Page:Vedic Grammar.djvu/56

 46 I. ALLGEMEINES UND SPRACHE. VEDIC GRAMMAR. there is no phonetic justification for the cerebral (as the s is preceded by a): thus prtana-saham, gen. prtană-șáhas, pṛtanā-șáhya- 'victory in battle', but prtanā-sáham (SV.). When compounded with dyumnā-, dhanvā-, rathā-, vibhvā-, sadā-, the phonetic form -säh- remains¹. 3. Medial s has been assimilated to initial sin sasá- ‘hare' (IE. kasó-²). b. Without assimilation³, s or s has been changed to s, mostly under the influence of allied words, in the following: kéśa- 'hair': késara- (AV. VS.); šákṛt4 'excrement'; śubh- ‘adorn' (probably owing to sudh- ‘purify'); śúska- 'dry' (IIr. suška-), šúsyati ‘dries'; śru- ‘flow', śrávas- ‘stream': sru-, srávas-; Svas-, sus-'breathe'; svátra-, svátrya- 'dainty': svad-taste's; pyasiṣīmahi (AV.): pyāsiṣimahi (VS.), aor. (534) of pya- 'swell'; ośiştha-hán- (VS. TS.) 'striking very swiftly beside oşiştha-dávan- (TS.) 'giving very rapidly' (from osám 'quickly', lit. 'burningly'), owing to asistha- 'very swift'; kóśa- 'receptacle' (in the later language often also kosa-); kuśmá- (VS.) beside kuşmá- (MS.), a kind of demon; rusati- (AV.) ‘angry', beside rus- be angry', probably owing to rúsant- 'shining'. Ok. On the other hand, s occasionally appears in the later Samhitas, chiefly AV., for : thus asyate (AV. v. 19²): as- 'eat'; vási- (AV.) 'pointed knife': vášī-; sáru- (AV.) ‘arrow': śáru-; arus-sráṇa-(AV.), a kind of wound preparation: śra- boil'; saspinjara- (TS.) 'ruddy like young grass', owing to sasá- 'grass, for śas-pinjara- (VS. MS.) śas[pa]- pinjara-6. = 54. The palatal s.-This sibilant is a palatal both in origin (= IIr. s), as indicated by cognate languages, and in employment, as its combination with other consonants shows. Thus it represents an old palatal in šatám 'a hundred', áśva- 'horse', śván- ‘dog', śru- 'hear'7. In external Sandhi it regularly appears before voiceless palatal mutes, e. g. indras ca. At the present day the pronunciation of in India varies between a sh sound (not always. distinguished from s) and as sound followed by y. It is to some extent confused with the other two sibilants even in the Samhitās, but it is to be noted that here it interchanges much oftener with s than with 8 The aspirate of s' is chº; its media is represented by j and when aspirated by h. These four form the old palatals (IIr., sh, ź, żh), representing IE. k kh g gh. The exact phonetic character of the latter is doubtful, but it is probable that they were dialectically pronounced in two ways, either as mutes (guttural or palatal) or as spirants, the centum languages later following the former, the satem languages the latter". 10 a. In external Sandhi s regularly appears for s before the palatals c, ch, s'¹². It also stands for s internally in paścắt and paścătāt ‘behind’ ¹³, and in vrścáti 'hews' beside -vraská- 'lopping'. b. Before s the palatal sibilant when medial is regularly replaced by k, and sometimes also when final; e. g. drk-sase and -drk, from drs- 'see'. Otherwise s very rarely interchanges with k or c; thus rúsant- brilliant', beside ruc- 'shine'; perhaps kárna- 'ear': śru- 'hear'¹4. There are also a few words 1 WACKERNAGEL I, 197 b. 9 Cp. above 40. 2 See, however, op. cit. I, 197 c, note. 10 The fact that before s regularly be- 3 For and are strictly distinguished in comes k and sometimes also when final, the RV.; cp. op. cit. I, 197 da, note (end). | seems to favour the assumption of the 4 Cp., however, op. cit. I, 197 d a. 5 Op. cit. p. 226, top. 6 See op. cit., p. 226 6; and below 64, 1 a. On the relation of to the corresponding sounds in cognate languages, see WACKER- NAGEL I, 200 a; BRUGMANN, KG. 1, 233- 8 See above 53, 3. guttural pronunciation. ¹¹ Сp. WACKERNAGEL I, 200 b. 12 See below, Sandhi, 78. 13 Cp. Av. paskāṭ and pasca. 14 For some words in which such an assumption is doubtful or wrong, see WACKER- NAGEL I, 201 a.