VII] LANGUAGES 363
'country-born.' These, though Indo-Aryan, are not descended
from the particular archaic dialect from which Sanskrit
sprang, but belong to the vocabularies of the dialects of
distant parts of India which were contemporary with it. On
the other hand, the prestige of the literary Sanskrit has
exercised a constant influence over all the Aryan vernaculars
of India. Universally, but wrongly, believed to be the parent
of all of them, the would-be children have freely borrowed
words from the vocabulary of their adoptive parent, and this
tendency received an additional impetus with the revival of
learning which dates from the early part of the last century.
In some of the modern languages it then became the fashion
to eschew as much as possible all honest vernacular words
derived from the PrAkrits, and to substitute borrowed Sanskrit
words, much as if a Frenchman were to substitute the Latin
siccus for his own sec, or as if an Englishman were to use the
Anglo-Saxon hliford instead of 'lord.' Native grammarians
call these borrowed words tatsamas, or 'the same as "that"
(sc. Sanskrit),' while the true vernacular words derived from
PrAkrit are tadbhavas, or 'having "that" (sc. Sanskrit) for its
origin.' We thus see that the Aryan portion of the vocabulary
of a modern Indo-Aryan vernacular is composed of three
elements: talsamas, tadbhavas, and desyas. The distinction is of
some importance, for the literary language of some of them,
such as Bengali, is so overloaded with the fashionable tatsarnas
that it may almost be called a national misfortune. For the
sake of a spurious dignity the written word has been rendered
unintelligible to the vast multitudes who have not received the
education imparted by the higher schools.
Other languages have contributed their quotas to the Indo-
Aryan vernaculars. Many words have been borrowed from
Dravidian languages, generally in a contemptuous sense. Thus
the common word pillS, 'a cub,' is really a Dravidian word
meaning 'son.' The most important additions have come
from Persian, and through Persian from Arabic. These are
due to the influence of Mughal domination, and their use is
universal. Every peasant of Northern India employs a few,
while the literary Urda of Lucknow is so full of them, that
little of the true vernacular remains except an occasional
postposition or auxiliary verb. A few words also have been
borrowed from Portuguese, Dutch, and English, often in
quaintly distorted forms. Few Englishmen would recognize
the railway term 'signal' in sikandar, which also, as a true
Hindostani word, means 'Alexander the Great.'
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