Page:Vedic Grammar.djvu/154

 I. ALLGEMEINES UND SPRACHE. 4. VEDIC GRAMMAR. compound assumes a modified and single meaning as compared with the same words used in juxtaposition in a sentence; e. g. krsna-śakuni- (AV.) 'raven', while krsnáh fakúniḥ would mean 'black bird'. Compounding must take place when a derivative has to be formed from the two words; as ksáitrapat-ya- 'property' beside kṣétrasya páti- ‘lord of the field'. Sometimes, however, the case-ending remains while the compound accent is used, as rayas-poşa-da- 'bestowing abundance of wealth', beside rāyás póşa- 'abundance of wealth'. There is a tendency to compounding when the first of two syntactical words is indeclinable. Thus beside sám yós ‘happiness and wel- fare' also appears sam-yós (1. 34º); and analogously the indeclinable form or stem of a word takes the place of the case¹. Sometimes compounds are formed by the coalescence of inflected words occurring side by side in a sentence. Thus víšváhā (TS.) 'all days' beside áhā víśvā (RV.) has become viśváha ‘daily' with a single accent. Occasionally, when two compounds have the same final member, the latter is used only once, as mitrótá ² médhyatithim (1. 367) for mitrátithim utá médhyātithim; patayán mandayát- sakham (1. 47) for patayát-sakham mandayát-sakham. Sometimes one of the members of a compound governs a case 3 outside the compound, as árvato māṇsa-bhikṣám (1. 162¹²) 'begging for the flesh of the steed'; in some instances pleonastically, as gaṇánām ganá-patim (11.23¹) ‘troop-leader of troops'. A case- form may agree with the first member of a compound when that member has the form or even only the sense of that case, as rāyás-kāmo viśvápsnyasya (VII. 426) 'desirous of wealth of all forms'; or a case-form may agree with the second member, while coordinated in sense with the first, as maha-dhané .. árbhe (1. 75) 'in great booty (and) in small”. a. The gender of compounds is, in Copulatives (Dvandvas) and Determinatives (Tatpuruṣas) ending in substantives, that of the last member¹; but collective compounds are regularly neuter 5. Compounds ending in adjec- tives, possessives, and governing compounds have the gender of the substan- tives with which they agree or which they represent. The number in Deter- minatives is that of the last member. In Copulatives of the older types it is dual or plural according to the total number meant by the combination, while it is singular (and neuter) in the later type. Collective compounds (whether copulatives or possessives) are singular. Compounds ending in adjectives, possessives, and governing compounds, have the number of the substantive with which they agree or which they represent. 144 A. The First Member of Compounds. 242. Its form. The first member of nominal compounds may consist of nouns (including numerals and pronouns) or indeclinables suitable for quali- fying nouns. Exceptionally an inflected form appears in this position qualifying the second member in dependent determinatives and possessives. This is mainly due to words frequently in juxtaposition becoming permanently joined; thus beside the two independent words jás pátiḥ (VII. 38°) ‘lord of the family' Thus for visnoḥ kráma- (AV. TS.) 'step | first member prevails (265, notes I and 2); of Vişnu' there appears in a B. passage of and a few Determinatives change the gender the TS. (v.2.1¹) the compound vişnu-kramá-. of the final member, as patnī-śála- (VS.) n. (śālā-) 'shed for the wives (of sacrificers)' and agra-jihvá- (VS.) n. 'tip of the tongue' (jihva-). 2 The Pada text reads mitrá utá. 3 This seems to be almost restricted to the genitive in the Samhitãs, but many examples of other cases (acc., inst., dat., abl.) occur in the later language. 4 In a few Dvandvas the gender of the 5 Both Dvandvas (266) and Bahuvrihis (290).