A PRACTICAL HINDÚSTÁNÍ GRAMMAR; CONTAINING THE ACCIDENCE IN ROMAN TYPE, A CHAPTER ON THE USE OF ARABIC WORDS, AND A FULL SYNTAX, BY MONIER WILLIAMS, M.A., OF UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, OXFORD; BODEN PROFESSOR OF SANSKRIT, ETC. FORMERLY ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF HINDÚSTÁNÍ AT ADDISCOMBE COLLEGE; NOW LONDON: LONGMAN, GREEN, LONGMAN, AND ROBERTS. 1862. -295.c.20. PREFACE. URDU or Hindústání is the mixed and composite dialect which has resulted from the fusion of Hindí, the idiom of the Hindús, with the Persian and Arabic of the Musalmán invaders. It is not only the regular spoken language of Delhi, Lucknow, and at least fifty millions of persons in Central India, the North West Provinces and the Punjáb, but is also the common medium of communication between Musalmáns throughout all India. In fact, although properly the language of the North West, it passes current (like French in Europe) throughout Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta. It is, therefore, the best general dialect which can be learnt by persons who, about to proceed to a vast continent, are ignorant of the particular locality for which they may be destined. The following pages are intended to make the acquisition of this language easy to all. In many respects, especially in the department of Verbs and Syntax, the present Grammar is more full than any that has yet been written; but the beginner, who may feel himself embarrassed by the redundance of matter, may confine himself to the large type. |