Page:Vedic Grammar.djvu/155

 V. Compounds. The First Member of Compounds. 145

we find the .covrnpound yds-paiim (i. 185^)'. But it partly also arises from a desire to express the syntactical relation of the words in the compound even without antecedent juxtaposition; as in the verbal determinatives dhanain-jayd- 'winning booty', apsu-sdd- 'dwelling in waters'; or in possessives like rayds- kama- 'desirous of wealth'. Such case-endings show a tendency to encroach beyond their legitimate sphere; thus the frequency of the ending -as before -pati-, e. g. vac-ds-pdti- 'lord of speech', led to its becoming the general genitive sign before that word, as in rdtha-s-pdti- 'lord of the car' {rdtha-). Similarly, according to apsu-ksi-t- 'dwelling in the waters' was formed apsu-ji-t- beside ab-ji-t- 'winning waters', where the locative is not appropriate. Ordinarily the first member appears only in its stem form. As the stem cannot express number it may mean either the singular or the plural. That it often indicates the plural is shown by expressions like narAtn or jdnanam nr-patf- 'man- guardian of men' or 'people'. The plural sense is also evident in compounds like devd-krta- 'made by the gods', vird-jata- 'produced by men', nr-pdti- 'lord of men'. In personal pronouns and cardinals the number is of course inherent in the stem itself.

a. The gender is expressed in the first member only in as far as feminine words retain their f stem when coordinated in copulatives or depen- dent on the final member in the sense of a case in determinatives; e. g. patni-sala- (VS.) 'shed for wives'. The f suffix -a is, however, often shortened to a^, as in armva-hdn- 'destroying suffering', amiva-sdtana- 'dispelling suffering' {dmiva-). But when a feminine adjective as first member agrees attributively with a feminine in the last member, it appears in the masculine stem-form^; e. g. prdyata-dakdna- 'one by whom a sacrificial fee {ddksina-) has been presented' +.

243. If the stem is liable to gradation, that form is used which occurs in the weak cases. Thus in the vowel stems -i, -u, -r, appear; &.g.pdH- justa- 'dear to a husband', vasu-vid- 'finding wealth', pitr-yajnd- 'sacrifice to the manes'. Similarly dyu- (diu-) 'heaven' appears before consonants, as dyu-ksd- 'dwelling in heaven', dyu-bhakta- 'presented by heaven', but div- before vowels, as div-it- 'going to heaven', div-isti- 'prayer'. The two stems dart^- 'wood' and Ap- 'water' are reduced to dru- and ap-. dru-padd- 'wooden pillar', drii- sdd- 'sitting on the tree'; ap-tiir- 'overcoming the waters', ab-jA- 'derived from "waters'. The stem pumams- 'man' appears in the weak form pums- in pums- cali' (VS. AV.) and pums-cala- (VS.) 'courtezan' ('running after men').

a. Stems in -an have -a not only before consonants 5, but also before vowels^ and y, v" ; e. g. raja-putrd- 'king's son', uksAnna- 'devouring bulls' {uksdn-), dsmasya- 'whose mouth is a rock' {dsman-), brdkmeddka- 'kindled with devotion' {brdhman-), brahmaudand- (AV.) 'boiled rice (pdand-) for Brahmans' {brahman-). Exceptions, however, are nemann-is- 'following the lead', vrsan-ahd- 'drawn by stallions', vfsan-vasu- 'having great wealth'^.

b. Stems in -in seem to follow the same analogy, dropping the -n before consonants; thus saci-gu- (only voc.) 'having strong cattle' and saci-pujana- (only voc.) 'worshipping the strong' 9.

1 The compounding of such forms probably often started from vocatives like sahasas putra treated as a unit in regard to accent.

2 This, however, seems to be due to metrical influence. ^

3 An exception in urvy-uti- 'giving wide aid', where the f. stem urvt- appears instead of the m. uru-.

4 In irhdc-chandas- (AV.) 'having BrhatI

as metre' zxiAj agac-chandas- (AV. VS.) 'having JagatI as metre', the first members doubtless represent neuter names of the metres.

5 As in rSja-bhis etc.

6 Unlike rdj-n-e etc.

7 Not -an as in rdjan-ya-, udan-vant-.

8 In dsann-isu- 'having arrows in his mouth' the first member is a locative.

9 Cp. Wackernagel 2', p. 54 /3, note.

Indo-arisohe Philologie. I. 4. 10