APRIL, 1873.]
1()1
I)IALECT OF TIIE I’ALIS.
ON THE DIALECT OF THE PALIS. By G. H. DAMANT, B.C.S., DINAJPU'R.
S might be expected from the peculiar cus toms and isolated position of the Palis, they
- TRſ5 Dám al, a raised path across rice-fields.
diaſ Hſſ, Paun ā, ch a ri, earthen pots.
use many words and forms of expression which would not be understood by an ordinary Bengali.
Aſížſ Kā in tä, the portion of land which
Their pronunciation in itself is very indistinct
adjoins a house.
and difficult to follow ; the letter r they seem quite unable to pronounce, and ignore it altogether when it is an initial ; again in many words they
&Tā Lag at e—first, “near;” second, “quickly;'
insert an initial h-thus àmi, the personal pro
qffſiaſ Pā tip elä, the inner apartments of a
noun I, is invariably pronounced húmi, with a strong accent on the first syllable ; and the common expressions ei sthāne, se sthäne are corrupted into hiti, huti. The use of the common forms of the personal pronouns is very
rare, except in speaking to superiors. Among themselves they always say mui and tui. Some of the forms they use as terminations of tenses and verbs are curious. In place of dimi jaibo, “I shall go,' a Pali will say mui jām, or, if he is speaking to a superior, hāmi jāmo. For chhilám, “I was, they say achhilam. The plural form gula is used instead of the common Ben gali forms dig or gan. I have appended a list of Pali words, which appear to have been hitherto unnoticed, in the hope that some one may be willing and able to give satis factory explanations of them. In some instances
in the first sense undoubtedly derived from lag ån a . house.
-
H+R S and ār, the land which adjoins the front door of a house.
Can this be a
corrupted form of Sk, si ji had w a ra, the principal gate of a house? Hſzú (T B at k h (, rā, the sitting-house.
&Tār Dāh u iſ ki, a small trowel.
- T* Lelån, to cut grass with a qāh u fi ki.
ſå3 Hir, a field of sugar-cane.
g|THT3T Jhāk para, to fall senseless. aſāf: Nādāri, a newly-married woman. It may be a mere corruption of Sansk. n a b od h a .
- if:{, Kāh in, widow-marriage; answers to
the Musalmān nika.
Wiſ. Khuti, an earthen jug. Iſār Gāb ur, an
old woman.
I have ventured to hazard derivations, but they
are mere conjectures. These words have been
TETT Galán, to search.
selected from a list of several hundreds, from
FT33. Pha ik, many.
which I have eliminated all that I could derive
iń. Bh (, ī, ti, a torch made of straw.
with certainty from either Sanskrit, Bengali,
ărăi Ho ko : this word is used by the Palis as
or Hindi.
àſłłąſ Káro y á, the person who arranges a marriage; answers to the ordinary Bengali word ghatak.
EH&fuſ Lab a rang, a cloth made of two pieces sewn together.
grºit Hà rang, a kind of purdah formed of split bamboo, used in place of a door. Tººſ qīfāE. Pail a , p a til, names for a
large kind of earthen pot.
- ffſ qi + Nok fi, p aii, ch, the young shoots
of a plantain tree.
iáſ Naki, the young uncurled leaf of a plantain tree.
the name of some kind of evil spirit. I have not been able as yet to ascertain
precisely what they mean by hoko, but it appears to be a spirit of the air. qſ. TTF Pak ship a y ál, plural of bird. I cannot explain payál, unless indeed it is a mere repetition of pakshi, like jal tal. HT3 Ju kāle, if; probably. Sk, y at k a le. ãſ, Kheri, thin. HäT Dhare y á, a mouse. HäT S ale y á, a rat. Høgſ Saleh ā, idle.
- T&T N en g a rā, the rope attached to a
No k fi and n iſ ki may possibly plough.
be both derived from lukána, ‘to be
hid,’ n and l being constantly inter changed.
aſſº Ku r is, a club, mace, cudgel. £3. Tui, the roof-tree, top of a house.