Page:Vedic Grammar.djvu/178

I. ALLGEMEINES UND SPRACHE. 4. VEDIC GRAMMAR. sardha (voc.) 'bold'; ví-mahī- ‘very great', vi-şama- (VS.) ‘uneven', vi-sadria- 'dissimilar, vy-en- 'variously tinted' (dawn); sám-vasu- dwelling together', sám-priya- (VS.) 'mutually dear'. 168 b. 2. Ordinary Substantive as final member. I 279. Determinatives with ordinary non-verbal substantives as their final member are not common in the earliest period of the language. In the first nine books of the RV., except the frequent compounds in -pati- and -patnī, there are not many more than three dozen examples 2; the tenth book has quite two dozen more, and the AV. seven dozen more. The first member is frequently a substantive also. Its relation to the final member seems to be limited to the genitive sense in the Samhitās. This genitive sense appears when the final member is a word expressive of relationship, or -pati- husband' or 'lord'; e. g. raja-putrá- 'king's son', mrtyu- bándhu- 'companion of death', vis-páti lord of the tribe'. It sometimes ex- presses the material, as dru-padá- 'post of wood', hiranya-rathá- 'car of gold' or 'car full of gold'. In deva-kilbişá- 'offence against the gods' we have an example of an objective genitive. There seems to be no instance in the RV. of a Proper Name appearing as the first member of a determinative in the genitive sense 3 except in indra-sená- (x.102²) Indra's missile'4, which compound is itself perhaps a Proper Name 5. In camasádhvaryu- (AV.) 'the priest of the cups', the first member expresses quite a general genitive sense of relation 'the priest who is concerned with the cups'. -= 280. As in determinatives with verbal noun as final member, the case- ending may appear in the first member. But it is less common here, and owing to the purely nominal character of the final member, is almost restricted to the genitive. The ending of this case is very common before -pati- 'lord' or 'husband': amhas-as-pati- (VS.) ‘lord of distress', N. of an intercalary month, gná-s-páti-6 husband of a divine woman', já-s-páti- ‘lord of the family', byh-as-páti- and bráhmaṇ-as-páti-'lord of devotion', mánas-as-páti- lord of mental power', ván-as-páti-8 lord of the wood', 'tree', vãc-ás-páti- lord of speech', vástos-páti- 'lord of the dwelling', subh-ás-páti- 'lord of splendour', sádas-as- páti-9 lord of the sacrificial seat'. According to the analogy of these com- pounds which end in -s-pati-, were also formed from a-stems rta-s-pati- (only voc.) 'lord of pious works' and rátha-s-páti- 'lord of the car'. The word dám-pati- may stand for *dám-s-pati-¹0 lord of the house' (dám-, the gen. pl. of which, dam-ắm, occurs). Bahuvrihis with ordinary substantives | from this word after the etymology had as final member were common from the been forgotten, as conversely the m. sapátna- beginning; hence combinations which appear 'rival' was formed from sa-pátni co-wife'. as Bahuvrihis in the older period, are often only found later as Tatpuruṣas, the latter being thus occasionally affected by the formal peculiarities of Bahuvrihis. 7 *bh-here is synonymous with bráhman-, bráhmaṇas-páti- being a parallel and explana- tory formation. On byhas-páti- and cognate compounds see OTTO STRAUSS, Brhaspati im Veda (Leipzig 1905), p. 14-17. 2 See WACKERNAGEL 2¹, p. 241 (97 note). | 3 If this compound is a Proper Name, it is the only instance with the stem-form in the first member; but the genitive case-ending appears in the first member of a few deter- minative Proper Names; see below, 280 a. 4 'Indra's missile' (BR.), 'Indra's army' (GRASSMANN). 8 van 'wood' appears also in the pl. G. van-ám, L. vám-su. 9 It is unnecessary to assume the existence of a stem sad to explain sádas-pátí- and sát-pati- since the stem sadas- occurs; nor is radh- necessary to explain radhas-pati- (only voc.) as rádhas- is frequent. 5 This is the opinion of GELDNER, VS. 2, 1, and of DELBRÜCK, Vergl. Syntax 3, p. 202. 6 An anomalous f. gnás-pátni- was formed | Cp. WACKERNAGEL 2¹, p. 249 e, note. 10 PISCHEL, VS. 2, 93 ff., 307 ff., rejects any connexion between dámpati- and dám- 'house'.