Page:A Grammar of the Persian Language.djvu/63

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Of Numbers.
Sing. Plur.
(Symbol missingArabic characters) nawāz̈ish, a favour. (Symbol missingArabic characters) nawāz̈ishāṭ, favours.
(Symbol missingArabic characters) ḳalﻉah, a castle. (Symbol missingArabic characters) ḳalﻉahṭ, castles.

which may, perhaps, be considered as attempts to imitate the feminine plural of the Arabs, which ends regularly in (Symbol missingArabic characters).

86. It must not be omitted, that Arabick substantives frequently have two sorts of plurals; one formed according to the analogy of the Persian nouns, and another after the irregular manner of the Arabians; as, (Symbol missingArabic characters) ﻉayb, a vice; (Symbol missingArabic characters) ﻉaybhā and (Symbol missingArabic characters) ﻉawā-ib, vices; (Symbol missingArabic characters) ḳalﻉah, a castle; (Symbol missingArabic characters) ḳalﻉahā, a castle and (Symbol missingArabic characters) ḳilāﻉ, castles; (Symbol missingArabic characters) nā-ib, a viceroy; plur. (Symbol missingArabic characters) nuwwāb, a Nabob. This may be termed a plural of respect. So (Symbol missingArabic characters), serpents, for, a great serpent, in the Persick. We occasionally have the Arabick dual termination, (Symbol missingArabic characters), as well as those of the plural (Symbol missingArabic characters) and (Symbol missingArabic characters); even when the composition is not purely Arabick; as, (Symbol missingArabic characters), both sides; (Symbol missingArabic characters) or (Symbol missingArabic characters), holy men. This is one argument out of a great number to prove the impossibility of learning the Persian language accurately without a moderate knowledge of the Arabick; and, if the learner will follow my advice, he will peruse with attention the Arabick Grammar of Erpenius, before he attempts to translate a Persian manuscript.—To avoid the trouble and expense of referring to that work, an abstract of the Arabick Grammar has been inserted in the first Appendix of this.