Page:Vedic Grammar.djvu/58

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48
I. Allgemeines und Sprache. 4. Vedic Grammar.

'sleep'; us-and-, part, from vas- 'wear'; rsa-bhd- 'bull'; uksdn- 'ox'; varsd- 'rain' — and when the j is suffixal; as in the superlative suffix -istha; in the loc. pi. suffix -su, e. g. agni-su, aktic-su, nf-su, vik-su, gtr-su, kavis-su; in the j-suffix of the aorist, e. g. ydk-s-at, from yaj- 'sacrifice'.

The change is phonetic even when Anusvara intervenes between ~i u f and s; e. g. pimsdnti from pis- 'crush'; Aavtmsi 'offerings' from havis-; cdksumsi 'eyes' from cdksus-. The s, however, remains in forms of hims- 'injure', nims- 'kiss', and pums- 'man', being probably transferred from the strong forms kindsti, pi'imamsam, etc.

a. The s, however, remains when immediately followed by r or r, owing to a distaste for a succession of cerebrals i; e. g. tisras, tisrbhis, tisfnam, f. of tri- 'three' ; usrcis gen, usi-i s.nA.usram, loc. (beside war, voc), usrd- 'matutinal'; 2/wa- 'bull'; sansrpd- 'creeping'-. Owing to the influence of forms with si; the j- further remains in the syllable sm; instead of sm; as in sisarsi, sisaj-ii (beside sisrate, sisrai-, sarsri etc.). In khara- (AV. VS.) 'hair', the retention may be due to the ?■ having originally followed the s imme- diately 2. The s also remains unchanged in the combinations stir, stiir, spar, spr, sphur; e. g. tistire, from stf- 'strew'; pisprsas, from sprs- 'touch' 3. It remains in the second of three successive syllables in which s-s-s would be expected ; thus yasisTsfhas, beside ayasisam, from ja- 'go'; sisaksi, beside sisakti, from sac- 'follow'.

^. Words in which s otherwise follows r or any vowel but a, must be of foreign origin; such as bisa- 'root fibre'; busd- 'vapour'; bfsaya-, a demon; rbfsa- 'cleft'; ki/id- 'praiser'; barsvd- (VS.) 'socket'; htsula- (AV.), a kind of demon; musala- (AV.) 'pestle' (for mt'isra-l); stsa- (AV. VS.) 'lead' 4.

y. The cerebral s is sometimes found even after a, representing an early Prakritic change in which as^ is based on rs and as on arsS. Instances of this are kasaii (AV.) 'scratches'; pasthavdh- (VS. TS.) 'young bull' (lit. 'carrying on the back') a.nA pasthauht-6 'young cow', beside prsthd- 'back'; pasya-1 'stone'; bhasd-i (VS.) 'barking' 9. There are besides several unexplained instances, doubtless due to foreign influence or origin; such are dsatara- 'more accessible'; kavdsa-, N.; cam- 'blue jay'; casdla- 'knoh' ; jdlasa- 'remedy'; baskdya- 'yearling'; baskiha- (VS.) 'decrepit'; mdsa- 'bean' (AV. VS.); sdspa- (VS.) 'young grass' 10.

2. Initially^' the change regularly takes place, in the RV.:

a. in verbal compounds after prepositions ending in i or u, and in nominal derivatives from such compound verbs; also after the preposition nis 'out'; e. g. ni sida (x. 98*); dnu stuvanti (viii. 3*); nih-sdhamana^ (I. 1273).

a. But (as when it is medial) the s remains unchanged when followed by r (even when t or p intervenes) or r (even though a intervene, with an additional m or v in the roots sinar- and svar-); e. g. vi srja 'let flow', vi-sfsfi- 'creation'; vi striutam 'let him extend'; ni-spfse 'to caress' (but d-ni-sirta- 'unchecked'); pdri-sncta- 'flowed round'; vi-sargd- 'end', vi-sdrjana- 'extension' (owing to the influence of the forms with sr from J?7'-); vi-sarmdn- 'dissolving', vi-sard- 'extent', and even vi sasre (owing to the influence of forms with sr from sr- 'flow'); prdti smaretham 'may ye two remember' [ysmr-); abhi-svdranli 'praise', abhi-svdr- 'invocation', abhi-svare, loc, 'behind', abhi-svartf- 'invoker'. But St sp sph are changed according to the general rule, when ar ir ur follow; c. g. prdti sphura 'repel'. In roots which contain no r, the initial s rarely remains; thus in forms of as- 'be' : abhi santi. pari santu, pdri santi (beside pari santi], abhi sydma (beside abhi-syama); and owing to dislike of repeated s: anu-sisidhat (sidh- 'drive off'); dnu-spasfa- 'iioticed' [spas- *s&e^); pdri sani-svanat [svan- 'sound').


1 Cp. above 42 a, a and p. 38, note 2.

2 See Wackernagel i, 50.

3 The combination sr is found only where sr would be quite isolated amid cognate forms with s thus ajus-ran, from jtis- 'be satisfied', since all the other very numerous forms of this verb have /.

4 See Wackernagel i, 203 e, note.

5 Sometimes representing also IE. Is and Is; cp. Wackernagel i, 208 b a.

6 Cp. Bartholomae, KZ. 29, 579;

WiNDISCH, KZ. 27, 169.

7 Cp. FORTHNATOV, BE. 6, 217 ; J. SCHMIDT,

KZ. 32, 387.

8 FORTUNATOV, 1. C.

9 On doubtful instances like kastha- 'goal', asfhivdntau 'knees', apdsfhd- 'barb', cp. Wackernagel i, 208 b a, note; b /3, note.

>o Cp. Wackernagel i, 208 b /S.

" Finally, s stands for j in the first