letter, as will appear from the words berk a leaf,

.daveri a dominion داوري

Though the perfect pronunciation of thefe letters can be learned only from the mouth of a Perfian or an Indian, yet it will be proper to add a few obfervations upon the moft remarkable of them.

It will be needlefs to fay much of the three first confonants fince their found is exactly the fame as our b, p, and t, in the words bar, peer,

and too, which

د پیربار would be written in Perfian

ث

. تو and

This letter, which the Arabs pronounce like a th, has

ايو ليث in Perfian the fame found with a or as

Abu Leis, a proper name. It might, therefore, have

been rejected from the Perfian alphabet without any inconvenience; but it is useful in showing the origin of words,

as it is feldom, or never, used in any that are not Ara- *

bick. The fame may be obferved of the following letters:

The first of thefe letters anfwers to our foft g in gem,

which a Perfian would write

و جم جار or to our j in jar urj

the fecond of them founds exactly like our ch in the

words cherry, cheek; as Chirkés Circaffia.

چرکس

乙

乙

is a very strong aspirate, and may be expreffed in our

characters by a double h, as J hhál a condition.

خ

خ

is formed in the throat, and has a found like the German ch; but the Perfians pronounce it lefs harfhly than the Arabs, and give it the found of c before a, o, or u in the Tuscan dialect, as chan a lord, which a

Florentine would pronounce like can.

This is the word

fo variously and fo erroneoufly written by the European's. The fovereign lord of Tartary is neither the cham, as our travellers call him, nor the han, as Voltaire will have it, but the khán, or cán, with an afpirate on the first

letter.

B

J

ა

anfwers exactly to our d in deer.

j

This letter, which the Arabs pronounce dh, has in Perfian the found of j≈, and is often confounded with it ;

.guzehten to pafs گزشتن and گذشتن thus they write

It is feldom used but in Arabick words; though it sometimes occurs in words purely Perfian, asl azarbiján the province of Media, fo called from azar, an

old word for fire, because the adorers of fire, if we believe the Afiatick historians, first built their temples in that province.

and the three liquids Jare pronounced exactly like our r, l, m, n; as

o már a ferpent,

,laleh a tulip لاله ,aram ref ارام

has the found of m, as amber ambergris.

ز

tulips.

has the found of our z, asja lalehzár a bed of

j

This letter has the found of our in the words pleasure, treasure; and correfponds precifely with the foft g of the French in gens, or their j in jour. It may be expreffed in our characters by zh, as aj zháleh dew; for it has the fame relation to z which fb has to s.

These four letters are pronounced by the Arabs in a

manner peculiar to themselves; but in Persian they are

ص

س

confounded with other letters. differs little from as Saddar the name of a Perfian book; and ↳ has

nearly the fame found with as

عطر

otr effence; a word often used in English fince our connection with India, to

denote

isit and roB W

denote the precious perfume called otter of rofes. The word

is Arabick, as the letters ε and fufficiently prove. and differ very little from j; but they are pronounced more forcibly, and may be expreffed by zz, as

نظامي

Nezzámi the name of a poet; Khezzar the name of a prophet in the eastern romances.

and & င် έ

These two letters are extremely harsh in the pronun

ciation of the Arabs.

The found of ε, fays Meninski,

وع

eft vox vituli matrem vocantis; but in Perfian it is a fort

of vowel, and answers generally to our broad a, as

Arab the Arabians;

áin a fountain.

Sometimes it

has a found like our o,

as in the word before-mentioned, s perfume. As to it is commonly pronounced in Perfia like our hard gh in the word ghost, as gholám

a boy, a fervant,

ف

has the found of ƒ in fall, as J↳ fal an omen.

and

is another harsh Arabick letter, but in Perfian it is

often