Wilson Philological Lectures on Sanskrit and the Derived Languages c8.57

c8.57

There are several instances in these dialects of the interchange of consonants. The word स्नुषा becomes सुण्हा, while regularly it ought to be णहुसा; णह and म् thus interchange places. Similarly, करेणु is transformed to कणेरू, वाराणसी to वाणारसी, अचलपुर to अलचपुर, आलान to आणाल, लघु to हलु ( लहु also being used ), महाराष्ट्र to मरहट्ट, &c. In the case of विच्छुअ for वृश्चिक we have an interchange of vowels, for the उ resulting from ऋ is transferred to श्र and its इ to व. In ordinary life we often find that a man speaking hastily makes the sounds of a word thus interchange places. When several people happen to do so in the case of particular words, the new transformations come in the course of time to be regarded as the true words and acquire a recognized position.