Page:Vedic Grammar.djvu/259

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VI. DECLENSION. NOUNS. VOWEL STEMS. woman', já-'child', jyá- 'bowstring', má-'measure', vrá-¹'troop'; the rest appear only at the end of compounds: -krá-² 'doing', -krá-3 'scattering', -ksá- 'ruling', -khá-'digging', -khyá- 'seeing', gá-'going', -gá- 'singing', -já- 'born', -jñá-'knowing', jya- 'power', -ta- 'stretching', -dá- giving', -dra- 'sleeping', -dha- 'putting', -dhat- sucking, pá- guarding', pá- 'drinking', prá- 'filling', -bhá- 'appearing', -má- 'measuring', yá- ‘going', -vá- 'blowing', -sa- 'winning'5, -stha- 'standing', -sná- 'bathing', -há- 'starting'. These stems are inflected in the m. and f. only. There are no distinctively n. forms, as the stem shortens the radical vowel to à in that gender and is consequently inflected according to the derivative a-declension. a. Three anomalously formed m. derivative stems in -ã follow the analogy of the radical ā-stems. I. From the adverb tá-tha 'thus' is formed the N. sing. á-tathā-s ‘not saying "yes". 2. ušánā-, N. of a seer, forms its A. uśánām and D. uśáne 7; the N. sing. being irregularly formed without -s, has the appearance of a N. sing. f. from a derivative a-stem8. 3. The strong stem of pathi- 'path' is in the RV. pánthä- only: N. sing. pántha-s (+ AV.), A. pántha-m (+ AV.), N. pl. pánthas. The AV. also uses the stem pánthan-, from which it forms N. sing. pántha (once), A. pánthanam (once), and N. pl. pánthanas. Though the stem pánthan never occurs in the RV., the evidence of the Avesta points to its having heen in use beside pántha- in the Indo-Iranian period 9. The A. pánthām ¹º, as a contraction of pánthānam, may have been the starting point of the N. sing. pánthā-s. Inflexion. 368. The forms occurring in the oblique cases are so rare that some endings, such as those of the L. sing., G. L. du. and G. pl. are not represented at all. The m. always takes -s in the N. sing., but the f. often drops it, doubt- less owing to the influence of the f. of derivative a-stems. Excepting the few forms occurring in the D. and G. sing. ", the N. sing. with -s is the only case in which the inflexion of the radical stems can be distinguished in the f.¹² from that of the derivative a-stems in form ¹3. The forms actually occurring would, if made from já- 'offspring', be the following: Sing. N. m. f. já-s, f. also já. A. m. f. jä-m. I. f. j-á. D. m. f. j-e. G. m. j-ás. V. m. jä-s. Du. N. A. V. m. já, jáu. I. jä-bhyām ¹4. PI. N. m. f. jás. A. f. jás. I. m. f. já-bhis. D. f. já-bhyas. Ab. m. já-bhyas. L. f. jä-su. The forms actually occurring are the following: Sing. N. m. já-s¹5 ‘child', dã-s¹6 ‘giver', sthá-s 'standing'. dadhi-krá-s ¹7, From an extended form of the root vr-ition forms L. sing. āpayāyām, N. of a river, 'surround'. and puro-dhayām (AV.). 2 An extension with -ā of kr- ‘do'. 3 An extension with - of kr- 'scatter'. 4 The root mla- 'soften' occurs in the modified form of -mna in carma-mnă- 'tanner'. 12 The N. sing. with -s is about as common as that without it in the RV., the latter occurring in late hymns; in the AV. the former are less common.

  • 3 But on etymological grounds other cases

may commonly he distinguished as belonging to either one group or the other; thus A. f. á-gopām 'having no herdsman' must be regarded as a radical ā-form, because the m. is almost without exception go-pá-m, and not as a derivative f. from go-pă-. 14 Contrary to the rule generally applicable to monosyllable stems, the accent remains on the radical syllable throughout. 5 Four of these roots, khā-, gã-, jā-, sā-, are collateral forms of others ending in a nasal, khan-, gam-, jan-, san-; cp. DELBRÜCK, Verbnm, p. 92 f., LANMAN 442. 6 Five N. sing. m. forms with -s are found in agreement with n. substantives. 7 There is also a L. sing. uśáne, which is formed as if from an a-stem. 249 8 The starting-point of this may have been usánām as a contracted A. for usánasam. 9 See LANMAN 441. to The aualogy of pathi- is followed by mathi- 'churning-stick', which once has the A. form mánthă-m. — 15 LANMAN 443 thinks gá-s in x. 1278 is a N. sing. 'singer' (ga- 'sing'), hut it is probably the A. pl. of go 'cow'. 16 Also dha-s in TS. II. 6. 44. 17 These compounds are arranged accord- 1¹ There are otherwise only the f. trans- | ing to the alphabetical order of the roots.