388 I. ALLGEMEINES UND SPRACHE. 4. VEDIC GRAMMAR. meaning to the future, the last of the primary verbal formations treated above (537-540). The desiderative is formed from the root with an accented reduplicative syllable and the suffix -sa, which expresses the desire for the action or condition denoted by the root; e. g. pā- 'drink': pi-pa-sa- 'desire to drink'. Desiderative stems from fewer than sixty roots are met with in the Samhitās. The characteristic reduplicative vowel is i, which appears in all stems except those formed from roots containing ž (which reduplicate with z); and the root generally remains unchanged. Thus jñā- 'know' : ji-jñā-sa- (AV.); jya- 'overpower' : jí-jyā-sa-; dā- ‘give': di-dā-sa-; pā- ‘drink' : pi-pā-sa-; tij- 'be sharp' ti-tik-sa-; nid 'blame': ní-nit-sa-; bhid- 'split': bi-bhit-sa-; mis- 'mix' : mi-mik-sa-; riş- 'hurt': ri-rik-sa-; ni 'lead': ni-nī-șa-; pri- 'love': pi-pri-șa-; guh- 'hide' : ju-guk-sa-²; duh- ‘milk': dú-duk-şa-²; muc- 'release' : mú-muk-șa-; yudh 'fight': yú-yut-sa-; ruh- 'ascend': rú-ruk-şa-; bhu- 'be': bú-bhu-sa-; trd- 'pierce': ti-trt-sa-; trp- 'delight': ti-trp-sa-; drs- 'see' : di-drk-sa-; vrt- 'turn' : vi-vrt-sa-; srp- 'creep': si-srp-sa-. a. A few desideratives reduplicate with a long vowel: tur- (= tỹ-) 'cross': tú-tūr-şa-; badh- 'oppress': bī-bhat-sa-; man- ‘think’ : mī-māṇ-sa- (AV.) 'investigate'. On the other hand, two desideratives abbreviate the reduplica- tive syllable by dropping its consonant; thus yaj- 'sacrifice': i-yak-sa- for
- yi-yak-şa-3; naš- 'attain' : í-nak-sa-, for *ni-nak-sa-, perhaps through the influence
of iyak-sa-; and the RV. has one desiderative form from ap- 'obtain' in which the reduplication is dropped altogether: ap-santa. b. The radical vowel is lengthened when i, u, or r is final (the latter becoming īr); thus ci- ‘see' : ci-kī-șa-; ji- 'conquer' : ji-gi-sa-; yu- 'unite'
- yu-yu-şa-; śru- 'hear': sú-śru-sa-; kr- 'make': ci-kīr-şa- (AV.); hr- 'take':
ji-hīr-sa- (AV.); dhur- 'injure': dú-dhur-sa- with a because vowel and semi- vowel have interchanged. a. A few roots with medial a followed by n or m lengthen the vowel; thus man- 'think': mi-mam-sa- (AV.); han- 'smite' : ji-gham-sa-; gam- 'go' : ji-gam-sa- (AV.); two others do so after dropping the nasal, viz. van- 'win' : ví-vā-sa-; and san- 'gain' : sí-ṣã-sa-5. c. In nearly a dozen roots, on the other hand, the radical vowel is weakened. 1. In a few roots final ä is reduced to ī and, in one instance, even i6; thus gā- ‘go': ji-gi-șa- (SV¹.); pā- ‘drink': pi-pī-șa- (RV.) beside pi-pā-sa-; ha- go forth': ji-hī-ṣa-7 (AV.); dhā- ‘puť : di-dhi-șa- (RV.) beside dhít-sa-. 2. Half a dozen roots containing ā or a shorten the root by syncopation resulting in contraction with the reduplicative syllable; da- 'give': dit-sa-, for di-d[al-sa-, beside di-da-sa-; dha- 'put': dhi-t-sa-, for di-dh-[a]-sa-, beside di- dhi-sa-; dabh- 'harm': di-p-sa-, for di-d[a]bh-sa-; labh- 'take' : li-p-sa- (AV.), for li-l[a]bh-sa-; sak- ‘be able' : si-k-sa-, for si-s[a]k-sa-; sah- 'prevail': sí-k-sa-, for si-s[a]k-sa-; similarly initial ä in ap- 'obtain' : ip-sa-8 (AV.); and in rdh- 'thrive': írt-sa- (AV.) the initial is treated as if it were ar-⁹. a. In a few roots the consonants undergo exceptional changes; thus palatals revert to the original guttural in ci- 'note': ci-ki-sa-; cit- 'perceive': ci-kit-sa-; ji- 'conquer' :ji-gi-sa-; ¹ Cp. v. NEGELEIN 86. 2 See above 32 b. 3 Cp. v. NEGELEIN 68, note 2. The i being the reduplicative vowel, cannot be explained in the same way as that of the perfect i-yáj- for *ya-yáj-, where i- has the nature of Samprasāraṇa. 4 Cp. Vdiv-: dyi-tá- etc., below 573 a. 5 As in the past participle 574, 2 a. 6 As in the past participle 574, 3. 7 In AV. xx. 1272 the Mss. read jihisate probably for jihidate. 8 Cp. BRUGMANN 2, 854, 1027. 9 V. NEGELEIN (89, note 2) thinks īrtsá- can only be explained from žirdh-sa-.
