Note 2 — The Jackal and the Leopard

There appears to be some doubt regarding the spelling of this compound word. I give it as I have heard it. Except in the last letter I have followed that of the late Mr. W. Goonetilleke, the learned Editor of The Orientalist, who in vol. i, p. 8, of that journal said of it: “Pereḷibāse therefore means ‘the language of transposition,’ or ‘the transposed language.’ ” In Clough’s Dictionary the second word is spelt bāsa. In Mr. A. M. Guṇasēkara’s excellent Sinhalese Grammar the spelling is peraḷibāsa in the Index, and peraḷi bāsē (or bhāshāwa) in the paragraph dealing with it. Professor E. Müller-Hess has drawn my attention to the form pereḷi on one of the inscribed tablets at Mihintale. ↑