Page:A Comparative Grammar of the Modern Aryan Languages of India Vol 1.djvu/42

20 (oxytone), we get H. खेत्, M. शेत्, and a consonantal ending in all the languages. We should therefore set down the first of these words as an early, the second as a late, Tadbhava. So also when we see that Skr. क्षीर "milk" (oxytone), makes, not khîrâ, but खीर khîr, in all the languages, we have grounds for holding that the word has been resuscitated in comparatively modern times; and in the case of this particular word we are supported in this idea by the fact that khîr is not the ordinary word for "milk." In all the languages the common word is दूध, an undoubtedly ancient Tadbhava from Skr. दुग्ध; khîr is rather an affectation of modern times, and in some of the languages has a secondary meaning; while to dûdh is reserved the simple primary signification; khîr is used for a preparation of boiled rice and milk.

Another instance is the causal verb in Sanskrit, which has the accent on the first syllable of the characteristic, as in चोरयति choráyati, The Hindi in all its pure causals is followed by Bengali, Oṛiya, Panjabi, and Gujarati in retaining a long â in the same position, as churânâ, bajânâ, milânâ, karânâ. This long â is not produced by rejecting the y of aya, and contracting the two vowels into one, as is proved by the fact that in old Hindi the last a of the two has gone out, leaving the y changed into u, as karâunâ, dikhâunâ, bujhâunâ, forms still in use in many rustic parts of India. Moreover, though the first syllable of the verb in Sanskrit takes guṇa, yet we find in the moderns that its lack of accent subjects it to be shortened, as in the examples above given. In Marathi the causal verb is formed by the insertion of the syllables अवि, or इव, or ववि, as mârnen, "to kill," mâravinen, "to cause to kill"; khânen, "to eat," khâvavinen, "to cause to eat"; soḍnen, "to loose," soḍavinen, "to cause to loose." In the first of these forms the y of âya is changed to v, just as in Hindi it becomes u, and though both the short vowels remain, yet the influence of the accent operates in retaining the accented vowel