Page:Vedic Grammar.djvu/65

 I. PHONOLOGY. VOICELESS SPIRANTS. Loss OF CONSONANTS. 55 and labials (p, ph) respectively. The former (2) called Jihvamūliya, or sound 'formed at the root of the tongue', is the guttural spirant x; the latter (h), called Upadhmäniya, or 'on-breathing', is the bilabial spirant ². In Mss. they are regularly employed in the Kasmirian Sarada character. 62. Loss of Consonants.- Consonants have been lost almost exclusively when they have been in conjunction with others. The loss of a single consonant which is not in conjunction with another is restricted to the dis- appearance of v before u, and much more rarely of y before i. The v thus disappears finally in the Sandhi of av before u in the RV. and VS.3 Initially, is lost before ur derived from a vowel; thus in úrana- and úra- 'sheep'; úras- 'breast'; ur-āṇá-, mid. part. (vr- 'choose'); úrj- 'vigour'; úrṇā- 'wool'; urnóti 'covers' (ur- 'cover'); urdhvá- 'high'; ūrmí- 'wave'. Such loss of v before ur also occurs after an initial consonant in tūrtá- ‘quick’ (— IIr. tvŕtá-); dhúrvati, ádhurṣata, dhurti-, from dhur- 'cause to fall'; húrya-, juhūr- thas; juhur, from hur- 'go crookedly'+ Before simple z the v has disappeared at the beginning of the reduplicative syllable u- (— *vu- for original va-), in u-vác-a from vac- 'speak'; u-vása from vas- 'shine'; u-váh-a from vah- 'convey'. Similarly initial y has disappeared from the reduplicative syllable i-= *yi- in the desiderative i-yak-sati, i-yak-şamana-, from yaj 'sacrifice'5. 1. When a group of consonants is final, the last element or elements are regularly lost (the first only, as a rule, remaining) in pausã and in Sandhi. 2. When a group of consonants is initial, the first element is frequently lost. The only certain example of an initial mute having disappeared seems to be tur-tya- 'fourth', from *ktur-, the low grade form of catúr- 'four', because the Vedic language did not tolerate initial conjunct mutes 7. An initial sibilant is, however, often lost before a mute or nasal. This loss was originally doubtless caused by the group being preceded by a final consonant. There are a few survivals of this in the Vedas; thus cit kámbhanena (x. III 5), otherwise skámbhana- 'support'; and the roots stambh- 'support', and stha- 'stand', lose there s after ud-; e. g. út-thita-, út-tabhita-. On the other hand the sibilant is preserved after a final vowel, in compounds or in Sandhi, in á-skrdhoyu- 'uncurtailed', beside krdhú- 'shortened'; scandrá- 'brilliant', in ášva- scandra- 'brilliant with horses', ádhi ścandrám (vIII. 65¹), also in the intens. pres. part. cáni-ścad-at ‘shining brightly', otherwise candrá- 'shining', and only candrá-mas- moon'. In derivatives from four other roots, forms with and without the sibilant 10 are used indiscriminately, without regard to the preceding I See VPr. I. 41. 2 Cp. EBEL, KZ. 13, 277 f. 3 See below, Sandhi, 73. 4 The has either remained or been restored before such ur and ur in hotr-vúrya- 'election of the invoker'; in the opt. vurīta, from ur- 'choose'; and in the 3. pl. perfect babhū-vúr, jūhu-vur, susu-vur, tustu-vúr. 5 The evidence of cognate languages seems to point to the loss of initial din áśru- ‘tear' (Lat. dacruma, Gk. dákpu). It is, however, probable that there were two different but synonymous IE. words akru and dakru. On some doubtful etymologies based on loss of initial consonants, see WACKERNAGEL I, 228 C₂ note. ¹6 See below, Sandhi, 65. 7 There are some words in which an initial mute seems to have been lost in the IE. period; thus t in šatám 'hundred' (=IE. tentóm); d perhaps in vinsati- 'twenty' and vi- 'between'; / perhaps in yákrt- 'liver'. An initial mute seems to have been lost before a sibilant (originally perhaps after a final consonant) in stána- 'breast', suid- 'sweat'; sasș- 'six' (KZ. 31, 415 ff.). 8 Dissimilation may also have played some part in the loss of the sibilant in the reduplicative syllable of roots with initial sk(h) st(h), sp(h), as caskánda, tiṣṭhāmi, paspársa. 9 See GRASSMANN's Wörterbuch sub verbo scandrá-. 10 The verb kr- 'do', after pári and sam, shows an initial s; e. g. pariṣkṛṇvanti, pári-