A classical dictionary of Hindu mythology and religion, geography, history, & literature / by John Dowson.

  • Dowson, John, active 1913.
Date:
1913
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: A classical dictionary of Hindu mythology and religion, geography, history, & literature / by John Dowson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    sounds of ‘ ch ’ and ‘j ’ as in ‘ church' and ‘just’ The cerebrals and the dentals are similar letters, but the former are drawn from the roof of the mouth and the latter from the tips of the teetk In ‘train’ and ‘drain’ we have cerebrals; in ‘tin’ and ‘due’ we have dentals, or an approach to them. The ordinary English ‘ t ’ and ‘ d ’ are more cerebral than dental, and the natives of India in transcribing English names use the cerebrals for our ‘t’ and ‘d-’ The palatal sibilant ‘5’ has a sound intermediate between ‘s’ and ‘sh,’ resembling the double ‘ss’ in ‘session.’ The visarga, the final ‘ h,’ has no distinct enunciation, but it is nevertheless a real letter, and changes in certain positions into ‘s’ and ‘r.’ Thus the name (S^inaAsephas is sometimes written fihna^sephas. [In French the palatal ‘ ch ’ is represented by ‘ tch ’ and the ‘j’ by ‘dj.’ In German the ‘ch’ is expressed by ‘tsch’ and the ‘ j ’ by ‘ dsch.’ These very awkward combinations have induced Max Muller and others to use an italic ‘ k ’ and ‘ g ’ instead of them.] Some words will be found with varying terminations, as ‘Hanumat’ and ‘Hanuman,’ ‘SikhamZin’ and ‘SikhaTic^’ The explanation of this is that Sanskrit nouns have what is called a crude form or stem independent of case termination, and the nominative case very frequently differs from it. So ‘ Hanumat’ and ‘ SikhamZin ’ are crude forms ; ‘ Hanuman ’ and ‘ Sikhancfl ’ are their nominative cases. There are other such variations which need not be noticed. The letters b and v are often interchanged, so words not found under the one letter should be sought for under the other.