beasts were used primitively as a general term for the animal without regard to sex distinction. Note, for example, the Indo-European word *eku̯o-s = Latin equos, Greek ἵππος, Sanskrit aš̍vas. It signified originally horse in general, and did not have any special meaning like stallion. Not until there appeared by the side of such substantives in -o-s, forms with the suffix -a- or with the suffix -iē-, -ī- to denote the female, did the use of the o-stems suffer any limitation. It was then that the o-stem first came to be employed to signify specifically a male being. In this way Latin equos, by contrast with equa, 'mare', acquired the special meaning 'stallion'. So Sanskrit vŕ̥kas, in contrast with vr̥kī̍, 'she-wolf', was used to mean the male wolf. In a word, the whole problem that is at present claiming our attention, depends for its settlement on one question. What was the original function of the -ā- in words like Latin anima, equa, Greek χώρᾱ 'land', θεᾱ́, 'goddess', Sanskrit bhidā̍, 'split'? And what was the original function of the -iē-, -ī- in words like Latin acies, Greek γλῶσσα, 'tongue', πότνια, 'mistress', Sanskrit š̍ácī, 'strength', vṛkī̍, 'she-wolf'?
According to the older theory, as we have seen, these suffixes -ā-, -iē-(-ī-) originally carried
