Page:Vedic Grammar.djvu/160

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I. ALLGEMEINES UND SPRACHE. 4. VEDIC GRAMMAR. appended; thus tad-id-artha- 'directed to that particular object'; kā-cit-kará- 'effecting all manner of things'; ku-cid-arthin- striving to get anywhere', kuha- cid-víd- 'wherever being'. 150 5. A few interjectional or onomatopoetic words are compounded with kära- and -krti- 'making' 'sound', 'utterance', or -karty 'maker', to express the actual phonetic sound of those words: thus vaṣaṭ-kārá- (AV. VS.) 'the interjection vasat, svadha-kará- 'pronouncing (the benediction) sva-dhá', sváha-kṛti- 'consecration with the call sváha', hin-kartý- (TS.) 'one who utters the sound hin', hin-kará- (VS.) 'the sound hin'. In has-kartŕ- 'enli- vener', has-kará- 'laughter', hás-krti- 'loud merriment', the first member represents either an interjection connected with the verb has- 'laugh', or a reduced form of *hasas- 'laughter' (like sát-pati- for sádas-pati- through

  • sáts-pati-).

B. The Last Member of Compounds. 252. Its form. - Practically all nouns may appear in this position. But many verbal nouns, especially participles, if used in their primary sense, are found exclusively after indeclinables which are capable of being combined with the corresponding verbs. Some stems also occur as final members though not used independently; such are verbal nouns formed from the simple root with or without an added determinative -t; also derivatives like -janīna- (AV.) 'belonging to the people (jána-) of -'. a. Change of ending. When the gender of the final member is changed, the -ã of feminine words, even though radical, becomes -a in masculine or neuter compounds; thus priyosriyá- 'fond of cows' (usriyā-); an-avasá- restless' (from ava-sá- 'rest'), a-sraddhá- 'unbelieving' (from rad-dha- 'belief'), rtá-jya- 'well-strung' (from jyá- 'bowstring'). Even - in a few instances becomes -a; thus ati-ratrá- 'performed overnight' and aho-rātrá- ‘day and night' (rátrī-); api-sarvaré early in the morning' and ati-śarvaré or ati- sarvaréşu (AV.) ‘late at night' (śárvarī-). — On the other hand m. and n. stems in -a regularly end in -ā in the feminine, as cittá-garbhā- ‘having evident offspring' (gárbha- m.); and páti- 'husband' in f. possessives substitutes -patnī; thus éka-patnī (AV.) 'having a single husband', dāsá-patnī- ‘'having demons as lords', sa-pátní- 'having one husband in common', sám-patnī- (AV.) and sahá-patni- (AV.) 'having her husband with her', su-pátni- 'having a good husband'; also in the deter- minative vīrá-patnī- 'wife of a hero'. 253. Alternative stems. When in the inflexion of a word alternative stems are used, only one of these, and as a rule the older one, appears as final member of possessive compounds: thus dant- 'tooth' (not dánta-) in satá-dant- (AV.) 'hundred-toothed', súci-dant- 'bright-toothed'; pád- 'foot' (not páda-): a-pád- 'footless', uttaná-pad- 'whose feet are extended', éka-pad-¹ 'one- footed'; nás- 'nose' (not násãā-) in ju-nas-² 'straight-nosed', N. of a man ³; údhan- 'udder' (not údhar-) in an-ūdhán-4 'udderless', rapsád-ūdhan- ‘having a distended udder', f. á-cchidrodhn-i- 'having an intact udder'; dhánvan- 'bow' (not dhánus-) in abalá-dhanvan- (AV.) 'having a weak bow', ávatata-dhanvan- (VS.) 'having an unstrung bow', ksiprá-dhanvan- 'having a swift bow', śatá- ŕjū-nas- ¹ The AV., however, has the nom. sing. éka-pada-ḥ. 2 According to BLOOMFIELD also in rujánās, for rujaná-nās broken-nosed'; see P. 59, note 1. 3 According to WACKERNAGEL 21, p. 92 (top), a-nāsiká occurs in TS. (VII. 5. 12¹. 4 Cp. WACKERNAGEL 2¹, p. 93, note.