Page:Sanskrit Grammar by Whitney p1.djvu/151

 in ). Their inflection is like that of nouns, and has been included in the rules given above. In those weak cases, however — namely, the dat., abl.-gen., and loc. sing., and the gen.-loc. dual — in which neuter nouns differ from masculines in the later language by an inserted  (we have seen above that this difference does not exist in the Veda), the neuter adjective is allowed to take either form. The stem is the same for masculine and neuter, and generally (and allowably always) for feminine also.

a. There are a few instances of a feminine noun in standing (sometimes with changed accent) beside a masculine in : thus,  m.,  f.;  (343 a) m.,  f.;  m.,  f.;  m.,  f.;  m.,  or - f. In the later language, especially, there is a very frequent interchange of  and  as finals of the same stem. No adjective in makes a regular feminine in.

b. With stems in the case is quite different. While the feminine may, and in part does, end in, like the masculine and neuter, a special feminine-stem is often made by lengthening the to , or also by adding ; and for some stems a feminine is formed in two of these three ways, or even in all the three: thus, , -, , , ; -, , ,  (with a prolongation of  before : compare 245 b), , , , , ; —  and ,  and ,  and ,  and ,  and ;  and ,  and ,  and ; —  and  and ,  and  and ,  and  and. There are also some feminine noun-stems in standing (usually with changed accent) beside masculines in : thus,  m.,  f.;  m.,  f.;  m.,  f.;  m.,  f.;  m.,  f.

345. Roots ending in or  (or : 376 b) regularly add a  when used as root-words or as root-finals of compounds; and hence there are no adjectives of the root-class in this declension.

a. Yet, in the Veda, a few words ending in a short radical are declined as if this were suffixal: thus,, ; and the AV. has (once). Roots in sometimes also shorten  to : thus,, , etc. (354);  (361 e) becomes  in composition; and  perhaps becomes  (361 e); while roots in  sometimes apparently weaken  to  (in - from √ etc.: 1155).

346. Compound adjectives having nouns of this declension as final members are inflected in general like original adjectives of the same endings.

a. But in such compounds a final or  is sometimes lengthened to form a feminine stem: thus,,  or -, - or -;  or -,  or -, , ; and RV. has from.