Page:The history of the Bengali language (1920).pdf/161

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LECTURE IX
139

disgust is sought to be expressed, the initial letter of the duplicated portion is usually changed into ফ, as—এ গরমে কাজ ফাজ করা চলে না, রাত্রে ভাত ফাত খাওয়া দায়, মাছ ফাছে কাজ কি? etc. It is to be noticed, that in some cases, duplication is made not with the ট initial but with some other letters. চাকর বাকর, বাসন কোসন, রকম সকম, etc. are examples; it is rather difficult to enunciate any general rule for these irregular forms. It may be, that in the cases of these exceptions, the augmented portions are but representatives of some obsolete words, and if so, must be grouped under class four. As in পূজা আর্চা the augmented portion is a contracted form of অর্চনা, so there may be many augmented forms, the meaning of which may be traced.

9. Such onomatopoetic words as কচ্, খঙ্, পট্, মড়্ are generally duplicated in their use. It is worth noting here, that many words simulate onomatopoetic origin, though they are really but অপভ্রংশ forms; ধব্‌ধবে is from ধবল (white) or from ধোয়া (washed clean), মিশ্‌মিশে is from মিশি (black tooth powder), ফুট্‌ফুটে is from Sanskrit স্ফুট্, ফুরফুরে is from Sanskrit স্ফুর্, ভুরভুর is from ভূরি (much). A special class of onomatopoetic words as ঠঙ্ ঠঙ্, ঝন্ জন্, খট্ খট্, etc. is of special interest in the Prākṛta dialects; in olden times the use of such words as well as of Deśī words of all sorts was prohibited by the Sanskrit Grammarians because of their vulgar origin. This is exactly why they are of importance in a history of language. I reproduce in Appendix I, my paper on onomatopoetic words which was published in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society in 1905.