c. But throughout both Veda and Brāhmaṇa, an abbreviated form of the loc. sing., with the ending i omitted, or identical with the stem, is of considerably more frequent occurrence than the regular form: thus, mūrdhán, kárman, ádhvan, beside mūrdháni etc. The n has all the usual combinations of a final n: e. g. mūrdhann asya, mūrdhant sa, mūrdnaṅs tvā.
d. In the nom.-acc. pl. neut., also, an abbreviated form is common, ending in ā or (twice as often) a, instead of āni: thus, bráhma and bráhmā, beside bráhmāṇi: compare the similar series of endings from a-stems, 329 c.
e. From a few stems in man is made an abbreviated inst. sing., with loss of m as well as of a: thus, mahinā́, prathinā́, variṇā́, dānā́, preṇā́, bhūnā́, for mahimnā́ etc. And drāghmā́ and raçmā́ (RV., each once) are perhaps for drāghmáṇā, raçmánā.
f. Other of the weakest cases than the loc. sing. are sometimes found with the a of the suffix retained: thus, for example, bhū́manā, dā́mane, yā́manas, ukṣáṇas (accus. pl.), etc. In the infinitive datives (970 d) — trā́maṇe, vidmáne, dāváne, etc. — the a always remains. About as numerous are the instances in which the a, omitted in the written form of the text, is, as the metre shows, to be restored in reading.
g. The voc. sing. in vas, which is the usual Vedic form from stems in vant (below, 454 b), is found also from a few in van, perhaps by a transfer to the vant-declension: thus, ṛtāvas, evayāvas, khidvas (?), prātaritvas, mātariçvas, vibhāvas.
h. For words of which the a is not made long in the strong cases, see the next paragraph.
426. A few stems do not make the regular lengthening of a in the strong cases (except the nom. sing.). Thus:
a. The names of divinities, pūṣán, aryamán: thus, pūṣā́, pūṣáṇam, pūṣṇā́, etc.
b. In the Veda, ukṣán bull (but also ukṣā́ṇam); yóṣan maiden; vṛ́ṣan virile, bull (but vṛ́ṣāṇam and vṛ́ṣāṇas are also met with); tmán, abbreviation of ātmán; and two or three other scattering forms: anarváṇam, jémanā. And in a number of additional instances, the Vedic metre seems to demand a where ā is written.
427. The stems çván m. dog and yúvan young have in the weakest cases the contracted form çún and yū́n (with retention of the accent); in the strong and middle cases they are regular. Thus, çvā́, çvā́nam, çúnā, çúne, etc., çvábhyām, çvábhis, etc.; yúvā, yúvānam, yū́nā, yúvabhis, etc.
a. In dual, RV. has once yū́nā for yúvānā.
428. The stem maghávan generous (later, almost exclusively a name of Indra) is contracted in the weakest cases to maghón: thus, maghávā, maghávānam, maghónā, maghóne, etc.
