Page:Vedic Grammar.djvu/67

 I. Phonology. Loss of Consonants.

57

probably starting from forms like tvdsira {KST) in which the r immediately followed '

But the loss of a spirant (Ilr. j, z, z, Ui) at the beginning of a medial group is common.

a. The sibilant s ^ has thus been lost before k followed by a consonant in vavrktam, vrknd-, vrktvf, vrkd (TS.), from vrak- 'lop' (cp. -vraskd-).

b. The voiced form (Ilr. z) of dental s has disappeared ^ before voiced dentals, without leaving any trace, in the roots as- 'sit', and sds- 'order'; thus a-dhvam, sasa-dhi. But when d preceded the z, the disappearance of the sibilant is indicated by e taking the place of az before d, dk, h {= dh); thus e-dhi, from as- 'be'; sed-'-, perfect stem of sad- 'sit' (for sazd-, like sasc- from sac-). This e also replaces az with loss of the sibilant in de-hi 'give'; dhe-hi 'put'; kiye-dha- 'containing much'; ned-Tyas- and ned-istha- 'vtxy vaaQ}r! j>ed-ii-^ N.; medatl 'is fat'; medhd- and medhds- 'wisdom'; m'edha- 'juice'*.

c. When a vowel other than a preceded, the z was cerebralized (like s before a voiceless dental) and disappeared after cerebralizing the following dental and lengthening the preceding vowel; thus a-sto-dhvam'' (= d-stoz-dhvam for a-stos-dhvam) 2. pi. aor., beside a-sto-s-ta, 3. sing., from siu- 'praise'. Thus also are to be explained mdd- 'nest' (= nizda- for ni-sd-a-); pid- 'press' {== pizd- iox J>i-sd- 01 pis-d-) ; mid/id- 'reward' (Gk. fj.ia66g); vid-u- 'strong', viddyati 'is strong' (from -vis- -work' +-^)*; Jud-'^ 'be angry', and its Guna forms, e. g. hed-as- 'anger'; ttirddti 'be gracious', mrdikd- 'gracious' (for mrz-d- from mrs- 'forget') with vowel pronounced long (12), d-red-ant- (TS.) 'not deceiving' {= a-rezd-atit-), from ris- 'injure'.

d. Similarly the old voiced palatal spirant (Ilr. z) disappeared after cerebralizing a following ^_^or dh and lengthening the preceding vowel; thus ta-dhi Jox *tai-dhi {= tak-s-dhi) from taks- 'fashion'; so-dhA for *sas-dhd (= sak-s-dka), beside sas-thd- (AV.) 'sixth'. A similar loss is to be assumed in id- 'praise' (= iz-d ior yaj--{- d)'^°.

e. This loss is specially frequent in the case of the old voiced palatal aspirated spirant Qlr.z/i) represented by k, which was dropped after cerebralizing and aspirating a followed i and lengthening the preceding vowel; thus baclhd-

» In a few forms of the AV. the semi- vowel y seems to be lost at the end of the medial group ksy: meksami, yokse, vidhaksdn, sakse. But these forms may be due to errors in the MSS.

2 In. ch^ IE. skh, the original s was lost in a pre-Indian period.

3 Before voiced mutes other than dentals, z became d, as in madgt'i- (44, 3 a) 'diver'; similarly 2 became d, as in fadbhis, from pas- 'look' or 'cord'; and in vi-prud-bhis from viprits- 'drop'.

4 The loss of the voiced sibilant [z] must be older than the original text of the RV., as the e of sed- has been transferred to other stems which contain no sibilant, as in bhej-iri, from bhaj- 'divide'. Similarly the vowel of Kid-, though derived from iz, is regarded as a primitive I'va. the form ajlhidat (AV.): cp. Wackernagel i, p. 272 (mid.).

5 Cp. Bartholomae, KZ. 27, 361. On edh- 'thrive', miyedha- 'broth', vedhds- 'virtuous', see Wackernagel i, 237 c.

6 In stems in -as before case terminations beginning with bh, and before secondary

suffixes beginning with m,yorv, the sibilant is lost (instead of becoming d in the former circumstances, or remaining in the latter) owing to the influence of Sandhi; e. g. dveso-b/iis from dves-as- 'hate'. An original sibilant has perhaps been lost in mahisd-, sahvdms-jjahiisa, hraduni-,;as- 'be exhausted' ; cp. Wackernagel i, 237 a ,8, note.

7 The origin of krodd- (AV. VS.) 'breast' (Av. hraozdra- 'hard') and of many words with d or dh preceded by a long vowel, and with no collateral forms containing a sibi- lant, is obscure.

8 Cp. HiJBSCHMANN, KZ. 24, 408. In sTda- (= sizda-) from sad- 'sit', the d has been retained owing to the influence of other forms of the verb sad-. See, however, RozwADOWSKi, BB. 21, 147, and cp. ZDMG. 48, 519.

9 Plnda- perhaps stands for *pinzda-, from pis- 'crush; cp. WACKERNAGEL I, 146, d.

10 On /end-, cp. WACKERNAGEL I, 238 b, note; PiscHEL, BB. 23, 253 if. On td-, cp. Oldenberg, SBE. 30, 2.