Page:Sanskrit Grammar by Whitney p1.djvu/79

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b. Final radical s is said by the grammarians to be changed to t; but no sure example of this conversion is quotable; see 168; and compare 555 a.

146. The compound क्ष् kṣ is prescribed to be treated as simple ष् (not becoming क् k by 150, below). But the case is a rare one, and its actual treatment in the older language irregular.

a. In the only RV. cases where the kṣ has a quasi-radical character—namely anák from anákṣ, and ámyak from √myakṣ—the conversion is to k. Also, of forms of the s-aorist (see 890), we have adhāk, asrāk, arāik, etc. (for adhākṣ-t etc.); but also aprāṭ, ayāṭ, avāṭ, asrāṭ (for aprākṣ-t etc.). And RV. has twice ayās from √yaj, and AV. twice srās from √sṛj (wrongly referred by BR. to √sraṅs), both 2d sing., where the personal ending has perhaps crowded out the root-final and tense-sign.

b. The numeral ṣaṣ six is perhaps better to be regarded as ṣakṣ, with its kṣ treated as , according to the accepted rule.

147. The aspiration ह् h is not allowed to maintain itself, but (like ज् j and श् ç) either reverts to its original guttural form, appearing as क् k, or is changed to ट् —both in accordance with its treatment in inflection: see below, 222. And, also as in inflection, the original sonant aspiration of a few roots (given at 155b) reappears when their final thus becomes deaspirated. Where the ह् h is from original ध् dh (223e), it becomes त् t.

148. The visarga and anusvāra are nowhere etymologically finals; the former is only the substitute for an original final स् s or र् r; the later occurs as final only so far as it is a substitute for म् m (213h).

149. Apart from the vowels, then, the usual finals, nearly in the order of their frequency, are: ः , म् m, न् n, त् t, क् k, प् p, ट् ; those of only sporadic occurrence are ङ् , ल् l, ण् ; and, by substitution, ं .

150. In general, only one consonant, of whatever kind, is allowed to stand at the end of a word; if two or more would etymologically occur there, the last is dropped, and again the last, and so on, till only one remains.