Page:Grammar of the Hindi language 1938.djvu/81

44 b. Sanskrit adjectives in वत्, occurring in Hindi, frequently substitute for the nom. sing., the base in वन्त् of the strong cases, as, c.g., दयावन्त ‘merciful, पापवन्त ‘sinful’; so also, छुधावन्त for चुधावन्त, ‘hungry.’

c. As has been remarked, Hindi nouns exhibit, in their declension, only the scanty remainder of the Sanskrit case- terminations, so corrupted and modi6cd as to be recognized only with difficulty. The unchanged Sanskrit forms ore, however, occasionally met with, but ore no more organically connected with the Hindi, than such Latin and Greek phrases and words as  ' id est,’ ‘ et cetera,' ‘ dogmata, '  are thus connected with English. Examples are, सर्व्वस्य, gen. sing, of सर्व्व, ‘all’; अर्थात =‘viz.,’ abl. sing. of अर्थ‘; पितरी, parents, nom. dual of पितृ; वर्षाः, 'the rains', nom. plur. from वर्ष; सुखेन, ‘with pleasure,’ instr. sing. of सुख. But the most of these are very rare; and, with few exceptions, are only found in poetry.

74. Sanskrit comparatives and superlatives occur in Hindi, with the usual loss of the case-terminations, but are by no means common, and, with a few exceptions, they belong rather to literature than to the colloquial. Examples are, of superlatives; ओष्ट,‘most excellent,’ from ओ; प्रियतम,‘dearest,’ from प्रिय. Comparatives are yet more uncommon; we have noted मन्द्तर ‘slower,’ from मन्द; पुखतर, ‘ more holy,’ from पुख. It may be remarked that these Sanskrit comparatives, when they occur in Hindi, very commonly lose the com¬ parative sense and are, in effect, superlatives.

75. The numerals and pronouns appear in Hindi, as might be expected of words in such incessant use by all classes, in an extremely mutilated and corrupted form. But the un-changed Sanskrit numerals arc occasionally found in Hindi literature, especially in the headings of chapters. So also, we occasionally meet certain cases of the Sanskrit pronouns; more especially, the gen. sing. of the 1st and 2nd personal pronouns, मम and तव, chiefly in poetry.