A grammar of the Malayan language, with an introduction and praxis..

INTRODUCTION. xxxv
and ceremonial, the knowledge of which is indispensable to those
who study the koran and its commentaries. These terms their
writers, in some species of composition, affect to introduce, as a
proof of their religious as well as their literary attainments ; but
few of them, comparatively, have been incorporated witlj. or con-
stitute a part of the language. On a former occasion I had
added that they are rarely employed in conversation ; an asser-
tion that may have been too general, as pedants are to be found
in all countries. In the preambles of letters there is no limita-
tion to the use of Arabic epithets ; but in the body or business
part they are much more sparingly employed ; and in books of
narration, such as the version of the Ramayana, as well as poetic
works in general (with the exception of those upon religious
subjects), they are by no means frequent. About the number of
twenty or thirty words may be pointed out as having a claim,
from their familiar recurrence, to be considered as Malayan by
adoption, (such as ^-Ci fikir or J^ jnkh' to think, ijU adnt cus-
tom, Jiic akal ingenuity, Uj dunya and JU alam the world, *lc
alam a flag and Umu science, i_J,L arif wise, ilXi sak doubt, ^
fajer the dawn, iji kmvat vigour, jsi kadar value, rate, j^ kuhur
a grave, liys-' sejild prostration, j_v.»j sehah cause, ij^ surat writ-
ing) ; whilst those others, of which it has been justly said by
Di". LEYDEN, that " it is difficult to assign any bounds to their
introduction but the pleasure of the writer," must be regarded as
foreign words ostentatiously displayed ; like the French and
Latin with which the works of old German and Dutch authors
are chequered so profusely. The learner therefore is not to be
surprised at faihng to trace in the Dictionary many Arabic words
which he will find in manuscripts. Those occurring most fre-
quently have been inserted, but to have carried this to the full
extent