| Sing. | Plur. | ||||
( Arabic characters) |
nawāz̈ish, | a favour. | (Arabic characters) |
nawāz̈ishāṭ, | favours. |
| (Arabic characters) |
ḳalﻉah, | a castle. | (Arabic characters) |
ḳalﻉahṭ, | castles. |
which may, perhaps, be considered as attempts to imitate the feminine
plural of the Arabs, which ends regularly in (Arabic 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, (Arabic characters) ﻉayb, a vice; (Arabic characters) ﻉaybhā and (Arabic characters) ﻉawā-ib, vices; (Arabic characters) ḳalﻉah, a castle; (Arabic characters) ḳalﻉahā, a castle and (Arabic characters) ḳilāﻉ, castles; (Arabic characters) nā-ib, a viceroy; plur. (Arabic characters) nuwwāb, a Nabob. This may be termed a plural of respect. So (Arabic characters), serpents, for, a great serpent, in the Persick. We occasionally have the Arabick dual termination, (Arabic characters), as well as those of the plural (Arabic characters) and (Arabic characters); even when the composition is not purely Arabick; as, (Arabic characters), both sides; (Arabic characters) or (Arabic 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.
