A Comparative Grammar of the Modern Aryan Languages of India v1.c7.115

v1.c7.115

The word कुम्भकार “a potter,” is peculiar. It is in Pr. कुंभआरौ, H. कुम्हार, P. id., O. कुम्हार and कुम्हार, B. कुमार, and in vulgar Bengali they say कुमोर. Prakrit follows the general rule, and in this it is followed by the western languages M., G., and S., which all have कुंभार. H. goes a step further, and rejecting the organic portion of the भ, according to rule (§ 68), retains only ह; the anuswâra is then written as म. This is a solitary instance, and may be explained by the existence of the Tatsama कुम्भ “a pot”; there would naturally be a desire to assimilate the two words, which would lead to the retention of the म, because if written as anuswâra it would sound kunghâr, and not kumhâr, by which all resemblance would be lost.