Page:Vedic Grammar.djvu/20

 I. ALLGEMEINES UND SPRACHE. 4. VEDIC GRAMMAR. I yáti 'treats kindly' (valgú-); gātū-yáti 'desires free course' (gati-; but also gātu- yáti) The AV.2 has a few exceptions: arāti-yáti 'is hostile'; jani-yáti as well as jani-yáti³; c) i in the suffix -ī-ya and in the comparative suffix -īyas. 3. Before r, if radical, i and seem to be lengthened when a consonant follows; e. g. gir-bhis beside gir-as (gir- 'song of praise'); pur-sú beside púr-as (pur- 'fort'), but ir and ur here represent IE. 4. In a few instances this is extended by analogy to words in which the is not radical: asir 'blessing' (asís-); sajár 'together' (√juş-)5. IO 4. Before 7, the vowels ai u are lengthened: a) in some instances the augment: avidhyat 'he wounded' (Vayadh-)6; b) once before the primary suffix -vams of the perfect participle: jigi-váms- 'having conquered' (Vji); c) often before the secondary suffixes -van, -vana, -vant, -vala, vin; e. g. rtá-van- 'observing order'; kárşi-vaṇa- (AV.) 'ploughman'; yắ-vant- 'how great'; śvásī-vant- (RV¹.) ‘snorting' ( √ śvas-); -kṛṣī-vala- 'ploughman'; dvayā-vin- 'dishonest'; d) often before the second member of a compound; e. g. gurtá- vasu- 'whose treasures are welcome'?. 5. Before IIr. z and, when followed by one or more consonants, vowels are lengthened by way of compensation for the loss of the z orz³; a) ā (= az) in tāḍhi ‘hew' (√takṣ-); bāḍhá- ‘firm' (√bamh-); sáḍhr- 'conquering', á-sadha- 'invincible' (√ sah-); b) ī— iz in īḍ- 'adore' (Vyaj 'sacrifice', or Vis- 'wish'); nīdá- 'nest'; pid- 'press'; midhá- 'reward'; midhváms- 'bounteous'; ridhá- licked' (Vrih-); vidu- 'swift'; sídati (= sizdati) 'sits'; hiḍ- 'be angry' (cp. hims- 'injure'). c) = us in udhá- 'borne' (Vvah-); gudhá- 'concealed' ū (√guh-) ⁹. 6. Vowels also appear lengthened under conditions other than those enumerated above (1-5). a. Final a i u are very frequently lengthened in the Samhitas before a single consonant owing to rhythmical predilections; from this use the lengthening of the vowels is extended to syllables which are reduplicative or precede suffixes ¹⁰. b. For metrical reasons the length is in a few words shifted to another syllable. Thus didihi often appears instead of the regular dīdihí; and in virā-ṣáț 'ruling men', vira-* stands for vīra-. A similar explanation perhaps applies to carátha- ‘moving', beside carátha-; and máhīna- ‘gladsome', beside máhina-. c. The long vowel beside the short in the same stem appears in some instances to be due to vowel gradation; as in tvát-pitāras (TS.) ‘having thee as a father', beside pitáras; prthu-jaghana- 'broad-hipped', beside jaghána- ¹ Before this -yá, the final of a-stems is | (for dus-) e. g. in dur-gá- 'hard to tra- sometimes lengthened, but probably not phonetically; see below 6 d. 2 See WHITNEY on APr. III. 18. 3 No lengthening takes place in the optative present of verbs of the 5th or 8th class, e. g. śrmu-yāma (śru- ‘hear'); nor in adverbs formed with -ya from u-stems; t. g. āśu-yá ‘swiftly'; amu-ya 'thus'. 4 See above on 7, p. 8, note 8. 5 Cp. WACKERNAGEL I, 23. When ir stands for suffixal is, it remains unchanged; c. g. havirbhis 'with oblations' (hav-is-), krivir-dat-i 'saw-toothed'; ur, with genuine z, remains short in urvára- 'field', urvi- 'wide', urviyá 'widely' (uru- 'wide'), urv-ást- 'desire', dur- verse'. 6 The lengthening of the augment in ayunak, áyukta (Vyuj-) and árinak, áraik (Vric-), follows this analogy. 7 The lengthening here probably started from that in Sandhi: cp. WACKERNAGEL 1, 42. 8 This appears to be the only kind of compensatory lengthening in the Vedic language. Cp. 17, 1. 9 One and o for az az, see above, 15, a, b, and cp. WACKERNAGEL I, 40. 10 See WACKERNAGEL I, 43- 11 Metrical shortening of a long syllable