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with reference to words of indubitable Java nese origin. For a considerable time in the pre-Islamic period borrowed Sanskrit words were writ ten correctly according to Sanskrit ortho graphy, with the marks for short and long vowels in their respective places. Sanskrit s with the cluster sr, s with the cluster st and j were duly distinguished in writing. Some times the long vowels and the clusters were written in the Sanskrit manner even in words of Javanese origin. It is improbable, however, that even in the pre-Islamic period the Javanese pronounced the borrowed Sans krit words according to their original or thography. In speaking, differences between long and short vowels, s, s and ^ were dis regarded. In the Islamic period borrowed Sanskrit words were written approximately in the manner they were spoken, and super fluities of the ancient orthography disap peared. In Bali authors of Javanese-Balinese texts continued to follow the rules of Sanskrit orthography as best they could. As in their native language d and d, t and t were not distinguished, they experienced great diffi culties in writing the adopted Javanese- Balinese literary idiom correctly. As a rule, since the beginning of the nineteenth cen tury, in writing Javanese-Balinese texts of Balinese origin, and purely Balinese texts, Balinese scribes have felt absolved from the obligation of strictly following the rules of Sanskrit orthography. In the Islamic period in Java disregard of ancient orthography became apparent in the approximately phonetic spelling of bor rowed Sanskrit words and the peculiar use made of superflous Sanskrit letters (kh, gh,

n, th, ph, bh, s, s) which no longer were necessary for writing common words. They were used as capitals to indicate names, especially of respected persons, In those names every letter which had a capital form beside the form in common use was written as capital, not only the initial one. In accord ance with the honorific value given to the superfluous letters they were called aksara gëdê: great, important letters. This peculiar usage is an indication of the distance sepa rating Javanese scholars of the Islamic period from the inventors of the Indian script of old. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries Central and East Javanese scholars devel oped a system of orthography which was characterized i.a. by duplication of the letter n between vowels, and by writing o (talivy- tarur}) in many cases where original a was pronounced a. As a result the difference between modern Javanese and Old Javanese orthography became considerable, and the troubles of nineteenth century Javanese scholars in their attempts to understand old texts increased. Right in the beginning of the Islamic period of Javanese civilization a consider able number of Arabic words, mostly re ferring to Islam, were borrowed. Probably in many cases Malay and the Javanese-Malay idiom of mercantile religious communities in the North Coast districts were inter mediaries. Several Arabic words were incor porated in the Javanese vocabulary at an early time (e.g. mripat, a “krama” word for eye, from Arabic ma c rifa, supreme mystic knowledge) and they were written approxi mately phonetically in the Javanese script. In the Arabic script (pégon) the original Arabic spelling subsisted for a time. Prob-