Page:Sanskrit Grammar by Whitney p1.djvu/114

 251. Certain -roots, because of their peculiar exchanges with and -forms, especially in forming the present stem, are given by the Hindu grammarians as roots ending in  or  or. Thus, from 2 suck  come the present  and participle and gerund, ; the other forms are made from , as , , , ,. From 2 sing  come the present, the participle and gerund  and , and passive , and the other forms from. From 3 cut  come the present  and participle  or, and the other forms from. The irregularities of these roots will be treated below, under the various formations (see especially 761 d ff.).

252. By a process of abbreviation essentially akin with that of or  to, the  (usually initial) of a number of roots becomes , and the  of a much smaller number becomes , in certain verbal forms and derivatives. Thus, from comes, , , , , , etc.; from  come , , , , , etc. See below, under the various formations.

a. To this change is given by European grammarians the name of, by adaptation of a term used in the native grammar.

253. A short, of root or ending, is not infrequently lost between consonants in a weakened syllable: thus, in verb-forms, , , , , ; in noun-forms, ,.

254. Union-vowels. All the simple vowels come to assume in certain cases the aspect of union-vowels, or insertions between root or stem and ending of inflection or of derivation.

a. That character belongs oftenest to, which is very widely used: 1. before the of aorist and future and desiderative stems, as in, , ; 2. in tense-inflection, especially perfect, as ; occasionally also present, as, ; 3. in derivation, as, , , , etc. etc.

b. Long is used sometimes instead of short: thus,, ; , ; , ; it is also often introduced before  and  of the 2d and 3d sing. of verbs: thus,,.

c. For details respecting these, and the more irregular and sporadic occurrences of - and -vowels in the same character, see below.

255. Both in roots and in endings, a distinction of stronger and weaker forms is very often made by the presence or absence of a nasal element, a nasal mute or, before a following consonant. In general, the stronger form is doubtless the more original; but, in the present condition of the language, the nasal has come in great measure to seem, and to some extent also to be used, as an actually strengthening element, introduced under certain conditions in formative and inflective processes.