or scientific term bear the accent on the same syllable as in Latin.[1]
Now in Sanskrit there is also a system of accentuation, though not yet, I believe, entirely understood, and consequently an analogous procedure to the above may be traced in the case of the Indian languages also. Acting upon this assumption, if we find a word retaining, in spite of various changes in its form in other respects, the accent on the same syllable as in Sanskrit, it will not be altogether unreasonable to conclude that it was derived from that language, at a time when it was still spoken among learned men, or, at all events, when a knowledge of its true pronunciation had not died out, and we may, therefore, ascribe to it an antiquity of no mean kind. In some cases, however, though the principle is the same, the method of expression of it is slightly varied; in other words, the Sanskrit accent is reproduced and perpetuated by lengthening the vowel on which it fell and by shortening adjacent long vowels, This is especially the case, to take a common example, in oxytone nouns, which always, if early Tadbhavas, end in â—î, or ô—î, as the proclivity of the language may incline; an oxytone noun, when it becomes a late Tadbhava, neglects the accent, and ends with the consonant. Thus, we find from Skr. क्षुर "knife" (oxytone), H. छुरा; while from Skr. क्षेत्र "field"
- ↑ The following list of words will exemplify what is meant:
Latin. Old Tadbhavas
or popular French words.New Tadbhavas
or scientific words.alúminum alún alumíne ángelus ánge angelús blásphemum bláme blasphéme cáncer cháncre cancér débitum détte debít exámen essáim examén móbilis meúble mobíle órganum órgue orgáne Brachet, Grammaire Historique Française, p. 73.
