Page:Vedic Grammar.djvu/25

I. PHONOLOGY. VOWEL GRADATION. GUNA SERIES. It is to be found 1) in strong forms of a few monosyllabic substantives, in the nom. sing. of sákhi- 'friend' and of stems in , and in the loc. sing. of stems in i and u: su-hárd- 'good-hearted' (from hyd- 'heart'), dydu-s 'heaven' (from dyú-), gáu-s 'cow' (from gó-); sákhã¹, pitá²; agná ³ (from agni- 'fire'), aktáu (from akti- 'night'); 2) before the primary nominal suffixes -a, -i, -ti, -tna, -man, -vana; e. g. sparh-á- 'desirable' (√ sprh-); hard-i- 'heart' (from hrd-); kárṣ-i- (VS.) ‘drawing' ( √ krs-); śráuş-ți ‘obedient' ( √ śruṣ-); cyau-tná-'stimulating* (Vcyu-); bhárman- 'board' (Vbhr-); kárs-i-vana- (AV.) 'ploughman'; 3) in secondary nominal derivation, generally to form patronymics or adjectives expressive of connexion or relation; e. g. gairikṣitá- 'descended from giri-kṣít'; aušijá- 'son of Uśíj'; śrautrá- ‘relating to the ear' (śrótra-); hairanyá- 'golden' (hiranya- 'gold'); 4) in the singular pres. of a few verbs of the second class and in the active s-aorist of roots ending in vowels: kṣṇáu-mi I sharpen' (Vkṣnu-); mars-țis 'he wipes' (Vmrj-); yáu-mi (AV.) 'I unite' (Vyu-); a-jai-şam 'I have conquered' (Vji-); ydu-s, 2 sing. 'ward off' (Vyu-); a-bhar-şam 'I have borne' (√ bhṛ-). 15 B. Low grade: īū ir.-The same Guņa and Vṛddhi forms as a rule correspond to these long vowels as to their short forms i u r. Thus bhi 'fear': bi-bháy-a and bi-bhay-a; hu- 'call' : ju-háv-a; ty 'cross': ta-tar-a, beside tir-áte and tir-na- (just like fri- 'resort': si-śray-a; śru- 'hear': su-śrắv-a; kr- 'do': ca-kar-a). Before consonants the roots pri- 'love', vi- 'desire', vi- vī- 'impel', s'lie', ni- 'lead, bhi- 'fear', have Guņa forms in e, the last two also Vṛddhi forms in ai; but roots in ū and ♬ have avió and ari as Guņa, āvi and āri as Vṛddhi, respectively; e. g. pū- 'purify', aor. pavi-șța and apāviṣur; kr- 'scatter', aor. subj. kāri-ṣat7. a. ī and instead of Guna. In a few verbs and some other words 7 and ū are the old weak grade vowels (almost invariably medial) of e and o, the length of which has been preserved by the accent shifting to them (while when not thus protected they have been shortened to i and ů), and which as thus accented, sometimes appear instead of the Guna vowels. Thus i is found in ris-ant- 'injuring' (= *rīs-ánt-), beside resa-, the low grade form of the radical syllable otherwise becoming ris-8. Similary gáhati 'hides' appears beside góh-a- 'hiding-place', the root being also shortened in guh-yáte, etc.; duş-ayati 'spoils', beside doș-á- and doșás- (AV.) 'evening', also dús-ți- (AV.) 'destruction'; úh-ati 'removes', beside h-a- 'gift'; nú 'now', nu-tana- 'new', nu-nám 'now', beside náva- 'new', also nú 'now' (never at the beginning of a sentence); mús- 'mouse', beside moşatha 'ye rob', also mușitá- 'stolen'; yupa- 'post', beside yuyópa 'has infringeď, also yupitá- (AV.) ‘smoothed'; stú-pa- ‘tuft', beside sto-ká- 'drop', also stu-pá- (VS.) 'tuft'⁹. b. In a few roots ending in v¹º, the radical vowel ī represents the low With loss of the final element, which 6 They have o in the intensive redupli- however, remains in datives like tásmai, cation only; e. g. soșū- : Vsū-. probably because the diphthong was here pronounced with a slurred accent: cp. WACKERNAGEL I, 93. 7 Cp. WACKERNAGEL I, 76. 2 With loss of r, the preceding vowel having compensatory IE. lengthening (cp. WACKERNAGEL I, 61 c). In a few instances, the Vṛddhi of the nom. sing. spread to other cases (cp. 25 B b 1); e. g. tár-as, nom. pl., from old nom. sing. *stur (beside stř-bhis). 3 Also agnáu, like the u-stems. 4 See below 191. 8 The accentuation of ī, the low grade of yá, is probably to be explained similarly in feminínes like naptí-s (masc. nápāt-); shortened to nápti in voc.; cp. 19 b 3 and 29. 9 The accentuation of , the low grade of vá is probably to be explained similarly in feminines like kadrú-s (TS. B.) 'brown' (masc. kádru-m, TS. B.); shortened to u in voc., e. g. bábhru; cp. WACKERNAGEL 1, 82. 10 That is, the original form would have 5 From the present the ar spread to been iu- or i- according as a vowel or a other forms, c. g. perf. mamárja (AV.). consonant followed.