Page:TASJ-1-1-2.djvu/122

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104

duced such as “konnichi” to-day, “sakoban” last evening: I speak of the native part of the vocabulary.

Thus “uma”, horse, is the Chinese ma, and Mongol “mori”, with u prefixed; “sakana”, fish, is the Mongol “dagas” with the d changed to s. This tendency to sibilate appears in the Japanese syllabary very distinctly. What but this has introduced irregularity into the t series, and changed “ta,” “ti,” “tu,” “te,” “to,” into “ta,” “chi,” “tsu,” “te,” “to?” The same principle of sibilation which, since the invention of the Japanese syllabic kana ten centuries ago, has expelled ti, tu, di, and du, from the list of sounds and introduced chi tsu, di and dzu in their place, operated at an earlier period to change the (Hebrew “dag” and) Mongol “dagas” into “sakana”. So also “shita” below is in Mongol “dôtai”; “soroi” to agree, correspond, be a match for is in Mongol “taraho.”

I give some examples from Japanese words beginning with k. The Mongol equivalent is h or g. “Kutsii,” shoes gotal; “kitsui”, fierce, strong, huchu; “kayeru”, return home, hairehu; “oki”, great, ihe; “huldehu”, freeze, kori; “koto”, thing, hereg; “kotoba”, speech, language, hele; “kotaye”, return answer, hairehu; “kuro,” black, hara; “kawa”, river, gol; “katai”, hard, hatago; “katana”, knife, sword; “hadogor”, sickle; okure, behind, hotai.

In identifying these words let it be assumed that the letters l and r both come out of t or d. This is in language so common a phenomenon that it is needless to prove it here.

In making a comparison of words throughout the vocabulary, the following changes of letters come to view.

The Japanese k corresponds to h, k and g of other languages. The Japanese h, f and b correspond to the b, p and f of other languages.

The Japanese ts, ch, sh, z, s, j, and r belong to the t and d of other languages, together with the s, l, and r of those languages. The Japanese w and p may usually be referred to g and d respectively.

The Japanese m at the end of the root very often corresponds to the final ng of Chinese roots.