Ginger today offers a silent prayer of thanks. After 48 long years he was able to kick the smoking habit. The nicotine devil had Ginger in his grip so firmly that he even had to give up any thoughts of going on any trips outside the island as most airlines did not permit smoking on their flights. It needed a cataract extraction to kick the habit. Ginger was vertually blind in the left eye and the cataract had got so mature that it was only the exceptional skill of his surgeon that restored his sight to what it was before he got it.

In fact he got quite a surprise when just 16 hours after the Op his surgeon pulled off his eye pad or bandage or what ever it was and asked him to look at the beautiful woman behind him. (It was his spouse). Ginger was amazed at how clearly he saw every thing around him. Ironically one of the things that made him postpone the op was because he felt he would not be allowed to smoke but when his better half asked him whether it worth spoiling all the good work done by smoking he agreed to chuck it. Now Ginger is not the pedantic do gooder who likes to tell others what is good for them but this message he would like to pass on to the so called addict. It can be done and if Ginger could do it so late in life it can’t be so difficult if you wish to do it yourself.

Functions of thyroid

Do you realize your thyroid plays a big role in determining or rather in regulating your metabolism. The thyroid which is located at the base of your throat performs a function very similar to what a thermostat does to your home. If you have reached the half century mark in years you might as some suggest get yourself tested for thyroid defects every five years.

Any of these symptoms could indicate malfunctioning thyroids. If you are very nervous, your hands start shivering, you have a rapid heart beat, you find it difficult to sleep and you are very sensitive to heat it could be due to an over active thyroid, should you be suffering from under active thyroid you will get tired for the slightest thing, have dry skin, find it difficult to be mentally alert and feel drowsy all the time.

Time spent on enercises

Now are you exercising yourself to no purpose. This could be precisely by what you are doing these days. The first question you should ask yourself is how much time you can spare for your exercise. The hectic schedule that many have before them does not leave them with much time for exercise. By the time you have come home from office a host of chores await you there.

How much exercise can the average individual squeeze out of a pretty crowded programme. All this time it was felt that a moderate work out for five days was sufficient to keep you in reasonably trim and fit. Now they find that you need at least one hour’s vigorous exercise a day for five days a week if you are to get the full benefit of your exercise.

Why rid Sinhala of Sanskrit loans?

Mr. Asgar Hussein, writing under the above heading in a Sunday newspaper of September, 1998, makes the point, that according to Professor Wilhelm Geiger, pure Sinhala was derived from an "ancient Indo-Aryan speech". Mr. Hussein seems to have assumed that this so-called "ancient Indo-Aryan speech" to be the Sanskrit language. Arising from this assumption, Mr. Hussein declares that ‘Sinhala stands in relation to Sanskrit as its grand daughter" and hence his question as to, " Why rid Sinhala of Sanskrit loans ?

The composite word ‘Sanskrutha’ is made up of two parts. Firstly, the prefix ‘san’, which infuses the character of` "goodness" to the basic word it qualifies. Secondly, the basic word ‘krutha’ itself, which means "that which has been done". Thus the term ‘Sanskrutha’ means "that which has been created in a well-founded manner." The different States of India were using distinct languages and therefore the need for a common language for intellectual discourse was felt very strongly. Sanskrit was created to meet this requirement. A similar situation was obtained in the western world and the common language for intellectual purposes was Latin. For instance, Sir Isaac Newton the English genius outlined his Laws of Motion in his work entitled "Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica", which was written entirely in Latin. The main deference was that, unlike Latin, Sanskrit was not the day-to-day language of any particular group of people.

The Sanskrit language was created by Rishi Panini who lived in and around the 4th century B.C., that was when the Sinhala language was already in existence. It is pertinent to mention that it was a mere 200 years later that Arahant Mahinda produced, the Sinhala commentaries on Buddhism which are known as the Hela Atuwas. These works prove that the Sinhala language was well developed and was capable of handling even the abstract philosophical concepts associated with Buddhism even at that point of time. ln such circumstances, the declaration of Mr. Hussein to the effect that ‘Sinhala stands in relation to Sanskrit as its grand daughter" is indeed, amusing.

It was somewhere around the eleventh century that it became a fashion to extensively use Sanskrit terms in place of existing Sinhala words. Such pedantry reached its absurd zenith when the Sinhala word and its Sanskrit counterpart were joined together to form a composite whole. Examples are, "karunukarana", "vililajja", "Athuruanthara", etc. Borrowing Sanskrit words became a fashion, not because there was a dearth of Sinhala terms but, due to the desire for ostentation. This is happening even today. The present day Professors, charged with the responsibility of forming a technical Sinhala vocabulary, are getting rid of the simple Sinhala terms and replacing them with jaw-breaking Sanskrit terms. A few examples will illustrate this syndrome. The Professors have rejected the common Sinhala word Atasakilla in preference to the cumbersome Sanskrit term Ashtipanjeraya. The Sinhala Aereema is rejected for the Sanskrit Prasaranaya: the Sinhala Vaereema is rejected for the Sanskrit Sankoshanaya, etc.

This process has its ludicrous moments as well. Consider the term Thakshanaya, which is supposed to be from Sanskrit, and being sponsored as the Sinhala equivalent of the English term Technology. The root Thaksh, in the Vedic language, in the Sanskrit language and in the Pali language means nothing but Carpentry. Surely, Technology does not mean only Carpentry?. Technology embraces Medicine, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Electronics Engineering, and so forth. Isn’t it very unfair to designate all those who engage themselves in these particular pursuits as Carpenters?! Also, the concocted term Thakshanaya violates the Sanskrit grammar itself !

No one has the right or the authority to add to, or subtract from, the accepted meanings of words in the classical languages Latin, Greek, Sanskrit, etc. Their meanings are frozen and they are referred to as dead languages. Therefore, the tinkering of the Sanskrit language in this fashion is not scholarship. Perhaps these Professors consider themselves more erudite than Rishi Panini himself and are bent on embelishing the Sanskrit language of the famous Rishi !

Answering the question, "Why rid Sinhala of Sanskrit loans?", it has to be emphasised that the reasons for such action are very pertinent. Sinhala is a highly inflected language. Therefore, words borrowed from any alien language, such as Sanskrit, Pali, English, cannot be effectively dove-tailed into the Sinhala language. Such loan words, even though they be verbs in the original language, cease to have verbal attributes once they are domiciled in the Sinhala language. In the absence of verbal attributes, the generation of the associated terms becomes impossible.

Consider the English verb Televise. It is this English verb that generates the associated terms Television, Televisionary, Televisor, Televisual, Television, etc. There is no Sinhala verb given as the equivalent of the English verb Televise. The Sinhala equivalent of the English term Television is supposed to be the loan term Rupavahini. The question is, can the term Rupavahini also generate these essential associated terms? The answer is, it cannot. Since the term Rupavahini is devoid of flexibility we have to use phrases such as Rupavahini karanawa. It is due to this serious shortcoming that we hear of expressions such as "Janathakaranaya" for Peoplise, "Janathakaranayakireema" for Peoplisation and "Janathakaranayakireemanokireema " for Non-peoplisation !!

The remedy for this ailment is to deprecate the use of Sanskrit terms and to generate the technical terms we require from a Sinhala verbal stem. For instance, if we create a Sinhala verb Theladiswai as the equivalent of the English verb Televise, then, we have: Theladasuna for Television, Theladisiyuru for Televisionary, Theladisvanaya for Televisor, Theladisi for Televisual, and so forth. We can then use, ‘Rupavahini theladasuna’ as the equivalent of ‘Rupavahini television’ and avoid the embarrassing expression "Rupavahini rupavahiniya’ !!

Charted Consulting Engineer, Aelian de Silva

Infrequent replies

Who replies these letters to the Editor? Sometimes whoever the cap fits respond in good spirits. It demonstrates courage and intellectual audacity of high order. On the contrary most letters are fated to be ignored without a reply but doubtlessly the message would get across.

A reply to a letter would assure the affected that the matter in question is receiving attention and at the same time controversial points may surface relating to the matter, that may become beneficial.

Most often a reply of an assurance or a defence against a complaint or a word of thanks as the case may be, seldom appears.

We can be in esteem by our hospitality of our genuine interest in others or be condemned for the indifference we display of an empty mind. It is always healthy for an organization to remain in touch with public sentiment.

Letters to the Editor can be indispensable to all establishments in order that they could perform more satisfactorily sometimes when their shortcomings are known or when they are praised for their good work.

A Citizen