Page:Vedic Grammar.djvu/47

 I. PHONOLOGY. LABIALS. LABIALS. NASALS. 37 baṇḍá-(AV.) ‘crippled'; bársva- (VS.) ‘socket'; baskáya-‘yearling'; báskiha- (VS.) 'decrepit'; bila- 'cave', bilma- 'chip'; birita- 'troop' (?); bekanáta- 'usurer'.-3. for both reasons: ilībisa- and bŕsaya-, names of demons; alábu- (AV.) ‘bottle gourd'.-4. Other words which if not of foreign origin, are as yet insufficiently explained: bárjaha- 'udder'; bastá- 'he-goat'; básri 'quickly'; -bara- 'aperture'; bija- 'seed'; bundá- 'arrow'; brbád-uktha-, an epithet of Indra; chúbuka- 'chin'; sabála- 'brindled'; sámba-, a weapon of Indra; balása- (VS. AV.), a disease; bleska- (K.) 'noose'. I 46. The nasals. There are five nasals corresponding, in regard to place of articulation, to the five classes of mutes. Each of them can only appear before a mute of its own class ². Before sibilants and the nasals do not appear³; before / only m is found; ñ does not appear finally any more than the palatal mutes. a. The guttural nasal ŉ regularly appears before gutturals: e. g. anká- 'hook'; ankháya- 'embrace'; ánga- ‘limb'; jáñgha- 'leg'. Before other consonants or as a final, it appears only when a following org has been dropped, as in stems ending with -nc- or -ñ- and in those compounded with dis; e. g. pratyáň, nom. sing. of pratyáñc- 'facing'; yundhi (— yuñj-dhi), 2. sing. impv. of yuj- join'; ki-din, nom. sing. of ki-dis- of what kind?'. - b. The palatal nasal is found only before and after cor j, and before ch; e. g. váñcati (AV.) ‘wavers'; yajñá- 'sacrifice'; vañchantu 'let them desire'. c: The labial nasal m as a rule represents IE. m; e. g. maty- 'mother', Lat. māter; náman- 'name', Lat. nomen. It is by far the most common labial sound, its frequency being greater than that of the four labial mutes taken togethers. By some scholars m is regarded as representing an original n or v in certain instances 6. d. The dental nasal n as a rule represents IE. n; e. g. ná ‘noť', Lat. -ně; mánas- ‘mind', Gk. μévos. It is the commonest of the nasals, being more frequent than m, and about three times as frequent as the other three taken together. The dental nasal also appears instead of dental mutes and of the labial nasal. a. It appears in place of d before the nominal suffix na, and of t, as well as d, before the m of secondary suffixes; e. g. án-na- 'food' (ad- 'eat'); chin-ná- 'cut off' (chid-); vidyún-mant- ‘gleaming' (vidyút- 'lightning'); mŕn-maya- 'earthen' (mfd- VS. 'earth'). This substitution is in imitation of Sandhi, as dn tm dm otherwise occur within words; e. g. udná (from udán- 'water'), atmán- 'breath', vid-má 'we know'. p. dental n regularly appears in place of m: 1. before t; e. g. from yam- 'restrain': yan-tiúr- and yan-ti- 'guide', yan-trá- ‘'rein'; from śram- 'exert oneself': śrantá- 'wearied'; 2. before suffixal m or v; e. g. from gam- 'go': d-gan-ma, gan-vahi, jagan-váms-³; 3. when radically final, originally followed by suffixal s or t; e. g. from gam- 'go', á-gan, 2. 3. sing. aor. (= á-gam-s, á-gam-t); from yam-'restrain', a-yan, 3.sing!aor. (= a-yam-s-t); from dám-'house', gen. (pátir) dán⁹ ¹ Op. cit. 1, 162. 1 8 This change of m to n may be due 2 Excepting in a few instances when a to the influence of the cognate forms in mute has been dropped, as in yundhi =which m phonetically becomes when final yungdhi (see a). (below 3). 9 On this explanation of dán (denied by PISCHEL, VS. 2, 307 ff.) see especially BARTHOLOMAE, IF. 8, in ‘Arica' 229—249; also RICHTER, KZ. 36, 111–123, on dám- pati-. 3 Excepting in a few instances or n before the su of the loc. pl. 4 Excluding the semivowel v. 5 Cp. WHITNEY 50 and 75. 6 Cp. WACKERNAGEL I, 177, note. 7 WHITNEY 75-