Page:Comparative Grammar of the Sanskrit, Zend, Greek, Latin, Lithuanian, Gothic, German and Slavonic languages (Bopp 1885).pdf/475

ORDINAL NUMBERS. 453 “Remark.—As the old a of the preposition #pra has been weakened to i-as in quinque, answering to panchan -the Latin prima appears distinct from the preposition pro, and is decidedly not derived from a Roman soil, but is, as it were, the continuance of the Indian pratham, the middle syllable being cast out. A similar weakening of the vowel is exhibited in the Greek adverb piv, which is hereby, in like manner, brought into connection with the preposition #pó. In the comparative prior only the pr of the preposition, which forms the base, is left, as the i be- longs to the comparative suffix. In Lithuanian the m of the superlative formation has introduced itself also into the preposition pirm, 'before'; but the unaltered pra stands as prefix. To the same base, however, belongs also pri, 'by, before,' as well isolated as prefixed. The Gothic fruma shews the same relation to prathamd that the Latin [G. Ed. p. 464.] and Lithuanian do: the a of fru has arisen from a through the influence of the liquid (§. 66.). In the cognate preposition fram, 'before, by,' &c., the original vowel has remained, and in this form, as in the Lithuanian pirm, the superla- tive m is contained. On pra is based, also, faur, 'before," with transposition of the u of fru-ma, and with a prefixed, according to §. 82.

The adverbs which express the ideas “twice,” “thrice,” “four times,” have been already discussed (p. 435 G. ed.). Let the following serve for a general view of them:—

SANSKRIT. SEND GREET LATIN. OLD NORTHERN. dwis, bis, dist bis. fvis-var (p. 436 G. ed.). tris, thris, τρίς, ter, thris-var. chatur, chathrus, quater,

According to §. 94. for chaturs.