HIMERA,a city on the north coast of Sicily, on a hill above the east bank of the Himeras Septentrionalis. It was founded in 648B.C.by the Chalcidian inhabitants of Zancle, in company with many Syracusan exiles. Early in the 5th century the tyrant Terillas, son-in-law of Anaxilas of Rhegium and Zancle, appealed to the Carthaginians, who came to his assistance, but were utterly defeated by Gelon of Syracuse in 480B.C.—on the same day, it is said, as the battle of Salamis. Thrasydaeus, son of Theron of Agrigentum, seems to have ruled the city oppressively, but an appeal made to Hiero of Syracuse, Gelon’s brother, was betrayed by him to Theron; the latter massacred all his enemies and in the following year resettled the town. In 415 it refused to admit the Athenian fleet and remained an ally of Syracuse. In 408 the Carthaginian invading army under Hannibal, after capturing Selinus, invested and took Himeraand razed the city to the ground, founding a new town close to the hot springs (Thermae Himeraeae), 8 m. to the west. The only relic of the ancient town now visible above ground is a small portion (four columns, lower diameter 7 ft.) of a Doric temple, the date of which (whether before or after 480B.C.) is uncertain.
HIMERIUS(c.A.D.315-386), Greek sophist and rhetorician, was born at Prusa in Bithynia. He completed his education at Athens, whence he was summoned to Antioch in 362 by the emperor Julian to act as his private secretary. After the death of Julian in the following year Himerius returned to Athens, where he established a school of rhetoric, which he compared with that of Isocrates and the Delphic oracle, owing to the number of those who flocked from all parts of the world to hear him. Amongst his pupils were Gregory of Nazianzus and Basil the Great, bishop of Caesarea. In recognition of his merits, civic rights and the membership of the Areopagus were conferred upon him. The death of his son Rufinus (his lament for whom, calledμονῳδία, is extant) and that of a favourite daughter greatly affected his health; in his later years he became blind and he died of epilepsy. Although a heathen, who had been initiated into the mysteries of Mithra by Julian, he shows no prejudice against the Christians. Himerius is a typical representative of the later rhetorical schools. Photius (cod. 165, 243 Bekker) had read 71 speeches by him, of 36 of which he has given an epitome; 24 have come down to us complete and fragments of 10 or 12 others. They consist of epideictic or “display” speeches after the style of Aristides, the majority of them having been delivered on special occasions, such as the arrival of a new governor, visits to different cities (Thessalonica, Constantinople), or the death of friends or well-known personages. ThePolemarchicus, like theMenexenusof Plato and theEpitaphiosLogosof Hypereides, is a panegyric of those who had given their lives for their country; it is so called because it was originally the duty of the polemarch to arrange the funeral games in honour of those who had fallen in battle. Other declamations, only known from the excerpts in Photius, were imaginary orations put into the mouth of famous persons—Demosthenes advocating the recall of Aeschines from banishment, Hypereides supporting the policy of Demosthenes, Themistocles inveighing against the king of Persia, an orator unnamed attacking Epicurus for atheism before Julian at Constantinople. Himerius is more of a poet than a rhetorician, and his declamations are valuable as giving prose versions or even the actual words of lost poems by Greek lyric writers. The prose poem on the marriage of Severus and his greeting to Basil at the beginning of spring are quite in the spirit of the old lyric. Himerius possesses vigour of language and descriptive powers, though his productions are spoilt by too frequent use of imagery, allegorical and metaphorical obscurities, mannerism and ostentatious learning. But they are valuable for the history and social conditions of the time, although lacking the sincerity characteristic of Libanius.
See Eunapius,Vitae sophistarum; Suidas,s.v.; editions by G. Wernsdorf (1790), with valuable introduction and commentaries, and by F. Dübner (1849) in the Didot series; C. Teuber,Quaestiones Himerianae(Breslau, 1882); on the style, E. Norden,Die antike Kunstprosa(1898).
See Eunapius,Vitae sophistarum; Suidas,s.v.; editions by G. Wernsdorf (1790), with valuable introduction and commentaries, and by F. Dübner (1849) in the Didot series; C. Teuber,Quaestiones Himerianae(Breslau, 1882); on the style, E. Norden,Die antike Kunstprosa(1898).
HIMLY (LOUIS), AUGUSTE(1823-1906), French historian and geographer, was born at Strassburg on the 28th of March 1823. After studying in his native town and taking the university course in Berlin (1842-1843) he went to Paris, and passed first in the examination for fellowship (agrégation) of thelycées(1845), first in the examinations on leaving the École des Chartes, and first in the examination for fellowship of the faculties (1849). In 1849 he took the degree of doctor of letters with two theses, one of which,Wala et Louis le Débonnaire(published in Paris in 1849), placed him in the front rank of French scholars in the province of Carolingian history. Soon, however, he turned his attention to the study of geography. In 1858 he obtained an appointment as teacher of geography at the Sorbonne, and henceforth devoted himself to that subject. It was not till 1876 that he published, in two volumes, his remarkableHistoire de la formation territoriale des états de l’Europe centrale, in which he showed with a firm, but sometimes slightly heavy touch, the reciprocal influence exerted by geography and history. While the work gives evidence throughout of wide and well-directed research, he preferred to write it in the form of a student’s manual; but it was a manual so original that it gained him admission to the Institute in 1881. In that year he was appointed dean of the faculty of letters, and for ten years he directed the intellectual life of that great educational centre during its development into a great scientific body. He died at Sèvres on the 6th of October 1906.
HIMMEL, FREDERICK HENRY(1765-1814), German composer, was born on the 20th of November 1765 at Treuenbrietzen in Brandenburg, Prussia, and originally studied theology at Halle. During a temporary stay at Potsdam he had an opportunity of showing his self-acquired skill as a pianist before King Frederick William II., who thereupon made him a yearly allowance to enable him to complete his musical studies. This he did under Naumann, a German composer of the Italian school, and the style of that school Himmel himself adopted in his serious operas. The first of these, a pastoral opera,Il Primo Navigatore, was produced at Venice in 1794 with great success. In 1792 he went to Berlin, where his oratorioIsaacowas produced, in consequence of which he was made court Kapellmeister to the king of Prussia, and in that capacity wrote a great deal of official music, including cantatas, and a coronation Te Deum. His Italian operas, successively composed for Stockholm, St Petersburg and Berlin, were all received with great favour in their day. Of much greater importance than these is an operetta to German words by Kotzebue, calledFanchon, an admirable specimen of the primitive form of the musical drama known in Germany as theSingspiel. Himmel’s gift of writing genuine simple melody is also observable in his songs, amongst which one called “To Alexis” is the best. He died in Berlin on the 8th of June 1814.
HINCKLEY,a market town in the Bosworth parliamentary division of Leicestershire, England, 14½ m. S.W. from Leicester on the Nuneaton-Leicester branch of the London & North-Western railway, and near the Ashby-de-la-Zouch canal. Pop. of urban district (1901), 11,304. The town is well situated on a considerable eminence. Among the principal buildings are the church of St Mary, a Decorated and Perpendicular structure, with lofty tower and spire; the Roman Catholic academy named St Peter’s Priory, and a grammar school. The ditch of a castle erected by Hugh de Grentismenil in the time of William Rufus is still to be traced. Hinckley is the centre of a stocking-weaving district, and its speciality is circular hose. It also possesses a boot-making industry, brick and tile works, and lime works. There are mineral springs in the neighbourhood.
HINCKS, EDWARD(1792-1866), British assyriologist, was born at Cork, Ireland, and educated at Trinity College, Dublin. He took orders in the Protestant Church of Ireland, and was rector of Killyleagh, Down, from 1825 till his death on the 3rd of December 1866. Hincks devoted his spare time to the study of hieroglyphics, and to the deciphering of the cuneiform script (seeCuneiform), in which he was a pioneer, working out contemporaneously with Sir H. Rawlinson, and independently of him, the ancient Persian vowel system. He published a number of original and scholarly papers on assyriological questions of the highest value, chiefly in theTransactionsof the Royal Irish Academy.
HINCKS, SIR FRANCIS(1807-1885), Canadian statesman, was born at Cork, Ireland, the son of an Irish Presbyterian minister. In 1832 he engaged in business in Toronto, became a friend of Robert Baldwin, and in 1835 was chosen to examine the accounts of the Welland Canal, the management of which was being attacked by W. L. Mackenzie. This turned his attention to political life and in 1838 he founded theExaminer, a weekly paper in the Liberal interest. In 1841 he was elected M.P. for the county of Oxford, and in the following year was appointed inspector-general, the title then borne by the finance minister, but in 1843 resigned with Baldwin and the other ministers on the question of responsible government. In 1848 he again became inspector-general in the Baldwin-Lafontaineministry, and on their retirement in 1851 became premier of Canada, his chief colleague being A. N. Morin (1803-1865). While premier he was prominent in the negotiations which led to the construction of the Grand Trunk railway, and in co-operation with Lord Elgin negotiated with the United States the reciprocity treaty of 1854. In the same year the bitter hostility of the “Clear Grits” under George Brown compelled his resignation, and he was prominent in the formation of the Liberal-Conservative Party. In 1855 he was chosen governor of Barbados and the Windward Islands, and subsequently governor of British Guiana. In 1869 he was created K.C.M.G. and returned to Canada, becoming till 1873 finance minister in the cabinet of Sir John Macdonald. In February of that year he resigned, but continued to take an active part in public life. In 1879 the failure of the Consolidated Bank of Canada, of which he was president, led to his being tried for issuing false statements. Though found guilty on a technicality (seeJournalof the Canadian Bankers’ Association, April 1906) judgment was suspended, his personal credit remained unimpaired, and he continued to take part in the discussion of public questions till his death on the 18th of August 1885.
His writings include:The Political History of Canada between 1840 and 1855(1877);The Political Destiny of Canada(1878), and hisReminiscences(1884).
His writings include:The Political History of Canada between 1840 and 1855(1877);The Political Destiny of Canada(1878), and hisReminiscences(1884).
HINCMAR(c.805-882), archbishop of Reims, one of the most remarkable figures in the ecclesiastical history of France, belonged to a noble family of the north or north-east of Gaul. Destined, doubtless, to the monastic life, he was brought up at St Denis under the direction of the abbot Hilduin (d. 844), who brought him in 822 to the court of the emperor Louis the Pious. When Hilduin was disgraced in 830 for having joined the party of Lothair, Hincmar accompanied him into exile at Corvey in Saxony, but returned with him to St Denis when the abbot was reconciled with the emperor, and remained faithful to the emperor during his struggle with his sons. After the death of Louis the Pious (840) Hincmar supported Charles the Bald, and received from him the abbacies of Notre-Dame at Compiègne and St Germer de Fly. In 845 he obtained through the king’s support the archbishopric of Reims, and this choice was confirmed at the synod of Beauvais (April 845). Archbishop Ebbo, whom he replaced, had been deposed in 835 at the synod of Thionville (Diedenhofen) for having broken his oath of fidelity to the emperor Louis, whom he had deserted to join the party of Lothair. After the death of Louis, Ebbo succeeded in regaining possession of his see for some years (840-844), but in 844 Pope Sergius II. confirmed his deposition. It was in these circumstances that Hincmar succeeded, and in 847 Pope Leo IV. sent him the pallium.
One of the first cares of the new prelate was the restitution to his metropolitan see of the domains that had been alienated under Ebbo and given as benefices to laymen. From the beginning of his episcopate Hincmar was in constant conflict with the clerks who had been ordained by Ebbo during his reappearance. These clerks, whose ordination was regarded as invalid by Hincmar and his adherents, were condemned in 853 at the council of Soissons, and the decisions of that council were confirmed in 855 by Pope Benedict III. This conflict, however, bred an antagonism of which Hincmar was later to feel the effects. During the next thirty years the archbishop of Reims played a very prominent part in church and state. His authoritative and energetic will inspired, and in great measure directed, the policy of the west Frankish kingdom until his death. He took an active part in all the great political and religious affairs of his time, and was especially energetic in defending and extending the rights of the church and of the metropolitans in general, and of the metropolitan of the church of Reims in particular. In the resulting conflicts, in which his personal interest was in question, he displayed great activity and a wide knowledge of canon law, but did not scruple to resort to disingenuous interpretation of texts. His first encounter was with the heresiarch Gottschalk, whose predestinarian doctrines claimed to be modelled on those of St Augustine. Hincmar placed himself at the head of the party that regarded Gottschalk’s doctrines as heretical, and succeeded in procuring the arrest and imprisonment of his adversary (849). For a part at least of his doctrines Gottschalk found ardent defenders, such as Lupus of Ferrières, the deacon Florus and Amolo of Lyons. Through the energy and activity of Hincmar the theories of Gottschalk were condemned at Quierzy (853) and Valence (855), and the decisions of these two synods were confirmed at the synods of Langres and Savonnières, near Toul (859). To refute the predestinarian heresy Hincmar composed hisDe praedestinatione Dei et libero arbitrio, and against certain propositions advanced by Gottschalk on the Trinity he wrote a treatise calledDe una et non trina deitate. Gottschalk died in prison in 868. The question of the divorce of Lothair II., king of Lorraine, who had repudiated his wife Theutberga to marry his concubine Waldrada, engaged Hincmar’s literary activities in another direction. At the request of a number of great personages in Lorraine he composed in 860 hisDe divortio Lotharii et Teutbergae, in which he vigorously attacked, both from the moral and the legal standpoints, the condemnation pronounced against the queen by the synod of Aix-la-Chapelle (February 860). Hincmar energetically supported the policy of Charles the Bald in Lorraine, less perhaps from devotion to the king’s interests than from a desire to see the whole of the ecclesiastical province of Reims united under the authority of a single sovereign, and in 869 it was he who consecrated Charles at Metz as king of Lorraine.
In the middle of the 9th century there appeared in Gaul the collection of false decretals commonly known as the Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals. The exact date and the circumstances of the composition of the collection are still an open question, but it is certain that Hincmar was one of the first to know of their existence, and apparently he was not aware that the documents were forged. The importance assigned by these decretals to the bishops and the provincial councils, as well as to the direct intervention of the Holy See, tended to curtail the rights of the metropolitans, of which Hincmar was so jealous. Rothad, bishop of Soissons, one of the most active members of the party in favour of the pseudo-Isidorian theories, immediately came into collision with his archbishop. Deposed in 863 at the council of Soissons, presided over by Hincmar, Rothad appealed to Rome. Pope Nicholas I. supported him zealously, and in 865, in spite of the protests of the archbishop of Reims, Arsenius, bishop of Orta and legate of the Holy See, was instructed to restore Rothad to his episcopal see. Hincmar experienced another check when he endeavoured to prevent Wulfad, one of the clerks deposed by Ebbo, from obtaining the archbishopric of Bourges with the support of Charles the Bald. After a synod held at Soissons, Nicholas I. pronounced himself in favour of the deposed clerks, and Hincmar was constrained to make submission (866). He was more successful in his contest with his nephew Hincmar, bishop of Laon, who was at first supported both by the king and by his uncle, the archbishop of Reims, but soon quarrelled with both. Hincmar of Laon refused to recognize the authority of his metropolitan, and entered into an open struggle with his uncle, who exposed his errors in a treatise calledOpusculum LV. capitulorum, and procured his condemnation and deposition at the synod of Douzy (871). The bishop of Laon was sent into exile, probably to Aquitaine, where his eyes were put out by order of Count Boso. Pope Adrian protested against his deposition, but it was confirmed in 876 by Pope John VIII., and it was not until 878, at the council of Troyes, that the unfortunate prelate was reconciled with the Church. A serious conflict arose between Hincmar on the one side and Charles and the pope on the other in 876, when Pope John VIII., at the king’s request, entrusted Ansegisus, archbishop of Sens, with the primacy of the Gauls and of Germany, and created him vicar apostolic. In Hincmar’s eyes this was an encroachment on the jurisdiction of the archbishops, and it was against this primacy that he directed his treatiseDe jure metropolitanorum. At the same time he wrote a life of St Remigius, in which he endeavoured by audacious falsifications to prove the supremacy of the church of Reims over the other churches. Charles the Bald, however, upheld the rights ofAnsegisus at the synod of Ponthion. Although Hincmar had been very hostile to Charles’s expedition into Italy, he figured among his testamentary executors and helped to secure the submission of the nobles to Louis the Stammerer, whom he crowned at Compiègne (8th of December 877).
During the reign of Louis, Hincmar played an obscure part. He supported the accession of Louis III. and Carloman, but had a dispute with Louis, who wished to instal a candidate in the episcopal see of Beauvais without the archbishop’s assent. To Carloman, on his accession in 882, Hincmar addressed hisDe ordine palatii, partly based on a treatise (now lost) by Adalard, abbot of Corbie (c.814), in which he set forth his system of government and his opinion of the duties of a sovereign, a subject he had already touched in hisDe regis persona et regio ministerio, dedicated to Charles the Bald at an unknown date, and in hisInstructio ad Ludovicum regem, addressed to Louis the Stammerer on his accession in 877. In the autumn of 832 an irruption of the Normans forced the old archbishop to take refuge at Epernay, where he died on the 21st of December 882. Hincmar was a prolific writer. Besides the works already mentioned, he was the author of several theological tracts; of theDe villa Noviliaco, concerning the claiming of a domain of his church; and he continued from 861 theAnnales Bertiniani, of which the first part was written by Prudentius, bishop of Troyes, the best source for the history of Charles the Bald. He also wrote a great number of letters, some of which are extant, and others embodied in the chronicles of Flodoard.
Hincmar’s works, which are the principal source for the history of his life, were collected by Jacques Sirmond (Paris, 1645), and reprinted by Migne,Patrol. Latina, vol. cxxv. and cxxvi. See also C. von Noorden,Hinkmar, Erzbischof von Reims(Bonn, 1863), and, especially, H. Schrörs,Hinkmar, Erzbischof von Reims(Freiburg-im-Breisgau, 1884). For Hincmar’s political and ecclesiastical theories see preface to Maurice Prou’s edition of theDe ordine palatii(Paris, 1885), and the abbé Lesné,La Hiérarchie épiscopale en Gaule et en Germanie(Paris, 1905).
Hincmar’s works, which are the principal source for the history of his life, were collected by Jacques Sirmond (Paris, 1645), and reprinted by Migne,Patrol. Latina, vol. cxxv. and cxxvi. See also C. von Noorden,Hinkmar, Erzbischof von Reims(Bonn, 1863), and, especially, H. Schrörs,Hinkmar, Erzbischof von Reims(Freiburg-im-Breisgau, 1884). For Hincmar’s political and ecclesiastical theories see preface to Maurice Prou’s edition of theDe ordine palatii(Paris, 1885), and the abbé Lesné,La Hiérarchie épiscopale en Gaule et en Germanie(Paris, 1905).
(R. Po.)
HIND,the female of the red-deer, usually taken as being three years old and over, the male being known as a “hart.” It is sometimes also applied to the female of other species of deer. The word appears in several Teutonic languages, cf. Dutch and Ger.Hinde, and has been connected with the Goth.hinÞan(hinthan), to seize, which may be connected ultimately with “hand” and “hunt.” “Hart,” from the O.E.heort, may be in origin connected with the root of Gr.κέρας, horn. “Hind” (O.E.hine, probably from the O.E.hinan, members of a family or household), meaning a servant, especially a labourer on a farm, is another word. In Scotland the “hind” is a farm servant, with a cottage on the farm, and duties and responsibilities that make him superior to the rest of the labourers. Similarly “hind” is used in certain parts of northern England as equivalent to “bailiff.”
HINDERSIN, GUSTAV EDUARD VON(1804-1872), Prussian general, was born at Wernigerode near Halberstadt on the 18th of July 1804. He was the son of a priest and received a good education. His earlier life was spent in great poverty, and the struggle for existence developed in him an iron strength of character. Entering the Prussian artillery in 1820 he became an officer in 1825. From 1830 to 1837 he attended the Allgemeine Kriegsakademie at Berlin, and in 1841, while still a subaltern, he was posted to the great General Staff, in which he afterwards directed the topographical section. In 1849 he served with the rank of major on the staff of General Peucker, who commanded a federal corps in the suppression of the Baden insurrection. He fell into the hands of the insurgents at the action of Ladenburg, but was released just before the fall of Rastadt. In the Danish war of 1864 Hindersin, now lieutenant-general, directed the artillery operations against the lines of Düppel, and for his services was ennobled by the king of Prussia. Soon afterwards he became inspector-general of artillery. His experience at Düppel had convinced him that the days of the smooth-bore gun were past, and he now devoted himself with unremitting zeal to the rearmament and reorganization of the Prussian artillery. The available funds were small, and grudgingly voted by the parliament. There was a strong feeling moreover that the smooth-bore was still tactically superior to its rival (seeArtillery, § 19). There was no practical training for war in either the field or the fortress artillery units. The latter had made scarcely any progress since the days of Frederick the Great, and before von Hindersin’s appointment had practised with the same guns in the same bastion year after year. All this was altered, the whole “foot-artillery” was reorganized, manoeuvres were instituted, and the smooth-bores were, except for ditch defence, eliminated from the armament of the Prussian fortresses. But far more important was his work in connexion with the field and horse batteries. In 1864 only one battery in four had rifled guns, but by the unrelenting energy of von Hindersin the outbreak of war with Austria one and a half years later found the Prussians with ten in every sixteen batteries armed with the new weapon. But the battles of 1866 showed, besides the superiority of the rifled gun, a very marked absence of tactical efficiency in the Prussian artillery, which was almost always outmatched by that of the enemy. Von Hindersin had pleaded, in season and out of season, for the establishment of a school of gunnery; and in spite of want of funds, such a school had already been established. After 1866, however, more support was obtained, and the improvement in the Prussian field artillery between 1866 and 1870 was extraordinary, even though there had not been time for the work of the school to leaven the whole arm. Indeed, the German artillery played by far the most important part in the victories of the Franco-German war. Von Hindersin accompanied the king’s headquarters as chief of artillery, as he had done in 1866, and was present at Gravelotte, Sedan and the siege of Paris. But his work, which was now accomplished, had worn out his physical powers, and he died on the 23rd of January 1872 at Berlin.
See Bartholomäus,Der General der Infanterie von Hindersin(Berlin, 1895), and Prince Kraft zu Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen,Letters on Artillery(translated by Major Walford, R.A.), No. xi.
See Bartholomäus,Der General der Infanterie von Hindersin(Berlin, 1895), and Prince Kraft zu Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen,Letters on Artillery(translated by Major Walford, R.A.), No. xi.
HINDĪ, EASTERN,one of the “intermediate” Indo-Aryan languages (seeHindostani). It is spoken in Oudh, Baghelkhand and Chhattisgarh by over 22,000,000 people. It is derived from the Apabhraṁśa form of Ardhamāgadhī Prakrit (seePrakrit), and possesses a large and important literature. Its most famous writer was Tulsī Dās, the poet and reformer, who died early in the 17th century, and since his time it has been the North-Indian language employed for epic poetry.
HINDĪ, WESTERN,the Indo-Aryan language of the middle and upper Gangetic Doab, and of the country to the north and south. It is the vernacular of over 40,000,000 people. Its standard dialect is Braj Bhāshā, spoken near Muttra, which has a considerable literature mainly devoted to the religion founded on devotion to Krishna. Another dialect spoken near Delhi and in the upper Gangetic Doab is the original from which Hindostani, the greatlingua francaof India, has developed (seeHindostani). Western Hindī, like Punjabi, its neighbour to the west, is descended from the Apabhraṁśa form of Śaurasēnī Prakrit (seePrakrit), and represents the language of the Madhyadēśa or Midland, as distinct from the intermediate and outer Indo-Aryan languages.
HINDKI,the name given to the Hindus who inhabit Afghanistan. They are of the Khatri class, and are found all over the country even amongst the wildest tribes. Bellew in hisRaces of Afghanistanestimates their number at about 300,000. The name Hindki is also loosely used on the upper Indus, in Dir, Bajour, &c., to denote the speakers of Punjabi or any of its dialects. It is sometimes applied in a historical sense to the Buddhist inhabitants of the Peshawar Valley north of the Kabul river, who were driven thence about the 5th or 6th century and settled in the neighbourhood of Kandahar.
HINDLEY,an urban district in the Ince parliamentary division of Lancashire, England, 2 m. E.S.E. of Wigan, on the Lancashire & Yorkshire and Great Central railways. Pop. (1901) 23,504. Cotton spinning and the manufacture of cotton goods are the principal industries, and there are extensive coal-mines in the neighbourhood. It is recorded that in the time of thePuritan revolution Hindley church was entered by the Cavaliers, who played at cards in the pews, pulled down the pulpit and tore the Bible in pieces.
HINDOSTANI(properlyHindōstāni, of or belonging to Hindostan1), the name given by Europeans to an Indo-Aryan dialect (whose home is in the upper Gangetic Doab and near the city of Delhi), which, owing to political causes, has become the greatlingua francaof modern India. The name is not employed by natives of India, except as an imitation of the English nomenclature. Hindostani is by origin a dialect of Western Hindi, and it is first of all necessary to explain what we mean by the term “Hindi” as applied to language. Modern Indo-Aryan languages fall into three groups,—an outer band, the language of the Midland and an intermediate band. The Midland consists of the Gangetic Doab and of the country to its immediate north and south, extending, roughly speaking, from the Eastern Punjab on the west, to Cawnpore on its east. The language of this tract is called “Western Hindi”; to its west we have Panjabi (of the Central Punjab), and to the east, reaching as far as Benares, Eastern Hindi, both Intermediate languages. These three will all be dealt with in the present article. Panjabi and Western Hindi are derived from Śaurasēnī, and Eastern Hindi from Ardham gadhā Prakrit, through the corresponding Apabhraṁśas (seePrakrit). Eastern Hindi differs in many respects from the two others, but it is customary to consider it together with the language of the Midland, and this will be followed on the present occasion. In 1901 the speakers of these three languages numbered: Panjabi, 17,070,961; Western Hindi, 40,714,925; Eastern Hindi, 22,136,358.
Linguistic Boundaries.—Taking the tract covered by these three forms of speech, it has to its west, in the western Punjab, Lanndā (seeSindhi), a language of the Outer band. The parent of Lahndā once no doubt covered the whole of the Punjab, but, in the process of expansion of the tribes of the Midland described in the articleIndo-Aryan Languages, it was gradually driven back, leaving traces of its former existence which grow stronger as we proceed westwards, until at about the 74th degree of east longitude there is a mixed, transition dialect. To the west of that degree Lahndā may be said to be established, the deserts of the west-central Punjab forming a barrier and protecting it, just as, farther south, a continuation of the same desert has protected Sindhi from Rajasthani. It is the old traces of Lahndā which mainly differentiate Panjabi from Hindostani. To the south of Panjabi and Western Hindi lies Rajasthani. This language arose in much the same way as Panjabi. The expanding Midland language was stopped by the desert from reaching Sindhi, but to the south-west it found an unobstructed way into Gujarat, where, under the form of Gujarati, it broke the continuity of the Outer band. Eastern Hindi, as an Intermediate form of speech, is of much older lineage. It has been an Intermediate language since, at least, the institution of Jainism (say, 500B.C.), and is much less subject to the influence of the Midland than is Panjabi. To its east it has Bihari, and, stretching far to the south, it has Marathi as its neighbour in that direction, both of these being Outer languages.
Dialects.—The only important dialect of Eastern Hindi is Awadhī, spoken in Oudh, and possessing a large literature of great excellence. Chhattīsgaṛhī and Baghēlī, the other dialects, have scanty literatures of small value. Western Hindi has four main dialects, Bundēlī of Bundelkhand, Braj Bhasha (properly “Braj Bhāṣā”) of the country round Mathura (Muttra), Kanaujī of the central Doab and the country to its north, and vernacular Hindostani of Delhi and the Upper Doab. West of the Upper Doab, across the Jumna, another dialect, Bāngarū, is also found. It possesses no literature. Kanauji is very closely allied to Braj Bhasha, and these two share with Awadhi the honour of being the great literary speeches of northern India. Nearly all the classical literature of India is religious in character, and we may say that, as a broad rule, Awadhi literature is devoted to the Ramaite religion and the epic poetry connected with it, while that of Braj Bhasha is concerned with the religion of Krishna. Vernacular Hindostani has no literature of its own, but as thelingua francanow to be described it has a large one. Panjabi has one dialect, Dōgrī, spoken in the Himalayas.
Hindostani as a Lingua Franca.—It has often been said that Hindostani is a mongrel “pigeon” form of speech made up of contributions from the various languages which met in Delhi bazaar, but this theory has now been proved to be unfounded, owing to the discovery of the fact that it is an actual living dialect of Western Hindi, existing for centuries in its present habitat, and the direct descendant of Śaurasēnī Prakrit. It is not a typical dialect of that language, for, situated where it is, it represents Western Hindi merging into Panjabi (Braj Bhasha being admittedly the standard of the language), but to say that it is a mongrel tongue thrown together in the market is to reverse the order of events. It was the natural language of the people in the neighbourhood of Delhi, who formed the bulk of those who resorted to the bazaar, and hence it became the bazaar language. From here it became thelingua francaof the Mogul camp and was carried everywhere in India by the lieutenants of the empire. It has several recognized varieties, amongst which we may mention Dakhinī, Urdū, Rēkhta and Hindī. Dakhini or “southern,” is the form current in the south of India, and was the first to be employed for literature. It contains many archaic expressions now extinct in the standard dialect. Urdu, orUrdū zabān, “the language of the camp,” is the name usually employed for Hindostani by natives, and is now the standard form of speech used by Mussulmans. All the early Hindostani literature was in poetry, and this literary form of speech was named “Rēkhta,” or “scattered,” from the way in which words borrowed from Persian were “scattered” through it. The name is now reserved for the dialect used in poetry, Urdu being the dialect of prose and of conversation. The introduction of these borrowed words, which has been carried to even a greater extent in Urdu, was facilitated by the facts that the latter was by origin a “camp” language, and that Persian was the official language of the Mogul court. In this way Persian (and, with Persian, Arabic) words came into current use, and, though the language remained Indo-Aryan in its grammar and essential characteristics, it soon became unintelligible to any one who had not at least a moderate acquaintance with the vocabulary of Iran. This extreme Persianization of Urdu was due rather to Hindu than to Persian influence. Although Urdu literature was Mussulman in its origin, the Persian element was first introduced in excess by the pliant Hindu officials employed in the Mogul administration, and acquainted with Persian, rather than by Persians and Persianized Moguls, who for many centuries used only their own languages for literary purposes.2Prose Urdu literature took itsorigin in the English occupation of India and the need for text-books for the college of Fort William. It has had a prosperous career since the commencement of the 19th century, but some writers, especially those of Lucknow, have so overloaded it with Persian and Arabic that little of the original Indo-Aryan character remains, except, perhaps, an occasional pronoun or auxiliary verb. The Hindi form of Hindostani was invented simultaneously with Urdu prose by the teachers at Fort William. It was intended to be a Hindostani for the use of Hindus, and was derived from Urdu by ejecting all words of Persian or Arabic birth, and substituting for them words either borrowed from Sanskrit (tatsamas) or derived from the old primary Prakrit (tadbhavas) (seeIndo-Aryan Languages). Owing to the popularity of the first book written in it, and to its supplying the need for alingua francawhich could be used by the most patriotic Hindus without offending their religious prejudices, it became widely adopted, and is now the recognized vehicle for writing prose by those inhabitants of northern India who do not employ Urdu. This Hindi, which is an altogether artificial product of the English, is hardly ever used for poetry. For this the indigenous dialects (usually Awadhi or Braj Bhasha) are nearly always employed by Hindus. Urdu, on the other hand, having had a natural growth, has a vigorous poetical literature. Modern Hindi prose is often disfigured by that too free borrowing of Sanskrit words instead of using home-borntadbhavas, which has been the ruin of Bengali, and it is rapidly becoming a Hindu counterpart of the Persianized Urdu, neither of which is intelligible except to persons of high education.
Not only has Urdu adopted a Persian vocabulary, but even a few peculiarities of Persian construction, such as reversing the positions of the governing and the governed word (e.g.báp mērāformērā bāp), or of the adjective and the substantive it qualifies, or such as the use of Persian phrases with the prepositionbainstead of the native postposition of the ablative case (e.g.ba-khushíforkhushī-sē, orba-ḥukm sarkār-kēinstead ofsarkār-kē ḥukm-sē) are to be met with in many writings; and these, perhaps, combined with the too free indulgence on the part of some authors in the use of high-flown and pedantic Persian and Arabic words in place of common and yet chaste Indian words, and the general use of the Persian instead of the Nāgarī character, have induced some to regard Hindostani or Urdu as a language distinct from Hindi. But such a view betrays a radical misunderstanding of the whole question. We must define Urdu as the Persianized Hindostani of educated Mussulmans, while Hindi is the Sanskritized Hindostani of educated Hindus. As for the written character, Urdu, from the number of Persian words which it contains, can only be written conveniently in the Persian character, while Hindi, for a parallel reason, can only be written in the Nagari or one of its related alphabets (seeSanskrit). On the other hand, “Hindostani” implies the greatlingua francaof India, capable of being written in either character, and, without purism, avoiding the excessive use of either Persian or Sanskrit words when employed for literature. It is easy to write this Hindostani, for it has an opulent vocabulary oftadbhavawords understood everywhere by both Mussulmans and Hindus. While “Hindostani,” “Urdu” and “Hindi” are thus names of dialects, it should be remembered that the terms “Western Hindi” and “Eastern Hindi” connote, not dialects, but languages.
The epoch of Akbar, which first saw a regular revenue system established, with toleration and the free use of their religion to the Hindus, was, there can be little doubt, the period of the formation of the language. But its final consolidation did not take place till the reign of Shah Jahān. After the date of this monarch the changes are comparatively immaterial until we come to the time when European sources began to mingle with those of the East. Of the contributions from these sources there is little to say. Like the greater part of those from Arabic and Persian, they are chiefly nouns, and may be regarded rather as excrescences which have sprung up casually and have attached themselves to the original trunk than as ingredients duly incorporated in the body. In the case of the Persian and Arabic element, indeed, we do find not a few instances in which nouns have been furnished with a Hindi termination,e.g.kharīdnā,badalnā,guzarnā,dāghnā,bakhshnaā,kamīnapan, &c.; but the European element cannot be said to have at all woven itself into the grammar of the language. It consists, as has been observed, solely of nouns, principally substantive nouns, which on their admission into the language are spelt phonetically, or according to the corrupt pronunciation they receive in the mouths of the natives, and are declined like the indigenous nouns by means of the usual postpositions or case-affixes. A few examples will suffice. The Portuguese, the first in order of seniority, contributes a few words, askamarāorkamrā(camera), a room;mārtōl(martello), a hammer;nīlām(leilão), an auction, &c. &c. Of French and Dutch influence scarcely a trace exists. English has contributed a number of words, some of which have even found a place in the literature of the language;e.g.kamishanar(commissioner);jaj(judge);ḍākṭar(doctor);ḍākṭarī, “the science of medicine” or “the profession of physicians”;inspēkṭar(inspector);isṭanṭ(assistant);sōsayaṭí(society);apīl(appeal);apīl karnā, “to appeal”;ḍikrīorḍigrī(decree);ḍigrī(degree);inc(inch);fut(foot); and many more, are now words commonly used. Some borrowed words are distorted into the shape of genuine Hindostani words familiar to the speakers;e.g.the English railway term “signal” has becomesikandar, the native name for Alexander the Great, and “signal-man” issikandar-mān, or “the pride of Alexander.” How far the free use of Anglicisms will be adopted as the language progresses is a question upon which it would be hazardous to pronounce an opinion, but of late years it has greatly increased in the language of the educated, especially in the case of technical terms. A native veterinary surgeon once said to the present writer, “kuttē-kā saliva bahut antiseptic hai” for “a dog’s saliva is very antiseptic,” and this is not an extravagant example.3
The vocabulary of Panjabi and Eastern Hindi is very similar to that of Western Hindi. Panjabi has no literature to speak of and is free from the burden of words borrowed from Persian or Sanskrit, only the commonest and simplest of such being found in it. Its vocabulary is thus almost entirelytadbhava, and, while capable of expressing all ideas, it has a charming rustic flavour, like the Lowland Scotch of Burns, indicative of the national character of the sturdy peasantry that employs it. Eastern Hindi is very like Panjabi in this respect, but for a different reason. In it were written the works of Tulsī Dās, one of the greatest writers that India has produced, and his influence on the language has been as great as that of Shakespeare on English. The peasantry are continually quoting him without knowing it, and his style, simple and yet vigorous, thoroughly Indian and yet free from purism, has set a model which is everywhere followed except in the large towns where Urdu or Sanskritized Hindi prevails. Eastern Hindi is written in the Nāgarī alphabet, or in the current character related to it called “Kaithi” (seeBihari). The indigenous alphabet of the Punjab is calledLaṇḍāor “clipped.” It is related to Nāgarī, but is hardly legible to any one except the original writer, and sometimes not even to him. To remedy this defect an improved form of the alphabet was devised in the 16th century by Angad, the fifth Sikh Guru, for the purpose of recording the Sikh scriptures. It was namedGurmukhī, “proceeding from the mouth of the Guru,” and is now generally used for writing the language.
Grammar.—In the following account we use these contractions: Skr. = Sanskrit; Pr. = Prakrit; Ap. = Apabhraṁśa; W.H. = Western Hindi; E.H. = Eastern Hindi; H. = Hindostani; Br. = Braj Bhasha; P. = Panjabi.(A)Phonetics.—The phonetic system of all three languages is nearly the same as that of the Apabhraṁśas from which they are derived. With a few exceptions, to be noted below, the letters of the alphabets of the three languages are the same as in Sanskrit. Panjabi, and the western dialects of Western Hindi, have preserved the old Vedic cerebral l. There is a tendency for concurrent vowels to run into each other, and for the semi-vowels y and v to become vowels. Thus, Skr.carmakāras, Ap.cammaāru, a leather-worker,becomes H.camār; Skr.rajani, Ap.ra(y)aṇi, H.rain, night; Skr.dhavalakas, Ap.dhavalau, H.dhaulā, white. Sometimes the semi-vowel is retained, as in Skr.kātaras, Ap.kā(y)aru, H.kāyar, a coward. Almost the only compound consonants which survived in the Pr. stage were double letters, and in W.H. and E.H. these are usually simplified, the preceding vowel being lengthened and sometimes nasalized, in compensation. P., on the other hand, prefers to retain the double consonant. Thus, Skr.karma, Ap.kammu, W.H. and E.H.kām, but P.kamm, a work; Skr.satyas, Ap.saccu, W.H. and E.H.sāc, but P.sacc, true (H., being the W.H. dialect which lies nearest to P., often follows that language, and in this instance hassacc, usually writtensac); Skr.hastas, Ap.hatthu, W.H. and E.H.hāth, but P.hatth, a hand. The nasalization of vowels is very frequent in all three languages, and is here represented by the sign ~ over the vowel. Sometimes it is compensatory, as insãc, but it often represents an originalm, as inkawãlfrom Skr.kamalas, a lotus. Final short vowels quiesce in prose pronunciation, and are usually not written in transliteration; thus the finala,ioruhas been lost in all the examples given above, and othertatsamaexamples are Skr.mati-which becomesmat, mind, and Skr.vastu-, which becomesbast, a thing. In all poetry, however (except in the Urdū poetry formed on Persian models, and under the rules of Persian prosody), they reappear and are necessary for the scansion.Intadbhavawords an original long vowel in any syllable earlier than the penultimate is shortened. In P. and H. when the long vowel isēorōit is shortened toiorurespectively, but in other W.H. dialects and in E.H. it is shortened toeoro; thus,bēṭī, daughter, long form H.biṭiyā, E.H.beṭiyā;ghōṛī, mare, long form H.ghuṛiyā, E.H.ghoṛiyā. The short vowelseandoare very rare in P. and H., but are not uncommon (though ignored by most grammars) in E.H. and the other W.H. dialects. A medialḍis pronounced as a strongly burred cerebralṛ, and is then written as shown, with a supposited dot. All these changes and various contractions of Prakrit syllables have caused considerable variations in the forms of words, but generally not so as to obscure the origin.(B)Declension.—The nominative form of atadbhavaword is derived from the nominative form in Sanskrit and Prakrit, buttatsamawords are usually borrowed in the form of the Skr. crude base; thus, Skr.hastin-, nom.hastī, Ap. nom.hatthī, H.hāthī, an elephant; Skr. basemati-, nom.matis, H. (tatsama)mati, or, with elision of the final short vowel,mat. Sometatsamasare, however, borrowed in the nominative form, as in Skr.dhanin-, nom.dhanī, H.dhanī, a rich man. As another example of atadbhavaword, we may take the Skr. nom.ghōṭas, Ap.ghōḍu, H.ghōṛ, a horse. Here again the final short vowel has been elided, but in old poetry we should findghōṛu, and corresponding forms inuare occasionally met with at the present day.In the articlePrakritattention is drawn to the frequent use of pleonastic suffixes, especially -ka- (fem.-(i)kā). With such a suffix we have the Skr.ghōṭa-kas, Ap.ghōḍa-u, Western Hindighoṛau, or in P. and H. (which is the W.H. dialect nearest in locality to P.)ghōṛā, a horse; Skr.ghōṭi-kā, Ap.ghōḍi-ā, W.H. and P.ghōḍī, a mare. Such modern forms made with one pleonastic suffix are called “strong forms,” while those made without it are called “weak forms.” All strong forms end inau(orā) in the masculine, and inīin the feminine, whereas, in Skr., and hence intatsamas, bothāandīare generally typical of feminine words, though sometimes employed for the masculine. It is shown in the articlePrakritthat these pleonastic suffixes can be doubled, or even trebled, and in this way we have a new series oftadbhavaforms. Let us take the imaginary Skr. *ghōṭa-ka-kaswith a double suffix. From this we have the Ap.ghōḍa-a-u, and modernghoṛawā(with euphonicwinserted), a horse. Similarly for the feminine we have Skr. *ghōṭi-ka-kā, Ap.ghōḍi-a-ā, modernghoṛiyā(with euphonicyinserted), a mare. Such forms, made with two suffixes, are called “long forms,” and are heard in familiar conversation, the feminine also serving as diminutives. There is a further stage, built upon three suffixes, and called the “redundant form,” which is mainly used by the vulgar. As a rule masculine long forms end in -awā, -iyāor -uā, and feminines in -iyā, although the matter is complicated by the occasional use of pleonastic suffixes other than the -ka- which we have taken for our example, and is the most common. Strong forms are rarely met with in E.H., but on the other hand long forms are more common in that language.There are a few feminine terminations of weak nouns which may be noted. These are -inī, -in, -an, -nī(Skr. -inī, Pr.-iṇī); and -ānī, -āni, -āin(Skr. -ānī, Pr. -āṇī). These are found not only in words derived from Prakrit, but are added to Persian and even Arabic words; thus,hathinī,hathnī,hāthin(Skr.hastinī, Pr.hatthiṇī), a she-elephant;sunārin,sunāran, a female goldsmith (sōnār);shērnī, a tigress (Persianshēr, a tiger);Naṣīban, a proper name (Arabicnaṣīb);paṇḍitānī, the wife of apaṇḍit;caudhrāin, the wife of acaudhrīor head man;mehtrānī, the wife of a sweeper (Pres.mehtar, a sweeper). With these exceptions weak forms rarely have any terminations distinctive of gender.4The synthetic declension of Sanskrit and Prakrit has disappeared. We see it in the actual stage of disappearance in Apabhraṁśa (seePrakrit), in which the case terminations had become worn down to -hu, -ho, -hi, -hīand -hã, of which -hiand -hĩwere employed for several cases, both singular and plural. There was also a marked tendency for these terminations to be confused, and in the earliest stages of the modern vernaculars we find -hifreely employed for any oblique case of the singular, and -hīfor any oblique case of the plural, but more especially for the genitive and the locative. In the case of modern weak nouns these terminations have disappeared altogether in W.H. and P. except in sporadic forms of the locative such asgãwē(forgãwahi), in the village. In E.H. they are still heard as the termination of a form which can stand for any oblique case, and is called the “oblique form” or the “oblique case.” Thus, fromghar, a house (a weak noun), we have W.H. and P. oblique formghar, E.H.gharahi,gharēorghar. In the plural, the oblique form is sometimes founded on the Ap. terminations -hãand -hu, and sometimes on the Skr. termination of the genitive plural -ānām(Pr. -āṇa, -aṇhaṃ), as in P.gharã, W.H.gharaū,gharõ,gharani, E.H.gharan. In the case of masculine weak forms, the plural nominative has dropped the old termination, except in E.H., where it has adopted the oblique plural form for this case also, thusgharan. The nominative plural of feminine weak forms follows the example of the masculine in E.H. In P. it also takes the oblique plural form, while in W.H. it takes the old singular oblique form in -ahĩ, which it weakens toaĩor (H.)ẽ; thusbāt(fem.), a word, nom. plur. E.H.bāt-an, P.bāt-ã, W.H.bātaĩor (H.)bāte.Strong masculine bases in Ap. ended in -a-a(nom. -a-u); thusghōḍa-a- (nom.ghōḍa-u), and adding -hiwe getghōḍa-a-hi, which becomes contractedghōḍāhiand finally toghōṛē. The nominative plural is the same as the oblique singular, except in E.H. where it follows the oblique plural. The oblique plural of all closely follows in principle the weak forms. Feminine strong forms in Ap. ended in -i-ā, contracted toīin the modern languages. Except in E.H. the -hiof the original oblique form singular disappears, so that we have E.H.ghōṛihiorghōṛī, others onlyghōṛī. The nominative plural of feminine strong forms exhibits some irregularities. In E.H., as usual, it follows the plural oblique forms. In W.H. (except Hindostani) it simply nasalizes the oblique form singular (i.e.adds -hĩinstead of -hi), as inghōrĩ, but first on line looks like -hĩ]. P. and H. adopt the oblique long form for the plural and nasalize it, thus, P.ghōṛīã, H.ghōṛiyã. The oblique plurals call for no further remarks. We thus get the following summary, illustrating the way in which these nominative and oblique forms are made.
Grammar.—In the following account we use these contractions: Skr. = Sanskrit; Pr. = Prakrit; Ap. = Apabhraṁśa; W.H. = Western Hindi; E.H. = Eastern Hindi; H. = Hindostani; Br. = Braj Bhasha; P. = Panjabi.
(A)Phonetics.—The phonetic system of all three languages is nearly the same as that of the Apabhraṁśas from which they are derived. With a few exceptions, to be noted below, the letters of the alphabets of the three languages are the same as in Sanskrit. Panjabi, and the western dialects of Western Hindi, have preserved the old Vedic cerebral l. There is a tendency for concurrent vowels to run into each other, and for the semi-vowels y and v to become vowels. Thus, Skr.carmakāras, Ap.cammaāru, a leather-worker,becomes H.camār; Skr.rajani, Ap.ra(y)aṇi, H.rain, night; Skr.dhavalakas, Ap.dhavalau, H.dhaulā, white. Sometimes the semi-vowel is retained, as in Skr.kātaras, Ap.kā(y)aru, H.kāyar, a coward. Almost the only compound consonants which survived in the Pr. stage were double letters, and in W.H. and E.H. these are usually simplified, the preceding vowel being lengthened and sometimes nasalized, in compensation. P., on the other hand, prefers to retain the double consonant. Thus, Skr.karma, Ap.kammu, W.H. and E.H.kām, but P.kamm, a work; Skr.satyas, Ap.saccu, W.H. and E.H.sāc, but P.sacc, true (H., being the W.H. dialect which lies nearest to P., often follows that language, and in this instance hassacc, usually writtensac); Skr.hastas, Ap.hatthu, W.H. and E.H.hāth, but P.hatth, a hand. The nasalization of vowels is very frequent in all three languages, and is here represented by the sign ~ over the vowel. Sometimes it is compensatory, as insãc, but it often represents an originalm, as inkawãlfrom Skr.kamalas, a lotus. Final short vowels quiesce in prose pronunciation, and are usually not written in transliteration; thus the finala,ioruhas been lost in all the examples given above, and othertatsamaexamples are Skr.mati-which becomesmat, mind, and Skr.vastu-, which becomesbast, a thing. In all poetry, however (except in the Urdū poetry formed on Persian models, and under the rules of Persian prosody), they reappear and are necessary for the scansion.
Intadbhavawords an original long vowel in any syllable earlier than the penultimate is shortened. In P. and H. when the long vowel isēorōit is shortened toiorurespectively, but in other W.H. dialects and in E.H. it is shortened toeoro; thus,bēṭī, daughter, long form H.biṭiyā, E.H.beṭiyā;ghōṛī, mare, long form H.ghuṛiyā, E.H.ghoṛiyā. The short vowelseandoare very rare in P. and H., but are not uncommon (though ignored by most grammars) in E.H. and the other W.H. dialects. A medialḍis pronounced as a strongly burred cerebralṛ, and is then written as shown, with a supposited dot. All these changes and various contractions of Prakrit syllables have caused considerable variations in the forms of words, but generally not so as to obscure the origin.
(B)Declension.—The nominative form of atadbhavaword is derived from the nominative form in Sanskrit and Prakrit, buttatsamawords are usually borrowed in the form of the Skr. crude base; thus, Skr.hastin-, nom.hastī, Ap. nom.hatthī, H.hāthī, an elephant; Skr. basemati-, nom.matis, H. (tatsama)mati, or, with elision of the final short vowel,mat. Sometatsamasare, however, borrowed in the nominative form, as in Skr.dhanin-, nom.dhanī, H.dhanī, a rich man. As another example of atadbhavaword, we may take the Skr. nom.ghōṭas, Ap.ghōḍu, H.ghōṛ, a horse. Here again the final short vowel has been elided, but in old poetry we should findghōṛu, and corresponding forms inuare occasionally met with at the present day.
In the articlePrakritattention is drawn to the frequent use of pleonastic suffixes, especially -ka- (fem.-(i)kā). With such a suffix we have the Skr.ghōṭa-kas, Ap.ghōḍa-u, Western Hindighoṛau, or in P. and H. (which is the W.H. dialect nearest in locality to P.)ghōṛā, a horse; Skr.ghōṭi-kā, Ap.ghōḍi-ā, W.H. and P.ghōḍī, a mare. Such modern forms made with one pleonastic suffix are called “strong forms,” while those made without it are called “weak forms.” All strong forms end inau(orā) in the masculine, and inīin the feminine, whereas, in Skr., and hence intatsamas, bothāandīare generally typical of feminine words, though sometimes employed for the masculine. It is shown in the articlePrakritthat these pleonastic suffixes can be doubled, or even trebled, and in this way we have a new series oftadbhavaforms. Let us take the imaginary Skr. *ghōṭa-ka-kaswith a double suffix. From this we have the Ap.ghōḍa-a-u, and modernghoṛawā(with euphonicwinserted), a horse. Similarly for the feminine we have Skr. *ghōṭi-ka-kā, Ap.ghōḍi-a-ā, modernghoṛiyā(with euphonicyinserted), a mare. Such forms, made with two suffixes, are called “long forms,” and are heard in familiar conversation, the feminine also serving as diminutives. There is a further stage, built upon three suffixes, and called the “redundant form,” which is mainly used by the vulgar. As a rule masculine long forms end in -awā, -iyāor -uā, and feminines in -iyā, although the matter is complicated by the occasional use of pleonastic suffixes other than the -ka- which we have taken for our example, and is the most common. Strong forms are rarely met with in E.H., but on the other hand long forms are more common in that language.
There are a few feminine terminations of weak nouns which may be noted. These are -inī, -in, -an, -nī(Skr. -inī, Pr.-iṇī); and -ānī, -āni, -āin(Skr. -ānī, Pr. -āṇī). These are found not only in words derived from Prakrit, but are added to Persian and even Arabic words; thus,hathinī,hathnī,hāthin(Skr.hastinī, Pr.hatthiṇī), a she-elephant;sunārin,sunāran, a female goldsmith (sōnār);shērnī, a tigress (Persianshēr, a tiger);Naṣīban, a proper name (Arabicnaṣīb);paṇḍitānī, the wife of apaṇḍit;caudhrāin, the wife of acaudhrīor head man;mehtrānī, the wife of a sweeper (Pres.mehtar, a sweeper). With these exceptions weak forms rarely have any terminations distinctive of gender.4
The synthetic declension of Sanskrit and Prakrit has disappeared. We see it in the actual stage of disappearance in Apabhraṁśa (seePrakrit), in which the case terminations had become worn down to -hu, -ho, -hi, -hīand -hã, of which -hiand -hĩwere employed for several cases, both singular and plural. There was also a marked tendency for these terminations to be confused, and in the earliest stages of the modern vernaculars we find -hifreely employed for any oblique case of the singular, and -hīfor any oblique case of the plural, but more especially for the genitive and the locative. In the case of modern weak nouns these terminations have disappeared altogether in W.H. and P. except in sporadic forms of the locative such asgãwē(forgãwahi), in the village. In E.H. they are still heard as the termination of a form which can stand for any oblique case, and is called the “oblique form” or the “oblique case.” Thus, fromghar, a house (a weak noun), we have W.H. and P. oblique formghar, E.H.gharahi,gharēorghar. In the plural, the oblique form is sometimes founded on the Ap. terminations -hãand -hu, and sometimes on the Skr. termination of the genitive plural -ānām(Pr. -āṇa, -aṇhaṃ), as in P.gharã, W.H.gharaū,gharõ,gharani, E.H.gharan. In the case of masculine weak forms, the plural nominative has dropped the old termination, except in E.H., where it has adopted the oblique plural form for this case also, thusgharan. The nominative plural of feminine weak forms follows the example of the masculine in E.H. In P. it also takes the oblique plural form, while in W.H. it takes the old singular oblique form in -ahĩ, which it weakens toaĩor (H.)ẽ; thusbāt(fem.), a word, nom. plur. E.H.bāt-an, P.bāt-ã, W.H.bātaĩor (H.)bāte.
Strong masculine bases in Ap. ended in -a-a(nom. -a-u); thusghōḍa-a- (nom.ghōḍa-u), and adding -hiwe getghōḍa-a-hi, which becomes contractedghōḍāhiand finally toghōṛē. The nominative plural is the same as the oblique singular, except in E.H. where it follows the oblique plural. The oblique plural of all closely follows in principle the weak forms. Feminine strong forms in Ap. ended in -i-ā, contracted toīin the modern languages. Except in E.H. the -hiof the original oblique form singular disappears, so that we have E.H.ghōṛihiorghōṛī, others onlyghōṛī. The nominative plural of feminine strong forms exhibits some irregularities. In E.H., as usual, it follows the plural oblique forms. In W.H. (except Hindostani) it simply nasalizes the oblique form singular (i.e.adds -hĩinstead of -hi), as inghōrĩ, but first on line looks like -hĩ]. P. and H. adopt the oblique long form for the plural and nasalize it, thus, P.ghōṛīã, H.ghōṛiyã. The oblique plurals call for no further remarks. We thus get the following summary, illustrating the way in which these nominative and oblique forms are made.