Page:Vedic Grammar.djvu/229

 VI. DECLENSION. NOUNS. CONSONANT STEMS. 5. Stems in Sibilants. I. a. Stems in radical s and s. 339. In radical stems ending in s and s, the sibilants are identical in origin, both being alike etymologically based on the dental s, which remains after a, but is cerebralized after other vowels and after k. In the RV. there are of radical s-stems some 40 derived from about 15 roots; of radical s-stems, some 50 derived from about 15 roots; in both groups taken together there are nearly 20 monosyllabic stems, the rest being compounds. Masculine and feminine stems are about equally numerous; but there are altogether only 7 or 8 neuters. a. The distinction between strong and weak forms appears in three words: púmāms and pums- ‘male'; nás- and nas- 'nose'; uktha-śás- and uktha-śás- ‘uttering verses'. The A. pl. has the accentuation of weak stems in the masculines jñās-ás, pums-ás, mās-ás and in the feminines iş-ás, uş-ás, dviș-ás. b. The stem ás- 'face' is supplemented in its inflexion by the an- stem ās-án- ; the stem is is supplemented before consonant endings by idá-¹; and dós- 'fore-arm' is supplemented by dos-án- in the dual form doşánī (AV. Ix. 77). c. Transitions to the a- or ā-declension appear in forms made from as- 'face', iş- 'refreshment', kás- 'cough', nás- 'nose', más- 'month', a-sás- 'hope', ni-miş- 'winking'. 1. From ás-, beside and probably through the influence of the I. sing. ās-á, is formed the adv. asayá 'before the face of' (as from a stem āsá-, and with adverbial shift of accent instead of *ãāsáyā). 2. Forms like G. is-ás gave rise to isá-m; and the supplementary stem ida- probably started from the I. sing. id-ắ, which itself was probably due to id- the form assumed by is before bh- endings; the stem is further shows a transition to the declension in the D. işáye. 3. From kás- 'cough' there is the transition V. käse (AV.). — 4. The strong dual form nás-ā furnished a transition to an ā- stem, from which is formed the dual nãse (AV.). 5. As pád-am gave rise to a new N. páda-s, so from más-am arose the new stem mása-, from which are formed the N. sing. mása-s and the A. pl. músān. — 6. In the RV. the stem a-sás- alone is used; but in the AV. appears the A. āšám (perhaps a contraction for ā-śásam) which, understood as āšá-m, was probably the starting point of the asa-, the only stem in the later language. 7. From ni-miş- 'winking' there appear, beside the regular compound forms A. á-nimis-am, I. á-nimis-ā f. 'non-winking', the transition forms N. a-nimisá-s, A. a-nimişá-m, I. a-nimiséna, N. pl. a-nimişás, adj. 'unwinking', with the regular Bahuvrihi accent (90 B c). Inflexion. 340. In the N. sing. the sibilant is of course dropped if preceded by a consonant, as an-ák 'eyeless', púman 'man'. Otherwise s remains, while s becomes 2. Before bh- endings, s becomes d in two forms which occur (mad-bhís, mād-bhyás) ³ and in the only other one (dor-bhyám); while s becomes d in the only example occurring (vi-prúd-bhis). The forms actually occurring, if made from más-4 m. ‘month' as an s- stem, and from duis- f. 'hatred' as a s-stem, would be as follows: Sing. N.5 más; dvit. A. másam; dvisam. I. maśá; dvişá. D. māsé; dvisé. Ab. masás; dvişás. G. masás; dvişás. L. masi; dvisi. Du. N. A. másā; dvisā. G. māsós. L. māsós (AV.TS.). Pl. N. másas; dvíṣas. A. māsás; dvísas and dvişás. I. mādbhís; dviḍbhís. D. madbhyás (AV.). Ab. mādbhyás (AV.). G. masám; dvişám. L. massú (AV.). The forms actually occurring are: - 219 1 As kşáp- and kşip- by ksapá- and ksipä- respectively. 4 2 It becomes konly in the n. form dadhýk 'boldly', used as an adv. from dadhys-, if the word is derived from dhys- be bold'; but the word is perhaps more probably derived from drh 'be firm', see BR. s. v. dadhŕk, and cp. BARTHOLOMAE, IF. 12, Anzeiger p. 28. - 3 Cp. J. SCHMIDT, KZ. 26, 340. 4 In this word (derived from ma- 'mea- representing the suffix -as (más- mā-as-); cp. BRUGMANN, Grundriss 2, p. 398. 5 The only V. occurring is pumas. =
 * sure') the s is really secondary, probably