Page:Vedic Grammar.djvu/28

I. ALLGEMEINES UND SPRACHE. 4. VEDIC GRAMMAR. ‘king’:raj, ?j- ‘direct’; zic- ‘voice’:vac-, uc-‘speak’; ksắs, nom., ksắm, acc., 'earth': ksam-, kşm-; nábh- 'well': nábh-as, abh-rá- (abh- = nbh-) 'cloud'. Also before primary suffixes: áp-as: áp-as 'work'; vás-as 'garment': vas-, uș- 'wear'; váh-as 'offering': vah-, uh- 'convey'; vás-tu 'abode': vas-, us- 'dwell. Perhaps also páth-as 'place': path 'path' ¹. 2. in secondary nominal derivation; e. g. kāṇvá- 'descended from Kanva'; vāpuş-á 'marvellous' : váp-us- 'marvel'. 3. in the active of the s-aorist: thus a-cchant-s-ur : chand-, chad- (= chnd-) 'appear'; a-yam-s-am, 1. sing. : yam-, ya- (= ym-) 'stretch'; sak-s-ama, also mid. sāk-s-i, sāk-s-ate : sah- 'overcome' 2. b. in the suffix of nominal stems: 18 I. in the nom. sing. masc. of stems in -mant and -vant, and throughout the strong cases of stems in -an, of mahát- 'great', and of nápat- 'grandson': thus dyu-mán 'brilliant': dyu-mánt-, dyu-mát- (= -mnt-); re-ván 'rich': re-vánt-, re-vát- (= vnt-) ³; ráj-ā, acc. ráj-ān-am 'king': ráj-an-, ráj-ñ-, ráj-a- (— rāj-n-); mah-án, acc. mah-ánt-am; nápāt, acc. nápātam. 2. in the nom. acc. pl. neuter of stems in -an and -as and of one in -ant; thus námā 'names': náman, nắma- (— nắmṇ-); mánäms-i ‘minds’ : mán-as; sánt-i: s-ánt- 'being'. c. in anu- as first member of a compound in anu-şák and ānūkám 'continuously' : otherwise anu-. b. Gradation of a. 26. Low grade: i.- The vowel à is not always the long grade vowel: in a number of roots it represents Guna. The low grade of this a is normally i; it sometimes, however, appears as , owing to analogy 5, and, especially with a secondary accent, as a. Thus sthi-tá-: sthá-s 'thou hast stood'; dhi-tá-: dá-dha-ti 'places'; pu-ni-hí: pu-ná-ti, from pu- 'purify'; gáh-ana- 'depth', gáh-vara- (AV.) 'hiding-place': gáh-ate 'plunges'. a. The low grade vowel disappears: 1. in roots ending in a before vowel terminations; in the weak forms of the reduplicated present base of da- 'give' and dha- 'put', before all terminations; and in the weak form of the suffix -na- in the ninth class before vowel terminations; thus in the perf. of dā-: dad-áthur, dad-atur; dad-á, dad-úr; dad-é; in the pres. of dhā-: dadh- mási; beside pu-ná-ti 'he purifies', pu-n-ánti 'they purify'. Similarly from ha- 'forsake' occurs, in the opt. pres., the form jah-yat (AV.). 2. in the final member of compounds formed with the perf. part. passive of da- 'give', and da- 'cut', or with a substantive in -ti- from dā- 'give': devá-tta-, a name ('given by the gods'); áva-tta- (VS.) 'cut off'; pári-tta- (VS.) 'given up'; áprati-tta- (AV.) 'not given back'; bhága-tti- 'gift of fortune'; maghá-tti- 'gift of presents'; vásu-tti- 'gift of wealth' (beside vásu-dhiti- 'bestowal of wealth': dha-). Also in agní-dh-6 ‘fire-placer', a kind of priest7. I Cp. AUFRECHT, BB. 14, 33; WACKER- NAGEL 1, 72 (p. 79, bottom). 2 Op. cit. I, 72 b (p. 80). 3 The long vowel in these nominatives is to he accounted for by IE. compensatory lengthening (-mān mant-s, etc.); in the following examples it has spread from the nominative to other cases. = 4 Such neuter plurals were in origin prob- ably feminine singular collectives: cp. BRUG MANN, KG. 481; WACKERNAGEL 1, 73 and 95. 5 That is, under the influence of i as low grade of ai which before consonants. appears as ā, as in gitá- beside gã-thá-, from gai- 'sing', pres. gay-ati; cp. 27 a. 6Cp. agni-dhana- 'fire-place'; in VS. agnidh- appears instead, as if 'fire-kindler' (from idh- kindle'). 7 For a few other examples (which are doubtful) of the loss of the low grade vowel in the final member of compounds, see Wackernagel 1, p. 82 (mid.).