Machine summary:
For instance in Pukkhto, the nouns, where they are in• flected, take corresponding inflections in the oblique cases to those under similar circumstances in Hindi, whilst its adjectives and verbs undergo the same style of, or corres• ponding, inflections for number and gender as the same parts of speech undergo in the Indian dialect, whereas, in Persian, no suoh changes take place.
· It would appear, therefore, that the Pukkhto, though in its origin a dialect of the Sanskrit, assumed its present Inda-Persian form at some remoteperiod, by a long-contin• ued contact of Indian border-tribes with the Persians, from whose language,· owing to various influences, a large number of Persian words were introduced and came into the colloquial language.
In time, these words, so intro• duced, bedded themselves into the language, without affecting its original grammatical construction, and in the majority of instances, following well-known philological rules, underwent certain.
It is probable that Pukkhto had assumed its present form anterior to the advent of the Arabs in Afghanistan, towards the close of the seventh century of the Christian era, for although the Afghans embraced the religion and laws of Islam, their doing so has in no material' way affect• ed their colloquial language, for the numerous words and phrases borrowed from Arabic are very rarely found in• corporated with the Pukkhto, as are words derived from either Hindi and Persian, but are always distinct (birgal}, and in the majority of instances used in an unaltered, or but very slightly modified, form.