Page:Sanskrit Grammar by Whitney p1.djvu/79

 b. Final radical is said by the grammarians to be changed to ; but no sure example of this conversion is quotable; see 168; and compare 555 a.

146. The compound क्ष् is prescribed to be treated as simple ष्  (not becoming क्  by 150, below). But the case is a rare one, and its actual treatment in the older language irregular.

a. In the only RV. cases where the has a quasi-radical character — namely  from, and  from √ — the conversion is to. Also, of forms of the -aorist (see 890), we have, , , etc. (for etc.); but also , , ,  (for  etc.). And RV. has twice from √, and AV. twice from √ (wrongly referred by BR. to √), both 2d sing., where the personal ending has perhaps crowded out the root-final and tense-sign.

b. The numeral six is perhaps better to be regarded as, with its  treated as , according to the accepted rule.

147. The aspiration ह् is not allowed to maintain itself, but (like ज्  and श् ) either reverts to its original guttural form, appearing as क्, or is changed to ट्  — both in accordance with its treatment in inflection: see below, 222. And, also as in inflection, the original sonant aspiration of a few roots (given at 155b) reappears when their final thus becomes deaspirated. Where the ह् is from original ध्  (223eg [sic]), it becomes त्.

148. The and  are nowhere etymological finals; the former is only the substitute for an original final स्  or र् ; the latter occurs as final only so far as it is a substitute for म्  (213h).

149. Apart from the vowels, then, the usual finals, nearly in the order of their frequency, are ः, म् , न् , त् , क् , प् , ट् ; those of only sporadic occurrence are ङ् , ल् , ण् ; and, by substitution, ं.

150. In general, only one consonant, of whatever kind, is allowed to stand at the end of a word; if two or more would etymologically occur there, the last is dropped, and again the last, and so on, till only one remains.