Forlong - Rivers of Life

xxxviii
Preface.
person under diverse orthographies. On this principle also, so that the unsophisticated
be not confused, a Vaishnava is here usually called a Vishnu-ite, and Saivaism, Sivaism
and the followers of Solar Shams, Sh-m or Shem, Shemites, and not Semites.
A volume might be written on the use and abuse of aspirates, which it is agreed
are “one thing in Sanskrit, another in Greek, a third in Latin, and a fourth in Teutonic.”
The h is a necessity or fashionable addition in some districts but is scorned
in others. We tread gently upon Herbs, Hostlers, and Honorables, and in searching
after roots do well to look indifferently on t and th, p and ph, k and kh, g and gh,
d and dh, j and dj, &c., &c. These sounds and many others, require special and
cautious handling, for what one locality favors, another denounces, and the literate and
illiterate are here usually at war. If we would find out roots, words and mythological
matters, we must probe most deeply on the side of age and. custom, and call present
meanings and etymology severely in question. The learned, be they Rabis or grammarians,
intentionally or otherwise harden and alter old forms to suit euphony or their
own laws and ideas, and lose sight of or take little account of the old fashioned rustic
notions, fears and symbolisms which the words anciently embodied. They scorn the
indifference of the illiterate as to quantity and long and short vowels, and lay the
greatest possible stress upon these, even when working in dead languages, the original
sound of which they confess to have more or less lost. Throughout Asia, as in England
and Scotland, we find people only separated from each other by a stream or mountain
range, who would call thr English where and dare, whâr and dâr, just as the Turk
makes the Persian and Arabik Ādit into Adeet, ā into ou, and freely doubles consonants.
So Dravids do not respect the Sanskrit ā and freely alter the severe rules
of its northern grammarians to their own ideas of euphony or propriety
There is nothing gained by continuing, like Irish Kelts, to write adh and pronounce
it oo, or as Scotch Kelts do av or agh, and why should we follow them in writ-ing
ao when they say they mean ai or ee? We are tired of such “a blessing” as
beannughadh, although told to roll all the last syllables into oo, and have no time to
manufacture syllabaries or rolls of letters for every drawl which shepherds and country
folk all over the world address to one another. Let us rather educate them than deform
spelling, and prevent them rolling their words about by giving them and all old races a
correct and sufficient character and orthography for properly pronounced words. Among
the immense educational benefits which missionaries have confened upon the world,
perhaps the most conspicuous and lasting have been their efforts in this direction.
They have often bestowed on rude old tribes not only a character but a literature