consonant occur in Prakrit with *e* followed by a double consonant. As Prakrit is always very careful to preserve the quantity of Sanskrit words, it is apparent that the common people who spoke Prakrit, having come to regard *e* as a short sound, felt it necessary to double the following consonant in order to preserve the quantity, the vowel which in Sanskrit was long by nature becoming thus long by position. Thus, we get Pr. पेम्म for Skr. प्रेम “love,” एक्कं for Skr. एकं “one,” देब्बो for Skr. देव. These words were pronounced with a short *ĕ*, as in English *get*, *bed*, and the barrenness of invention of the persons who reduced Prakrit to writing is shown by their omitting to provide a separate character for this new sound, as the Dravidians have done. It would be rash, in the present imperfect state of our knowledge on the obscure subject of the relations between the Dravidians and early Aryans, to lay down any definite law on this point; but it is noteworthy, that the Aryan tribes who came most closely into contact with Kols and Dravidians exhibit the greatest proclivity towards the use of these broken vowels. Oriya and Marathi have long been spoken in tracts partly peopled by non-Aryans: in the case of the former by Kols and Telingas; in that of the latter by Gonds, Bhils, and Canarese. The Aryans of Gujarat also displaced non-Aryan tribes, and may from them have caught this trick of speech, as may also the Bengalis from the numerous wild tribes on their frontiers.²