Page:Vedic Grammar.djvu/83

 II. EUPHONIC COMBINATION. COMPOUNDS. frequently remains; thus vanar-sád- and vanar-şád- sitting in the wood'; dhūr-șád- ‘being on the yoke'; svar-șá- 'winning light'; svar-șāti 'acquisition of light'; dhur-säh- (VS.) 'bearing the yoke'. This indicates that it originally remained before sibilants in sentence Sandhi also. 80. Initial aspiration. The palatal sibilant and the breathing h, when initial, may under certain conditions be changed to aspirates. a. After a final, initial may become, and in practice always does become, ch; e. g. yác chaknávama (x. 23) for yád saknávama. The same change occasionally takes place after t; thus vipät chutudri (III. 33¹), for sutudrí; turāṣát chusmí (v. 404) for susmi. b. After a final voiced mute, initial may be and usually is changed to the aspirate of that mute; e. g. tád dhí (1.126²) for tád hí; sídad dhóta (x. 12¹) for stdad (= sidat) hóta; ávad dhavyáni (x. 16¹2) for havyáni. 81. Sandhi of compounds'.-The euphonic combination at the junction of the members of compounds is on the whole subject to the rules prevailing in external Sandhi or between words in a sentence. Thus the evidence of metre shows that contracted vowels are often even in compounds to be read with hiatus, when the initial vowel of the second member is in a heavy syllable; e. g. yuktá-aśva- 'having yoked horses', devá-iddha- 'kindled by the gods', áccha-ukti- 'invitation'. Many archaisms of Sandhi are, however, preserved in compounds which have either disappeared from or are obsolescent in the 73 sentence. I. An earlier stage of Sandhi has been preserved by compounds alone in the following instances: a. Several old phonetic combinations appear in single words: dvi-bárha- jman- 'having a double course' for dvi-bárhaj-jman (*dvi-bárhad- from bárh-as, with -ad for -as before the voiced palatal)²; barhi-şád- 'sitting on the sacrificial litter' (from barhís- for barhiş-şád-); vis-páti- 'lord of the house' and vis-pátni- 'mistress of the house' (with s retained instead of t)³, sam-raj- 'sovereign ruler' (with m preserved before 1)ª. b. In a group of compounds with dus- 'ill' as first member, the combi- nations du-d dus-d and du-n = duz-n appear instead of dur-d and dur-n: dū-dábha- 'hard to deceive', du-ḍhí- ‘malevolent', dū-náša- ‘hard to attain', dū- nása- 'hard to attain' and 'hard to destroy', du-ḍáś- (AV.) ‘not worshipping'. But dur, the form which would be required by external Sandhi, is already commoner in the RV.; e. g. dur-dýsika- 'looking bad', dur-dhár-i-tu- 'hard to restrain', dur-naman- 'having a bad name', dur-náśa- (AV.) 'hard to attain'. c. Final in the first member is preserved in the RV. before voiceless sounds 5; thus vār-kāryá- 'producing water', svàr-caksas- 'brilliant as light', púr-pati- 'lord of the stronghold', svàr-pati- 'lord of heaven', dhur-şád-6 being on the yoke'. d. Radical stems ending in -ir and -ur mostly lengthen their vowel before consonants (as within words), e. g. dhūr-şád- 'being on the yoke', dhūr- şah- (VS.) 'bearing the yoke', púr-pati- 'lord of the stronghold', pur-bhid- 'breaking down forts', pur-bhidya- n. 'destruction of forts', pür-yána-7 'leading to the fort'. 15, 105 ff.; WACKERNAGEL 2¹, 125—139. 2 Cp. above 44 a, 3. 3 Later vit pati- (TB. II. 5. 74), and even in the RV. pád-bisa- fetter' from pas bind'. 4 Otherwise Anusvāra, as in sam-rajantam. 5 While in external Sandhi it would be- come Visarjanīya or a sibilant. External Sandhi gradually encroaches here in the later Samhitas, as in svàḥ-pati- (SV.). On punaḥ- for punar- in punaḥ-sará-, antas for ántar- in ántas-patha-, and antah- in antah-péya- see WACKERNAGEL 2¹, 126y, note, and above 79, 2 à. 7 But gir retains the short vowel in gir- vanas fond of praise', gir-vahas- 'praised in
 * See BENFEY, Göttingische Abhandlungen