Page:Vedic Grammar.djvu/36

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26 I. ALLGEMEINES UND SPRACHE. 4. VEDIC GRAMMAR. direction. It is therefore likely that they were thus pronounced in Vedic times. Prosodically, however, they have the value of a single consonant (excepting ch²). They date from the Indo-Iranian period only; but in order to understand their place in the Vedic language, especially in relation to the gutturals, we must go back to their ultimate origin. The evidence of com- parative grammar shows that two distinct series of palatals, the later and the earlier, must be distinguished. This evidence alone can explain how the same Vedic palatal sound (jor h) is, under certain conditions, treated differently. 36. The new palatals (c, j, h) are derived from gutturals (velars), being interchangeable, in most roots and formatives, with gutturals, and being in most cognate languages represented by the same sounds as represent original gutturals. Thus from the root suc- 'shine' come verbal forms such as Sócati, beside the nominal derivatives sóka-, śúkvan-, śukrá-, śuklá- (AV.); from yuj- 'yoke', yuje 1. sing. mid., etc., beside yugá-, yoga-, yuktá-, yigvan-; from druh- 'injure', dudróha, 3. sing. perf., etc., beside druhyi, a name, and drógha- 'deceitful'. The (Indo-Iranian) change from gutturals to palatals was regularly produced before the palatal sounds i 7 y³; e. g. città- 'noticed', beside kéta- will', from cit- 'perceive'; jiyas- 'stronger', beside ugrá- 'strong'; druhyu- beside drógha-. This change invariably takes place in Iranian, while the exceptions in Vedic appear only before vowels which were not originally palatal. a. Gutturals thus appear instead of palatals before ir (il) and ir (= IE. ṛr- and ), which were not yet pronounced with an i-sound in the Indo-Iranian period 5: thus ángiras-, a name; giri-6 'mountain'; kiráti, 3. sing., kirána- 'dust', from kr- 'scatter'; carkirama, carkiran, kirti- 'fame', from kŕ- 'commemorate'; gir- 'lauding', from gr- 'praise'; giráti (AV.), 3. sing., -gila- (AV.) 'devouring', from g- 'swallow'. Before i (IE. )7 k appears in ok-i-váms-, part. from uc- 'be pleased', and g in tigitá-8 'sharp', beside tejate, téjas- 'brilliance', and other derivatives, from tij- 'be sharp'. Otherwise a guttural followed by a palatal vowel is due to the influence of cognate forms. This is the case I. in the initial of roots a) in gī, the weak stem of gai- 'sing', beside gay, gã-; f) in reduplicated forms with cik-, jig-, due to forms like cikáya, jigaya (where the guttural is in accordance with phonetic law) and to the frequency of palatal reduplication of guttural initial; thus perf. ciky-ur, part. cíky-at-, desid, cikīşate, impv. cikīhi (AV.), from ci- 'perceive'; intv. cékit-, cikit-, desid. cikits-, from cit- 'perceive'; perf. jigy-ur, desid. jigīṣate, jigyú- 'victorious', ujjenī), N. of a city; Aiapoúva = yamunā-,|1, 121 (p. 140, top). The palatal aspirate N. of a river. Cp. WACKERNAGEL I, 119. in fact never represents a guttural aspirate, ¹ Cp. WHITNEY on APr. I. 21. but only an IE. palatal, or sibilant and palatal. 7 This sound had probably not yet become pure palatal in IIr. 2 Cp. above 30, 3; 31, 3 b; and below 40. 3 The sphere of the palatals has been extended by analogy at the expense of the gutturals and vice versâ. The aspirate guttural kh appears where the other gutturals are replaced by palatals; thus before they in a khyā- 'see' (but jyā) 'overpower'; before 8 Otherwise the palatal regularly appears the thematic a of the present: rikhati before this i in perfect forms; e. g. saściré 'sits' (but dahati); before the -ayati of the (sac- 'accompany'); bhejiré (bhaj- 'divide'); Causative: inkhayati 'swings' (but arcáyati); uvócitha, ucise (uc- be pleased'); dudóhitha and notably in sákhi- 'friend': dat. sákhye, (duh 'milk'). pl. sákhibyas (IIr. sachi-): cp. WACKERNAGEL 4 Cp. WACKERNAGEL I, 24. 25. 5 Cp. WACKERNAGEL I, 123 a d. 6 In Av. gairi-.