Page:Vedic Grammar.djvu/169

 V. COMPOUNDS. DETERMINATIVES. 159 2. Adjectives expressing a contrast; e. g. utkūla-nikūlá (VS.) 'going uphill and downhill'. 3. Adjectives used with dual or plural substantives to express that each is an attribute of one unit of the kind; e. g. padbhyám dakṣiņa-savyábhyām (AV. XII. 128) 'with the right foot and the left'; or with the substantive to be supplied, saptamāṣṭamábhyām sváhā (AV.) ‘hail to the seventh and the eighth (Angirasa)'; agħaśamsa-duḥśamsábhyām (AV.) ‘by those plotting evil and those plotting ill'; sahnātirātráu (AV.) 'terminating with a day (sa-ahna-) and ex- ceeding a day' (ati-rātrá-). 268. As regards the order of the members in a Dvandva, the rule seems to be that the more important or the shorter word comes first; thus dyávä-kṣáma, dyáva-bhúmí, dyáva-prthivi 'heaven and earth'; súryā-másā and surya-candramásā 'sun and moon'; indra-várunā 'Indra and Varuna'; ulukhala- musalé (AV.) 'mortar and pestle'. Indra- regularly comes first in the RV. and the later Samhitas in some dozen Dvandvas*; e. g. indragní; otherwise agnī- always precedes; sóma- comes after indră- and agnī-, but before pūṣan- and rudra. The longer word comes first, perhaps, as the more important, in parjányā-vátā ³ ‘Parjanya and Vata' and in turváśa-yádū “Turvasa and Yadu'. This can hardly be the reason in sambādha-tandryàs (AV.) 'oppressions and weariness'. The shorter word comes first in mitrá-várunā, though Varuna is the more important of the two4; in rk-sāmábhyam the shorter word is at the same time the more important. 3. Determinative Compounds. 269. Classification. The large class of determinative compounds in which the first member determines or limits the sense of the last, is best divided into two main groups. In the one, the final member is a verbal noun which governs the first member in meaning, and often even in form, as a verb governs its case. In the other, the final member is an ordinary noun (either adjective or substantive), the relation of which to the first member is a purely nominal one. — a. Verbal Noun as final member. 270. The final member is often a verbal noun either not occurring as a simple word or at least not belonging to a type used as simple words: either the bare roots or a verbal derivative formed with the suffixes -a, -ana, -i, -in, -man, -van. These nouns limited to use as final members are agent nouns; e. g. havir-ád- 'eating the oblation', sam-idh- 'flaming', jyotis-ky-t-producing light', abhi-hrú-t- 'causing injury', go-ghn-á- 'cow-slaying', a-kar-á- 'scattering'; amitra-dámbh-ana- 'injuring enemies', tuvi-gr-i- 'devouring much', uru-cákr-i- 'doing large work'; bhadra-vād-in- ‘uttering an auspicious cry'; asu-hé-man- 'swiftly speeding', bhūri-da-van-6 'giving much'.- Occasionally agent-nouns limited to use as final members are formed with other suffixes: prati-div-an- 'adversary at play', vi-bhv-an- 'far-reaching' and vi-bhv-án- ‘skil- ful'; pra-py-asá- (AV.) 'swelling', sva-bhy-asá- (AV.) 'spontaneously frightened'; I This form occurs 79 times in the RV. and prthivi-dyáva only once. 2 Otherwise only agnindrábhyam (VS.) 'Agni and Indra'. Cp. the list of dual divi- nities in Vedic Mythology, Grundriss III, I A, P. 126. 3 Once also vātā-parjanyā. 4 Cp. WackernAGEL 2¹, p. 168 (middle). - 5 Appearing in its weakest form or, if ending in a short vowel, with determina- tive -t. 6 -mant and -vant occasionally appear as as vi-rúk- variations for man and -van, mant 'shining'; prana-dá-vant- (AV.) 'life- giving' (cp. WHITNEY on AV. Iv. 355); see
 * REUTER, KZ. 31, 560 f.