Page:Sanskrit Grammar by Whitney p1.djvu/127

 equivalence (city of Rome), and of characteristic (man of honor), do not occur, and hardly that of material (house of wood). Examples are: Indra's thunderbolt;  father of sons;  son of the father;  the father's love of the son;  which of us;  a hundred female slaves.

a. The expression of possession etc. on the part of pronouns is made almost entirely by the genitive case, and not by a derived possessive adjective (516).

b. Exceptional cases like the road to the city (cf. le chemin de Paris),  (MBh.) as messenger to whom I am wanted, are occasionally met with.

296. The genitive is dependent on an adjective:

a. A so-called partitive genitive with a superlative, or another word of similar substantival value: thus, best of heroes;  (AV.) of plants the mighty (mightiest) one.

b. Very often, by a transfer of the possessive genitive from noun to adjective, the adjective being treated as if it had noun-value: thus, or  or  resembling him (i. e. his like);  dear to him (his dear one);  unknown to him (his unknown thing);  (RV.) to be sacrificed to by mortals (their object of sacrifice);  (MBh.) desired of men and women (their object of desire);  (H.) of whomsoever born (his son);  (MBh.) I am not to be slain of thee;  (H.) why should there be a  of suppliants?

c. In part, by a construction similar to that of verbs which take a genitive object: thus, (R.) understanding the duties of a king.

297. The genitive as object of a verb is:

a. A possessive genitive of the recipient, by pregnant construction, with verbs signifying give, impart, communicate, and the like: thus, (MBh.) having bestowed gifts upon him (made them his by bestowal);  (H.) it was made known to the king (made his by knowledge);  (M.) that after being promised to one she is given to another. This construction, by which the genitive becomes substitute for a dative or locative, abounds in the later language, and is extended sometimes to problematic and difficult cases.

b. A (in most cases, probably) partitive genitive, as a less complete or less absolute object than an accusative: thus, with verbs meaning partake (eat, drink, etc.), as (AV.) drink (of) the soma;  (RV.) cause to drink the sweet draught; — with verbs meaning  (of the thing imparted) etc., as  (RV.) bestow upon us immortality; — with verbs meaning enjoy, be satisfied or filled