332
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
has hitherto taken the trouble to make a collec
tion of phrases; this has now been done, and it will appear that this so-called language is a mere gibberish, the chief component of which is Persian uttered in a peculiar way. As Deri is spoken only by Zoroastrians, it may reasonably be presumed that it very often serves to pre vent Muhammadan Persians from understand
[November, 1873.
White, black, red, and green colours, Swi, sióh, sór wa péstai remg.
Degrees of Comparison. Rustum is taller than Jamshid, Rustum master (or blendter) Jemshir on. My brother is better to-day, Bzúzeri me, emru water on.
Solomon was the wisest of men, Solemon dunutere odemhu bo.
ing them, just as in some parts of Europe some Jews still use a peculiar German gibberish intel ligible to themselves alone, which may have been more useful in old times of persecution, but now serves only to disguise paltry com mercial transactions.
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This is a very fine day.
Nouns. The servant of a merchant, Núkeri tājer. An hour too soon, Gá sat khaili zi. I am the man, Me odeme.
The son of the king. A son of a king,
}ºr putshö.
A horse and an ass, Asp o her. A husband and wife, Mira wa zuna.
The child and the father, Watchá u pezér.
Possessive Case of Nouns. My brother's book, Daftari bzuzerem. His father's horse, Aspi pezérosh. The light of the sun, Rushnohi horshir. One of the gentleman's daughters, Yaki déte
khaili khib on.
He was more polite to-day than yesterday, In enru orumtere heze bo.
He is prettier than his sister, In juvuntere kha herosh hä.
After all, however, the Deri is not an arti
ficial language. All the words are taken in their natural sense, not as in the Argót or thief language of Paris, where they obtain different meanings; and the change of certain Persian consonants and vowels takes place, as philo logists will observe, according to well-fixed phonetic laws. The orthography here followed is that recom mended by the Asiatic Society of Bengal, i.e the letters have always the same value, e.g. g = T, i = H, &c. The total absence of the letter f, as in some Indian languages, may also be noticed.
Emru khaili khibruji on. {º.
Werbs. I am
me hé
We are
mó him.
Thou art
toe hé
You are
He is
in há
They are
shmó he. ishun hem. mu boim.
I was
me boe
We were
Thou wast He was
tau boe in bo
You were
sh mó boit.
They were
ishun boen.
I shall be
mé be
We shall be
moe bim.
Thou wilt be
toa bé
Ye will be
shimoe bit.
He will be
ine biſ
They will be ishun ben.
me zemete We teach I teach Thou teachest toa zemete You teach
mu zemetim. shim6 zem etit
inezemete They teach ishn zemeten He teaches Me khaili kháshul hè. I am very glad. Ishwn kāhel hen. They are lazy. Thou art the man. Is she handsome?
To o odeme he.
He is my brother.
In bzuzere me hon. Me khâsta bohe. Mu aldidur him.
I was sick. We are rich.
We were not present. You are poor. You were dumb. He will not eat.
O yanoge khibstret on 2
Mo huzer mé bohim.
Shmii gripi (or muchri). Shmu gong boi. In mahra.
We shall be sleepy. You will be tired.
They will be awake.
Mohármollo bim. Shmó muna bi. Ishun bizor é ben.
I shall be here again this evening. Meemru pasin do bore mone bé.
merde hib.
Present Tense. This was my father, mother, and uncle's advice, Moe nasiete pezérom, mozerom o khulum bo.
I love good children, Me watzugun khāb, me pāsend
Adjectives and Nouns.
Thou lovest fine horses, To aspe khil, he pāsend hā,
A happy man, Merde kháshul. The blue sky, Osmone osmoni. The man is happy, Merdoge kháshul on.
It is a sad occurrence, Mokure delgiri on. The meeting was large, One khaili udem jem buen. It has been a rainy day, Oruje worumi bo. That man is lame, O udeme shal on.
It was a blind woman, 0 yánoge kur bo.
há.
He loves his father, In pezére khô pāsend döra. We love him, Mo in düsde dorim.
You love her, Shumó yanoge duste dorit. They love their books, Ishun dàpter shopāsend dóren.
He walks out every morning, In harru solº bare shu.
Birds fly through the air, Párenda tu hová páren.