English
PREFACE IX The entire phrase, therefore, merely in this one limited aspect of its meaning (and it maybe read in many other ways) signifies “ The Embodiment of the Trinity, or Incarnation of Deity, is my wish-grant¬ ing jewel in the lotus of spiritual rebirth "; the idea apparently being that since the Kostnical Atman, or Brahman* i.e. the first or inner principle of the universe, and the Psychical Atman, or inner principle of individual^lan, are essentially one and the same, our hope of spiri¬ tual rebirth is assured in and by the fact of the eternal subsistence of Brahman and the eeaselessness of the kosmic process above referred to—human re-incarnation being a microcosmic effect or aspect, of the macrocosmic law. Hence, whenever a lama is heard droning out his Om man> 1*1 m* hum, he is really reciting his version of one of the profoundest creeds known to philosophy—but in most cases probably with an artless igno¬ rance that is equally profound. Another mistake that one often meets with, especially in Tlu*t- sophical literature, is that which represents the word Devaciiax as signi¬ fying The <!welling of the gods, doubtless from some vague idea that it derived from the Perso-Hindustani words Petra . a god.’ and Khun or Khaneh , a dwelling-house." It is really the Tibetan word De-wa chan, meaning ‘ Blissful. No one will be better pleased than myself to set* anv errors in this book corrected, or doubts removed, by competent critics. 1 am con¬ scious that there must be errors, and 1 know there are doubts : while the desire of all who are interested in the language cannot but bo to see our knowledge of it advanced. My acknowledgments are due to the grammarians already named and especially to Mr. Henderson and Mr. Bell, whose respective manuals and vocabularies marked a considerable advance upon the grammars that they supplemented and, if I may say so, displaced. The earlier grammars bv Csoma de Kurds and Jaschke were concerned for the most part, if not solely, with archaic classical Tibetan. The former’s “ Collo¬ quial Phrases’" were anything but what would now be regarded as colloquial; while Jaschkc’s colloquial was that of Western Tibet. These grammars, therefore, were not altogether satisfactory for the purposes of modern requirements. Moreover, the manner in which thev dealt with the mysteries of the verb left much to be desired. As for the late Rev, (iraham Sandberg’s grammar, though very elaborate and lemmd, X PREFACE. it did not really constitute a bar to the successful appearance of the Manuals above alluded to. Indeed it may perhaps be said that not until the publication of Mr. Bell’s book were the true forms and func¬ tions of the verb, and especially of and To be, stated with anything like precision and lucidity. I desire also to acknowledge my obligations to the Hon’ble Vice- Chancellor (Sir Ashutosh Mukerji, Kt.) and Syndicate of'the Calcutta University, under whose auspices this contribution to the study of Tibetan has attained the honour and privilege of publication. Lastly, my grateful thanks are also due to Dr. and Mrs. Denison Ross for much kindness and help accorded from time to time; and perhaps most of all to my Munshi, Kazi Dawa Sam Dup, and to Mr. David Macdonald of Kalimpong (probably the first Tibetan scholar in India) who was kind enough to go through the entire MS. and to favour me with his critical comments and general approval. H. B. H. TABLE OF CONTENTS. $ 4 - $ 5 . ^ 6 . £ 7 - $ 8 . * 9 - § 10 . § 11 - § 12 . $ 13 . ^ 14 . § 15 . $ 16. § 17. $ 18. § 19. £ 20 . CHAPTER 1. PRELIMINARY. The 'TT r=3* Ka-K'a I. The T|* VT Ci. Ka-li II. The or A-li Page 1 1 3 Romanized Equivalents . . .. .. 5 Phonetic Modifications of Vowels . . .. 8 Notes . . . . .. . . 11 The Six Reversed Letters .. . . .. 15 ' The Seven Consonants to which tnav be subjoined.. 16 The Fourteen Consonants to which j may be subjoined 17 The Six Consonants to which may be subjoined .. 18 The Six Silent Consonants to which cq may be subjoined 18 The Sixteen Consonants to which may be subjoined IS The Twelve Ra-go Consonants . , . . 21 The Ten La~go Consonants . . .. .. 21 The Twelve Sa-go Consonants . . . . 21 The Five Prefixes . . . . . . 22 Initial Letters and the Prefixes each mav take . . 24 Notes . . . . . , 28 Peculiarities of Pronunciation .. .. 29 The Ten Consonantal Affixes . . .. 33 The Eleven Final Duplications . . . . 34 Colloquial Duplications . . . . . . 37 The Tone System . . . . . . 39 Writing and Punctuation . . . . . . 45 Xll CONTENTS. § $ Page 21 . Spelling • * 50 22 . Transliteration ■ <■ 55 23. Use of the Tibetan Dictionary * ■ 55 24. Indicative and Differentiating Particles. . * * 57 25. Th e Cases and their Signs til I. The Nominative Case 62 n. The Vocative Case m m 63 in. The Objective or Accusative Case . . p * 63 IV. The Genitive Case m *■ 63 V. The Dative Case D 5 VI. The Agentive Case m * 67 VII. The Locative Case * m 69 VIII. The Periodal or Durational Case m m 71 IX. The Modal Case # m 73 X. The Ablative Case 7 5 XI. The Terminative or Transitive Case 77 >6. Nu MEHALS, I. The Cardinal Numbers *■ m b2 II. The Cardinals according to Alphabetical Enumet r a~ l lion " * 4 * a 85 Notes : 1 . Pronunciation ■* * 86 2 . Affixes * * mm * ■ 86 3. Conjunctions m m 87 4. The Indefinite Article 87 5. Approximate Numbers m # 87 (>. Ordinal Numbers K8 7. Distributive Numbers r m 88 s - Aggregates 89 0. Fractions , . * mm m 89 i't. Adverbial Cardinal Numbers * * 90 11 * Ordinal ,, 91 12 Definite and Indefinite Numerals ■ * 91 13 Noun Substantives * A 93 14. Notation by letters m # 93 CONTENTS. XIII CHAPTER 11. ETYMOLOGY. Rage §[ 27. The Definite Article • m * m A A 95 § 28. The Indefinite Article , * 1 A A 99 § 29. The. Non n. A.- -Structure ■ ■■ A A * A 101 1. Monosyllables, Dissyllables, and Polysyllables A * 101 2. The affix 51^3^' * . * m - * 104 3. The affix * - - * A - 1 04 4. The affix - ^ * * A A 106 5. The affix q=f # A >A A * A * 106 6. Abstract Nouns m m ■ - * A 106 B. —Inflexion * ■ A * • * 1. Gender * m ■ ■ * A 107 A 2. Number m m * A • A 109 3. Case m m ■A A A A 111 l. Noun ending in a Vowel * A ■A A 111 H * j > t i >, =T V or C* * # A * 1 15 hi. or ^r A A 116 IV A ' * >3 Jj or or # 116 $ 30. The Adjective. I. Form and Place w A A 116 II. Augmenting of Adjectives A A * A 127 III. The Comparative Degree * ■■ * a 129 IV. The Superlativ e Degree * * A A 131 V. Other Methods of Comparison - . a a 134 § 31. The Pronoun. 1 . Personal Pronouns . * A a 135 II. Declension of Personal Pronouns A A 138 III. The Reflexive Pronouns A A A A 140 IV. Compounds in Ratty * A A A 143 XIV CONTENTS. V. Possessive Pronouns 1. Ordinary Personal Pronouns 2. Reflexive Possessive Pronouns VI. Demonstrative Pronouns VII. The Reciprocal Pronoun VIII. Interrogative Pronouns IX. Relati ve and Correlative Pronouns A. Relative Pronouns R. Correlative Pronouns X. Indefinite Pronouns § 32. Adverbs V ■ * * a, § 33. Postpositions - * , "■ * # § 34. Conjunctions § 35. To be § 36. W'd* To have § 37. SjdfCT To be $ 38. The Verb. I. Preliminary . . II. Roots III. Auxiliary Verbs ita* IV. Auxiliary Particles. Cv Ov cv ( 1 ) q l\ 3 ', 3 ', etc - ( 2 ) V. 3 r, ■ ( 3 ) % l!H\ etc ( 4 ) f, f (<i) SC', .qc .. 6 ) and .. ( 7 ) ( 8 ) * * ( 9 ) * ( 10 ) or Page 144 145 147 150 151 153 160 160 177 194 201 207 228 229 239 239 243 244 245 245 246 247 248 249 261 262 CONTENTS. XV Page (11) 0* -- .. .. *254 (12) i*T . . . - . . 255 •W (13) . . . . . . 283 (14) S', S’, $■, ST QT .. .. 257 (15) and * > i■ 35s (16) ^C’ . . . . .. 259 (17) and .. .. .. 259 s5 V. 3foorf^ awd Tenses. A. —Infinitive Mood . . . . .. 259 B. —The Supine . . . . . . 263 C. —The Verbal Noun . . . . . . 265 X).—Participles . . . . . . 267 E. —Gerunds . . . . . . ,.271 F. —Indicative Mood. (а) Present .. . . . . 272 (б) Imperfect .. . . . . 275 (c) Perfect . . . . . . 276 (d) Past Indefinite . . . . 277 ( e) Pluperfect . . . . . . 279 * (/) Future . . . . . . 281 G. —Subjunctive and Conditional Moods . . 283 H. —Potential Mood . . . . , . 285 I. —Probability . . . . . 288 J. —Hortative Mood . . . . . . 290 K. .—Purposive Mood .. . . . . 292 L. —Precative Mood . . .. .. 292 M. —Permissive Mood . . . . . . 293 N. —Optative Mood . . . . ., 294 O. —Imperative Mood . . . . . . 296 VI. The Passive Voice . . . . . . 299 VJUL Compound Verbs .. . . . . 30Q VIII. Verbs of becoming, growing, changing, etc. .. 303 IX. Inceptives . . - . . . . . 303 X. Imminence . . .. . . . . 304 XVI CONTENTS. Page XI. Continuatives . . ■ * 304 XII. Finality or Accomplishment * 305 xm. Desideratives . . m m 305 XIV. Frequentatives * • 306 XV. Use of the Perfect Root in the Colloquial * * 307 CHAPTER III. 39. Syntax * * 308 APPENDIX of CONJUGATIONS. I. Colloquial To be present ; To exist ; To be 310 II. Biter ary Ditto * m 315 III.