By T. H. Colebrooke.
Oxford, September, 1874.
I mentioned in my Address before the Aryan section of the Oriental Congress that I possessed some MS. notes of Colebrooke’s on Comparative Philology. They were sent to me some time ago by his son, Sir E. Colebrooke, who gave me leave to publish them, if I thought them of sufficient importance. They were written down, as far as we know, about the years 1801 or 1802, and contain long lists of words expressive of some of the most important elements of early civilization, in Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, Teutonic, Celtic, and Slavonic. Like everything that Colebrooke wrote, these lists are prepared with great care. They exist in rough notes, in a first, and in a second copy. I give them from the second copy, in which many words from less important languages are omitted, and several doubtful comparisons suppressed. I have purposely altered nothing, for the interest of these lists is chiefly historical, showing how, long before the days of Bopp and Grimm, Colebrooke had clearly perceived the relationship of all the principal branches of the Aryan family, and, what is more important, how he had anticipated the historical conclusions which a comparison of the principal words of the great dialects of the Aryan family enables us to draw with regard to the state of civilization anterior to the first separation of the Aryan race. No one acquainted with the progress which Comparative Philology has made during the last seventy years would think of quoting some of the comparisons here suggested by Colebrooke as authoritative. The restraints which phonetic laws have since imposed on the comparison of words were unknown in his days. But with all that, it is most surprising to see how careful Colebrooke was, even when he had to guess, and how well he succeeded in collecting those words which form the earliest common dictionary of our ancestors, and supply the only trustworthy materials for a history of the very beginnings of the Aryan race.
Max Muller.
The transliteration system in this section is different from Müller’s. Note in particular:
c, c’h, ch, j : k, kh, c, j (Müller’s k, kh, k, g)
rĭ : ṛ (Müller’s ri)
ä ï ö ü : dots represent dieresis, not umlaut
The letter ṭ was shown as t́ (t with acute). This has been regularized because Colebrooke’s form may not display reliably. The form ń for ṇ has been retained; ḍ does not occur.
Father.
Sans. Pitrĭ (-tá). Beng. Hind. Pitá. Pers. Pider.
Sans. Janayitrĭ (-tá). Gr. Geneter, Gennetor. Lat. Genitor.