Newcastle-on-Tyne.
_Zend Grammar._--The following fragment on Zend grammar having fallen in my
way, I inclose you a copy, as the remarks contained in it may be of service
to Oriental scholars.
I am unable to state the author's name, although I suspect the MS. to be
from a highly important quarter. The subject-matter, however, is
sufficiently important to merit publication.
"The _Zend_, of disputed authenticity, and the _Asmani Zuban_, a
notoriously fictitious tongue, compared."
"It is well known that Sanscrit words abound in _Zend_; and that some
of its inflexions are formed by the rules of the Vyacaran or _Sanscrit_
grammar.
"It would therefore seem quite possible that by application of these
rules a grammar might be written of the _Zend_. Would such a
composition afford any proof of the disputed point--the authenticity of
the _Zend_?
"I think it would not, and support my opinion by reasons founded on the
following facts.
"The _Asmani Zuban_ of the Desstu is most intimately allied to Persian.
It is, in fact, fabricated out of that language, as is shown by clear
internal evidence. Now the grammatical structure of this fictitious
tongue is identical with that of Persian: and hence by following the
rules of Persian grammar, a grammar of the _Asmani Zuban_ might be
easily framed. But would this work advance the cause of forgery, and
tend to invest it with the quality of truth? No more, I answer, and for
the same reason, than is a grammar of the _Zend_, founded on the
Vyacaran, to be received in proof of the authenticity of that
language."