Overview

An excerpt from the PREFACE: THE Santali language is spoken by almost a million and a half of people, who are mainly found distributed over a strip of Bengal extending for about 350 miles from the Ganges to the Baitarni, bisected by the meridian of Bhagalpur, or 87 degrees east longitude, and comprising the following districts: - Bhagalpur, Monghyr, the Santal Pargannas, Birbhum, Bankura, Hazaribagh, Manbhum, Midnapur, Singhhum, Mayurbhanj and Balasore. Santali belongs to the Munda or Kolarian family of languages, and has reached a much higher stage of development than any other language or dialect of the family to which it belongs. It is spoken with little variation in pronunciation or idiom over the greater part of the above-mentioned area. Northern Santali, or that spoken in Bhagalpur, Monghyr, the Santal Pargannas, Birbhum, Bankura, Hazaribagh and Manbhum, is the language of an overwhelming majority of the tribe, and is more polished, than Southern Santali. The former is, therefore, regarded as the Standard, and Southern Santali, or that spoken in the remaining districts, as a dialect, or, possibly, a group of dialects of it. There being at present no Dictionary of the Santali language, while many Government Officers, Missionaries and Planters feel the want of one, there would seem to be a need for the present work, even although it be very imperfect. Puxley's Vocabulary, which was a useful help to the knowledge of Santali, has been long out of print. Most Dictionaries indicate what parts of speech the words are, but in Santali it is impossible to do this in the case of the great bulk of the words. Consequently, in the few instances in which it might have been done it has not been thought worth while doing so in this Dictionary. The form in which the words appear is the Root, and only the Root idea is, in most instances, given. A slight knowledge of the Grammar of Santali will enable those consulting the Dictionary to deduce the meanings of the different forms in which the root appears, whether noun, adjective, verb, adverb, &c. Greater fulness of detail could have been given only in a very bulky volume, and, as Santali is regular in its method of dealing with the Root, no real advantage would have been gained. The Examples given are intended to shew the more common use of the words, and have been selected with great care. A few of them illustrate the use of words in proverbs, saws, maxims, &c. These have been given, as affording some insight into the mental characteristics of the Santals, and it is hoped that, by their means, students of Santali may become better acquainted with the people whose language they are studying. In some instances, rather lengthy references to customs, festivals, &c... have been made, but, as the work was intended as a help, not merely to a knowledge of the language, but also to a knowledge of the people, such references were unavoidable. In the case of particles, in which Santali is very rich, and which often baffle translation, it is hoped that the illustrative examples will be appreciated.

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