Page:Vedic Grammar.djvu/41

I. PHONOLOGY. PALATALS. 31 vi-vik-váms-, from vic- 'divide³; ok-i-váms- (36 a), from uc- ‘find pleasure' (but dat. sing. uc-us-e). The following are, however, exceptions: ój-man- "might'¹; bhuj-mán- 'fruitful'; múh-ur 'suddenly'; druh-ú- (AV.) ‘injurer'; yāc-ñyá- (AV.) ‘request'. 40. The old palatals (ch, j, ś, h). The aspirate ch. This sound is, in pronunciation, the aspirate of ² and is therefore represented in reduplication by c. But in origin ch has nothing to do with c. The fact that after a mute it takes the place of in Sandhi shows that it is allied to . In fact, unlike j and h, it belongs exclusively to the old series of palatals; for it does not interchange with a guttural kh³. In the Avesta ch is regularly represented by s and in cognate European languages by a conjunct consonant beginning with s and standing for IE. skh (that is, s+ palatal mute aspirate); e. g. chid- 'cut off', Gk. oyid-. This in Indo-Iranian probably became ssh, which differentiated into Avestics and Vedic ch. In the inchoative suffix -cha (gácchati, Gk. Báokw) this palatal aspirate seems to represent IE. sk, a conclusion which is supported by the old inchoative verb rapsate is full’ rap(s)sate, where after the s has been dropped between two consonants 4, IE. remained. Thus ch represents a double sound and metrically lengthens a preceding short vowel. Hence the RPr. (VI. 1) prescribes the doubling of ch (that is c-ch) between vowels. Though the Vedic Mss. almost invariably write ch5 and AUFRECHT's edition of the RV. and v. SCHROEDER's edition of the MS.6 follow this practice, the spelling cch is to be preferred. Ś = a. In śákhā- 'branch', the initial probably stands for ch owing to the law by which two aspirates in the same syllable are avoided 7. b. In a few instances ch is a Prakritic representative of ks and ps: -ṛcchára- (AV.) beside yksála- (VS.)³, part of an animal's leg; kṛcchrá- ‘distress', perhaps for krpsrá-, and allied to krpate laments', and krpána- 'misery' 9. 41. The old palatal j.-This is the media of (while as a new palatal it is the media of c). It is recognizable as an old palatal by the following indications: I. when there are parallel forms with s before t, th, or a cerebral appears either as final or before mutes; e. g. beside yáj-ati ‘sacrifices', yás-tr- 'sacrificer', is-tá- 'sacrificed', a-yat 'has sacrificed'; similarly in the roots bhrāj- 'shine'; mrj- 'wipe off'; raj- 'rule'; rej- 'tremble' (?); vraj- 'wander'; srj- 'send forth'; possibly also in bhrajj- 'roast' ¹⁰. 2. when in the form in question or in cognate forms, sounds follow which do not palatalize gutturals, that is, u r n m r v; such are: dj-ra- 'plain'; áj-ma(n)- 'course'; árjuna- 'white', rj-rá- 'reddish'; rj-ú- 'straight', rj-iyas- g ¹ Under the influence of ój-iyas- 'stronger' | in Sandhi and ducchúnā- for *dus-šunā- “mis- and ój-istha- 'strongest', such nouns in -man- fortune'. being often closely connected with compara- tives and superlatives. 5 Except those of the Kathaka, which. write sch (cp. note 2). 6 Also ROTH's ed. of the Nirukta and MACDONELL's ed. of the Bṛhaddevatã; cp. AUFRECHT, RV², p. VI. 7 Cp. 32. 3 mūrkhá- 'dull', occurring in a B. passage 8 On AV. Ms. spelling ch for ks in two of the TS., is probably a new formation or three words, see WHITNEY, JAOS. 12, analogous to soká- (AV.) from sócati. Some 92. 175. scholars hold that there is an etymological connection between chand- ‘appear', chand-as- 'song', and skándati 'leaps'; between chid- 'cut off' and khid- 'press'; between chā- (AV.) 'cut off' and khā- (khan-) ‘dig'. Cp. WACKER- NAGEL I, 131, note, bottom. 9 On the origin of ch, cp. BRUGMANN, KG. 240; on the sound as a whole, WACKER - NAGEL I, 133 f. 10 But cp. 38 c, and WACKERNAGEL I, 139. ¹ Apart of course from the exceptions due to analogy: see 39. 4 Cp. above p. 25 note 6; cp. here cch=t+s 2 In the Kathaka ch is spelt fch, which is probably only a provincial assibilation, and not the survival of an older sound; cp. | J. SCHMIDT, KZ. 27, 332.