Page:Vedic Grammar.djvu/157

 ✔ V. COMPOUNDS. THE FIRST MEMBER OF COMPOUNDS. 246. Extension of the stem sometimes takes place in the first member. The commonest addition is -a owing to the frequency of that ending: dur- a-dabhná- (AV.) 'eluding doors', aśvin-a-krta- (VS.) 'done by the Aśvins'; visaujas-¹ (VS.) 'ruling the people'; şad-a-rcá- (AV.) 'collection of six verses'. An a-stem becomes one in -as in yakṣmo-dhắ- (AV.) 'seat of a disease' (yákṣma-). An extension with d appears in satád-vasu-3 'having a hundred (satá-) treasures', and in án-atid-bhuta-4 'unsurpassed'. a. Shortening of the stem sometimes takes place by the dropping of a final t or s (preceded by a) or of the vowel -a; thus prsodará- (TS. v. 6. 14¹) 'having a spotted (prsat-) belly' (udára-); apna-ráj- 'ruling over riches' (ápnas-); bhar-ișá-5 (IV. 40²) 'desiring booty' (bhára-); til-píñja- (AV.) 'barren sesamum' (tilá-); sas-pinjara- (TS.IV.5.2¹) 'reddish like grass' (sasá-), may also be an example, but it is more probably a modification of sas- pinjara- (VS. xvI. 17) by haplology for *saspa-pinjara-. 247. Adverbs often occur as first member of compounds. In several instances a nominal stem in -a represents an adverbial case (acc., inst., abl., loc.) formed from that stem; thus nitya-vatsa- 'having a calf continually' (nityam); satya-yáj- 'sacrificing truly' (satyám), samantá-šiti-bāhu- (VS.) ‘whose forefeet are white all round' (samantám); sana-já- born of old' (= saná or sanát); upaká-caksas- 'visible from near at hand' (upaké near'). Occasionally a nominal stem which has no separate existence is abstracted from the adverb; thus ará-maṇas- 'ready-minded' (from áram 'ready'), ará-mati- 'suitable prayer', abhyardha-yájvan- 'offering apart' (abhyardhás). A cardinal is sometimes thus used instead of its adverb: try-àruşa- 'reddish in three places' (tri-s), dvi-já- (AV.) ‘born twice' (dví-s). 248. The case-ending is also preserved in several instances; thus aram-kit- preparing', sakam-iks- 'sprinkling together', sakam-yúj- 'joined together' (sākám), sāyam-bhavá- (AV.) 'becoming evening'; paścă-dosá- (VS.) 'late evening'. Adverbs that are neither case-forms nor look like them regularly remain unchanged; thus akṣṇaya-drúh-6'injuring wrongly'; itthá-dhi- 'truly devout'; idā-vatsará- (VS. AV.) 'the present year', a particular kind of year; púnar-nava- 'renewing itself', punar-bhú- 'arising again'; viśváto-dhi- 'observing in all directions', vísu-rūpa-'coloured variously' (vişu-), viṣū-vŕt- ‘rolling in various directions'. A nasal is added in maksu-m-gamá- 'approaching quickly' (makṣú). 147 249. Prepositions frequently occur as the first member of a compound. I. Owing to their originally adverbial character they may qualify ordinary adjectives or substantives like adverbs; thus áti-krsna- (VS.) 'excessively dark', vi-mahi- 'very great'; prá-napat- 'great grandson', vi-vac- 'opposing shout'; and in Bahuvrihis: pra-śrigá- (VS.) 'having prominent horns', vy-àmsa- 'having shoulders wide apart'. 2. Owing to their constant connexion with verbs they are very common before verbal nouns; e. g. úpa-stu-t- and úpa-stuti- 'invocation'; puró-hita- 'domestic priest'. 3. Owing to their frequent connexion with cases, they also appear in a governing sense; e. g. ádhi-gart-ya- 'being on the car-seat', anu-pathá- 'following the path'. I For viša-ojas- like (AV. VS.) satyáujas- (= satya-ojas-) instead of vid-ojas. 2 Like pañcarcá- - pañca-rca. = 3 Influenced by the analogy of pañcaśád- '50' etc., and vidád-vasu-, etc. 4 Due to a confusion of *ati-bhuta-ati- bhūta- 'surpassed' and ádbhuta- ‘marvellous'. | 5 According to the analogy of gav-işá- 'desiring cows'. 6 akṣṇa-yavan- 'going across' stands by haplology for*akṣṇaya-yávan-. Cp. Wacker- NAGEL 2¹, p. 128 d. 10*