16

(covrou) TWO SINHALESE .TERMS OF

JoURNAL n.e.s. MI_MIITU AND MI.MITI

[Vor. XXIVIL KINSHIP

No.

ror-lq46l

TWo sINHALESE TERris

oli l{tNSHIl'

17

By

,, D. E. HBruAnercrl,

M.A.,

P11.

D.

Rivers and Kohler', have considerably enriched our- knorvledge. A. M. Hocart, an Archaeological Commissioner of Ceylon, publisheda in r9z8 a comparative account of " The Indo-European Kinship System ", throwing much fresh light on the kinship terminology, and of special value for the Sinhalese and Tamil terms of relationship. Prior to Hocart, J. P. Lewis of the Ceylon Civil Servjce, had rvritten. to the Orientaiist+ on " On the Terms of Relationship in Sinhalese and Tamil ". Mudaliyar A. M. Gunasekara had also published a Note on " The Sinhalese'lerms of Relationship " in the Ceylon Notes and Queries. --Royal Asiatic Society, Ceylon lJranchs. trrawati Karwe, an Indian scholar, by examining the data found in
the Rg and the Atharva Veda-*, has made a very notervortliy contribution6 and Kinship Usages in Rg Veda ancl Atharva Veda ". His observations are of very great value even in the historic

Tsn terms of kinship in the Indo-European ianguages have been the -.ubject of a fascinating and detailed study by Delbriick'' ", made as early as 1889. The subsequent researches of various scholars, notably of

on " Kinship Terminology

entering into a discussion on Kinship Terminology in Sinhalese in general,. tr propose to discuss the history of the terms tnl-nowtu andmi-m,iti, found in the epigraphical records of Ceylon and in Sinhalese literature, in the sense of 'grand-father, grand-parent or ancestor'.

treatment of the terms of kinship obtaining

in

Sinhalese. Without

forms in Middle-Indian. Pali has preservedi a mixture of stemi in -a and -n, asinmwddhatn,muddhana,mwddhani etc. and also the analogical form mu.ddhdnam. It will be noticed that the conjunct consonants. -rdh- in m,tirdhan have been assimilated in the Pali forms without cerebralization. Although this type of form, e.g., muddkii, nmddhdno,s is found also in other Prakrits, they, especially the Jain Prakrits, have the stems : muddha-, mwndha*, and mwmQhana- with the group of
SAchsischen GesellschaJt der Wissenschaften. r8E9. 2. See Cevlon Journai of Science G. Vol. I p. t7g.

The Old-Indian milydhan found in Vedic as well as classical Sanskrit, and meaning 'head, top, summit etc.' has given rise to a varietv of'

r. Sae Abhandulgen der philologisch-historischen Klasse der

have deveioped their equivalentse from the cerebralized {orms. Cf. nw,tQ,h.w, Gujarati mo@i,, ,Marathi mrnn,Q, rnwnQhl, Oriya mu,nda, Assamese mu.r, Bengah mnr, Hindi rn[imr, Nepali mwr, Punjabi munQ, Lahntla tnundh.s Sinhalese, holvever, has clrawn upon Pali, on account of thc overwheiming influence that that language, or its prototype, had exerted on Sinhalese from verv early times. The stem mwddl,tana- in Pali has given rise to muduna or tnttndr.nta, found in Sinhalese literature, as well as in epigraphical recorcls, in the sense of 'head, top, summit etc.' e.g. :--di1,a-katti paltannutnd.u,na plin,ena tok 'until the top of the aqueduct stone . appears (above ivater) ' Vessagiri Slab Inscription No. z, EpZ I 33'z-'a (roth c. ,+.o.); ra.i-paralt>ureh,i mundun-m(ill 'the most pre-eminent in the royal dvnastv', Slab Inscription of Queen LilAvati, EpZ I t3ot'z (end of the rzth c.); twtta s&rorlta. niyarcisitt, an r&iG. mudwm bises aii 'by the effulgence of the nails of whose feet, the heads of other kings, became anointed' Devanagala Rock Inscription, T).pZ III 3zr+ (rzth c.) ; ilxundun no-frilt, the head (or the skull) dicl not crack, "DhpAGp 2712 (roth c.) ; desnehi mumdun the climax of the sermon, ib. 5g:'. About the 7th or the Sth century A.D. there arose in Sinhalese a tendency" to drop the final, or even a medial, vowel in a word. Although in a vast majority of the instances, it is the final a that is elided, vowels other than a are also seen dropping off in a medial position. Cf . hindna 'sitting ' (EpZ IY 4z Ce-"--roth c.) f.or ktndina; hindud. 'having seated ' (ib. ili 77 Dsz*-roth c.) for hinduad; s&m-jarua.n' officers of state, gentlemen' (ib. IV r7g--about gth c.), sam-darwuan (ib. II 7 A's--roth c.) ; mal>arnouka ' His Majesty' (ib. I t5q A:-+-roth c.), ma.pururtuuh& id. (ib. III ro3 A3-4-9th c.). Thrs mudwna a\d its nasalized form tnunduna gave rise to lnudnLt., and mundma which are seLln in instances |Ike mundne 'on the head' EpZ I 44s (nthc.), and ntundnen' (from or) on the head' ib. I zzrs (rrth c.). The form rvith the medial d did not remain long in use, because the d was either hardened to a surd l, or the d with a vowel xt following it, came into use again. This marks a very important phase in the behaviour of the vorvels in Sinhalese because the tendency towards the dropping of the hnal and medial vowels which arose in the 7th or the Sth century, went on developing up to about the roth century when it reached its climax, and it began to decline and disappear again from
Sindhi

conjuncts cerebralizecl. $fost of the New-Indian Vernaculars seem to

Koniglichen

69 -9o, rog--r44, zr3-234.

3 ib.pp. a7g-2o4. 4. Orientalist Vol. I pp. 217-223, Voi. II pp. 64-69. 5. Part II p. xix ff. 6. Annals of tire Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute Vol. XX 1938-39 7.
See
gz. r
"s 8. Geiger-ibid. gz.t note

I-anguage s,v.tnuy2, tmu,ndA2. Bhisar]a Samgraha, ed. U.

pp. heads of etrephants'.

9. Geiger--An Etymological Glossary of the Sinhalese Language s.v. ntuduna. R. L. Turner-A Comparative and Etymologicai Dictionary of the Nepali
Tiwari,4th Edition p. 49: hiithina
ke

mutltda'the

ro. Dhampil'A-Atuvl-Giitapadaya

ed. Sir D. B. Jayatilaka, 1932.

age,

PTS. Dictionary s.v. muddha2, and Geiger--Pali Literature and Langu3,

Pischel Grammzrtik der Prakrit

Siddha Hemachandra

VIII

Sprachen

III..56.

The abbreviations of the names of Sinhalese texts etc. used in this Article, are those found in a Dictionary of the Sinhalese Language, compiled under the auspices o{ the Royal Asiatic Societv of Ce1'lon. l{y thanks are due to the Editors o{ the Sinhalese Dictionary {or sorne of the reJerences appearing in this article. I r. See Dr. S. Para.navitana, EPZ IV p. r5o.

r8
,about the

JoURNAL R.A.s. (cEYLoN)

[Vor. X{XVII.

No. ror--r946i

1'\,VO SINHALESE TERMS

OF KINSHIP

r9

rrth century. Thus mwfrna andrnundna seem to have developed into mutna, or continued as m,ud,uma or mundwna. Cf. P.Sk. jtojana)5tod67x6. or yodunalyodnalyotna (e.g., ptilalup-nuuarata -rajagahd-nwaara sat yotnek The city of Rajagrha is at a distance-of sevin yajanas from the city of Pataliputra, Sidat-Sangardva ed. Sri Dharmirama,'rg25 p. roo'-"; ; beduma 'division' );,bedmalbetma; etc.
By the time the iorm mwtna had evolved, it seems to have clevelope-d, its original significance, the sense of 'a person on top o{ the iine of one's ancestry, a grand-father, or grand-parent or any earlier ancestor'2. Some of the earliest Sinhalese books have preserved for us this use of the word mutna. e.g., yano karunekin rnutnahata mahaludw in as much as (the bride-groom) is older than the (bride's) grand-father, DhpAGp ,92:;; sat-uana nowtna paaa rtp to the seventh ancestor, ib. 38,o-so [trs1. of P. yaaa sattama ku,la-pariuatta) ; mutna grand-father, ib. gtt i:P. ayyan6); mohumwtn'a Katingw iaju, rlarasri duiing the time of this (person's) grand-father, King Kalingu, Dhmpdp 27ore' evhu mutnd Kalinglt,rajwhis grand-father, King Kalingu, rb. z75o; de-mwtnan slrrTnas rrtaka ailhi gala havtng immersed the two grand-parents in the huge lake of joy, ib. 275'o ; e-sanda Kal'ingu hwnara rnauw-piyanudw ruitnanudu ai)nd,a tinen the prince Kalingu having saluted (his) parents and grand-parents, ib. 276' ', mwtna grand-father ( :P. ayyakar.n), BoVG-p t37;';mutnd, keren anya ariyE heaat mwtndgE pi'ye the one_other than (br next to) the grand-falher, i.e., the grand-father's father, MRdp
besides
24t:s-2o (

the great. king_Sanda who was,the grand-father, Thtp tq5i; d,aruz,angE mwtun-m'ittangE ratata ge?ta gos having taken the chilclien i'o tne countrv

battle-field) , kulu-potta. 'worker ih bamboo, basket-maker', etc., and a new stem mottu-'4 seems to have been made of it. That is the stem that is preserved in instances hke:-e-tema mata mi-mtttw va,nnEya. He will become my great grand-father, DjSir z8'i ; hat-mutw-paramparaaa seven generations of ancestors. Mwtta may either be the form historically developed trorn mwtna, or it may be thi Nominative .singular or an oblique form lrom later ntwt,-, and equal to mtttuud*. Ct. mutten korana-lad,a (:mulwuen) maCe of pearls, Ttrifp (ed. D. Vacissara. 1933) p. r59'8-'e (trsl of P.mwttamaye). ^ In the Sinhalese literary works beionging mostly to the polonnaruva and the Dambadeniya periods, and rarely earlier, one notices a form mwtun. one mav even wonder whether it-is an obiique plural form from the stem mwtu-, made subsequentiv into a fresh st-em,^as is sometimes noticed in Sinhalese. Judging from the contexts in which the lvord mwtun occurs,, it is quite likely that the final -n in mwtwn forms part of the stem, and does not belong to a case termination. Mutwn kwlen kom the grand-mother's famiiv (or Jine), DhpAGp r98:' 1:9. matamaha-kulato) ; mwtwn ."-il Sanda" miha rajjurwvanta {o

:P.

aYYakato Paro).

Mutna has been used in the feminine gender either as mutna ttself , as mutnu (DhpAGp 8r8), or as mitna. e.g., rnutna tcinri sitti having stood in the place of-the grand-mother, DhpAGp 19728'2e (:trsl. of P. ayyakaya tkane thataa); mutna abiyesa! to tLe proximity of (or near) the giand-mother, ib. 1e$z:, r98+ (:trsl. of-P. ayyakaya santikaryt); mwtia hd aTong with the grand-mother, '3JAGp 55" (:P. ayyakaya). In course of time, tnutna and tnitna seem to have developed inlo mwtta and mitta by the assimilation of the consonants, e.g., rajagahd-nwuara tnahd-dhana-sitano topa dennag7 rnwttanwvo-ya The great banker in the city of Rajagaha is the grand-{ather of you two, SdhRv 22.628'2e (:trsl. of-P. rajagaha-nagare pana ao dkana-setthi nama ayyako); sat-muttan paraml>arayehi in the iine of ancestry up to the seventh ancestor, Pjv -sat-mutteka patan from the seventh ancestor, ib. 28gzo ; Z$8so-j' ; sat-mu,ttak mululleki throughout seven generations, lb. 297t"; SdhRv 632.5 (mwttaqtuuan-uahansege) ; Pjv 54+ (mwtta); JCaSn p. ?33 ver. 714 (rnala-muttagE:P. ayyakassa) ; SdhRk 267"s (muttanwaan, hd) ; Mln '4t5i t (muttanw uu\; Sngs 3r'o (mwttaniyanta) ; SdhRv 656t' (m'uttaliiyatt); PPJ (DBJ) r9' (mtrttnniyo-yo\ ; SdhRk 52" (multa4iyLtn

or

m'iltan,

ancestor (who is) a king, 1b. 264":; E kwmarayo d.e-n-tavpil,an ha mwtwnthat prince, having saluted his parents and grand-parents, _arind.a mutwn lpl(U) 9gor"; topais your qd, Dharrnaioka maha-rajakw {he Great King DharmaS6ka who grand-father, SclhRk 3166; mwtwnhu grandparents, Siy Mld r5o.

ytwlwn aana p'in -riti having merits (sufficient) for becoming the granclfather of a Buddha, 1b. to4zz ; eka mutun' rajakugE of" one "single

of their grand-parents, Ruts 3o7:s13o8'; mE daruao mwtwn-mittak langata yamhayi- ekaan kiyati These ihildren say constantly .Let us go to our grand-father and grand-mother', SanRv 22gsa-'ry ; mutwnkanoata for the grand-fathership, Ib. 264"+: Rahu,la kumdrayo mwtwn r aj j at'rua an,andwnanab au a mwt piy atlan kavu,rwn av at nodanizi Although prince- Rahuia could recognize the king (r,vho was his) grand-fathJr, he did not know who his father was, Pjv 2gero-rr ; b'u,iu kenakunta
b

due prarth,ana) : pcitwm..: ptikma (proceeding, progress:Sk. prakrama): pcikum ..: tikma (oveicoming :Sk. akrama) : tikwrn'.'. cikta (stepped upon, trampled, DhuAGp

Mwtutt. is, in

largety

to analogy. Pritma (longing, wish:Sk.

ali probability, a backward formation from mwtna,

atata).

r93B:P. akkanta, Sk. dkranta) : rikut (id. ib. zoTzo) ..: hikta (trained, discipiined, ib. 75'". 11e:6, r8r'2, 243\4:P. sikkhitu, Sk. iiksita : hikwt (id. ib. t2sz) :: nauatna (turning back, ceasing, ib.7g"a:p. niaattana, Sk. ttiaartana) : nal)a.tun (1b. 5z*) :: mutna: mwtun.

with numerous other forms ending in -ttd Trke: diya-kotta ' orie who is like a banner of victory (in the
Mwttd. world have fallen into line

lng to examine holv these terms

Refore attempting an explanati on f.ar mi- in tn|-rnwtu,,

of

it will be interestrelationship have been framed in

rz. This has an interesting parallel in the modern useof the wordtnudunato signify 'the buli tied nearest to the celtral post on the threshing floor and at the
fre.-aa

of the row of oxen yoked togerher'.

13. JAGp-Jataka Atuvi

GAtapadaya, edited

bv Sir D. B. Jayatilaka,

1943'

above, analogical forms bcim'i dnd p'imi. have come

14. There are numerous examples of similar instances in Sinhalese, which owe their existence to. analogy. !.g., 6rinduma>bcindma>btimnta>bcimi.; pinuma>pinma >pimm-a2piml. The,plurai as s'ell as the stem-Jorms oI brindwd.a and. pinuma should have beenbdndum and pi.nwrn; but, on account of the developments outlined

into

existence.

20

.IOURNAL R.A's. (cEYLoN)

[Vor. X{XVII.

No. ror-19461

TWO SINHALESE TERMS OT I{INSHIP

Vedic and Classical Sanskrit and in Pali. In all those languages, one's relaiionship rvith the grancl-father or _great-grand-father or remoter ancestors, is expressed in terms of the Jather.'s

iiath"r) Is qunlified by adjectives like fratna (ancient) ,- mahat 1btg. ot Ji""ti ir. Atlial (sreat)'to r1'enotc ancestors. Different gods conceived as .tjl.d by such phrases. ln later mylhology the creator lni.Jtott receives the appeliat ion f>itamaha lgrand-fat!"t) '- ' 'The ;;fi;i.;iv "r"

f";-th;

Karwe observes'6

: "In Rg Vecla no inclependent terms are found generztions beyond tf,e first ascendant male' The term . pity

meant, on the whole the terms have acquired h fixed meaning, which remained the same throughout later Sanskrit literature. The Atharvavedic,terms are : (r) pitr and tata (father), (z) pitamaha"and, tatdmaha (grand-father), and Q) prapitamaha and pritatamaha (great-grandfather).

there is still some confusion in some places as regards the exact ancestor

In gg Veda'e there t o+y one terrn to denote a male in the ascending line and that is pity. In Atharva Veda we have four words and thougi

;;p;;;;i;r pitu5pita is also'used in both rhe tRg and Athar'al Vedas' but It'cloes r'ro[ ho*.o'.r. *.un ' father's father ' oi ' grand-father " even to more remote ancestors. It seems to be used r."*t io be appiied ;;; ;y;;yi'for maha-p'itA etc- ancl means ' an ancestor' in general' ltena pituk pitarah ye pitd-maha ye auiuiiwruraantariksatn
"3,e

akiiyanti- prthiulmwta

d-ttano tebhvah

pitybh'yo n'amasd a1d!em1

In classical Sanskrit too, 'father' is chiefly pi.ta or tata. althotgh there are several other words having the same connotation ; 'fathei's Ia.ther. or 'paternal grand-fath"I' Ir pitomaha (lit. the great father), (father's father), or dryaka (the honourable or resiectable one)' j f|trfit( or one's- paternal great-grand-father his father is prapitamaha. Tire term. for ' grand-father ' when used in the plural, as pitarirahdh, indicates all the earlier ancestors.
In Pali, the ' father ' is pita, and ' his father ' is pita-maha or maha_ ?itA Qft; _'the great father') or ayyaha; and the .great grand_father' is t'a-pita-maha or payyaka. The'earlier ancestors aie all ieferred to as pita-maha,zo usually in the plural., . In. Jiterary Sinhalese, as apart from ordinary usage, the .father, is piya. The idea of 'grand-father' has been"expreised in a variety
of rvays
I.

"ri...,l fathers we PaY homage). to those In this passage the worcls pitw;pitar, pitamaha and t'itar are used ,r4o.ru*orirlv t"o denote onceitots' In Rg Veda and Atharva Veda' iir."*tia p;ir k used in plural to denote 'ancestors or manes' in

lAu. r9-z-+97 (Thev that are our father's fathers, that are our grand-fathers, that'z the wide atmosphere, they that dwell on earth and heaven'

:--

seneral. The word l5ilr was uscd not only for all males oI the father's the father. E.".."11o", but also lor'those belonging to generations beyond same. It i" . .lt"l.r way the words for soi una grand-son were the of ;;"id ino, upp.u. that the word pitr wis not used^ by.extensionthe fot Jti ancestors, but primirily meant ' any's male beyond

-.u"l"S

'mcihrivi 'the great father ' (DhpAGp 8r7), or mrihti_pivE ic1. (1b..- zzg.z) goge-sponding t9 P. rnaho-pita. Maha_fin ancl p.ttd-maha.of Pali and Sanskrit would hlve given riie to the inherited lorms *md-pi1,a !QI. DhpAGp ilf ;na-l)iydmorher,s father) and *pi.ya-m.a, which would ha.'e caused

speaker's generation'.

In later times the connotation of the word became more definite, but the plural was always used to denote dead ancestors'
In Atharva Veda the device of qualifying the word piirby the adjective *iiit:,t given up, and new wordi are ioined for grand-{ather and 51reatcompos.ite^word *irn.f-f^in.t. ti'is simply by making ais coined. Thus wefrom ihe have the ial..iir. and the noun that tlie new w6rd -lhe tata-mah.a and. pr.a-tata-maha' ;;';; iiii-i,onn, prapita-maha, contexts some fixed. -L""l"g of these'r,vordi is however not quite while inIn others they mean thev apDear to mean' ancestors' in general, a.n"itify' grand-father' and'great-grand-father'' .* r "-t*"-..i'q"iii'i"S i;; ,"r*, pitA and.ndtd by suih adjectives as fr.alna, waha or mahi, ascendant ,if i""^"irg'' old' or "ancient'. No ieal kinslrlp term for lhe secondVeda. The ].""r"iiorr"i. available. nn"i" t"r*. are .first coiied in the Atharva blishi;;;;;;';r;;1i=n"J... ...au" to a d iff erentiation in di flerenr . gencra rions. distinction .esta nr.lg.orrp oJ taboos. Another {actor which contributed to this ;;;;;; i.*ifl"-nr.*:tf.-of it" culf of ancestors."-Annals o{ the Bhandarkar Oriental Researi lnstitute' Vol. XX P.:r8. 16. Annals of the Bh. Or. Res. Institute, VoI XX p 7z' t7. ib. p. 73. 18. ib. p. 7,1.
2

"r,..ri.,illy some con{usion with ma-pi1ta (ib. 8B!,, ro$32, 22521, i13,z1 and p{,a-ma meaningJ 'parents'. That woulcl expliin whJ, ihose two forms did not survive, in the sense of .grand_faiher ,.
favour. (SdhRv 226.6). These two do- nbt
se'em

Milal:,t:?il!_.'-the aged father' (Dhmpdp 2753"), and

fiya id.

!o

mritu_ l.rave found

.).

in classical literature. ., usL q. the idea of 'great grand-father' was expressecl i Sanskrit Jlt as fne lclea oil great grand-Iather ' lvas expressed in and Pali, in terms of 'the grand-father', in Sinhalese too, tlie same procedure seems to have been. adopted. X[i-muttd meaning ,great grancl-father ' is mihi-mwtta, or in latir language rnohw mwtfil-'[t. the one on tol of this (or that) one'--mihi -relerring to mwtna in the enumeration of ancestors, as : fil-o ' father ' , *iUa , grand-father ,.
expression

Mutnd or mwttii 'the one o1 top of the line of one,s ancestry _ so far as one's knowledge goes'. This is the commoiest

19. ib. p. 75.

-.:'o vlifiy Oill*.h11ugam:

pttdmaho

tary Vol. I p. rr-3.

yigarlxti_aiuppamdmamuwicati,.'abniapli_i";t'akri-o" rrto*. pitdmahayugatn ; toto uddham sabhe pi pubLa purisA ';,:i::, ,pana . 'Ptratnaha-,qaha4eneua gahiriicuam
e.u_a

cl'. ' ydaa sattamd pitdrna.ha-yugd" ti

ettha

pitu pi.t(i pi.tdmaho. pitdrnahassa

ydua sattavno puriso.,.,..bigha-Nii51a commcn-

22
n'ti-muttd

JouIiNAL R'A.s. (cDYLoN)

IVor. XX$VII.

1{o. ror-r9461

TWO SINHALESE TERMS OF KINSHIP

23

Cf' mwt'ut't' mi-mutun ci (of) the gteai grand-father, etc., JAGp /'5 (trsl. of ,P. ayyakagrand-fathetl int,yakanam\ ; ml-mutun-kamata for " the great grand-{athership, iS.ifrn" 264'i : mE mE aastw mutum mt-mwtwn dduo satotakalta such and such riches belong to the grand-father, great grand-father, etc', ib' 6o9"+-.s ; ntutatn, tnt-mwtun rris kala dhanaya the wealth hoarded by the erand-father and great grand-father, Pjr, 296'+ ' ml-mutnE th'e great"grand-father, X{Rup (Sn) z4r'o (:P. paltyakoi ; mt-muttan-uuo id', balt.r 1Sn; tt5 1 P. ltapitamalto)'. e-!ema mala mi-mulu uatttt?-va' He will be my great grand-father, DlSir z8's. Mo occutrtng even in modern Sinhalese, in expressions 71ke mtr-ta ' to or for this ', mt-langa ' next to this', etc., is {ouncl in literature and also in epigraphical records from prettv early times. ML itsell goes back to the earlier form mihi iound in *ritings"between about the Sth and rzth centuries. e .g., mihi sam'uata ltu.na 'should this command be infringed', Kataragama Inscriptions, EpZ ITI 223 (.tz'tt (roth c_.). While commenting on mihi, Pt. S. Plranavitani observes : " Utttl the locative singular of ma 'this' (P. ima), is the prototype of the modern mr, fowd in such words as mi-Ianga etc.' (EpZ III p. zzt). As has.been observed by D-.. Paranavitana, mtr is g,enirally used in the iocative sense. But the locative in Sinhalese develops sometimes the genitive value aiso. e.g., ,tuma dun danti. anusas the good consequences of the alms given by oneself, DhpAGp zzoT'8', putuaE ata the arm of the chair. Simllarly mihi could have conveyed a genitive seuse, r'is. 'o{ this one'-i.e., of the grand-fatherAn interesting parallel is found in the terms denoting ' a grand-son'One's son is daiu-, grand-son is munwburu- and great grand-son is m-t-munubwrw-. Even the seventh grand-son is referred to as the hat munuburu*. Cf. daru mwnumburu mi-mwnurnburw parafuru dsin rn a line of succession as son, grand-son, great grand-son etc., DhpAGp rzrr-a (trsl. of P. putta natta panatta santdna ttasena); mr-munuburo_ great grand-children, Sdhv 156'2. One might compare with interest also the prertious iernrs denoting ' a day -anik-da to or later than a particular date' or anid-dd 'the next da.'y,^the- day e.g., he-ta 'tomorrorv;, in anik-da 'the r.rext day after that '. Similarly, aiier tomorrow', \tA is ' yesterday ', pereyi-dd ot pereui-dd ' the former day, the ' day before yesterday' , palam'u-da 'the previous day .', r,ta palam.u-dd the day prior to tiat ', lta palamu-d,a ' the day prior to that ', etc. In Sirihalese, niladhnrit,d is-'any kind of officer'. I{is 'Deputy or the offrcer next to him' is referred to as -t-langa-niladhariya', or as mtIanga-nilad,hdriyd, or mE-langa-toi,ladhariya. The officer next to him ir Jtitt r.-langa-niladhariya c:i mt-langa- ot 'm4-langa-niladlt'driya. Thus 1- or m'*', aciording as ihe case is, refers always to the one imrnediately preceding. Hence mr-mwttd is 'the ancestor next before the grandfather '.

' 'great grand-father', etc.

Mutw and mr-mutw have, in the epigraphical records, also -especiaily the variant forms miti- and mt-miti (spert mi-miti). e.g., mini- meawla maha-faha- karanwyelti sanit' hanail, miii-tnaha-raa'hu,'tne great king, his grand-father -who had _decided upon the building of the gieat monu-Inscription ment Min'imeuwla-miltipaha, Slab Nol r of Manlnao vt, trpz r zzz"'(rrth c.).; pere twtna mimiti maha-radun pciuitaw tisri d.iyeki aiyar:,ul' the disputes in respect of the water of the Tissa t""r., *rrllriiris royal ancestors (or great-grand-father) formerly supplied, v"ssagiii Inscriptions No. z A, EpZ I 33.3 (roth c.).

Miti needs some explanation. It may be the stem form of rnitta orcrrrring- in expres,sions like ntu/un"- mill,, meaning , un""rtors'. llrrt the fact that miila means generaily ' the grancl-mot1", , does ,,ot make that theor5' very {easible
very.often nominal stems in Sinharese undergo various changes of vowels in_being declined-especialiy in the Instruriental u"a tn"lo?uu"" cases, and such case-forms five riie to fresh stems. cf. d.ika ,sorrow, Phpf9P,+", 49'.",. 237'i.and ib. 5re (rlik'hi), zte'o (dikin), for duk:a_ p. >K- auRRnaln. ,R ' rree tb. zg:s, _gg's (rik'hi). 222\o, 238,s (rikin) trom rttha -P. ruhklta. Sk. ulAsn : Ct ha'ni)Ji O'hpeCp' Z"o;r, SSii,'' and ha.muyehi
rise to miti besides mutw.

lb. z5'3" from ham4---p. to**ukho', sk.'iammukha. "r5,u Une mrght wonder r,r.hether in like manner, mulutr, or mulna has given

before.

Taddhita suffrxes constitute another factor tending to modifv the substantival forms in Sinhalese. Sometimes . tor*'-oy -;;;;?g. u :,o*ql.t. change by the addition oI a Svartha Taddhita srim",-*itto"t tne.strghtest change of meaning. Thus naru, goru and kadalu give rise to tr'titi-, geti* and kcidtili respeciively and 'con"vey the same ti.""i"g *

certain words also admit of variant forms of .rvords which are very ,o*" fwt and $*:"1t,1",,_b" :Iql"li.{, above, muru pit. Thus ingiven .".n *uy, atong the lrncs indicated 1.s., seems to have rise to miti in Sinhalese, and that miti, in ltr tr.n has been ur"a"". after
the manner of. mi-mutu.

"ri--iti

If I may acld another expianation, thqugh not so. convincing. as the above, I may connectmr, ofmt-tnutw with Pali, Sanskrit mahita 'honoured, respected '. Although \\,-e are not {amiliar with such a use in literature or in epigraphical records, mt. u'ould be a possible inherited form from p. su. itin;iq and such words as Pa].'i av'aka and payjtr1ft67, and Sanskrit aryaha rvouid lend some support to such a theor5r.