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CHARACTERS AND SOUNDS. 55
The form in question is a contraction of the theme AVESTAN ashavan; with an irregular conversion of the concluding AVE n into AVE m.
65. We give here a complete summary of the Zend
characters.
- Simple Vowels: AVE a, AVE ĕ, AVE e; AVE â; AVE i, AVE î; AVE u, AVE o, AVE û.
- Diphthongs: AVE, AVE ê, AVE ôi; AVE âi; AVE ô, AVE âo, AVE âu.
- Gutturals: AVE k (before vowels and AVE v), AVE c (principally before consonants), AVE kh (from DEV sw, before vowels and AVE y); AVE g, AVE gh.
- Palatals: AVE ch, AVE j.
- Dentals: AVE t (before vowels and AVE y), AVE ṭ (before consonants and at the end of words), AVE th (before whole and semi-vowels), AVE d, AVE dh.
- Labials: AVE p, AVE f (the latter before vowels, semi-vowels, nasals, and AVE s), AVE b.
- Semi-vowels: AVE, AVE, AVE y (the two [G. Ed. p. 60.] first initial, the last medial), AVE, AVE r (the last only after AVE f), AVE, AVE v (the first initial, the last medial), AVE w.
- Sibilants and h: AVE ś, AVE sh, AVE s, AVE zh (or like the French j), AVE z, AVE h.
- Nasals: AVE n (before vowels, semi-vowels, and at the end of words), AVE n (before strong consonants), AVE aṇ (before sibilants, AVE h, AVE th, AVE f, AVE m, and AVE n), AVE ṇ (between AVE a or AVE âo, and AVE h, and between a and r[1]), AVE ṇ (between AVE i or AVE ê, and AVE h), AVE m.
- Remark also the Compounds AVE for AVE ah, and AVE for AVE st.
66. We refrain from treating specially of the Greek,
Latin, and Lithuanian systems of sounds, but must here
devote a closer consideration to the Germanic. The Gothic
a, which, according to Grimm, is always short, answers
- ↑ E.g. AVE hazaṇra, “a thousand.”
