ALABAMA Ll;\!

GLJSTIC AND
PHILOLOGICAL SERIES NO. 20

A SANSKRIT
GRAMMAR
BY
MANFRED MAYRHOFER
CNIVERSITY OF VIENNA

TRANSLATED FROM THE GER~fAN

WITH REVISIONS
AND AN INTRODT:CTION
BY
GORDON B. FORD, JR.
NORTHWESTERN CNI\'ERSITY

THE .UNI\'ERSITY OF .\LABAC\IA PRESS

CNI\'ERSITY, ALABA;!A
 German Edition Copyright© 1964 by
Walter de Gruyter & Co.

English Translation Copyright :eJ 1972 by

The University of Alabama Press

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 68-13738

ISBN o-8173-o353-7

All rights reserved

Printed in The United States of America

 TRANSLATOWS INTRODUCTION
I have translated Professor Manfred Mayrhofer's Sanskrit-
Grammatik mit sprachvergleichenden Erlduterungen, second com-
pletely revised edition (Berlin, 1965) for the benefit of English-
speaking students of Sanskrit and students of comparative
Indo-European linguistics. I believe that Professor Mayrhofcr's
Sanskrit grammar can be used successfully in three different
types of course: in elementary Sanskrit courses along with such
an elementary text as Jan Gonda's A Concise Elementary Gram-
mar of the Sanskrit Language, with exercises, reading selections,
and a glossary, translated from the German by Gordon B.
Ford, Jr. (University of Alabama Press, 1966); in courses where
the linguistic structure of Sanskrit is to be presented; and,
finally, in comparative Indo-European courses together with
such texts as Antoine Meillet's Introduction to the Comparative
Study of the Indo-European Languages, translated from the
French by Gordon B. Ford, Jr. (University of Alabama Press
forthcoming). All three groups of students should find this im-
portant book extremely useful, and I hope that its publication
in an English edition will promote the study of Sanskrit in the
English-speaking world.
This translation is a revised version of the 1965 German
edition and incorporates suggestions made by the following
reviewers: Warren Cowgill in Language XLI (t965), 518-20;
Richard Hauschild in Indogermanische Forschungen LXX ( 1965),
215-16; F. B.]. Kuiper in the Indo-IranianJournalix (1965--6),
149-50; Wolfgang P. Schmid in the Anzeiger fiir die Altertums-
wissenschaft XIX (1966), 239-41; Jean-Louis Perpillou in the
Revue de Philologie, de Littirature et d'Histoire Anciennes XL
(1966), 295-6; and Hans J. Vermeer in Kratylos xn (1967), 207.
(sl
 TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION

I am very grateful to Professor Mayrhofer for carefully reading

and checking the manuscript of my translation and encouraging
me in my undertaking.
GoRDON B. FoRD, ]R.
Evanston
March 1972
 CONTENTS
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTIO:\

Abbreviations and Symbols

INTRODUCTION

GRAMMAR 17
A, Phonology 17
B. Accentuation 29
C. Sandhi 30
D. Gradation 36
E. Morphology 38
1. The Noun (Substantive and Adjective) 38
2. The Pronoun 61
3. The Numeral 66
4· The \' erb 69
F. Composition 103

APPENDIX to8
Three Old Indic Texts ro8

BIBLIOGRAPHY IIJ
(a) General Treatments, Grammar, History of
the Language 113
(b) Dictionaries II4
(c) Indo-European Linguistics 114

17)
 ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS
abl., ab. = ablative l(oc). = locative
a(cc). = accusative m. = masculine
act.= active mid. = middle
adj.= adjective Mid. Ind. = Middle Jodie
adv. = adverh n. = neuter
Aeol. = Aeolic n(om). = nominative
aor. =aorist OCS = Old Church Slavonic
Av. = Avestan OHG = Old High German
cans.= causative Old Ind. = Old lndic
cf. = compare Old Pers. = Old Persian
comp. = comparative opt. = optative
d(at). = dative p. = page
du. = dual part.= participle
Eng. = English pass.= passive
f(em). = feminine perf. = perfect
g(en). = genitive p( ers ). = person
Ger. = German pl(ur). "" plural
Gmc. = Germanic p.p.p. = perfect passive
Goth. = Gothic participle
Gr.= Greek pres. = present
Hom(er). = Homeric s. =see
IE = Indo-European s(in)g. = singular
imp. = imperative Slav. "" Slavic
impf. = imperfect subj. = subjunctive
inf. "" infinitive sup. = superlative
i(nstr). = instrumental Ved. =Vedic
Lat.= Latin v(oc). "" vocative
lit.= literature

(ol
 ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS

= reconstructed, unattested form

= derived from
= develops to, becomes
= (in linguistic equations:) is related to
= to be compared with
= equals, is completely equivalent to
0 placed with a word is used as a means of abbreviation. If,

for example, for a word like vinihatya only the part beginning
with the root is to be discussed, it is sufficient to write 0 hatya in
order to avoid unnecessary repetition.
 INTRODUCTION
§1. The classical form of Old lndic is called Sanskrit from Old
Ind. satit-skrta- "fitted out, correct, formed for sacred use."
Sanskrit, standardized by grammarians, has remained in use as
a literary and scholarly language until the present day. Classical
Sanskrit developed from the Old lndic language tradition, which
begins with the collection of hymns of the Rig-Veda. Passing
through the stage of the later Vedic literature, poems, and
theological-philosophical texts to the epic stage (§4), the lan-
guage gradually reached the form that became established as
"Sanskrit.'' 1 The distinction between Sanskrit and the older
Vedic language does not lie in the domain of phonetic change
but in that of morphology and vocabulary, since Sanskrit shows
a loss of grammatical forms and categories as wetl as a loss or
change in usage of a part of the vocabulary of the older language.
Concerning the latter see fundamentally L. Renou, Journal
Asiatiqt1e, Vol. 231 (1939), pp. 321 ff.; concerning the general
de~·elopment of the Old Ind. language from the Rig-Veda on: J.
Wackernagel-L. Renou, Altindische Grammatik, Vol. 12 (1957),
Introductionginbale, pp. 1 ff. In this work the most important forms
peculiar to the older language are in small type; cf. especially the
Vedic accent (§3"2), special paradigms of the old language (§§so, 56),
and lost categories (§85). The reader will find on p. 108 a sample of
the older language.
§2. Further, this language can be traced back to earlier times,
beyond the rich remains of the oldest lndic literature, by in-
direct evidence and with the help of linguistic methods.
a. From the middle of the second millennium B.c. remains of
a language which was practically no different from Old lndic
l Especiall}' outside Germotny. the nam.e Sanskrit is often used for Old
lndic as a whole. Here, "Sanskrit" is used in the narrower sense.
(II)
 INTRODUCTION

are preserved in cuneiform texts of the Near East, especially

from the temporarily powerful Hurrian Mitanni kingdom.
Personal names which also occur in the Vedic vocabulary are
found there, such as Indaruta, Subandu = \' ed. lt1drotd-,
Subandlm-; the names of the Old lndic gods Indra, Mitra,
Varrt!Ja, and the twin gods Niisatyii appear in the treaty of a
l\1itanni king; also, a not insignificant number of appellatives
which are connected with the Hurrian element -nni or -nnu can
be pointed out: maria-nnu "warrior using a war chariot"
( ""Ved. mdrya- "youth"), mani-nnu "necklace" ( = \'ed. ma'}i-
•• necklace''), babru-nnu ''brown'' ( = \'ed. babhni- ''brown''),
maka-nni ''gift'' (=Ved. maghd- ''gift''), and others. Here
words which we know from Old lndic are attested in texts which
probably date from several centuries before the beginning of
Old lndic literature; the date of that beginning certainly cannot
be determined clearly. However, this similarity is only linguistic,
not historical. The authors of the language remains in Asia
Minor were probably offshoots of the wandering movements
which led to the lndo-Europeanizing of India; however, they
can have played no direct role in this lndo-Europeanization.
In addition, a recent reference, with literature: M. Mayrhofer, Die
Indo-Arier im A/ten Vorderasin~, \Viesbaden, 1966.

b. Furthermore, Old lndic is so nearly related to the Iranian

languages, represented in antiquity by Avestan and Old Persian,
that the outlines of an "Indo-Iranian" language can still be
clearly recognized, from which the languages of high culture,
Old Indic and Old Iranian, proceeded as two closely connected
dialects. Names of gods 2 and the designation of divine beings, 3
1 E.g. Old Ind. Il.fitrd-::Av. MiOra- name of a god; Old lnd.!ndr(l- name
of a god=A,•. Indra- nnmeofa demon; Old Ind. Yarnli-, king of the re~Jm of
the dead, son of Vlvasvant-=Av. Yirna-, son of Vivaht.·ant-; etc.
• Old Ind. litur(l- "divine lord"=Av. almra- "god, divme lord"; Old
Ind. devd- "god''=Av. dah.•a-, Old Pers. daiva- "demon, idol''; Old Ind.
yajatd- "venerable, god"=Av. yazata- "venerable, god."
 INTRODUCTION' IJ
expressions of worship,~ and an abundance of poetic and formu-
laic linguistic agreements~ are to be derived from this linguistic
and cultural association of Indo-Iranian times. And, finally,
Indo-Iranian belongs to the large Indo-European linguistic
family. For Sanskrit is an Indo-European language; it stands in
a clearly recognizable, scientifically based relationship to lan-
guages of our cultural circle, such as Latin, Greek, Germanic,
and Slavic. Our grammar will at times give in small type, hence
without risk of confusion with the descriptive presentation, the
most obvious agreements, especially with the classical languages.
Concerning Old Iranian: H. Reichelt, Awestisches Elementarbuch,
Heidelberg, 1909; R. G. Kent, Old Persian, Grammar, Texts, Lexico11,
New Haven, 2 1953; \V. Brandenstein-M. Mayrhofer, Handbuch des
Altpersischen, \Viesbaden, 1964; Chr. Bartholomae, Altiranisches
WOrterbuch, Strassburg, 1904, 2 Berlin, 1961; Grundriss der iramSchen
Philologie, edited by W. Geiger and E. Kuhn, 2 vols., Strassburg,
1895-1904; Handbuch der Orientalistik (edited by B. Spuler) I, tv, 1:
Iranistik/Linguistik, Lciden, 1958. For the comparative treatment of
Old lndic and for Indo-European see the general bibliography below,
pp. IIJ ff.
§3. On Indian soil the Indo-Aryan language has continued
its development. Several languages, which can be called
collectively Middle Indic, arose from dialects of Old Indic from
the middle of the first millennium B.C. on. These are not only
popular languages, extant for us especially in epigraphic records,
• L1ke Old Ind. )•o.j;;Q." worshir> of a god, sacnfiee ''=A,·. yasno.- •· worshir
ofugod,sacrifice";Oid Ind. h6to.r- "priest,sacrificer," hOtrii-"sacnfic~"""
Av. ::o.oto.r-, zo.o0~<1·.
5 Of the type of Vedic h.rdd ... mdnm<'i, liS opposed to Av. ::;.r 0 d<i-lii

mo.no.rN.li-lii "~<:cording tO heart and mind," \'ed. mdntro.ri! takf- and Av.
mq6r:;~m to.f- "make an incantation," Ved. vlfvii 1ivi$<i,;u; to.r- and A''· tfsptJ
1boi!ftJ lo.r· "overcome all enmities," Ved. vf.ivebhyo yujotibhyafr and Av.
vfspo.1 1bylJ )•o.zotol'bylJ "to all divine beings," etc.-Inherited formulas of
poetic language also connect Old Indo<: with other old Indo-European
lunguages: thus Ved. mdhi Jrdt!afr "greot fame," i$ird- mdno.t· "powerful
mind" have their exact correspondences in the Homeric l'fya ><}.If~ and
l!pOvi.IE~.
'4 INTRODUCTION

as in the famous inscriptions of the emperor ASoka, but also

I\'liddle Indic literary languages like Piili, the church language of
southern Buddhism, and the Priikrit languages, which appear in
varied literary use. About the beginning of our millennium the
Modern lndic stage is reached, represented today by over one
hundred individual languages and dialects, the most important
of which are Hindi, the national language of India; Bengiili;
Gujar.iti; Mariithf; and the Gypsy languages.
Cf. for the Middle In die languages: J. Bloch, Les inscriptions
d'Asoka, Paris, 1950; M.A. Mehendale, Historical Grammar of In-
scriptional Prakrits, Poona, 1948; W. Geiger, Pali, Literatur und
Sprache, Strassburg, 1916; R. Pischel, Grammatik der Prakrit-
Sprachen, Strassburg, 1900. For Modern lndic: J. Bloch, La forma-
tion de Ia langue Marathe, Paris, 1910; J. Bloch, L' lndo-Aryen du Veda
aux temps modernes, Paris, 1934; R. L. Turner, A ComparatiVe
Dictionary of the Indo-Aryan Languages, London, 1966.
For any deeper study of Old lndic a familiarity with Middle lndic
is indispensable, not only because works of Sanskrit literature like
the dramas (§4) contain Prakrit passages; Old lndic itself is also filled
with Middle lndic influences. There are many words of Middle lndic
origin in Sanskrit (e.g. hhaJia- "lord"=genuine Old Ind. bhartar-;
bhata- "hired soldier, servant"=genuinc Old Ind. bhrta- "hired,
hired soldier, servant"; na.t- "dance" =genuine Old Ind. nrt-; etc.).
\\'e also have indirect traces of Middle lndic in so-called "hyper-
Sanskritisms," wrong transpositions of Middle lndic forms into the
Old Ind. literary language: cf. masr~- "soft" for Prlikrit masi~a-,
which comes, however, from Old Ind. miirtsna- "crushed finely";
priigbhiira- "inclined, mountain slope" for Pali pabbhiira- "inclined,
mountain slope," which is to be derived from Old Ind. •prahviira-.
Besides !\·Iiddle lndic the non-Aryan language families of India,
Dravidian and Munda/Austroasiatic, have influenced Old Indic
strongly, certainly in vocabulary, perhaps also in details of phonology
and syntax. Thus the Old Ind. words nira- ''water" and m1na- ''fish"
come from the Common Dravidian words •nrr and •mrn, cf. Tamil
nfr "water," mfn "fish"; Austroasiatic language laws, whereby a
prefix (md- )servesforthederivation from a basic word (•tang ''hand"),
can be recognized from Old Ind. mJtar!ga- "elephant''; as in hastin-
 15
''elephant'' (: hasta~ ''hand"), the elephant here is also characterized
as the bearer of a "trunk." Cf. concerning the non-Aryan influences:
M. B. Emeneau, Linguistic Prehistory of India, Proceedings of the
American Philosophical Society, Vol. 98 (1954), pp. 282 ff., with lit.;
T. Burrow, The Sanskrit Lat~guage (London, 1955), pp. 373 ff.
§4. Having developed from dialects of archaic Old Indic form
after a half millennium of linguistic change, Sanskrit remained
in use, undergoing the further influence of Middle and Modern
lndic developments, naturally in different forms, archaic and
recent, popular (as in epic) and Brahman literary, finally also in
forms which are clearly based on Middle lndic, like the Sanskrit
of the Buddhists and Jains. 6
The literature in Sanskrit is of immense volume. The Vedas,
which stand at the beginning of Old lndic literature, are, of
course, composed in the older language, and only the latest parts
show a form of language which is equivalent to Sanskrit in the
narrower sense. Included in real Sanskrit literature are, above
all, the two great epics: the gigantic Mahiibhiirata, comprising
over Ioo,ooo distichs, to which some of the most famous pieces
of Old lndic poetry, such as the song of Nola and Damayanti,
the legend of the flood, or the philosophical-didactic poem, the
Bhaga'l;adgitii, belong as independent parts; and the epic of the
life of the hero Rima, the Riimiiya~a; the metrically composed
collections of legends of the Purii~as stand near to the old epic
poetry. More certainly established in time than the old epics,
whose kernel goes back to the era before Christ, are the literary
epics (Kiivya), which were created and performed, especially at
the courts of princes, in the first centuries after Christ. Kilid3sa,
probably the greatest poet of ancient India, should be mentioned
here as the author of two epic poems: the Raghu't•arnia, the
history of Raghu's family, and the Kumiirasambhava, the pre-
history of the birth of Kum3ra, i.e., the god of war Skanda.
• Concerning the historical destinies and individual forms of Sanskr1t cf.
the work or L. Renou, Hiuoire de Ia langue Sa.ukrite, Lyon-Paris, 1956.
 INTRODUCTION

Kiilidlsa is also the most important dramatic poet of Sanskrit

literature. His play Sakunta/0., honored by Goethe, used as the
model for the V or spiel auf dem Theater in Faust, and often trans-
lated and performed in Europe, belongs to world literature. In
Old lndic drama Sanskrit alternates with various Prakrit
languages (§ 3) according to the social status of the characters
speaking.
Lyric poetry in Sanskrit also owes to Kalidasa some of its
most beautiful creations, such as the wonderful "Messenger of
the Clouds" or Meghadilta. Amaru and Bhartrhari, who wrote
shorter strophes concerned with love and wisdom, are considered
the most famous lyric poets of ancient India. Epigrammatic
poems are also interspersed in the rich narrative literature. The
Paficatantra, a collection of fables and tales, has had an influence
like that of no other work in world literature; over two hundred
versions occur in more than fifty languages. Other narrative
works, such as the "seventy tales of the parrot" (Sukasaptati)
or the "twenty-five tales of the demon of death" (Vetiilapatica-
vitniatikii), likewise show the alternation of prose and verse and
the use of stories within a story, 'vhich is the technique found
in the book of fables of the Thousand and One Nights.
Finally, Sanskrit is the language of an extensive scholarly
literature, mostly composed in metrical form: law and custom,
politics, historiography and medicine, astronomy and astrology,
philosophy, erotism, grammar and lexicography have been
treated in Sanskrit works, some of which have become famous.
M. Winternitz, Gescllichte der indischen Litteratur, 3 vols., Leipzig,
1908-1920 (Vols. 1-2 Eng. Calcutta, 1927-1933); A. Thumb-R.
Hauschild, Handbuch des Sanskrit I, I (Heidelberg, 1958), pp. 127-
68; H.\", Glasenapp, Die Literaturen lndiens2, Stuttgart, 1961.
 PHONOLOGY
'7

GRAMMAR
A. Phonology
§5· In the phonetically arranged order of the de·vanilgari alpha-
bet (§6) Sanskrit has the following sound system:
Vowels (Sonants)
!

With regard tor. f,! see §7.

Diphthongs

,;
e, o, pronounced in Sanskrit as e, 0 but not provided with signs for
length in the usual transcription, are designated as "diphthongs" by
the Hindus; the historically diphthongal character of these sounds
(§ 14) was revealed to them by observations within the language (e.g.
alternation in sandhi [§33) and in word formation with -ay·, -av-, or
composition from -a i-, -au-; analogy of -i- -e- -ai-, etc. to-r· -ar-
-iir- in "gradation" [§35]).-ai, au are by origin long diphthongs
(§15), but are pronounced as normal diphthongs in Sanskrit.
Consonants
Velars kh gh
Palatals ch j jh
Cerebrals \h 4 4h
Dentals th dh
Labials ph bh
Semivowels
Liquids
Sibilants
Aspirate
In addition: visarga (i:t), anusvira (ril), and the rare anuniisika
(m).
18 GRAMMAR

The voiceless stops (k, c, etc.), voiceless aspirates (kh., ch), and the
three sibilants (i, !. s) are considered voiceless sounds; all the rest
(with inclusion of the vowels, sonants, and diphthongs) are considered
voiced sounds.
§6. The written medium in which Sanskrit texts are usually set
down is the devaniigarl, a script which runs from left to right.
It has the following signs for vowels and diphthongs:
"lila l:i 'au '¥r Wj "Q:e 'iTo
'!g'f a { i ~a '« f i ai "ifi au

For the consonants we find the letters:

Velars: <II ka, ~ kha, 'if ga, "q gha, ~ Ii.a.
Palatals: ~ca, ~ cha, 'Sija, 1;J jha, Sf fi.a.
Cerebrals: "l" ~. 0 tha, :S 4a, ~ t;lha, "1l)a.
Dentals: i'fta, "ll tha, .. d•. ~ dha, or ....
Labials: q pa, tli pha, if ba, ~ bha, 'JI rna.
Semivowels and
Liquids: lJ ya, ';( ra, "'I• Cl va.
Sibilants: 1! Sa, l'f:?a, lisa.
Aspirate: "{ ha.

The visarga ~~ is expressed by a colon after the preceding letter

(li:=s~); the anusvara '!I by a dot placed over the preceding letter
(<ir=kam).
These signs are used for the representation of Old lndic words by
means of the following system:
Signs for vowels or diphthongs which stand alone, apart from few
exceptions, occur only at the beginning of a word ('"Ill a~).
The consonant signs contain primary -a-; if they are to be pro-
vided with another vowel, this is done by means of an additional
sign; i.e., original Cfi" ka goes to <tiT kii by means ofT; similarly, 'f%' ki,
~T ki, C§ ku, ~ kU, .,- k{, fk?, ~ kf,l\ ke, ~ kai, ~ ko, eft kau.
The lack of a vowel is expressed by, (t.·iriima): ~ k.
Consonant groups are represented by "ligatures," i.e. by en-
 PHONOLOGY 19
twinings of the individual signs. Examples: ?Q" tpa, ~ sma, ntf
gdhva, composed of ta+pa, sa+ma, ga+dha+va.
By combination of the basic signs with the additional signs and
ligatures words of Old lndic structure can be represented quite
successfully in this syllabic script. Examples: lll'if~ sii-ga-ra ''sea'';
l!lf\ su-hr-d "friend" (=sa with additional sign for ·U·, ha with
additional sign -r-, da with vi rima); ll:iief ia-bda "noise" (bda ligature
from ba+da).
In our more linguistically oriented presentation Sanskrit is given
not in devanigari but in transcription.

§ 7. Pronunciation:
1. Short a had various timbres according to the phonetic
environment; its most frequent timbre was that of English u in
l>ut.
z. r. f, and! are syllabic liquids, as in some Slavic languages,
cf. Serbocroat. S'b "Serb," Czech t'lk "wolf." The pronuncia-
tion of r with an i-sound after it, stemming from antiquity,
explains the older transcriptions (ri, rl) and the popular tran-
scription ri, as in Sanskrit (sariHkrta-, §1), Rig-Veda (rg-), etc.
3· e and o are long: cf. §s.
4· The voiceless and voiced aspirates (kh, gh, etc.) should be
pronounced like the corresponding voiceless or voiced stops, but
with an aspiration coming directly after.vard.
5· The palatals (c, ch, j, jh) are usually pronounced in the
West as affricates, c like English ch (much), j like English j (just);
popular transcriptions of Sanskrit words like Pantschatantra or
Maharadscha are based on this pronunciation. But it is not
correct: the Old Indic c,j were palatal stops, not affricates.
The nasals have the articulation of the series of stops with which
they are placed; thus ri is velar (cf. Ger. Engel), n palatal (5), ~
cerebral (6).
6. The cerebrals-the name translates Old Ind. miirdhanya-
from miirdhan· n. "head" and "upper palate "-are" retroflex"
 GRAMMAR

sounds, in whose articulation the tip of the tongue is bent back

toward the roof of the mouth. The pronunciation of English t, d
(in too, done, etc.) comes close to them.
i· i is a voiceless palatal sibilant, that is, it is spoken at the
front of the hard palate; Ger. sch in a palatal environment, e.g.,
in mischen, has a comparable sound. ~ is an i-sound with retro-
flex (6) position of the tongue, sa voiceless dental s.
8. h is a voiced aspirate, -~ (visarga) a voiceless aspirate.
In the pronunciation of today's Brahmans a slight sound of the
preceding vowel follows the visarga in absolute word-final position:
agni!l=agmN, deviib=deviiha.

9· The anusviira, before sibilants, l, and h, designates the

nasalization of the vowel after which it stands; this is comparable
to the nasalization of vowels in French (in on, cent, gens, etc.). In
other environments it is usually to be regarded as an abbrevia-
tion for a full nasal (in the national script, §6): phalam bharati,
saritbharati are to be spoken with [-mbh-].
Compare the chapters on pronunciation in the handbooks of Old
Indic (p. 113), the monograph of W. S. Allen, Phonetics in Ancient
India (London Oriental Series, Vol. 1, 1953), and S. K. Chatterji,
"The Pronunciation of Sanskrit," in Indian Linguistics, Vol.
(x96o), pp. 61-82.

Origin of the Old Indic Sounds

§8. The a of Sanskrit' has several origins: it corresponds to IE
(=Lat. and Gr.) a, e, o, T (=Lat. em, Gr. a, Germanic um) and 1}
(=Lat. en, Gr. a, Germanic un):
a=a: Old Ind. djra- m. "field, plain"=Gr. Cry~ "field," Lat.
ager;
a=e: Old Ind. dsti "is"=Lat. est;
' Since no d1stinction e:otists between Sanskrit and the older language in
phonology(§ 1), we do not hesitate to choose examples ffflm the whole realm
of Old Jndic and, as 1s usual in comparative linguistics, to designate the
positions of accents that belong only to the older language (§J:z).
 PHONOLOGY

a=o: Old Ind.pdti- m. ''lord"=Gr. TT6at~ "husband";

a=m: Old Ind. daia "ten"=Gr. 6£Ka, Lat. decem, Goth. taihun;
a=~: Old Ind. mati- f. "thought"=Lat. mens, mentis, Goth.
ga-mund.s "memory," cf. Gr. aVT6-IlaTQ5.

§9. Similarly, Old Ind. ii is derived from IE (=Lat.-Gr.) ii, i, 0,

as well as from the ''heavy" form of the syllabic nasal, 1}1 (=Lat. nii,
Germanicun):
ii=ii: Old Ind. bhrdtar- m. "brother"=Lat.friiter;
ii=i: Old Ind. rdj- m. "king"= Lat. rix, rig-is;
ii = o: Old Ind. vdc- f. "speech, voice"= Lat. vox, vi'H:-is;
ii = '!i: Old Ind. Jiitd- "born"= Lat. (g)niitus, Goth. -kund.s
''descended from''.
Old Ind. ii from Ti is, on the other hand, not certain. Perhaps this
led rather to Old Ind. iim.
Old Ind. ii also probably comes from IE short o when this stood in
an open syllable and was followed by r, l, m, or n. This sound law
explains some important differences in the morphology of Sanskrit;
in the case of the r-and n-stems diitdram (""Gr. 6WTopa) as opposed
to pitdram (=Gr. TTaripa), ditMnam (=Gr. 6:1<uova) as opposed to
-hdn-am ( < •g"hen-tp), see §§ sz. 53, 65; or the length of the root
vowel in the perfect-having spread as a type by analogy-Old Ind.
cakdra, see§ 123. This" Brugmann's law in Kleinhans' formulation"
can be held in connection with the opinion that -o- belonged to no
open syllable if 1 (§ 1 1, 1) stood after the consonant following it, as
is to be expected with sef-roots (§37). Thus, for the verbs of the toth
class (§83) and causatives (§ 129) with a-vocalism of the root syllable,
we have to establish as the original division: miirdyati "causes to die''
<•mofrei-. root •mer- (:Old Ind. mr-td- "dead"), but jandyati
"begets, bears"< •gon/1ei-, root •ge713- (>Old Ind.jdni-man-,jani-
tdr-). Cf. the lit. in Wackernagel-Debrunner, Altind. Gramm. 1i
(1957), supplement, p. 8, and Kuiper, Lingua, Vol. 8 (1959), pp. 436 ff.

§ 10. Old Ind. t and U come from IE i and 4:

i=i: Old Ind. -cit "also"=Lat. -quid (see §t8);
i=I: Old Ind.plvan- ''fat"=Gr. TTiwv;
u=u: Old Ind. rudhird- "red"-Gr. E-pu&pQs, Lat. ruber;
ii=ii: Old Ind. dhamd- m. "smoke""" Lat./ii.mus.
Cf. further §§nand IJ.
 GRAMMAR

§11. Old Ind. i (sometimes also f) also has another origin. If it

corresponds to an a in the Western languages, it comes from IE
"schwa" (.1), a vowel of indefinite timbre.
Examples for t <;,:
Old Ind. pitdr- m. "father"=Gr. TTa"Tl\p, Lat. pater, Eng. father;
Old Ind. -ni-tl, Jrd sg. mid. of the 9th class (§ Io6)= Gr. -va-Tal.
IRa, firmly anchored in the system as the zero grade of original
long vowels (§37), shows two additional characteristics which are
forcibly required by the behavior of Old lndic and Indo-Iranian:
I. It appears also as a consonant (i); its phonetic representation as
a "laryngeal" is, of course, not certain, and the comparison of a, i
with the b of Hittite has not so far been shown conclusively by the
material. Intervocalic ·i- effected hiatus:
Old Ind. rayi~ (•ra-ts) < •rej-l-s, but gen. sg. •rea-j-is> •re-j-is >
Old Ind. riiyd~, below §56.
2. -i- added directly to a stop effected the aspiration of that stop
(thus li>th): IE •pOnt-u-s "path" produced Indo-Iran. •pdntiis,
but the gen. sg. •p'}t-i-is, •p'}this, Indo-Iran. •pathds; this inflection
is also preserved in Av. pantJ, gen. sg. pa80. Old Ind. pdnthiil;,
pathd~ (§66) shows understandable leveling with the carrying
through of -th-.
Cf. further §§9, IJ.

§12. To the Old Ind. r.! correspond in some Slavic languages

syllabic liquids, which certainly have obtained this value again only
secondarily; the remaining languages compared here offer groups of
vowel and liquid for IE(, J, namely Gr. apjpa and aJ...fAa, Lat. or, ol,
Gmc. ur,ul:
Old Ind. dhnTJU- "bold".-...Gr. epacnJs;
Old Ind. hhr- "bear," cf. Lat.fors "chance," Ger. Ge-burt;
Old Ind. Sfriga- n. "horn" -Lat. cornu;
Old Ind. p,thU- "wide"=Gr. TT'Ac:mJs;
Old Ind. vfka- m. "wolf"=Czech vlk, Goth. wulfs.
As with consonantal r, I (§23), IE J beside r has also merged into
Old Ind. T· Old Ind. -,l- occurs only in k!p- "be fitted, arrange,"
whose etymological association is not quite dear.
r
Old Ind. has arisen through the imitation of quantitative relations
in comparable grammatical categories. For example, the relation
agnibhi~ : agnin : agnfn&m (§43), Sdtrubhi~ : idtrUn : idtrfilJiim (§48),
 PHONOLOGY

etc. had as its result that frompitfbhi~ "with the fathers" the ace. pl.
pit/nand gen. pl. pitf?u1m were formed (§53).
§ 13. If IEr or f occurred before a vowel, Old Ind. irorur developed
from it:
Old Ind. girl- m. "mountain"< •K'r-i-, Av. ga'n·-, cf. OCS gora;
Old Ind. gurU- "heavy"< •rr-u-, Gr. ~opUs.
"Heavy" lEu. l1also occurred, represented in Old Ind. byir, fir:
Old Ind. dfrghd:"long" < •d[1-gh6-, Av. da?ya-, cf. Gr. SoA1x6s;
Old Ind. pun_~d- "full"< •p!J-n6-, cf. Lat. plinus.
Thus, here lies a further source of Old Ind. f, U (§ 10).
The rule that -1- disappears between vowels or sonants (§II, 1)
but remains in effect before consonants is again clearly shown in this
connection:
IE •p/IU- "much" (:root •peb- > Old Ind. pdrf-'J'U-" abundance")
> Old Ind. puni-, with the behavior of simple preconsonantal + a
result of the disappearance of -1-; but feminine •p[i-1}1-> Old Ind.
purot-, with -Ur- from -[1-· See also§ 59·
§ 14. The" diphthongs" e and o, still recognizable within lndic as
compounds of a+i, a+u (§5) and probably still pronounced (ai],
[au] at the beginning of the history of the Old lndic language, go back
in the first place to ai, au (Av. ai, ao, Old Pers. ai, au), which further
-corresponding to the origin of a from IE a, e, o (§8)---come from
the IE diphthongs ai, ei, oi or au, eu, ou.
e=ai: Old Ind. idha- m. "firewood," cf. Gr. aiew "inflame";
e=ei: Old Ind. iti "goes"=Gr. sla1, Lat. it;
e=oi: Old Ind. vida "knows"=Gr. ol8a, Goth. wait;
o=au: Old Ind. Ojas- n. "strength," cf. Lat. augustus "exalted";
o=eu: Old Ind. irOnulta- n. "favorable hearing," cf. OHG
hliumunt "reputation";
o=ou: Old Ind. lokd- m. "open space"= Old Lat. lou.co-, Lat.
[ficus "wood."
Old Ind. e and o come also from •az, which is sometimes of
importance for the interpretation of the morphology; cf. §§30, 1; 33,
l2j 6o; 66; 88; 98; 124.
§ 15. Old Ind. ai, au(§ 5) go back to the IE diphthongs with a long
vowel as the first member, Oi, ei, Oi or au, eu, iill; cf. for example the
dat. sg. ending of the a- and r-stems, -(ay)ai, -(y)ai (§4o, so), =Gr.
(xWpP,:<-di; or gdub m. f. "cow"=Gr.l3oQs, •g¥ou-s. The fact that
 GRAMMAR

the second part of long diphthongs can be lost is important; d. Old

Ind. ace. sg.g&m (§5+), Homer. Gr. !3Wv, Lat. ba~s, IE •g'IO(u)~.

§16. The stops of the velar series, k, kh, g, gh, go back to two
types of IE consonants: to IE velar k·sounds, to which k (Gr. K,
Lat. c), g, etc. also correspond in Lat. and Gr.; and on the other hand
to the "labiovelars" like q" (Lat. qu, Gr. 1r, i, K), g", etc. Cf.:
k=k: Old Ind. kravi!- n. "raw ftesh"=Gr. ~o:pEas, cf. Lat. cruor;
k=q": Old Ind. ka- interrogative pronoun (§78/2)= Lat. quo.d,
Gr. 1T6·6Ev, Goth. hva-s "who";
g8=g: Old lnd.yugd- n. "yoke"=Gr. 3vy6v, Lat. iugum;
g=g": Old Ind. gdti· f. "motion"=Gr. j3<i:a15 "step," Ger.
(An-)kunft;
gh=gh: Old Ind. dirghd- "long" -Gr. 5oi\Lx6s";
gh=fth (Gr. q:o, 6, x. Lat.f-, -gu-, -v-, etc.): Old Ind. gharmd- m.
''heat," cf. Lat./ormus ''warm,'' Gr. 6sp116s.

§ Ij. Old Ind. n is-like 11-usually only a phonetic variant of the

phoneme n in the environment of velars or palatals respectively; final
.n (in pr&n, etc. §64) is phonemic and comes from older groups like
•-rik(s), §33• 7·

§ 18. The palatals c and j go back, on the one hand, to the same IE
consonants ask and g, if they stood before IE palatal vowels (e, i):
IE •q~e "and" (Lat. ·que) became first •ke (§16), then •te, Old Ind.
ca "and." The palatalization is thus older than the change e>a,
since it still presupposes ·e-; it shows irrefutably that the Lat.-Gr.
vocalic system afefo is closer to the IE original than the Old Ind. a
(§8). Similarly •qwid (Lat. -quid)> •kid> Old Ind. cit (§ 10); •g'lii}O-
"alive" (Lat. vivus)>•gi1J0->0ld Ind.j!vd- "alive."
Old Ind.j goes back also to IE "palatalj" (Lat.-Gr. g, but Slav.
z, see §24), cf. jfiii- "know"= Gr. yt·yvt:>-Ol<w, Lat. gnO-scO, nOscO,
OCS zna-ti "know."
The origin of Old Ind. ch-, word-interior -cch-, from IE sk is
' The very complex problem of the voiceless aspirates (Old Ind. kh, th,
etc.) 1s not treated here for pedagogical reasons: beside the problematic IE
voicelessaspiutescaseshket?(§tt, :l.), Middle Indtcandnon.Aryan(§J),
examples of expresstve articulation etc. have merged into this one phenom-
enon. Cf. R. Htersche, Unfenu.chu.ngm zu.r Frage der Tenues atpirofoe im
lndogermanischen (Wiesbaden, 1964).
 •s
important, cf. Old Ind. chiiyd- f. "shadow"-Gr. 01<16:; Old Ind.
gduhati "comes," Jlrcchdti "asks," as opposed to Gr. (hn-)j3Crol<oo,
or Lat. poscO ''demand," OHG forsclm "seek": the present type in
0 ccho.ti (§83) thus corresponds to the sk-verbs of the Western

languages.
Old Ind. jh is rare in the older language and does not go back to
Indo-European directly by means of genuine Old lndic sound Jaws.
It was taken over in onomatopoeic words, foreign words, and words
of Middle lndic origin in order to fill the empty slot in the system of
stops. Concerning ii see § Ii.

§ 19. Some of the cerebral stops occur in words of Middle lndic

origin (like nat-, bhalta-, §3) and of non-Aryan origin; others have
arisen legitimately in Old Ind. sound groups: thus the combination
off or the previous stage of i (§24) with t resulted in Old Ind. -!1-;
the-ta- participles (§x35) of vr'- "rain," dri- "see" are vr,·td-,
dn-td-. Likewise in the voiced domain, IE •nizd6- "nest" (Lat.
nidus, Ger. Nest), •mizdh6- "price, pay" (Gr. 1Jio66s, cf. Goth.
mizdO) went through a stage of •ni;;ifd-, •mi;l}hd- (with s [or its
voiced variant z] to i (.;:] after i, §25) resulting in Old lndic nftjd-
"nest," ml¢hd- ''price,'' with disappearance of •; and compensatory
lengthening. Likewise •-id- to-;¢-; see the cases in §30, 1.

§zo. Old Ind. -~-arose from original -n- if directly or indirectly

preceded by r, f, r, or ' (except when a palatal, cerebral, or dental
stood between -n- and the other sounds just named) and if it was
followed by a vowel or n, m, y, v: thus in the case of several mor-
phemes allomorphs with Jnj and/~/ exist beside each other; cf. instr.
sg. agni-nii, but han·-~a, dfve-na, but sarpi-~a. gen. pl. divii-niim, but
pitf-~iim, perf. pass. part. lu-na-, but k$i-~a-.

§zr. The dentals come from IE (=Lat.-Gr.) t, d, and from dh

(=Gr. 8, Lat. J-, -b-, -d-); n is to be derived from the generally
preserved IE n.
t=t: Old Ind. tanU- "thin," cf. Gr. Taw-, Lat. tenuis;
d=d: Old Ind. ddia "ten"=Gr. 8f:Ka, Lat. decem;
.. :tn;,~~e~l~:t~d. mddhu- n. "sweetness, honey"=Gr. 11S6v
n=n: Old Ind. ndr- m. "man"=Gr. Crv'I'Jp, cf. Lat. neriOsus.
 GRAMMAR

§22. Old lnd.p, b come from IE (=Lat.-Gr.)p, b; bh from IE bh

(=Gr. o:p, Lat./-, -b-); m from IE m, which is generally preserved.
p=p: Old Ind. pad- rn. "foot"=Lat. pes, ped-is;
b=b: Old Ind. bdla- n. "strength," cf. Gr. j3EATic.>v "better," Lat.
de-bili.s "weak";
bh=bh: Old Ind. ndbhas- n. "cloud, vapor"=Gr. ~o:pos, cf. Lat.
nebula;
m=m: Old Ind. miitdr- f. "mother"= Gr. j.J:r'pi].p, Lat. miiter.
§23. Old Ind. y and v continue IEj (Gr.'-, 3-, -,Lat. i-, -)and !.J.
(Gr. f, Lat. t.•).-Both rand l occur as continuations of IE (=Lat.,
Gr., Gmc.) rand/; in Old lndic, dialects which distinguished rand l
have apparently merged ..-.. ith those which changed both liquids into
r or both into l.
y=i: Old Ind.yuvdn- m. "youth"-Lat. iuvenis, Eng. young;
r=r: Old Ind. prd- "before, in front"=Gr. TTp6, Lat. pro-;
r=l: Old Ind. iru- "hear," cf. Gr. Ki\Vc.>;
l=r: Old Ind. -lohitd- "red" (beside r6hita-), cf. Lat. ruber, Ger.
rot;
l=l: Old Ind. lubh- "desire fervently," cf. Lat. lubet, Eng. love;
V=!.J.: Old Ind. ruiva- "new"=Gr. vt(r)os. Lat. novus.
§2+. Old Ind.$ goes back to IE palatal k, which is continued in
Latin as c, in Greek asK, and in Germanic has shifted to X (h); those
mostly west Indo-European languages that preserve the k-character
are called "centum languages." On the other hand, the "satem
languages," to which, besides Indo-Iranian, Slavic and Baltic among
others belong, change k into sibilants or spirants (Av. s, Old Pers. 6,
Slav. s, Lith. i). Correspondingly, the voiced stop g in the satem-
domain goes to (Slav.) z, (Old Ind.) j, etc. (§ r8); concerning gh see

§ 2J~k: Old Ind. iatdm "hundred"=Av. sat;nn, Old Pers. 8ata-,

L:h. Iiflitas; Gr. ~-KaT?V, Lat. centum, Goth. hund.
The origin of i from k also becomes clear from data within Sanskrit.
Thus Old Ind. k, arose from k +s; therefore, the sa-aorist of the
verb dii- is a-dik-,am (§ 117). For the substantive diJ- we find, in
absolute word-final position and before endings beginning with con-
sonants, forms like dik, dig-bhib (§33, 7).
§25. Old Ind.~ has arisen from alders, which stood after Old Ind.
i, U, e, o, f, r, or k: to Gr. tipoqJaL "dry," Ger. Durst (•trs-) corre-
 PHONOLOGY

sponds Old Ind. tf~-~- f. "thirst"; to Ger. Ochse (•uk.s-), Old Ind.
uk~cin- m. "bull"; to the Greek superlative ending -tOT~ corre-
sponds Old Ind. -i~Jha- (§72). This sound law is important for the
understanding of variations in the morphology: the loc. pl. ends in
-ii-su with the a-stems, but in -i-;u with the i-stems, in -r·IU with the
r-stems, etc.; "you bear" is Old Ind. hhcira-n·, but "you go" is l-#.
In the group n. ~also goes back to the previous stage i (§24). [See
§••·l
§26. Old Ind. s=IE s; in Greek it becomes'- in word-initial
position, disappears intervocalically, and is preserved in word-final
position H) and in groups (like aT, 01<); in Latin it goes tor between
vowels, otherwise it is preserved: d. Old Ind. saptd "seven"=Gr.
hrrCt, Lat. septem; Old Ind. tdsam, gen. pl. f. of the demonstrative
(§74)=Homer. Gr. ;&.uv, Lat. is-tiirum.
§27. Old Ind. h has various origins. On the one hand, it comes
from the voiced aspirates of the IE palatal series (cf. §24),gh (Gr. X•
Lat. h, but Slav. z):
Old Ind. himd- m. "frost, snow" (also preserved in the name of
the Himiilaya mounta.ins),..,Gr. XEIIJWv, Lat. hiems, OCS zi11Ul
"winter."
On the other hand, it is-passing through a stage •.:fh-the secon-
dary palatalization of the previous stage of Old Ind. gh (IE gh or g"h:
§l6); then it often stands in alternation with gh within the gram-
matical paradigm:
Old Ind. hcinti "strikes, kills," but 3rd pl. ghn-cinti "they strike"
(§93),ghand- m. "striker, destroyer," d. OCSgoniti"chase, pursue."
The change of IE dh-which is usually preserved in Old Ind.
(§21)-to h originates in one dialect of Old Ind.: d. Old Ind. hitd-
as the perfect passive participle of the root dhii-; ihd ''here" (but Piili
idha)=Gr. 16cryEvi)S "born here, of legitimate birth"; grhd- n.
''house''< •grdhd-, d. Goth.gards''house"; sec.-ending 1st pl. mid.
-11Ulhi (§84)=Gr. -~o:. etc.
In Old lnd.grh- besidegrbh- "seize" and, in some further cases,
h comes from bh, which again is to be ascribed to a special dialect. In
Middle lndic h very frequently appears for bh and dh.
§28. To the visarga (-!1) corresponds final-s or-r; in sandhi the
different origins are often still perceptible even without use of the
 28 GRAMMAR

comparative method (§JJ, u). Cf. Old Ind. diva/.1. api~ nom. sg.=
Lat. equu-r, a"gni-s, as opposed to pit~ voc. sg. of pitdr-, =Gr. m!mp.

§29. Anusvlra (ni} occurs for a nasal which happened to stand

before Old Ind./, f, s, orlr.: the verb of the 7th class (§1o2)hi-nd-s-ti
forms as its 3rd plur. not •hi-n-s-tinti but hidudnti; correspondingly
Jrd plur. pi'liltdnti ''they trample"= Lat. pinnmt; lllilhU- "narrow"-
Lat. angustus, Ger. eng; dritttl- m. "shoulder"=Goth. ams
"shoulder."

§30. Of combinatory sound laws only two which are of importance

for the understanding of grammatical processes need be mentioned
here:
1. "Bartholomae's Law of Aspirates," whereby voiced aspirates
(e.g., bh, dh)+voiceless stops (e.g., t) go to the order voiced stops+
voiced aspirates (hdh, ddh): the ta-participle (§ 135) of laM- "grasp"
is (passing through a stage of •Jahlr-ta-) illbdh12-, of budh- ''awaken"
buddhd-. Since Old Ind. Jr. goes back to gh, gllh, as well as to ih
( > proto-Indic •:rJr.) (§27), various results of the meeting of Old Ind.
-Jr.+ voiceless stop are found, depending on the previous stage of the
Old Ind. sound: Old Ind. dalr.- "bum" is older •dagh-, thus
(through a stage of •tltlg!r-td-) perfect passive participle dagdlui.-, but
lilr- "lick" comes from •ii%11-, IE •ugh- (OCS lizati "lick"), thus
the perfect passive participle •li:ih-ta-> •iii-dlr.a-, whence further
•ii¢./la-, Old Ind./r(llr.a- (§ 19). Since 'lltllr.- "travel" and ralr.- "over-
come"likewisego back to IE palatals, cf. proto-Indic -wuh- (: OCS
tJeZ-Q "I travel"), •sai:h-, the infinitives in -tum (§ 137) of these roots
become vd(lhum, so4hum, passing through a stage of ~dhum,
•ro.:dlr.um and >t.w!;.(l/aum, •sa;.(lh'IJ.JfJ; here a compensatory lengthen-
ing which changes the timbre also takes place (•a •a~ > o, § 14). In
addition, see §§87, IOJ, 114, and 135·
2. "Grassmann's Law of the Dissimilation of Aspirates," whereby
an indirect succession of two aspirates (e.g. M-dh) resulted in loss of
aspiration of the first sound: as the reduplicated present of da- "give"
is dd-dii-ti "gives," •dhd-dhii-ti should have been formed from dhii-
'' put''; as a result of our sound law, however, dddhiiti arose. Especi-
ally important is its operation in a gramll!latical paradigm: cf. 1st
2nd sg. mid. dadhi: dhatsi (§C)S}= •d/ra-dh-i: •dha-dh-si> dha-t-si,
or -dhuk "milking," ace. sg. -Juhmn< •dhugh-s ( > •dhuk-s), ace.
 PHO:"<OLOGY

•dhu(g)h-am, where each time the first aspirate is only preserved if

the second lost its aspiration by assimilation (-dhs-, -ghs-> -ts-, -ks-).
We know a similar law from Greek (without genetic connection
with the Old lndic phenomenon): the reduplicated present of the
root &r]- was originally •thi-thl-mi (like Oi-OW-1.11 from the root 5UJ-),
whence by dissimilation ti-thi-mi, Ti&r]I.IL; the declension of the word
for "hair" was nom. sg. •thrilffl-s>thrik-s (6pi~). but genitive
singular •thrikh-Os > trikhds (TPLX<)s).
Note further the sandhi laws (§ 33). More thorough presentations
of the history of Old Ind. phonology are offered by J. Wackernagel,
Altindische Grammatik, Vol. 12 (195j), with supplements by A.
Debrunner; and by A. Thumb and R. Hauschild, Handbuch des
Sanskrit, Vol. 1, 1 (1958), pp. 218 ff.

B. Accentuation
§ 3 r. The accentuation of Sanskrit which is usual today is very
similar to that of Latin: in polysyllabic words the penultimate
syllable is accented if it is long by nature or by position; if the
penultimate syllable is short, the antepenultimate syllable is
accented; in contrast to that of Latin, the accent can also move
to the fourth-to-last syllable if that is the root syllable and if the
penultimate and antepenultimate syllables are short.
The following are thus stressed: bhardma}J. "we bear," bhardnti
"they bear"; bhdrati "he bears," Ramdya7Ja "epic of Rima";
dUhitaram ace. sg. "daughter."
Consonant groups withy and v do not make the penultimate
syllab.leJong; the accent is ddtrbhya!J "to the donors." In the
case of verbs augment, reduplication_sy:l_l~ble, and yerbal_ p.r~mc.
receive the stress according to the rules given above onlx__w_h!m
the root syllable is short; thus in Sanskrit the imperfect of the
root ya- ''go" with a long syllable is stressed aydt, the perfect
yaydu.
§32. In the older period, from the beginning until shortly before
the birth of Christ, there was a different means of accentuation,
JO GRAMMAR

which still prevails in the early Vedic texts and is also handed down
by grammarians. It involves a so-called "free" accent, i.e. one not
determined by number of syllables and quantity, but occurring for
each form individually, and whose position must therefore be
specially marked. Old lndic inherited it from Indo-European, since
countless accentual positions show agreements with Greek, with
Baltic and Slavic languages, and-according to the indirect evidence
of Verner's Law-with Germanic. Compare:
Ved. dhilmd~ m. "smoke"= Gr. 601165 "excitement of spirit,
courage";
Ved. ndbhab n. ''cloud" =Gr. vE1p05 ''cloud,'' Russ. nibo ''sky'';
Ved. duhitdram ''daughter''= Gr. 6vycnipa, Lithuanian dUkteri <
•-tb-'11};
Ved.p&t m. "foot," ace. sg.p&dam, gen. padd!.r=Gr. 1TO\J), 1T6Sa,
TI"056s;
Ved. pitdr- m. "father," bhrdtar- m. "brother"=Gr. 1ran')p,
Ofp&n-Jp, Goth. jadar, brofiar from proto-Germanic •jafiir, but
•&rdfiir.
C. Sandhi
§33· A striking characteristic of Sanskrit practice is that some-
thing which indeed occurs in other languages, but is usually
eliminated in their written representation, is expressed in a
strict system of rules: the mutual influence of final sounds and
initial sounds of words following one another in the flow of
speech. Our sample (§ 34) makes it evident that, without know-
ledge of these rules of "euphonic" combination-the Indians
and, following them, the scientific grammar of the West, call
this sandhi- (sam-dhi-) m. "union, combination "-the simplest
Sanskrit text could not be interpreted.
The sandhi rules are:
1. Contiguous vowels of like quality (short or long) merge
into the corresponding long vowel: ntistiha stands for separated
na asti iha "is not here"; jayiibharat foe jayii abharat "the
woman bore''; yadicchet for yadi icchet "if he could wish.''
z. a, ii + i, I becomes e; a, ii + u, U becomes o; a, ii + r becomes
 S.o\NDHI JI
ar: vinerryayti for vinti irf)layti "without jealousy"; sovtica for
sa uviica "she spoke''; yatharril.z for yathii ni!J "like a seer.''
3· a, ti+e, aibecomes ai; a, ii+o, au becomes au: adyaiva for
adya eva "still today"; tasyauradham for tasya auradham "his
medicine.''
4· Final i, i, u, ii, r. f change to the correspondingsemivowels
or liquids respectively (y, v, r) before unlike initial vowels:
tri~y ettlni for tri~i ettini "these three" ; astv etat for astu etat
"this should be"; kartr asti for kartr asti "it is effective."
5· Final -e, -o remain before short a-, which is eliminated:
te 'pi for te api "even these"; prabho 'tra for prabho atra "you
powerful one here."
Before all other vowels final -e, -o become -a: nagara iha for
nagare iha "in the city here"; prabha ihi for prabho ihi "you
powerful one, come."
In addition, the decomposition into -av (-ay) occurs (rarely) for-o,
still more rarely for-e before any vowel but a-: prabhav ihi.
6. -ai becomes -tl before vowels; -au becomes -iiv, more
rarely -ii: devyii iha for devyai iha "to the goddess here"; tiiv
ubhau for tau ubhau "these two."
The final vowels -1, -U, and -e in forms of the dual and in aml
"those" (§77) undergo no sandhi changes; a- is not elided after them,
either. The same holds for short interjections. Cf. girl iha "the two
mountains here," i lndra "Hey, Indra 1"
7· Final original consonant groups are reduced in Sanskrit to
one consonant: bharan nom. sg. "bearing" for •bharant-s
(: stem bharant-, cf. ace. bharant-am, +nom. ending -s).
In absolute word-final position only the voiceless stops (-k,
-t, -t, -p) of the velars, cerebrals, dentals, and labials (§s) can
stand; other stem-final sounds are changed into voiceless stops
(cf. upanifad-, ace. sg. upanifad-am, but nom. sg. upanirat). For
word-final palatals and -S-, -k appears in absolute word-final
J2 GRAMMAR

position, for -j- and -i- sometimes also -t: 'Vtic- f., gen. sg.
v.:ic-a~ "voice" forms the nom. sg. viik, dii- f. "point of the
compass" the nom. sg. dik, but vii- f. "place" the nom. sg. vi!.
For -f- and -h- we find -k and-tin absolute word-final position.
Cf. the examples of declension in §59·
These "changes" naturally have historical causes. Thus viik with
-k (from •vak+s, Lat. vOx) is the original form, as opposed to viic-ab,
with the palatalization of the older velar before an IE palatal vowel
(:Lat. vOc-is) according to §18; the form viic- appearing in the
majority of cases is considered, nevertheless, as the "stem." In the
case of dii-: dik, -k results from the development in word-final
position of the IE k (§24) which otherwise went to -i-; the change of
IE palatals to -J stems from another historical period; cf. most
recently, F. B. J. Kuiper, Indo-Iranian Journal, Vol. 10 (1967-
68), pp. IOJtf.
8. The voiceless stop in absolute word-final position (see §7)
remains in sandhi only before voiceless sounds (§ 5); before
voiced stops (g, d, etc.), voiced aspirates (gh, dh, etc.), r, /, y, v,
and the vowels it becomes a voiced stop; before nasals it
becomes the nasal of its class: iisid riijti for tisit riijti "there was a
king," abhtlJ'ad annam for abharat annam "he brought food," or
tan mama for tat mama "this of mine," ·vtin me for viik tn£ "my
speech."
Before h- a voiceless stop in absolute word-final position
becomes a voiced stop; h- then becomes the corresponding
voiced aspirate: tad dhi for tat hi "for this"; viig ghi for vtik hi
"for this speech."
9· A dental is assimilated to the following palatal, cerebral,
and l: tac ca for tat ca "and this"; taj jalam for tat ja/am " this
water"; priikarfalla'va~iimbhasi for priikarfal lavat}iimbhasi "he
dragged over the salt sea."
Final dental+initial S- gives -cch-: tacchrutvti for tat irutvti
"having heard this."
IO. -n before voiced palatals (j,jh), cerebrals, and S- becomes
 SANDHI 33
the corresponding nasa! (ti, ~. fi), and S~ can then become ch-:
tiifi janiin for tiin janiin ''these people''; ttl~ tjambariin for tiin
¢ambartin "this noise"; tiiti Saiiin or tiiii chaiiin for tiin Saiiin
"these hares."
-n before I~ becomes rhl: tiirhl lokiin for tiin lokiin "these
worlds."
The anunisika usually serves for the expression of nasalization in
this group, more rarely the anusvira (§5).

All nasals (except ~m) that stand in word-final position after

a short vowel are doubled before an initial vowel: O.Sann atra for
O.San atra "they were here."
Between final-n and initial voiceless palatals (c, ch), cerebrals
(1, th), and dentals (t, th) the corresponding sibilant (S, f, s) is
inserted, and -n becomes anusv1ira (ni): vrkiini-S-ca stands for
vrkiin ca "and the wolves," tiini-{-failkiin for tiin tailkiin "these
hoes," deviini-s~tatra for deviin tatra "the gods here" (aU
ace. pl.).
Considered historically, this is no ''insertion''; the old group,
reduced to one consonant in absolute word-final position (according
to §33, 7), has been maintained in sandhi. This is comparable to the
preservation of Latin final sounds in the liaison of French: est-il, Lat.
est. vrkiin, deviin go back to •vrkanr, •de-viins, cf. Goth. wulfans, Old
Prussian deiwans, Lat. de&< •deiu(ms. The rule then, of course, also
holds for cases in which •-ns was never present: abharan ( < •abhara-nt,
cf. Lat. /audaha-nt) + tatra ''they carried there" becomes ahhararil-s-
tatra in sandhi.

11. -m becomes anusv1ira (-ni) before consonants: piiroani

sattvam for piirvam sattvam "the former existence."
12. The visarga -~derives from older -s or-r (§28). -~stands
only in absolute word-final position before the voiceless stops
and voiceless aspirates of the velar and labial series and before
sibilants: punal_l puna~ ''again and again,'' puru~a~ khanati ''the
man digs." Under all other conditions we find the final sound
 GRAMMAR

changed, and we must proceed not from -1}, but from its previous
stage -s or -r, to understand the results of sandhi.
(a) -s, but also -r, changes to -i before c-, ch-, to-t before 1-,
fh-, to -s before t-, th-; or, more correctly, old -s (>-b) remains
-s before voiceless dental stops.
Cf. bhrlitaras trayal} "three brothers" ; punai carati "again he
wanders": bhriitaral} <-as,punal} <-ar.
(b) -s, after vowels other than -a- and -ii- becomes -r before
voiced sounds (§ 5); -r remains -r under these conditions, also
after -a-, -li-: agnir dahati for agnis dahati ''a fire is burning'';
naur vahati for naus vahati "the ship is travelling"; pitar atra
''you father here" (with old -ar, from the r-stempitar-); punar
atra "again there" (-ar ).
Old -r or-r, having arisen from -s according to the preceding rule,
disappears before initial r- with compensatory lengthening of a
preceding short vowel: iiifl roditi "the child is crying" stands
(through a stage of •iiiur roditi) for liius roditi; punii ramate "again
he enjoys himself" for punar ramate.
(c) -as becomes -o (through a stage of •-az, § I4) before
voiced consonants and before a-; a- is then elided, as it is after
old -o (§33, s): devo 'pi for devas api "even ~he god"; Nalo
nama for Nalas nama "Nala by name." Before other vowels -as
becomes -a; the hiatus remains: iiditya iva for iidityas iva "like
the sun"; nrpa uvlica for nrpas uvaca "the king spoke."
(d) -iis becomes -li before all voiced sounds: nrplijayanti for
nrpiisjayanti "the kings triwnph."
In word-interior position the same rules as in sentence sandhi are
often to be observed: the plural instrumentals in -bhi~, for example,
behave according to the rules which we know from§ JJ, 8 and 12; for
marut- "wind" we find marud-bhi!l; for manas- "mind," mano-bhi!l;
for cak;us- "eye," ca}qur-bhil).
In addition, the discussion of the phonological history (§§8 ff.) is
above all to be referred to for an understanding of sound changes in
word-interior position, for example, with the contact of stem and
 SA:-IDHI 35
ending: the fact that e, o go back to •di, •du (§14) and thus appear
before vowels as ay, av, or the change of n to~ (§2o), of s to f (§25).
§34· For the practical explanation of the sandhi rules (§33)
we give below the first verses of a Sanskrit text, the song of
NaJa and Damayanti (§4), in the original; after it follows the
same text, but the words appear in the form which they would
have in absolute word-final position. After each form which
deviates in the original as a result of a sandhi rule the number of
the section of §33 in which the rule in question is explained is
inserted in parentheses.
r. Original (Nalopakhyina I 1-3):
Brhada.iva uvaca:
iisidraja nalo niima vlrasenasuto bali
upapanno gu'!'airiftai rUpava.na.ivakovida/.1 /I/
ati!thanmanujendra!ltltn mardhni devapatiryathii
uparyupari sarvefamiiditya iva tejasa /2/
brahma~yo vedavicchiiro ni{adhefU mahipati/.1
akfapriyaiJ, satyavadi mahanalqauhi7J.ipati/.lf3/9
2. Decomposition into forms in absolute word-final position:
Brhadaiva/:1 (12c) uviica:
iisit (8) raja nala/.1 (I2c) nama virasenaruta/.1 (Izc) bali
upapanna/.1 (Izc) gu~il} (I2b) z#ai/.1 (tzb) rUpavan ah:a-
kovida/.1 ft/
atifthat (8) manujendrQ'{Uim (I I) mUrdhni devapatil} (I 2 b) yatha
upari (4) upari sarvefdm aditya/.1 (12c) iva tejasa /2/
1 "BrhadaSvasaid:

'There was onc;c a king named Nala, mighty son of Virasena; he was en-
dowed with desirable virtues, of handsome fonn, and familiar with horses. [1]
He ~tood at the head of the princes of men, just as the king of the gods
(standsattheheadofthegods),
far, far surpassing all in splendor, like the sun. [2]
The hel'1), friendly to Brahmans, knowledgeable in the Veda, was prince in
the land of the Ni~adhas;
he was fond of dice, spoke truthfully, and was a great leader of armies' (J]."
 GRA~MAR

brahma7,1ya~ (r2e) 'vedauit (9) iiiraiJ (9, uc) n#adhePJ mahipati~

alqapriya~ satyaviidi mahan alqauhi7,1ipatiiJ /J/.
Cf., besides the treatments of sandhi in the handbooks (p. IIJ):
M. B. Emeneau, Sanskrit Sandhi and Exercises, 2nd ed. Berkeley,
1958; W. S. Allen, Sandhi, The Theoretic, Phonetic, and Historical
Bases of Word-Junction in Sanskrit, The Hague, 1962.

D. Gradation
§ 35· The qualitative and quantitative change in forms etymo-
logically belonging to the root form, which can be gathered
from examples like Old Ind. bhr-ta- "borne" ( -r-), bhar-ati "he
bears" (-ar-), and bhtir-a- m. "burden" (-tir-), was reduced by
the Indian grammarians to a system of three grades: according
to this system a fundamental grade (like -r-) can be raised to the
guna-grade (approximately, "excellence, [high] degree") by
simpie "gradation," i.e. an increase by short -a- ( -a-r-); by a
further gradation, which means an increase by long -ii-, vrddhi
("increase, growth") is reached (-0.-r-). Since the Indians,
furthermore, made the historically correct observation that e
and o go back to older •a-i, •a-u (§§ 5, 14) and that ai, au are
compounded from ii+i, o:i+u (§rs), they could set up the
following system of gradation:

Fundamental grade
GuQ.a ar (ra) al (Ia)
V!"ddhi ai iir (ro:i) (til)

Examples: fundamental grade ni- "lead" (p.p.p. ni-ta-

"led"), guga ne- (ne-tar- m. "leader"; nay-a-ti "leads," §83),
vrddhi nai- (aorist a-nai-tit);
Fundamental grade iru- "hear" (p.p.p. Sru-ta- "heard"),
guga Sro- (infinitive iro-tum), vrddhi irau- (aorist a-irau-Pt;
caus. irav-ayati with •-ii!:t- < •-iiu-);
 GRADATIO:-l 37
Fundamental grade kfp- "prepare, join" (p.p.p. k!p-ta~
"prepared, ready"), gui:J,a Mlp- (kalp-ate "is fitted").
§36. The basic phenomena of Indo-European ablaut are already
included in this system of gradation; modem linguistics differs from
Indian theory only in so far as it begins with a primary "fuU grade"
(e.g. Old Ind. -ar-), from which a "zero grade" (Old Ind. -r~) is to
be derived by weakening conditioned by accent and a "lengthened
grade" (Old Ind. -iir-) by lengthening. 1o
The Hindus, however, built the other forms on the weakest root
form by means of" increment." Thereby, of course, they ruined for
themselves the possibility of satisfactorily adding to the system roots
with -a-vocalism, like pat- "fall"; here J is considered both as
fundamental grade and gul).a, a as vrddhi, whereas the real funda-
mental grade of the gul).a-grade pat (pat-ati "falls") and the vrddhi
pat (causative piit-ayati) would have to be sought in pt (aorist
a-pa-pt-at).
§37· An additional recognition of IE ablaut theory was anticipated
by the Indians. It is connected with the established fact that the
zero grade of a primary long vowel (e.g. i) is a (originally ea:a like
er: r, §n), and concerns the IE "disyllabic bases," e.g. the theo-
retical base •gen-e- "beget, bear," to which the normal grades •gn.-i-
(Oid lnd.jnii-ti- m. "relative") and •gen-a- (Old Ind.jdn.i-man- n.
"birth") and the zero grade •P,.-1- (Old Ind. }ii-tti- "born," §9)
belong and which is clearly to be distinguished from a root like
•men- "think" (normal grade; Old Ind. mdn-man- n. "thought,
mind"), zero grade •mtt- (>Old Ind. ma-ti- f., §8). The Indians
already saw this distinction and recognized its characteristic in the
presence of -i- (<-a-, §xx) in the first tYPe Udn-i-man, jan-i-tdr-,
jdn-i-tob, etc.). In the formal language of Old lndic grammar roots
like man- (ma~ti-, ma-td-, mdn-tu-, mdn-tra-) are called anit-roots
(an.-i-1, from an- "un-, non-": thus "without i"). Rootslikejan(i)-are
called set-roots (<•sa-i-t [-e-<-a+i-, §§5, 14}, from sa- "with,
together'': "with i"). Cf. further §§9, 83 (p. 71), I 15, IJ5, IJ6, IJ7·
10 An example of IE ablaut in the modem interpretation; the normal
gr.ade of the Gr. suffix .,..p. occurs in ("rra}tip(c:r) "father" (ace. sg.), zero
grade 1n ('rra)'Tp(Cs) "of the father," lengthened grade m ('lfa)Ttlp "father"
(nom.sg.).
 :\IORPIIO!.OGY

For amhli- f. '·mother'' the irregular voc. sg. amba also occurs .
.-\dditional f•mns of the older language: sing. instr. -ii; plur. nom.
-iim{r.
Tho: il-~t~nb of the classical languages correspond historically: cf.
sing. Old lnJ. Sl'!i-<l=Gr. xWp-a. Lat. mens-a, Goth. gib-a; Old Ind.
-iim=Gr. -6:v, J.at. -am: plur. nom.-acc. Old Ind. -ii~=Goth.
~ib-os.-The -ai of the dat. sg .. the -iif.z of the gen.-abl. sg. are also
to be comparctl with certainty to Gr. -9: (§ 15), Lat. -ae, Goth. -ai or
Gr. -C:s, Lat. jlmrili-iis, t·iiis, Goth. -Qs, respectively; for an explana-
tion of the -iii'- before them cf. most reccntlv G. Liebert, Studia
Lim~rtistica, \-,-ll. q ( 196o), pp. 95 tf., with lit ..
§.p ..\djectivt•>; of three genders arise through the joining
of the masculine and neuter -a-declension and the feminine
-ii-declcnswn(§§Jq, 40): e.g. piipa/:1 m.,piipii f.,p(ipam n. "bad."
.-\s Gr. vEos, v~a. vEov, Lat. mwus, not·a, rw~·um show, this adjective
typo: is an IE inheritance.
In addilion, many adjecti\·es have a feminine in -i, cf. §50.
§p. The root nouns tn 'ii- of the type soma-pii- ''drinking soma"
arc usu~lly added here, but their endings are those of the consonant
stem~ (§ 5i), with which -pJ- appears only before endings with an
initial consonant(likc -m,-bhii:J.), whereas-p- appearsbeforcendings with
an initial vowd (like -a!J, -i). We thus decline: sing. n. v. somapJ!r,
a. -piim, i. -pli, d. -pe, ah. g. -pal), I. -pi; dual n. v. a. samapau,
i. d. ab. -piibhyiim, g. I. -po(r; plur. n. v. somapJ{t, a. -pa~J, i. ~piiblrif.z,
d. ab. -pitbllya}J, g. ~piim, I. -piisu.-This archaic type (see \Vao:ker-
nagel-Dcbrunncr, H.lti11d. Grammat., Vol. 111, pp. 125 !f.) is often
replaced in the later language by the more frequent stems in a- (f. ii-).
3. /-declension
(a) ;\lasculincs
§-1-3· Paradigm agni- m. "fire."
Singular Dual Plural
:\"om. agnih agni agnayaJ:t
\'oc. agne agni agnayaJ:t
.-\cc. agnim agni agnin
 TilE :SOL':S f'
Singular Dual Plural
lnstr. agninii agnibhyiim agnibhi}:l
Dat. agnaye agnibhyiim agnibhyah
,\bl. agneJ:l agnibhyam agnibhya~
Gen. agneJ:l agnyoi:t agP..ini'im
Loc. agnau agnyoJ:t agni!?u
Additional forms of rhe older language: sing. instr. -ya; gen. -_va}:l;
loc. -il {beside -au, cf. §39 note); plur. nom. -_vafl.
Cf. th<! IE -f'i-·-i-stems: sing. Old Ind. agn-i!1=Gr. 6qHS, Lat.
ign-is; Old Ind. -im=Gr. -IV, Lat. sit-im; plur. Old Ind. -aya!1 =Gr.
-ElS, Lat. -i!r. Goth. gast-eis "guests"; Old Ind. -in, in sandhi -irii-Sc
(§33. ro)-.. Goth. gast-im; Old Ind. -ibhya!J- Lat. -ibus.
§H. The following are int1ectcd irregularly:
1. sakhi- m. "friend" in the cases sing. nom. sakhli, ace.
sakhii_vam, instr. sakhyii, dat. sakhye, abl. gen. sakhyul;, Joe.
sakhyau; dual n. v. a. sakhiiyau; plur. nom. voc. sakhiiya}J.
2. pati- m. "lord" in sing. instr. pat_vii, dat. patye, abl. gen.
patyu(1, Joe. patyau. -As the final member of compounds (like
gr!ta-pati- "master of the house"), and sometimes also when
standing alone, it follows §43·
(b) Fcminifles
145· Paradigm mati- f. "understanding."
Singular Dual Plural
Nom. matiJ:l mati matayaJ:l
Voc. mate mati mataya~
Ace. matim rnati matil:l
Instr. matyii matibhy:im matibhil~
Dat. matyai, mataye matibhviim matibhya):l
.\bl. matyiil:l, matcJ:l matibh)..am matibhyal:l
Gen. matyiiJ:l, matel:l matyoJ:t matiniim
Lac. matyiim, matau matyoi:J mati~u

Additional forms of the older language: sing. instr. -i, Joe. -<'l
(like §+3); plur. nom.-acc. ~ya~.
 MCRPIIOLOGY

The independence of the feminine i-declension -originaHy

probably no ditTerent from the i-masculines (§43)- is e:tplained (1) by
the preservation of archaic forms, like sing. instr. -yii (m. only in Vcd.,
~+3 note): (2) by analogical formations (like plur. ace. -i}J beside
masculine -in [§-1-3] according to the model f. -&!1 [§-1-o]: m.
-an [§39]; (3) by an influence of the !-declension [§50], to which
especially the double forms like sing. dat. -yai (beside -aye), abl.-gen.
-yii}J (beside -e}J} are due.

(c) :\cuters
§46. Paradigm 't"iiri- n. "water."

Singular Dual Plural

:\om. vari viiril).i varioi
Voc. viiri varil).i varil).i
.-\cc. viiri viiril).i vli.ril).i
lnstr. varioa varibhyiim viiribhil:t
Oat. viiril).e viiribhyam varibhya):l
_-\bl. viirii:J.al:t varibhyam varibhya):l
Gen. vli.ril).a~ viiril).o):l viiril).:im
Loc. varil).i varil).ol;t vari~u

The historical basis is the IE neuter type with i-stem, cf. Lat.
mar-e (from •mar-i) n. "sea"; this was originally no different from
§-+3 in its inflection, except in the nom.-acc. The difference is caused
by the fact that the i-neuters (and similarly those in -u-, §-+8) have
been completely influenced by the n-stems (§65), so that, for all
cases with an initial vowel in the endings (like -a~, -i, -o}J}, we must
proceed from a "stem" viiri-~- (-~-according to §20).

§+i- The neutcrs-a/qi- "eye," .MJh.i- "bone," dadhi- "sour

milk," and.mkthL- "thigh" form the iostr.,_dat.,.abl.,_gen., Joe.
sing., the gen.-Joe. dual, and the gen. plur. from stems in -an-
(thus according to §6s): thus, asthnii, asthne, asthna/J, asth(a)ni;
asthno/J; asthnlim.
 43
+ u-declension (m. f. n.)
The u-stems in Sanskrit arc declined quite similarly to the i-stems
(§§+J-+6). but -u- is to be substituted for-i-, -av- for-ay-, -v- for
-y-, -a- for-e- (with exception of the Joe. sing.).
§+8. Paradigms iatru- m. ''enemy,'' dhenu- f." cow,'' madhu-
n. "honey."
Singular
f.
Kom. Satrul:l dhcnu]:l madhu
Voc. Satro dheno madhu
Ace. Satrum dhenum madhu
fnstr. Satruo1i11 dhenva madhuna
Oat. Satrave dhenvai, dhenave madhune
Abl. Satrol:t dhenva~. dhenol:t madhunai:l
Gen. Satrol:t dhenviib, dhenol:t madhunal:t
Loc. Satrau dhenvam, dhenau madhuni
Dual
N. V.A. SatrU dhcnli madhuni
L D. Ab. Satrubhyam dhcnubhyiim madhubhyiim
G. L. SatrvoJ:t dhcnvol:t madhunol)
Plural
:<:. v. Satraval:t dhcnaval:t madhilni
:\cc. Satriln dhenfll:t madhUni
lnstr. Satrubhil;t dhenubhil:t madhubhil:t
D. Ab. Satrubhyal;t dhenubhyal:a madhubhyai).
Gen. Satrlll).im dhenllnim madhGnim
Lac. Satru~?U dhenu~u madhu~u

Noteworthy additional forms of the older language are: masc. sing.

instr. -vli, dat. -ve, abl.-gen. -va~, loc. -avi; plur. nom. ace. -va!l
(also f.). In the case of the neuters the stem extended by -n- (cf. §46)
spreads only in the course of the history of the Old Indic language.
"·(l-from-n-ac.;ordingto§2o.
 :'viORPIIOLOGY

Compare the (eu-)1u-dcclension of the related languages: Old

Ind. fatr-u!J=Gr. niix-v~. Lat. jrfict-us, Goth. sun-us, OCS syn-o
"son"; Old Ind. -um=Gr. -vv, Lat. -um, Goth. -u; Old Ind. -ave=
Lat. -ui, OCS s_vn-o1_,·i; Old Ind. -o/J=Lat. -tls, Goth. -aus, OCS
-u; plur. -ava!J=Gr. -EES, -EIS, Lat. -fis, Goth. ·-Jus, OCS -o'l.·e;
-fin, -iirit-s" (§§33, 1o; 39; .+J)-Goth. -uns; -uhhyaiJ-Lat. -ubus;

§+9· .\djectives in -i- are inflected like the substantives of the

three genders: iuci!J m. "pure" (according to §+3), iucil; f.
(according to §45), iuci n. (according to §+6); but the neuter
adjccti\"Cs, with exception of the nom.-voc.-acc., can also be
declined according to §43· A similar situation holds for the
-u-adjectives: lanub m. ''thin'' is inflected like iatru!J (§+8), tanu
n. like madhu, but it can also follow the masculines except in the
nom.-voc.-acc. More frequent than tanu/J f. (like dherm/J, §48) is
the feminine formation of the u-adjectivcs in -1.·-i, thus f. tam:i-,
which is declined according to §50.
Inherited from the common language arc both the type of adjective
in -i- (cf. Lat.fortis, -e) and that in -u-, as well as the peculiarity that
the feminine is extended by the -trfJ-stem: cf. Old Ind. sviidtl-
,, sweet,'' f. sviidtdwith the Gr.ft.SV5, ft.Seic: (•s{liidey-fii-), Lat. suiiv-i-s.

5· i- and tl-stems (f.)

(a) Polysyllabic
ra~~,Paradigms de1:i- f. "goddess," h!(zirii- f. "mother-in-

Kom.
-- -
devi
Singular
~

SvaSrii\:1
------
devya\:1
Plural

SvaSrva\:1
Voc. de vi Sva::iru devya\:1 SvaSrvaJ:t
_.-\cc. devim SvaSrGm devi\:1 SvaSrii\:1
Instr. dcvya SvaSrvii de,·ibhi\:1 SvaSrGbhi\:1
Oat. dcvyai SvaSrvai dcvibhyai:l SvaSrilbhvah
Abl. dcvyii\:1 SvaSrvii\:1 dcvibhya\:1 SvaSrilbh),a~
 TilE NOt::-< 45
Singular Plural
~-----

Gen. devy3.J:i SvaSrval;l devinim SvaSrfll).3m12

Loc. de.,yam SvaSrvam dcvi~u SvaSril~u

Dual
N. V.A. devyau SvaSrvau
I. D.Ab. devibhyiim SvaSrilbhyam
G. L. de.,yol:t SvaSrvol:t
Exception: lakjmi- f. "(goddess of) luck" forms the nom. sg.
la~ni}J. Additional nominatives in -1/J also occur sporadically in
Sanskrit.
The feminine of many -a-adjectives (§.p) is formed not in -ii
but in -i and is declined like devi-: sundara}J, sundari, sundaram
"beautiful." The feminine of most u-adjectives (§49) is also
formed with -vi-.
In the Vedic language we find two declension types in -i-, clearly
distinct from each other:
1. The de-z...t-infl.cction, with which the previously given paradigm
from classical Sanskrit largely agrees. The essential deviations are
dual nom. ace. devi (voc. di'vi), plur. nom. devl~ (voc. dhtM. This
type deri\·cs from stems in -fii- which originally agreed in many
respects with the old -a-declension (§40) but in some cases--e.g. in
the nom. sing.--carried through the ablaut grade -i-. The situation
continued by Old Ind. is found preserved in Gothic, among other
languages: cf. Ved. dev-1, gen. dt?'t·-yd!J, dat. dev-ydi with Goth.
band-i "chain," gen. band-ji'is, dat. band-jai; the classical languages
show indirect continuations; Lat. e.g. shows extension by means of a
-k-suffix (Lat. genetrfx, genetn-c-U: Old Ind. jdnitri- "mother");
Greek continues this tradition mostly by means of -\a-stem~ (TI&Tvta:
Old Ind. pdtni, pdtnyii- "mistress").
2. The vrkf-inflection (example Ved. vrkt- f. "she-wolf"); here a
primary -i-, prevocalic -iy- appears before the endings which we find
with the consonant stems (§57); cf. the original inflection of the
'~ ·!I· for -n- according to §:to.
;6 MORI'IIOLOGY

monosyllables in -1- (§51). The following cases of the vrkt-infl.ection

are forci~n to Sanskrit: sing. nom. vrk-i!J (but cf.lak~m1~, etc.); ace.

d~Ua7 -~~~jc~ (;~::~_:.,~ ;t~a:~ §~~\ :~~-~~;·n:~~ ~:~~-- ~~~;,·:~ ~~~~:~;;

hand. agree with devyau, devyaf!; these cases of classical Sanskrit arc
thus taken from the vrki-inficction.
The -ii-stcms :tre-cxcept for the nom. sing. -U~, which agrees not
with dt't!-l but only with lak;mi~, Ved. vrkl~-completely analogous
to the -/-stems (cf. §.f3); we have only to substitute -u- for-i-, -U-
for -i-, -v- for -y- to transpose these stems from one declension to the
other. Historica!ly, as the Ved. language shows, old -U-,1-uv-stems lie
at the basis of these stems (Ved. tanrl~J, gen. tanvOI_t "body, self"),
which are of IE origin (cf. Gr. io-xds. gen. -Uo5 "strength"); only in
the course of the development of the Old Ind. language were they
transformed according to the modd of the devf-infiection.
(b) Monosyllabic
§51. Paradigms dhi- f. "und~::rstanding," bhu- f. "earth."
Singular
:\'om. Voc. dhi~ bhii~
Ace. dhiyam bhuvam
[nstr. dhiya bhuva
Dat. dhiye, dhiyai bhuve, bhuvai
.-\bl. dhiyai:l, dhiyat:t bhuvaJ:t, bhuvaJ:t
G~::n. dhiyaJ:t, dhiyiil:t bhuvaQ, bhuviil:t
Loc. dhiyi, dhiyam bhuvi, bhuviim

Plural
~om. Voc. dhiyal:t bhuval:t
Ace. dhiyaJ:t bhuval:t
lnstr. dhibhiJ:t bhiibhil:t
Dat. dhibhyal:t bhUbhyal:t
Abl. Jhibhyai:l bhubhyal:t
Gen. dhiyiim, dhiniim bhuvam, bhilnam
Loc. dhi~u bhil~u
 THE :SOl:);

Dual
)Jom. Voc. Ace. dhiyau bhuvau
Instr. Oat. Abl. dhibhyiim bhiibhyam
Gen. Loc. dhiyo~ bhuvo~

Exception: stri- "woman" forms sing. voc. stri, ace. strim

beside striyam, dat. only striyai, abl. gen. only striyiil_,, Joe. only
striyiim; plur. ace. strifJ beside striyal_,, gen. stri~uim. The word
thus tends more to the type discussed in §50, in spite of its
monosyllabism.

These forms are old monosyllables in -r-, -ii-, before vowels -if-,
-uy-, with the endings of the type with consonantal stem (§5i); cf.
Gr. At5, nom. plur. Ai-c5 '"lions," V$, gen. sing. V-65 "pig," Lat. siis,
gen. su-is (cf. also the polysyllables in primary -i-, -il· in the Vedic
v.rkt- and tant2-type, §50). The double forms (like dhiy-iiJ_, beside
dhiy-a/:l) are to be ascribed to an influence of the de-vi-inflection
(§so).

6. r-declension
§52. Paradigm dJtar- m. n. "giver."

Singular Plural
m.
:\'om. diit3 datr dlitiirai:l diitfl).i 13
Voc. diita~ ditr, diita}:l d1it3.rai:l d1itfl).i
Ace. diitiiram datr d3.tfn diitj'J).i
Instr. diitdi d3.tfl).ii 13 darrbhii:l
Oat. diitrc diitfl).e diitrbhyaJ:t
Abl. diitu}:l diitrDai:l diitrbhyaJ:t
Gen. diitu}:l ditrDai:l diitfl).iim
Loc. ditari datrDi diitr~u

11 Concemingthc ·tt-cf. §zo.

 MORPHOLOGY

Dual

:'-Jom. \"oc. Ace. diit:irau d5:tp:tP 3

Jnstr. Dat ..-\bl. daq·bhyam datfbhyam
Gen. Loc. datrol:t datmol:t
The feminines add-i-to the weak stem, as in diitr-i- f. "giver,
donor"; they are inflected according to the type discussed in§ so.
§53· :\number of -r-stcms, above all the kinship names pitar-
m. "father," miitar- f. "mother," bhriitar- m. ''brother,"
duhitar- f. ''daughter" (but not s<:asar- f. "sister," naptar- m.
"grandson''), as well as nar- m. "man," deviate from §52 in the
fo[iowing cases:
Singular Dual Plural
!\'om. \"oc. pitarau pitaraJ:t
Ace. pitaram pitarau
The feminine kinship words in -r- have, moreover, the ending
-f~ (-s) in the ace. plur.: miitf!t, duhitfJ;, svasf~-
The gen. plur. of nar- "man" also has the form nrT}iim beside
nf~tiim.

Furthermore. in this word from the beginning, cases whose form

woulJ have been too ~hurt were: avoided, like sing. dat. '*nr-e, gen.
•nu~. \\"e lind instead in Ved. forms in th..: full grad..:, sing. dat. ndre,
gen. 1Uira{1, plur. gen. 1wrdm; later forms of the -a-stem nara- "man''
step into the foreground. The nom.-acc.-voc. dual in (-Jr)-au has the
adJitional form -a in Vedic.
These stem:> are still rightly treated among the vocalic classes, for
they have taken over many characteristics from them: plur. ace.
pittn. f. miitf{l. gen. pitf~iim conform to dn.·iin (§ 39), agni11 (§+J), or
una~ (§+o), matrb (§-+5) and to deviiniim, agniniim, etc.; they arc not
cases wi1h consonantal stems like Gr. no-rEp-as, na-rp·Wv. But his-
torically th~ -r-stcms of the type Lat. dator, datiJr-is, pater, patr-is
"Concerning the •'J• cf. §20.
 TilE !\"OL':S +9
naturally lie at the basis of these fonns; the deviation in the stem
form noted in§ 53, e.g. plur. nom. pilar-a&'' fathers,'' nar-a& ''men,''
as opposed to diitiir-a[1 "givers" and wasiir-a& "sisters," is explained
as a reflection of the difference in the original vocalic quality, which
Gr. 1TaTfp-e~, ci:vep-e~ (epic) as opposed to OC.:;rrop-e~. fop..:~ (Hcsych.)
still reveal: cf. §9.
The neuters show, in the same wav as the neuter i- and u-stems
(§§.f6, 48), extension by -n- before c~dings beginning with vowels:
like diUr·!l·ii, viiri-(1-ii, madhu-n-ii, etc.

7· Diphthongal Stems
§54· Paradigms go- m. f. "cow," nau- f. "ship."
Singular
N. V. gau!:t naul;l
A. gam niivam
I. gava nava
D. gave nave
Ab. gol:t nava!:t
G. go~ nava!:t
L. gavi navi

Dual
N. v .•\. gavau navau
I. D. Ab. gobhyam naubhy3m
G. L. g<lVoQ niivo!:t
Plural
~. v. gava!:t nava!:t
A. gaJ:t naval:t
I. gobhi[:l naubhiJ:t
D. gobhya}:l naubhya~
Ab. gobhya\:1 naubhyal.l
G. gaviim navam
L. go~u nau~u
so MORPHOLOGY

Cf. sing. gauJ;, giim, gcn:i, plur. gen. gav-iim with Gr. j3oV~. ~v
(Homer., Dor.; cf. §15), j3oi, j3oWv; sing.nau!l, nii:rmm, niiva!l, nilvi,
plur. nii1-:aQ (nom. and ace.), 11iiviim with Gr. vo:Vs,'VT]\is, vfia (Lat.
navem), V116s: (Lat. niiv-is), VT]i, vijes, vija<;, VT')WV.

§55· A diphthongal stem is also shown in the nom.-voc. sing.

dyau/_1 f. "day, sky"; in the remaining cases this word has the
stem form div- before endings beginning with vowels, dyu-
bcfore endings beginning with consonants: sing. gen. di·v-a/_1;
instr. plur. dyu-blu"/;1.

The Vedic language exhibits the inherited, ancient paradigm more

clearly: to the sing. nom. dydu/_1 (=Gr. ZEUs) belongs the ace. dy&m
(=Gr. Ziiv, Lat. diem; §15), abl.-gen. dy6J; beside divd}_t. (=Gr.
tu6s), loc. dydvi (=Lat. Io·::e), dual nom.-acc.-voc. dycfva, plur. nom.
dyci1)a~, ace. dy~n.

§56. A further diphthongal stem, rai- m. f. "possession, wealth,"

is given in the Sanskrit handbooks. But this word does not occur in
classical Sanskrit literature; the cited inflection (sing. nom. rii~, ace.
riiyam, etc.) appears only in the works of grammarians; Vedic, on the
other hand, has preconsonantal ray[-, prevocalic riiy- (sing. nom.
ray!-~, ace. rayi-m, dat. rQy-i, gen. rQy-d~, etc.), which are clearly
from •rej-i-, •rea-j- (•re.1·=root •re-, cf. Lat. ris) (§u, 1). Cf. 0.
SzcmerCnyi, Zeitschr.j. ·verg/eichende Sprachforschung, Vol. 73 (1956),
pp. 167 ff., with lit.

8. Stems Ending in a Consonant

§57· The declensions of this class, showing every variety of
consonantal stem endings, are distinbruishcd by a common
system of endings. The case endings for the masculines and
feminines are:
Singular Dual Plural
~om.
Voc.
Ace.
}-au
 THE >IOCX ;'
Singular Dual Plural
Instr. -a -bhil)
Dat, f-bhyam }-bhyal}
Abl.
Gen. }-ah -iim
Loc. -i l-Oh
The neuters show no ending in the nom.-voc.-acc. of the
sing., -i in the dual, -i in the plural (in addition, they usually
have nasal or anusvlira before the stem-final consonant; cf.
further §6o).
These stems remind us of the consonantal stems of the classical
languages, which exhibit the same endings after the various stem
forms: cf. Lat. pes, ped-is; consul, consul-is; nOmen, nOmin-is; Gr.
q.VAa~, q.\.>AaK-0$; TTOLI-lT'iV, TTOLIJEv-o<;; v\.>~, WKT-65, etc.
The origin of the endings of the consonantal stems: the nom. sing.
originally had •-s, which had to disappear after consonants according
to §33, 7; cf. Lat. pes< •ped+s. Ace. -am< •-T-. =Gr. -a (TT66-a),
Lat. -em (ped-em); dat. -eo= Lat. -r; abl. gen. -a!J=Gr. -os or Lat.
-is; Joe. -i=Gr. -1 (dat.), Lat. -e (abi.).-Plur. nom. -ai}=Gr. -cs;
ace. -ub< •-!ls=Gr. -as, Lat. -is; gen. -ilm=Gr. -<.UV, Lat. -um.
§58. Withseveralstemswe find theprincipleof stem gradation.
AccOrding to it, we must distinguish between strong cases ( = nom.
voc. ace. singular, nom. voc. ace. dual, nom. voc. plural),
middle ( =instr. dat. abl. dual, instr. dat. abl.loc. plural), and
weakest cases (the rest). :\!any stems distinguish only between
strong and weak cases; to be included among the latter are the
"middle" and "weakest" cases of the threefold gradation.
The principle of stem gradation, of ablaut (§36) within a paradigm,
is an Indo-European inheritance: cf. Gr. 1<\J-wv sing. nom., t<V..ov
voc., KV-v-6$ gen. "dog," Goth. nam-0 sing. nom., nam-in dat.,
nam-n-i plur. gen. "name," etc.
§59· Stems without Gradation
Paradigms mamt- m. "wind," '!.'iic- f. "word, voice," jagat-
n. "world."
52 :O.IORPIIOLOGY

Singular
~om.-Voc. marut viik jagat
Ace. vii cam jagat
Instr. marutii v5ca jagatii
Dat. marute vii.ce jagatc
.\bi.-Gcn. maruta~ viica):l jagatai:l
Lac. maruti vaci jagati
Dual
XV ..\. marutau v5cau jagati
J.D. ,\b. marudbhy5m vagbhyam jagadbhyam
G. L. marutoQ viico):l jagato):l
Plural
:\1. V. A. marutah viica':l jaganti
Instr. marudbhil:t v5gbhiJ:t jagadbhi}:l
Dat. Abl. marudbhya}:t vii.gbhyaJ:t jagadbhyaJ:t
Gen. marutiim vacam jagatam
Loc. marutsu vak~u jagatsu
Thus the system of endings of§ 57 is to be used. Some sound-
laws are to be noted: assimilation of-t to an ending beginning
with a voiced sound: marud-bh~, jagad-bh~. §33 end; -k for -c-
in absolute word-final position (§33, 7) and before -su, which
becomes -!U according to §25, or its assimilation to 'l:iig-bh~.­
The following are inflected similarly: upam!ad- f." Upanishad,"
sing. n. upanifat (§33. j), a. upanifad-am, plur. i. upamjad-bhi!J,
l. upanifat-su; sraj- f. "garland," sing. n. srak (§33, 7), a.
sraj-am, plur. i. srag-bhiQ, I. srak-fu; dii- f. "quarter, region,
point of the compass," sing. n. dik (§33, 7), a. dii-am, plur. i.
di"g-bhiQ, l. dik-fu; d1..·i{- m. ''enemy": d'l:it, d1..·ifam, dn"¢bhi!J,
d·dts,~; etc.
For (kiima-)duh- "milking (wishes)," sing. n. "dlmk, a.
cduh-am, cf. §30, 2 and 33, 7·
 TilE :-oOL"S 53
Monosyllables in °r-, like gir- f. "speech.'' pur- f. "city,"
show a long vowel in the nom. sing. and in the cases whose
endings begin with a consonant: sing. n.gili (-r), a. gir-am, plur.
i. gfr-bhil}, g. gir-iim, I. gir-fU; pfih, pur-am, pilr-bhil}, pur-cim,
plir-fU.
Historical explanation of this pbenomenon, according to § 1 3:
"t'!l-S "song" (from •gven- "sing"> Ved. jari-ldr- m. "singer"),
•g~u-bh 0 resulted in giQ, gtr-bh 0 , but "t'r-~-es, gir-al) by phonetic
laws; the same holds for "P!?->pur- "castle, city."
§6o. The neuters in -as- also have only one stem. Paradigm
mmms- n. "spirit, mind."
Singular Dual Plural
N.V.A. manal;l manasi man::i.rhsi
Instr. manasa manobhyam manobhil)
Dat. manobhyam manobhyal;l
Abl. manasal;l manobhy:im manobhyal;l
Gen. manasal;l manasol;l manas:im
Loc. manasi manasol;l manal;lsu
To be noted arc: -o- for -as- (through a stage of •-az-) before
-bhO, cf. §§ q. and 33 end; the vowel length in then. v. a. plur.

Cf. manab. manas-afl, manas-i with Gr. ~ivos-, llM-os (IJEvoV$),

j..lfve-1. or Lat. genus n. "race," gener-is. ge11er-t (Old Ind. -s-= Gr. -,
Lat. -r-,§26).
:.Vlasculines and feminines in -as- form the nom. sing. in -iii};
thus cf. from su-manas- adj. "well-disposed":
Singular Dual Plural
!\om. sumaniih sumanasal;l
Yoc. sumanal;l sumanasa.J:t
Ace. sumanasal;l
Instr. sumanasa
(etc., like manas-).
54 )IORPIIOLOGY

Agreement with Greek also prevails here: cf. 0 maniib, -afl, -asam,
-asafl with Gr. Eli-~J.EVtiS, -es, -Eo:, -~ES, -E~.

§61. The neuters in -iF- and -Uh Iikejyoti!- "light," ca~­

"eyc," are inflected similarly to manas-: sing. n. v. a. jyotil},
cak~ub. instr.;jot1~-ii, ca~ufci, dual nom. v. a.jyotifi, plur. n. v.
a. ;~votirilfi, etc. Masculines ar.d feminines in -if-, -u;- deviate
from the neuters only with n.spect to the system of endings
(§ Si): cf. a-cakfuf- adj. "without sight, blind," sing. nom.-voc.
acakfu/:1, ace. aca~ufam, dual n. v. a. acak!u;au, plur. n. v. a.
acakfu;al;.
§62. Stems with Gradation. The present participles have two
stems, a strong stem (§58) in -ant-, a weak stem in -at-. Thus
bharant- "bearing":
Singular Dual Plural
N. V. bharan bharantau bharantaJ:t
Ace. bharantam bharantau bharatal:t
Instr. bharata bharadbhyarri bharadbhil:t

~eutr. ~. V. A. bharat bhara(n)ti bharanti

Cf. the /'It-participles of the related languages; thus Old Ind.
bharanlam, -anla~~~Gr. 'l!Epov-ra, -ovTEs; cf. Lat. ferens, Goth.
bairands, etc.
Reduplicated participles (like dadat- "giving") form all cases
from the weak stem. ~om. v. a. plur. neuter: dadati and
dadanti.
The feminine of the present participles ends in -i, which as a
rule is added to the strong stem of thematic verbs (§83), to the
weak stem of athematic verbs (§86); declension according to§ 50.
Further nt-formations:
mahiint- "great": strong stem mahiint-, weak stem mahat-;
voc. sing. mahan.
 TilE NOL'N 55
Words in -11Ulnt- and -vant- (miirtimant- "having form,"
bhagavant- "exalted") are inflected like bharant- but form the
nom. sing. in -mtin, --t•iin; likewise bha·vant- "your honor, your
grace, you," a form of address construed with the 3rd person of
the verb.

This form of address probably arose by internal shortening (perhaps

like Eng. miss<mistress, French sire<senior) from bhagavant-
"exalted": hence the identity of inflection with the adjectives in
-vant-, -mant-.
Additional Vedic forms with nt-formations: n. v. a. dual -ant-ii
beside -ant-au; plur. n. v. a. neutr. stinti "being,'' paSumdnti (: paSu-
mdnt- "having cattle"); sing. voc. m. of the words in -mtJnt-, -vant-:
-ma~, -v~.

§63. The comparatives in -iyii7hs- (§72) arc likewise of two

stems and have as their weak stem -iyas-: sing. nom. gariytin
"heavier," ace. gariyii7hs-am, instr. gariyas-ti, plur. instr.
gariyo-bhi~,14 etc.

§64. The adjectives in -aiic- are partly of two stems, like

prtiiic- ''eastern,'' weak stempriic-; aviiiic- "downward,'' weak
stem aviic-; partly of three stems, cf. udaiic- "northern," middle
stem udac-, weakest stem udic-; pratyaiic- "western," middle
stem pratyac-, weakest stem pratic-; nyaiic- "low," middle stem
nyac-, weakest stem nic-; anvaiic- "following," middle stem
anvac-, weakest stem aniic-; tiryaiic- ''going aside,'' middle stem
tiryac-, weakest stem tiraSc-: sing. nom. pran, pratyan, instr.
priicii, praticii, plur. instr. prtigbhifJ, pratyagbhifJ, etc.
For the historical explanation see ¥iackernagei-Debrunner, Altind.
Grammatik, Vol. Ill (1930), pp. 229 IT.; \V. :VIorgenroth, Archiv
Orientdlni, Vol. 29 (1961), pp. 575 ff., with lit.
•• -o- from -a::- ao;cording to §§14, 33 (end),
;6 :O..IORPIIOLOGY

n-stems
§65. Paradigms rJjan- m. "king," niimm1- n. "name."
Singular
1\iom. riijii nima
Voc. riijan niima
Ace. riij5.nam nama
lnstr. riijii5 15 nimnii
Dat. rijiie nii.mne
,\bl. riijiial_1 niimnaJ:t
Gen. riijii.aJ:t niimna!:l
Lac. rii.ji'i.i, djani niimni, niimani

Dual
:\.\'.A. djinau niimni, nii.mani
!. D. Ab. riijabhyiim niimabhyii.m
G. L. riijiioJ:l niimnol:l

Plural
);om. dijiinaJ:t niim5ni
\'oc. r5jiinal) namani
Ace. rajiia\:1 niimiini
Instr. riijabhi}:l niimabhil:l
Oat. riijabhyaJ:t niimabhyal:t
Abl. riijabhyal:t n1imabhyaJ:t
Gen. r5jiiiim niamnii.m
Loc. riijasu niima.<;u

Thus the strong stem ends in -iln-, the middle stem in -a-,
the weakest stem in -fl-.
Historically the -a- of the middle stem (riij-a-bhif.r) is naturally to
be_ <~crivcd from "'-!1- (§8); riij-a- and rdj-ii- are thus the same in
ongm.
"-lr-immedratelyafrer-j-bccomes-•i-b>'Phoneticlaw.
 TI!Jo; NOU::-i 57
\Vords in Which more than one consonant precedes the -an-,
e.g. iitman- m. "soul," brahman- n. "Brahman," show the
stem form -an- instead of -n- in the weakest cases: sing. instr.
iitmaml, brahma7Jii (§2o), etc.
Thus forms like •atmnii which are contrary to structure have been
avoided.
The names of gods Pllfan- m. and Aryaman- m., as well as
compounds in -ha11- "killing" (like 'l."!tra-han- "slayer of
Vrtra "),show -an- with a short vowel in stem-final position in
the sing. ace., dual nom.-voc.-acc., and plur. nom.: Piifa7Jam,
vrtraha7Jam. The formations in -han- occur in the classical
language mostly in the nom. sing.; sporadic examples of the
"weakest" cases show the full grade carried through: sing.
instr. ·vrtra-ha1J.ii, gen. hrahma-ha7J.a~1 "of the slayer of
Brahmans."
In Vedic an ablauting paradigm preceded this, e.g. sing. nom.
vrtra-lui, ace. -hd!wm, dat. -glmi, gen. -glmdfl, etc. (-gh-: §27). But
this is -except for the singular -ghnafl in Manu-no longer Sanskrit
usage.
J'he words i'Van- m. "dog," maghm:an- m. "Indra," y1n·an-
.. young, youth" arc inflected like riijan-; their weakest cases
have the stem forms Sun-, maghon-, yii11-: sing. nom. h:ii,
maghavii, yuvii, voc. S1..•an, maghavan, yut•an, ace. Sr.·linam,
magha1.·iinam, yu..:iinam, instr. iun,i, maghonii, _viinii, etc.
Additional forms of the -an-stems from Vedic are worth~· of
mention: r. the occurrence of "endingless" locatives (without" -i),
e.g. miirdluin "on the head" beside milrdluini; 2. neuter nom.-voc.-
acc. plur. in -ii, -a; 1Uimii, ndma beside n.imii11i; 3· dual nom.-voc.-acc.
(-ii11)-ii beside -au: cf. especially yUnii beside yUniml.
For comparison the n-stcms of the related languages, such as Lat.
homo, lwmi11-is. Goth. guma, gumin-s. should be cited. The threefold
stem gradation of Old Ind. is an IE inheritance: cf. Old Ind. -iir~-,
-an-, and -n-;'-a- ( < •-t~-) with Gr. TrOl-l.li)v, TrOt-~-~. TToi-I.J.V-11
;8 MORPHOLOGY

and lTOI~aivw
< •1Toi·IJ~-jw. Old Ind. -an- in riij-an-am, -iin-au,
-tin-ab, of course, must not have been the IE length, but •.-6-
according to §9; the endings thus would correspond to Gr. (,.OCf)ova,
-ovE~ and stand opposed to -han-am, -han~, which, on account of
h, are explainable only from •gvhen-'[1., -es (§27). For something
similarsee§sJ.
The same ablaut forms after -v-, Old Ind. -viin-, -van-, -un-, -va-,
IE -yOn-, -yon-, -un-, -y~-. explain Old Ind. iviin-, ivan, iun-, iva-,
Gr. Kllwv, KVov, KVV-, but also magho.-van-: •magha-un- (> maghon-
§ 14), yut-•an-: yiin- (•yu-un-).

§66. The word for "way, path" shows partial inflection

according to the -n-stcms: sing. ace. panthtinam, plur. nom.-
voc. panthiinal}.; the nom. sing. is panthii}J; the middle cases are
formed from pathi- (e.g. plur. instr. pathibhi!J), the weakest
cases from path- (sing. gen. pathal;).
ahan- n. "day" forms the nom.-voc.-acc. sing. from a stem
ahar-, the middle cases from ahas-: sing. nom. aha~ (-r), instr.
ahnii, plur. instr. aho-bhib ( < •ahaz-bh 0 , §14), Joe. ahal;-su.
Also to be mentioned are the nouns with a mixed inflection
of -i- and -n-stems; see §+i·

The -n-form panthiin- (certainly already old) ar~se under the

influence of the synonym adhvan- "way"; the oldest Ved. inflection
is sing. n. pdnthiib, ace. pdnthiim, gen. pathdb, plur. i. patlribhifl; this
continues an archaic paradigm •pOnt-es, •pOnt-e-m, •pt}t-J-Is,
•p'}t-J-bhis, cf. §I I, 2. The grammarians, but not the literary texts,
still know similarlv inflected manthiin- "whisk" and rbhuksiin- "a
divine being." aha~-fahar-/ahas- is also an archaism, a ,;hete~odite,"
of somewhat the same type as Lat. femur, femin-is, etc.

§67. Stems in -in-: Paradigm hastin- m. "elephant."

Singular Dual Plural
Kom. hasti hastinau has tina}:!
Voc. hastin hastinau hast ina}:!
Ace. hastinam hastinau hastinaJ:t
 TilE NOL'S 59
Singular Dual Plural
lnstr. bastina bastibhyam hastibhil:t
Dat. hastinc hastibhyiim hastibhvah
Abl. hastinab hastibhyiim hastibh)ra~
Gen. hastina\:1 hastinol:t hastinam
Loc. hastini hastino\:1 hasti*u
The neuters of adjectives in -in- (balin- "mighty") deviate
from the masc. in the following cases: sing. n. a. bali, v. bali,
balin; dual n. v. a. balini; plur. n. v. a. balini.
The feminine of such adjectives ends in -i": balin-i; inflection
according to §50.
-in- is really the zero grade of a stem-formation suffi."<, Old Ind.
-yan- (: Lat. leg-iOn-), probably still preserved in Ved. kan-ydn-iim
"a virgin," but the old ablaut has completely disappeared, and -i,
-i-bhi!,t, -ini, etc. have been created according to the genuinely
ablauting model of -a, -a-bhii) ( < •-1}-), -ani (§6;).
Vcd.: Nom.-voc.-acc. dual -in-a beside -in-au.

§68. The perfect active participles in -vas- (vidvas- "know-

ing") show as their strong stem vid?,·iilils- (sing. nom. vidvan,
voc. vid1,·an, ace. ?,·idviilils-am), as their middle stem •vidvat-
(plur. instr. ?,·idvadbhil;, loc. 'i:idvatsu), as their weakest stem
vid!Jf- (sing. instr. vid!Jfii). ~cuter nom. sing. vidvat, dual
vid!Jfi, plur. vidviirhsi. Fern. ·t:idup- (declined according to §so).
In Vedic the voc. sing. m. has the ending -val) beside -van.
Cf. Gr. £15~, ei56T-os (fH5-f6T-) "knowing,'' Goth. weit-wOd-
m. "witness"(: Old Ind. vid-vat-, vid-va[m]s-), f. Homer.ISuia<
•r1Sucr-ta ( = vidu;-f).
§69. ap- f. "water" is used only in the plural in Sanskrit:
nom. iip-al;, ace. ap-ai), ins(r. ad-bhifz, dat.-abl. ad-bhya};, gen.
ap-iim, Joe. ap-su.
Singular forms also occur sporadically in Vedic (instr. ap-J, gen.
ap-dl}).~-bh 0 is dissimilated for •ah-bh'", •ap-bh 0 •
6o MORPHOLOGY

§70. pums- m. "man" has as its strong stempumdths-, as its

middle stem pum-, as its weak stem punis-: sg. nom. pumiin, voc.
puman, ace. pumtirhs-am, instr. punis-ii, plur. instr. pum-bhil;.
anatj-vah- m. "ox" has the strong stem ana¢vah-, but sing. nom.
ana4viin, voc. anarjvan; middle stem ana.fut-; weakest stem analj.uh-.

Comparison of Adjectives
§71. The usual suffix for the comparative is -tara- (f. -tarO-),
for the superlative -lama- (f. -tamii-); these suffixes are added to
the pure stem of the adjective, with twofold stem gradation to
the weak stem, with threefold stem gradation to the middle
stem(§ 58). Examples: pri'ya- "dear" (§41 ): camp. priya-tara-,
sup. priya-tama-; mahtint- "great" (§62): camp. mahat-tara-,
sup. mahat-tama-; vid1.-·as- "knowing" (§68): comp. vidvat-
tara-, sup. 1.-•id'l:at-tama-.
The forms of comparison are inflected according to §.p.
In Vedic the use of the weakest stem form also occurs: vidU~-tara­
comp.
Cf. with -tara- Gr. mOT6-TEpo-s, with -tama- especially Lat.
in-timus, ul-timus.
§i2· A less common means of comparison adds the suffixes
-iytirirs- for the comparative, -~tha- (f. -~thti-) for the super-
lative, directly to the root of the adjective, usually in its gu~a­
grade form. Cf.:
alpa- "little, small": comp. alp-iyams-, sup. alp-z~tha-;
mrdu- "soft": comp. mrad-iyiirits-, mrad-~tha-;
yu1.-•an- "young": comp. yav-iytims-, yav-i;tha-;
kfipra- "quick": comp. lqep-iytirizs-, lqep-iftha-; etc.
Inflection of the comparatives according to §63, of the
superlatives according to §41.
Beside -iyii1ils-, -ryas-, -yas- (Ved. ndv-yas- ''newer'') is also found
in the older language; it is the continuation of a richly ablauting IE
•-ies-, •-fos-, lengthened grade •-ifJs-, zero grade •-is- (§36); cf. Lat.
 THE NOUN

ma-ies-tas, ma-ius, ma-iiir-em, mag-is; -1-yas- is specifically to be

compared with Gr. ij8-tw, fl8-tovs. Sup. -i#ha-=Gr. {j8-ICJTO·S,
Goth. reik-ist-s "mightiest," Eng. -est in rich-est.

2. The Pronoun
§iJ. Personal pronouns
rst person 2nd person
Singular
"I" "you"
Nom. V. aham tv am
Ace. mam, ma16 tvam, tva
lnstr. maya tvaya
Dat. mahyam, me tubhyam, te
Abl. mat tv at
Gen. mama, me tava, te
Loe. mayi tvayi
Dual
"we two" "you two"
N. V.A. avam yuvam
I. D. Ab. avabhyam yuvabhyam
G. L. avayol;l yuvayol;l
Plural
"we" "you"
Nom. V. vayam yUyam
Ace. asman, nal). yu~man, val:t
lnstr. asmlibhil:l yu~mabhil;l
Oat, asmabhyam, naJ:! yu~mabhyam, val:t
Abl. asmat yu~mat
Gen. asmikam, naJ:l yu~makam, vaJ:l
Loe. asmasu yu~masu

11 The forms written second (m<i, tvtl, na./1, etc.) are enclitics.
 MORPHOLOGY

Enclitic for the ace. dat. gen. dual of the 1st person: nau, 2nd
person: L"t'im.
The following forms are used as stems, since they arc the
forms found in compounds involving these words (§141): mad-
for "I," asmad- for "we," tvad- for "you (sg.)," yufmad- for
"you (pl.)."
Instead of the 2nd person of the personal pronoun bhm:ant-
is uscJ in polite address; see §62, p. 55·

Special forms of the older language: 2nd pcrs. sing. instr. t1:ii, Joe.
tt·i; plur. dat.-gcn.-loc. 1st per. asmi, 2nd pcrs. yu;mi; dual nom.
1st p. Jt·dm, 2nd p.ytn·dm; instr. 2nd p. ym:dbhyiim; abl. tst p. ii'l:dt,
::mJ p. )·unit; gen.-Joe. 2nd p. yunl[1.
Compare ah-am, miim, mahy-am with Lat. ego, me, milu"; encl.
me=Gr. 1.101; tt:-am, tubhy-am-Lat. tu, tibi; end. te=Gr. Tot;
1:ay-am .... Goth. t~·ei-s, G.::r. u:ir; asmac= proto-Greek •O:ai.IE > Aeol.-
H0mo.:r. Ci:IJIJe, Ion.-Att. fj!Jias; encl. 11ah- Lat. 110s, Goth. Ger. uns
(•!Is); yii-yam-Goth. jus; y-u§ma 0 =Proto-Greek •Vai.IE->Acoi.-
J-I,lmcr. VIJIJI', lon.-.\tt. O~as; end. ~·afr- Lat. t:Os.

Dcmonstrati.,.·es
§T+· Stem tad- "this, he."

Singular Dual

~om. sa~ ,, tau tc

Ace.
Instr.
"m
ten a
tim tau te
taya tiibhyiim
Dat. tasmai tasyai tabhyam
Ab\. tasmat tasya~ tabhyam
Gen. tasya tasyal). tayo~
I.oc. tasmin tasyam tayo~
 1'HE PRQ:--;or;:-;

Plural

~om. te tiJ:t
.\cc. tin t3J:t
lnstr. taiJ:t t:ibhil;l
Dat. tcbhyal;l tibhyaJ:t
Abl. tebhyal;l tiibhyaJ:t
Gen. te~am tis am
Loc. te~u tasu
t\cuter n. a. sing. tat, dual te, plural tiini, otherwise as in the

etad- "this" is declined likewise: e~a1,1,l 7 e~t'i, etat, ace. etam,

etiim, etat, etc.
The nom. sing. m. sa/.1 (e!a/.1) appears in this form only in
absolute word-final position; in sandhi before a-, so, efO appears,
and a- is elided (§33, ru). Defore all remaining initial sounds
we have sa, e{a; a possible hiatus remains.
Additional forms of the Y~!dic language: m. sing. instr. tinii, loc.
sdsmin, dual nom.-acc. ui, plur. instr. tibhi~; n. plur. nom.-acc. t{l.
Old Ind. sa (this form, preferred in sandhi [see above], is more
ancient than the form in absolute word-final position, saM=Gr. 6,
Goth. sa; ace. tam=Gr. T6v, Goth. fan-a: the Old Ind. alternation
between sa- and ta-stem in this paradigm is thus an IE inheritance. -
Cf. further: Old Ind. ta.sm~ ..... Goth. famma; tasya=Gc. Tcio; f.
sii=Gr. ft, Goth. sO; ace. tiim=Gr. TT')v, Goth. fa; tasyai, tasyii[I-
Goth. fi:::ai, fi::Os; n. tat=Gr. T6, Lat. is-tud, Goth. fat-a. Plur. m.
te= Dor. Gr. Tc(, Goth. fiai; f. gen. tlistim=Lat. is-tiirum; etc.
§iS· :\demonstrative stem ena- "that, he" appears only in
the accusative case of the three numbers (sing. enam m., entlm f.,
enat n.; dual enau, ene, ene; plur. emln, enii~l, enOni), in the
instrumental sing. (enena, enayO), and in the gen.-Joe. dual
(enayo~).
In Yed : gen.-lac. dual 1!1/o!l.
"cr. §.zs.
64 MORPHOLOGY

§i6. Stem idam- "this."

Singular Dual

~om. a yam iyarn imau ime

Ace. imam imim imau ime
lnstr. anaya ibhyam
Dat. asmai asyai abhyam
Abl. asmiit asyii.J:t abhyiim
Gen. asya asy.iJ:t anayoJ:t
Loc. asmin as yam anayoJ:t

Plural

Nom. ime imal).

Ace. imiin im.iJ:t
Instr. ebhii:l abhii:l
Dat. ebhyai:L abhyai:L
Abl. ebhyaJ:t .ibhyai:L
Gen. ~am as am
Loc. e~u asu
Neuter n. a. sing. idam, dual ime, plur. imO.ni, otherwise as in
the masc.

Additional fonns of V"~dic: sing. instr. m. n. end, f. ay&; gen. m. n.

~a; dual m. nom.-acc. imd; gen.-Joe. ayd~; plur. nom.-acc. n.

Old Ind. ay-am, (\-·-am, id-am belong to the IE pronominal stem

of Lat. i-s, i-d (:::::Old Ind. id-am); in addition, the ace. im-am,
originaJly •i-m+-am, from which a "stem ima-" was early ab-
stracted: imam, imau, inu, imiin, etc.-Other cases are formed from
the Old Ind. stems a- and ana-.
 THE PRONOUN

§77. Stem adas- "that,"

Singular Dual
~
Nom. amu
Ace. am Urn amii
lnstr. am una amuya amUbhyam
Oat. amu~mai amu~yai amUbhyam
Abl. amu!?mit amu~ya:Q amUbhyam
Gen. amu~ya amu~yii:l amuyol:l
Loc. amu!?min amu!?yam amuyoQ

Plural

Nom. ami amUl;l

Ace. amlin amUQ
lnstr. amibhil;l amUbhiQ
Oat. amibhyaQ amUbhyaQ
Abl. amibhyaQ amUbhyaQ
Gen. ami~am amU!?im
Lee. ami!?u amU!?u
The neuter differs from the masc. only in the·n. a. sing. ada!J
and plural amUni.
In Vedic the nom.-acc. plur. n. also occurs in the form amd.
With a-sau cf. Gr. oV-T~, aV-T11· The historical explanation of the
rest is complicated: Cf. Chr. Hauri, Zeitschr.f. vergleichende Sprach-
forschung, Vol. 78 (1963), pp. IIS ff. and the lit. mentioned there.
§78. Most additional pronouns are inflected like tad-, §74:
L The relative yad- "which": sing. nom. m. ya!J, f. yii, n.
yat, ace. yam, yiim, yat, instr. yen.Q, etc.
Identical with Gr. 0), (j, 0.
66 MORPHOLOGY

2. The interrogative kim- "which, who?": sing. nom. ka~,

kti, kim irregular in the neutr.; ace. kam, ktim, kim; inst. kena,
etc.-Indefinites are formed by addition of cit, cana, or api to
the forms of the interrogative: sing. nom. m. kai-cit, kai-cana,
ko 'pi "anyone" (§JJ, 120, c), n. kith-cit, kim-cana, kim-api
"anything."
Old Ind. ka-=IE •tfo- in Lat. quo-d, Goth. hvas "who."
3· The pronominal adjectives anya- "other," itara- "other."
The following pronouns or pronominal adjectives and
numerals are declined, in the nom.-acc. sing. n., in -am, other-
wise according to §if: eka- "one" (eka{l, ekii, ekam; §79);
ekatara- "one of two"; ubhaya-'(f. -i-) "both"; 'vifva-" whole";
sart1a- "all"; likewise the following, which, however, can also
form the abl.loc. sing. m. n. and nom. plur. m. according to the
a~stems (§39): adhara- "lower" (nom. plur. m. adhare and
adharii/:t, etc.), antara- "inner," apara- "other," m:ara- "pos-
terior, western," dak!i~- "on the right," para- "later," pUrva-
''earlier,'' sva- "own, one's own,'' uttara- ''upper.''

3· The ~umeral
§i9· Cardinals
I. eka- "one" is inflected according to §iS, 3·
2. d·vi- "two": dual inflection, n. v. a.m. d·vau, f. n. d"t·t;
i. d. ab. d1.·0bhyiim, g. l. d"t•ayo/:t.
In Vedic beside d(u)vdu we also find d(u)vd;=Homeric Gr. SV(<),
Lat. duo.
3· tri- "three" has the following inflection:

K. V. traya~ tri~:ti tisra~

Ace. trin tri~:ti tisra~
Instr. tribhii) tisrbhii)
 THE NUMERAL

Dat. Abl. tribhya}:l tisrbhyaJ:l

Gen. trayliQ.im tisp)lim
Loc. tri~u tis~u
Additional forms in Vedic: nom.•acc. n. trl; gen. m. trl~dm.
Old Ind. traya~=Gr. 7pEiS, Lat. tres, Goth. fireis; Ved. trl=OCS
tri; tribhyal), triPJ- Lat. tribus, Gr. 7p!o-l. The feminines tisr"' (for
•tri·rr 0 ) and catasr"' (see the foUowing) continue archaisms which
occur only in the "border languages" of Indo·European, Indo·
Iranian and Celtic; cf. Old Irishteoir "three(f.)," cetheoir "four(f.)."
4· catur- "four" is inflected as follows:

N.V. catvliraJ:l catviri catasraJ:l

Ace. caturai) catviri catasrai)
Instr. caturbhii) catasrbhii:l
Oat. Abl. caturbhyai) catasrbhyal:l
Gen. catun)im catasp;~im
Loc. catur~u catas~u

This wora is cognate with Gr. itrt'apE~, 7EaaapES, Lat. quattuor,

etc.; concerning the special feminine fonnation see the preceding.
5· paiica "five" is declined in the n. v. a. paiica, instr.
paiicablu'/:1, d. ab. paiicabhyal), g. paiictintim, I. paiicaru.
As the lack of an ending in then. v. a. and the still optional use of
the inflected fonns in Vedic show, pafica (=Gr. 'llivTE, Lat. quinque)
was originaUy indeclinable; the same holds for the following
numerals, 6 and 7 (identical with Lat. sex, septem), 9 and 10 (=Lat.
novem, decem). Concerning 8 see below.
6. fDf "six" has the inflection n. v. a. tat, instr. fafjbhil,r, d.
ab. fafjbhyaQ, gen. fO~~tim, loc. fatsu.
i· sapta "seven" is inflected likepaiica (5).
8. afta "eight" can be inflected like pafica, but the following
inflection is also possible: n. v. a. artau, instr. atttibhi/:1, d. ab.
Qfttibhyal;z, gen. afttintim, loc. clfttisu.
68 MORPHOLOGY

In Vedic beside 111¢u (=Goth. ahtou) we also find and (=Gr.

6K"TW, Lat. octO).
9· nuva "nine": inflected like pafica.
ro. daia "ten": inflected like panca.
The remaining cardinal numbers: ekiida.ia " r 1," dvtidaia
'' 12,'' trayodaia "13,'' caturdaia "14,'' paiicadaia "15,'' !Ot/aia
"r6," saptadaia "17,'' afttidaia "18," nm:adaia or iinavimiatil_r
"19,'' ·vimiati}:! (fern. i-stem) ''2o," trimiat (f.)" Jo,'' cat·vtirimiat
"40," paiiciiiat ,, so,'' ~a~ti}:! (f. i-stem) ''6o,'' saptatil} "7o,''
aiitil} ''So,'' nat•atifl ''9o,'' iatam (n. a-stem) ''too.''
d1-•e iate or dviiatam, trirzi iatiini or triiatam "200, 300";
sahasram ''rooo''; la~am ''too,ooo.''
§So. Ordinals
1. prathama- "first";
2. dvitiya-;
3· trtiya-;
4· caturtha-, turiya-;
5· paiicaTTUl-;
6. faf!ha-;
i. saptama-;
8. aflama-;
9· navama-;
daiama-;
11. ektidaia-, 12. d·vtidaia-, 20. ·vimia- or vimiatitama-, 30.
trimia-, trimiat-tama-, etc.; 6o. only !Oftilama- (but 61.
eka[aflitama- and eka[af/a-), too. Jatatama-, tooo.sahasratama-.
In Vedic paflcathd- "fifth," saptathd- "seventh" also occur.-Cf.
trtl.va- with Lat. tertius; caturtha- with Gr. Tt'raf'TOSi !41tha- with
Lat. sextus; $aptama- and daiama- with septimus, decimus.
§81. Numeral Adverbs
sakrt "once," d·vi}J "twice," tri}J "three times," catul; "four
times," paiica-krt't•al; "five times," fat-krtval; "six times"; etc.
 THE VERB

ekadhii "in one way," dvi- or d·vedhii "in two ways," tri-,
tredhii "in three ways," caturdha "in four ways," bahudhii "in
many ways"; etc.
ekaial} "individually,'' d'l:isd~ ''in twos,'' triiab ''in threes,''
iataial; "in 1oos," etc,
sa-krt< "'J'I!'- (§8), -Lat. sem-el, Gr. 6:-TTa~< •ST-; dvi!t=Gr. Sis,
Lat. bis (old duis); tri!t=Gr. Tpl~. Lat. ter; catu!J-Lat. quater.-
With (eka)-Sal,l cf. Homeric Gr. CrvSpa-K~ "man for man."

4· The Verb
§82. Sanskrit distinguishes the following voices: active, middle,l8
and passive(§ 128). Tenses: present, imperfect, aorist, perfect,
future (and conditional). There are three moods: indicative,
optative, and imperative.
The forms of the present and imperfect are derived from a
special present stem built on the root, from which, on the other
hand, special stems for the remaining tenses are formed. We
distinguish two large principal groups, thematic and athematic
verbs, according to the formation of the present stems, and
within these groups ten classes postulated by the Old Ind.
grammarians.

(11) Thematic Verbs (Classes 1, 4, 6, 10)

§83. The conjugation of these classes (§84) is completely uni-
form. The only differences are in the way in which the present
stems are formed from the root:
ISt class: The root19 is gunated (§35) and appears before the
"thematic vowel'' -a- (-ii-) and the ending: root bhr- ''bear,''
ruh- "grow," guna bhar-, roh-, 3rd person sing. bhar-a-ti "he
'' The Old Ind. grammarians destgnate the active as parasmaipado. ("form
for the other"), the middle as dtmampada ("form for oneself'').
'"Sanskrit dictionaries usually do not hst verbs under a fintte form, but
under the root, wtth citation of the present class: thus not bharari "bears,''
but bhr- cl. 1, p. (:parasmaipada, active) "bear."
 MORPHOLOGY

bears," roh-a-ti "he grows." Roots in final-!, -d, like ni- "lead,"
bhii- "become," show the gu1;1a form (ne-, bho-) decomposed into
-ay-, -av- before the thematic vowel (according to §§5, 14):
nay-a-ti "he leads," bha·v-a-ti "he becomes."
IE thematic type with-e-grade: Gr. <pEp-<U, AEhT-<U, Lat./eg-O, etc.
Roots with a long closed syllable, like jiv- "live," nind-
" blame," show no gul).ation: jivati "he lives," nindati "he
blames."
The following present formations are also assigned to class I
as" exceptions" :gam-" go," gacchati;yam- "curb," yacchati.-
kram- ''step'', krtimati (middle kramate); cam- (with ti-) "sip,''
ccimati; guh- "hide," gUhati.-dami- "bite," da.Sati.-ghrii-
"smell," jighrati; pii- "drink," pibati; sthii- "stand," t1fthati;
sad- "sit," sidati.
In part these arc special IE present classes which have no special
place in the 10-c.lass system of the Indians; verbs like ga-ccha-ti
belong to the -sk- presents, Gr. -Cil{w, Lat. -scii, §tS; ji-ghra-ti,
ti-Nha-ti, etc. are thematized reduplicating presents like Gr. yl-yv-o-
IJ.C::J, Lat.gi-gn-0.

4th Class: -ya- and the ending are added to the unchanged
root. Root kup- "be angry," kup-ya-ti "he is angry"; nah-
"bind," nah-ya-ti "he binds."
IE -i-presents, like Lat. cup-i-ii.
Peculiarities of class 4: tam- "become numb-," bhram-
"wander," iam- "become quiet," iram- "become tired" form
the present stem in °iim-ya- (e.g. tiim-ya-ti); mad- "rejoice"
forms miid-ya-ti. To jan- "be born" belongs the deponent
jii-ya-te. "t'Yadh- "bore through'': n"dh-ya-ti; iii- ''whet," sii-
" bind, decide": iyati, syati. To bhrami- "fall" and raiij- "get
red" belong the present stems bhra.S-ya- raj-ya-.-paS-ya-ti
"sees" is supplied as the present of the unrelated root dri-
 THE VERB 7'
0iim-ya- is the present stem of roots in °1ni-; jii.-yate is •rn+
<{concerning the set-root in jani-tdr-, §§9, 37). In hhrai-ya-, as
opposed to hhrarili-, -a- is old •-tt- (§8). pai-ya- and dri- are the
cognates of Lat. speciO and Gr. OipKollaL.
6th Class: The thematic vowel is added to the root, which is
not gul).ated; cf. tud- "push," tud-a-ti "he pushes"; lqip-
"throw," k,ipati ''he throws.''
These presents bear the accent on the thematic vowel in Vedic
(tuddti).

The following are placed here as special formations: if-

"wish," prai- "ask," r- "go, move," presents icchati, prcchati,
rcchati; krt- "cut," muc- "release," lip- "besmear," /u.p-
"plunder," vid- "find," sic- "sprinkle," presents krntati,
muiicati, limpati, lumpati, 'vindati, siiicati.-kf- "scatter,"
kir-a-ti.
The first are again -sk- presents (see under 1); krt- etc. form
nasal-infi:'l:ing thematic presents, like Lat. sci-n-d-0, rumpii. kir-d-
from •k[i-l-,§IJ.
10th Class: -ay- appears between root and thematic vowel;
roots with medial -i-, -u-, -r- before simple consonants are
gul).ated: cf. cur- "steal," gul).a cor-, present cor-ay-a-ti "he
steals." -Sometimes the weak grade of the root also occurs
(pirj- "torture'': pirjayati).-In cases where an -a- separated
from -aya- by only one consonant would normally develop in
the root by gul).ation, as a rule -ii- appears here instead, but this
is not always true. This can be gathered, above all, from the
rather frequent formation of the causatives (§129), whose basic
type is identical with that of the 10th class: cf. root bhii- "be-
come," gul).a bho-, prevocalic bha·v- (§§5, 14), but causative
bhiiv-aya-ti; kr- "make," causative kiirayati; sad- "sit," siida-
yati. On the other hand we have jan- ''beget'':janayati, dam-
"tame'': damayati, etc.
 :\IORPHOLOGY

The IE basic type had -o-grade of the root and -ei· before the
thematic vowel: cf. Gr. TrOT-i-oiJat, Lat. mnn-e-6, Goth. caus. satja
"cause to sit, set" (•sod-ei-6). The frequent Old Ind. type with -ii·
in an open root syllable (kiirayati) is partly explained by lengthened
grade already existing in IE (: Gr. 11'WT6:0IJC:1), but partly also by the
law given in §9, which also explains the preserved nonnal grade in
janayati, etc.(: set-root jani.). The created models have naturally
been generalized over the phonetic laws.

Conjugation
§84. Paradigm bhr- I (=Ist class) "bear."

Present Active Indicative

Singular Dual Plural
bhariimi bhariivaJ:l bharamal:l
'"
znd bharasi bharathaJ:i bharatha
Jrd bharati bharatal:l bharanti

In Vedic also plur. rst -iimas£, znd -athana.

Cf. bhar-asi, -at£, -iim~, -anti with Lat. leg-is, -£t, -imus, -unt.

Middle
bhare bharavahe bharamahe
"'
2nd bharase bharethe bharadhve
Jrd bharate bharete bharante

bharase, bharate, blulrante-Gr. <pfp~a1, cptpETC:I, cpEpoVTat.

Present Active Optative

bhareyam bhareva bharema
bharel:t bharetam bhareta
bharet bharetam bhareyuJ:l

bhare~, -et, -etam, -etiim, -emtJ, -eta=Gr. <f!Epo!'), cpEp01, -oLTOV,

-O{Tr1V, -0\IJEV, -Q\TE.
 THE VERB 73
Middle
Singular Dual Plural
ISt bhareya bharevahi bharemahi
znd bharethib bhareyithim bharedhvam
Jrd bhareta bhareyitim bhareran
Ved. plur. Jtd bhornata. Manta, bhoremalai= Gr. ~PEpoaTO,
q>Epoi!JE&a.
Present Active Imperative
ISt bhariQ.i20 bhariva bharima
znd bhara bharatam bharata
Jrd bharatu bharatim bharantu
Also Vedic sing. :znd and Jrd -atat (Lat. ag-itO); plur. :znd -atcma.
Cf. bhora, bhaTata with Gr. ~. cpEpm, Lat. 111e, agite. See §85.
Middle
nt bharai bharivahai bharimahai
znd bharasva bharethim bharadhvam
Jrd bharatim bharetim bharantim
Imperfect Active
ISt abharam abhariva abharima
znd abharab abharatam abharata
Jrd abharat abharatim abharan
The characteristic sign of the imperfect is the augment a-; with
the whole paradigm (with exception of the rst dual) the Greek
paradigm lcprpov, -ES, -e; -erou, -htiv; -o~. -ETE, -ov can be
compared. With regard to the endings Lat. laudaba-m, -s, -t, plur.
Jrd laudiiba-nt are also to be compared.
Middle
ISt abhare abharivahi abharimahi
znd abharathib abharethim abharadhvam
Jrd abharata abharetim abharanta
tJbharata, -iimJJhi, -anta=Gr.l:~PEpETo, -4aE(Ia, -ovro.
.. §20,
 MORPHOLOGY

§85. Vedic still possesses a subjunctive, which is characterized in

thematic verbs especially by the length of the thematic vowel, while
the athematic verbs introduce a thematic vowel in the subjunctive
(§§95, 99, etc.); this corresponds to the Greek situation, cf. subj.
<p~p-c.>-I.IEV (: indicative cpEp-o-).:.Ev), or i-o-~.~EV, younger i-(1)-IJ..EV
(: ind. i-IJ.EV). Subjunctives of thematic verbs have the following
endings in the active: sing. ISt -iini, -ii, 2nd -iisi, -iiQ, Jrd -iiti, -iit,
dual ISt -iiva, 2nd iitha~, 3rd -iitaQ, plur. 1st -iima, 2nd -iitha, Jrd
-iin. In the middle: sing. 1st -ai, 2nd -iisai, -tue, Jrd -iitai, -iite, dual
1st -iivahai, 2nd -aithe, Jrd -aile, plur. ISt -iimahai, znd -iidhvai, 3rd
-iintai. The subjunctive still survives in theISt persons of the impera-
tive of the classical language (§84).
The injunctive of Vedic, to be defined formally as an augment
form (imperfect, aorist) without augment, appears principally in
prohibitive sentences; the nonprohibitive injunctiv~ is tenseless and
"nonreporting," i.e. it is used for the description of facts the hearer's
knowledge of which is assumed. It still survives in the classical
language in some imperative forms, which are distinguished from
imperfect forms only by the lack of the augment (bharatam: a-bha-
ratam); it is principally used in connection with the prohibitive
negation mil, e.g. mil krthiib "do not do!"(: aor. a-krtha}_i).

(b) Athematic Verbs (Classes 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9)

§86. Common characteristics of all athematic verbs are:
The endings are added to the present stem or to the root
without the intervening thematic vowel: thematic bhar-a-ti,
athematic as-ti, suno-ti.
The root or the stem formation suffix is guQated in the
singular of the present active indicative and imperfect and in
some additional forms; otherwise it has the fundamental-grade
form: e-mi ''I go'': i-11Ul/:r "we go,'' root i-. We speak here of
strong and weak forms.

This gradation is an IE inheritance: cf. Gr.d-l-!1: i-l.IEV, 6i6w-1J.L:

6i65-IJ.EV, Lat. es-t: s-unt. Vedic manifests the reason for the grada-
tion: the accent was on the ending in the nonsingular forms; i-mi,
but i-mdQ; tis-ti "est": s-dnti "sunt."
 THE VERB 75
The optative has the mood signs active -yti-, middle -I- added
to the weak stem.
The znd sing. active imperative has the ending -dhi, -hi (with
few exceptions, §§Ioo, lOi)·
Second Class 21
§8i. The endings are added directly to the root.
IE root present, type Gr. ei-1.11, e[-IJi, <pfl·l.li, Lat. es-t, wl-t.
Paradigm dt:if- ''hate'':
Active
Present Indicative
Singular Dual Plural
dve~mi dvi~"aJ:i dvi!}maJ:i
'"
2nd dvek~i dvi!]~hal;l dvi!]~ha
Jid dve!]~i dvi!]~al;l dvi~anti

Optative
dvi!]yim dviH3va dvi!]ylima
'"
2nd dvi!]y3Q. dvi!]y3tam dvi!]y3ta
Jid dvi~yat dvi~yatam dvi!]yuJ:i
Imperative
dve~aiP dve!]3va dve~a
'"
2nd dvi~~i dvi!}~am dvi!}la
Jid dvel?~U dvi$~3m dvi~antu

Imperfect
adve!}am advi!]Va advi~ma
'"
2nd ad vet advi!}tam advi~~a
Jid adve~ advi!]tlim ad"i~n
11 If the grammar is to be learned systematically, according to the presen-
tation in this book, it is advisable to begin with a less complicated athematic
class, perhaps with the fifth, and to become acquainted w1th the charac-
teristics of the athematic verbs there.
76 MORPHOLOGY

Middle
Present Indicative
dvi~?e dvi$vahe dvi$mahe
"'
znd dvi~e dvi$3.the dvic;lc;lhve
Jtd dvi$~e dvi$3te dvi$ate
Optative
dvi$iya dvi$ivahi dvi$imahi
'"
2nd dvi$ith3.J:t dvi$iy3th.im dvi$idhvam
Jrd dvi$ita dvi$iy3.t3.m dvi$iran
Imperative
dve$ai dve~vahai dve~mahai
'"
2nd dvi~va dvi$iithiim dvic;lc;lhvam
Jrd dvi$tiim dviJ?iitam dvi~tam

Imperfect
advi$i advi$vahi advi$mahi
'"
2nd advi$thiiQ advi$iitham advic;h;l.hvam
Jid advi$ta advi$iitiim advi$ata
Various combinatory sound laws cause the difficulties of this
paradigm (see concerning this p. 75, note 21): thus -!+S- becomes
•-t!- under conditions not yet completely explained (cf. •a-dve!-S >
adveJ impf. znd sing.), but also -k'- (dvekri<dve!+ri; also dvi~e,
dvikrva); -1+t- becomes -n-(§19): dve1-ti, dviHe, etc.; ~f+d(h)~
resulted in 4tf.(h) after passing through a stage of •?.tf.(h): dvif+dhi>
dvitj.tjhi. See further dvi¢4hve, (a)dvit}.tf.hvam.
Sound laws also determine the peculiarities of additional verbs
of this class:
duh~ "milk'': dohmi, dhok;i (§30, z), dogdhi (§30, 1), plural
duhma/.t, dugdha, duhanti; middle duhe, dhukfe, dugdhe, etc.
lih~ "lick": lehmi, lelqi, le¢-hi, lihma/:1, li{iha, lihanti, etc.
le¢hi for leh~ < •~th~+ ending -ti, §30, 1.
§88. The conjugation of the root as~ "be" shows peculiarities:
 THE VERB i7
Indicative
Singular Dual Plural
1St asmi sva):l sma):l
2nd ,.; stha):l stha
)'d asti sta):l santi
asmi=Gr. Eh.:i, Goth. im; asi=Gr.·el, Lat. es, Goth. is; asti=Gr.
~o-r[, Lat. est, Goth. ist; santi=Lat. sunt, Goth. sind.

Optative
ISt syam syava syama
2nd syal) syatam syita
)'d syit syatam syu):l
.ryiim, rya~. syat-Oid Latin siem, sils, siet, later sim, etc.
Imperative
asini as :iva asama
2nd edhi stam
)'d stam "'
santu
"''"
edhi from •azdhi, as+dhi, cf. §14.
Imperfect
ISt as am asva isma
2nd 3sil) as tam asta
J'd asit as tam asan
iisam, Qstam, iistam, iisma, iista= Gr. ~a. na-rov, iiO"TT'JV, ?jiJ,EV, ?ja-re.
§89. t'- "go": pres. act. incl. sing. emi, e#, eti, plur. imai},
itha, yanti; imperative ay-iini, ihi, etu, plur. ayiima, ita, yantu;
imperfect iiyam, ail}, ait, plur. aima, aita, Qyan; optative iyiim,
iyal;, etc.
Middle: Cf. adhite 3rd sing. "he learns" (adhi-i-te).
Cf. the fonns of the pres. ind. with Gr. diJI, el, dat, i~Jev; imper.
ihi, ita= Gr. iet, i'T'E; impf. ayam, aima<a- (augment)+•ai- (§I4),
=Gr. ~-a, ~IJEV.
 MORPHOLOGY

§90. an- ''breathe,''ja/q- ''eat,'' rud- "cry,'' ivas- ''breathe,"

n:ap- "sleep" all add endings beginning with a consonant
(except withy-) to stems in -i-: an-i-ti, rud-i-mab. The 2nd and
3rd person sing. imperfect forms end in -ab, -at or in -ib, -ft.
§91. bra- "speak" has a stem bravi- in the strong (gul).ated)
forms (§86): bravimi, bravifi, braviti, plur. briimab, hrUtha,
bru·vanti, etc.
stu- "praise" has the strong stems stau- and stat•i-: stauti,
staviti: stumab.
§92. The deponent ii- "lie" shows gul).a (ie-) in the whole
present and imperfect: 3rd sing. iete: tst plur. iemahe, etc. To
be especially noted are: 3rd plur. pres. incl. ierate, imperative
ieratiim, imperfect alerata.
fete ..... Gr. ~aha1; iemahe-~ai~a.

§93· iiis- "order" has iiisati as 3rd plur. in the indicative,

iiisatu in the imperative, aliisub in the imperfect, but also shows
a weak stem form i1!-: opt. iif-yiim, p.p.p. $4-ta-.
-ati, -atu from •-tati, •-t~tu (§8); iif- from •Ius-, cf. §§11, 25.

vai- "want" shows ui- in the weak forms: I st sing. ·vaimi,

Jrd plur. uS-anti.
lwn- "kill" has ha- as its weak root fonn before endings
beginning with a consonant (but han- before -val;., -rna{!); ghn-
before endings beginning with a vowel. The 2nd sing. imperative
is jahi. Present hanmi, ha'lilsi, hanti, hant·a}_!, hatha};, hatal;.,
hanmal;., hatha, ghnanti, etc.
Cf. §27.

§94· Some verbs of class 2 show no gradation (§86); thus yii-

" go" always has gul).a grade (pres. act. in d. yiimi, yiisi, yiiti,
plur. yiimab, ytitha, yanti, imperf. a-yii-m, etc.), likewise the
 THE VERB 79
deponent iis- "sit" (Jrd person sing. iis-te, plur. tis-ate).
Deponents like sii- "bear," fi- "be master of" always show the
fundamental grade, never gu~a (3rd sing. mid. sU-te, if-te); etc.

§95· A peculiarity of Vedic for this class is, above ali, the formation
of the subjunctive. It is fanned by the introduction of a thematic
vowel, according to §85. Cf. sing. znd tiy-a-s£, tiy-af! (: ind. i-#) from
i- "go," §89; sing. 3rd ds-a-ti, cis-a-t (: ind. ds-ti), root as-, §88, etc.
Further, from as- "be," 2nd and 3rd sing. imperf. ii~ ( <ii:r-s, •as-t;
=Dar. Gr. i'is Jrd sing.); opt. znd plur. ryiita-na. From bra- (§91)
2nd sing. imper. bra-tilt (cf. §8+), znd plur. bravrtana. /i- (§92) has
in Ved. Jrd sing. ind. Jdy-e, 3rd plur. Je-re; Jrd sing. impf. diayat,
Jrd plur. dieran. /iis- (§93): 2nd plur. imper. iiisttina. Often 1st plur.
-mo.sibeside-~.1;etc.

Third Class
§g6. The root is reduplicated; the following rules apply to
the reduplication:
A. Aspirates are reduplicated by the corresponding un-
aspirated sounds, velars always by their palatals: thus dh- by d-;
bh- by b-; k-, kh- by c-; g-, gh-, and also h- by j-.
B. Consonant groups are reduplicated by the first consonant
(or by its representative, according to A above); only the
combination sibilant+stop is reduplicated by means of the
second sound (or its representative, according to A).
C. The rules given above also apply to other grammatical
cases in which reduplication is used (§121). For the reduplicated
presents of class 3 it should be noted that the short root
vowel enters into the reduplication syllable: thus hu- "sacri-
fice": ju-hu-ma.J:t "we sacrifice"; bhi- "fear": bi-bhi-; dhii-
" place'': dadha-; but note bhr- ''bear'': bi-bhar-ti, bi-bhr-ma/};
mti- ''measure'' (deponent): mi-mi-te 3rd sing., mi-mate 3rd plur.
This is an IE reduplicating present type; cf. Gr. Oi-6w-~on, i-crr0:-1.1.1,
1fh.1·1fAT']·IJ.I from the roots 6w-, crra:-, 1rA11··
So MORPHOLOGY

§97· Paradigm hu-a "sacrifice":

Active
Present Indicative
Singular Dual Plural
lSI juhomi juhuvaJ:t juhumai:J.
2nd juhofi juhuthai). juhutha
Jrd juhoti juhutaJ) juhvati~

Optative
[$[ juhuyim juhuyiva juhuyima
2nd juhuyil;l juhuyitam juhuyita
Jrd juhuyit juhuyi:tim juhuyul;J.
Imperative
lS[ juhaviniu juhaviva juhavima
2nd juhudhi juhutam juhuta
Jrd juhotu juhutim juhvatu
Imperfect
ajuhavamu ajuhuva
"'
2nd ajuhob ajuhutam
ajuhuma
ajuhuta
Jrd ajuhot ajuhutim ajuhavub
Middle
Present Indicative
juhve26 juhuvahe
"'
2nd juhu~ juhvithe
juhumahe
juhudhve
Jrd juhute juhvite juhvate
n Gu~;~ated stem (§86)ju-ho-, weak atemju-l111o~-; fot the reduplic:a1ion see
§96 A, C. •• ...rti, etc. from •-,ti
(§8); blwrs-rrti, etc.
10 julttnl-rJni, tJ-julrav-am, etc. show the prevocalic fonn of the stemjuho-,

since -o- 80'!'8 b~~ek to •-du- (§14); but the 1st penon sins. impf. of dhrJ-,IuJ-
(§§98, 99) ia conjugated a-tlatlh4-rn, a-iah6-rn, etc.
• From •julru-e,iuhu-rya, etc.
 THE VERB g,
Optative
Singular Du.J Plural
juhviya25 juhvivahi juhvimahi
'"etc.
Imperative
juhavai juhavavahai juhaviimahai
"'
znd juhu!;>va juhvatham juhudhvam
J<d juhutam juhvatam juhvatim

Imperfect
ajuhvi ajuhuvahi ajuhumahi
"'
znd ajuhuthlJ:l ajuhvlthlm ajuhudhvam
J<d ajuhuta ajuhvltlm ajuhvata

§98. dha- "put, place" and the similarly inflected da- "give"
deviate in part from §97, above all because of their weak stem
form da-dh-, da-d, but also because of phonetic differences,
concerning which the reader should refer especially to §30, :z
for dha-.
Active Indicative
Singular Dual Plural
dadhami dadhvaJ:l dadhma]:l
"'
znd dadhasi dhatthai). dhattha
J<d dadhati dhattaJ:l dadhati

Optative
ISI dadhyam dadhyava dadhylma
etc.
Imperative
dadhani dadh1i.va dadhama
'"
znd dhehi dhattam dhatta
J<d dadhatu dhattam dadhatu
82 MORPHOLOGY

Imperfect
Singular Dual Plural
adadhlim adadhva adadhma
"'
znd adadha}:i adhattam adhatta
Jtd adadhlit adhattam adadhul;l
Middle Indicative: dadhe, dhatse, dhatte, etc.
Beside dhehi "put!", dehi "give!" we have da-d-dhi in Ved.; the
first forms go back to dissimilated •d(h)azdhi (Av. dazd!), with-e-<
-az- (§14); cf. K. Hoffmann, Miinchener Stud.:;:, Sprachwiss., Vol. 8
(1956), p. 21. dddhiimi, dddhiiti, dadkmd~ (Ved. accentuation: see
§86)-Gr. Ti61')1..lL, Tl6TjcrL, Ti~l..lEV.
§99· hii- "leave" has jahi- and jahi- as a weak stem before
endings beginning with a consonant, jah- before endings begin-
ning with a vowel or withy-: present ind.jahiimi,jahiis£,jahtiti,
plur. jahimii/.1 (jahimal} ),jahitha(jahitha),jahati, opt.jahyiim, etc.
Vedic: Subjunctives like sg. 1st biblulT-ii'!'i Jrd bibhar-a.-t (:incl.
bi-bhar-mi, -ti) according to §§85, 95; Ist plur. active -masi; Jrd sing.
mid. -e; :md sing. imper. -tilt, etc.

Fifth Class
§roo. The present stems- of this class are formed by addition
of strong -no-, weak -nu- (-nv-) to the root.
The Old Ind. stem sign -no-1-nu- is IE •-neu-1•-nu-; in Greek
-vEVw, -v£w and, above all, -vO-!lL appear for •-neu-mi (; Old Ind.
-no-mi); cf. 5£iK-v0-!lL, plur. &iK-vli-!lfV (:Old Ind. -nu-ma.!J).
Concerning the ultimate origin of this present type see below,§ I oz.
Paradigm su- "press grapes":
Active
Present Indicative
Singular Dual Plural
tst sunomi sunuvai:l sunumab
2nd suno~i sunuthai:l sunutha
]td sunoti sun utah sunvanti
 THE VERB BJ
Optative
Singular Dual Plural
sunuyam sunuyava sunuyama
"'etc.
Imperative
sunavlini sunavava sunavama
"'
znd sunutam sun uta
]'d sunotu sunutam sunvantu

Imperfect
asunavam
'"
znd asunol:t asunutam asunuta
]'d asunot asunutam

Middle
Present Indicative
sunuvahe sunumahe
'"
znd sunu~e sunvlithe sunudhve
J'd sunute sunvlite sunvate

Optative
sunviya sunvivahi sunvimahi
"'etc.
Imperative
sunavai sunavavahai sunavamahai
'"
2nd sunu~va sunvatham sunudhvam
]'d sunutam sunvatam sunvatlim

Imperfect
asunvi asunuvahi asunumahi
"'
znd asunuthlil:t asunvatham asunudhvam
]'d asunuta asunvatam asunvata
 MORPHOLOGY

u can also be lacking before endings which begin with v or

m: sunvaQ, sunma/_t beside sunuva/_t, sunumal.z; rum:ahe, asunva,
asum:ahi, asunma, asunmahi.
This possibility does not apply to roots ending in a consonant,
such as iip- "obtain": here only iipnuva/_t, iipnuma/_t, etc. are
admissible; forms which show -nv- with roots ending in a vowel
are also conjugated like the 3rd plur. act.: iipnuvanti (cf. sun-
v-anti). These roots have the ending -hi in the 2nd sing. imper.
(iip-nu-hi "obtain!" as opposed to sunu).

In Vedic -hi, -dhi also occur with roots ending in a vowel: ci-nu-M,
fr-!lu-dhi (§Ioi). Vedic also shows for this class, among others, the
additional fonns: 1st plur. active -mdSi, Jrd sing. mid. -e, Jrd plur.
-i-re (su-nv-iri); imper. znd sing. -tiit, znd plur. -tana; subjunctive
fonns (according to §§85, 95), like znd sing. ir-!Jdv-CJ.!!, Jrd fr!ldvat,
sundvat (: in d. ir!ldfi, -Oti); etc.

§toi. Sru- "hear" shows the stems: strong ir-~o-, weak

ir-~u-, /rt;v-.
Cf. in addition § 102!
Seventh Class
§ 102. This class forms the present stem by addition of a -na-
(-n- in the weak forms) between the vowel and the final con-
sonant of the root (infixing class). Thus the Ist sing. pres. act.
incl. of the root yuj- ''harness" is yu-na-j-mi, the ISt plur.
yu-ii-j-ma/}. 26

IE •ju-ne-g-mi (: root jug-), certainly a very ancient type: cf. cases

outside Indo-Iranian, like Gr.j3vvecu "fill," probably for •j3v-vE-O"-].u,
and the later formation Lat. iu-n-g-ii. The nasal-infixing principle is
also to be referred to for the explanation of the other nasal classes,
such as the Old Ind. 5th(§ 100) and 9th(§ 106) classes; in connection
with this we compare, with their pre-Old Indic values:
".;;.from •-n- before palatal-j-.
 THE VERB ss
Cl. 7, act. 1st sg. yu-na..j-mi, 1st pl. yu-n-j-ma~, p.p.p. yuk-ta-,
rootyug-.
Cl. 5, act. 1st sg. •tr-!fa-u-mi> ir·tt.O·mi (§ q.), tst pl. ir·!f·U-m~,
p.p.p. iru-ta-, root iru- (§tot);
Cl. 9, act. ISt sg. •pu-na-a-mi>puniimi "purify,'' 1st pl. •pu-n-a-
ma~ > punfrnal;, p.p.p. •pua-ta- > piita-, root pii- (see §§11, Ji)·

§103. Paradigm rudh- "obstruct" (ru-1Ja-dh-Jru-n-dh-); the

application of §30, 1 (-dh-t- > -ddh-) is to be noted here.
Active
Present Indicative
Singular Dual Plural
ru~adhmi rundhvai) rundhma}:l
'"
znd ru~atsi runddhai) runddha
J'd ru~addhi runddhai) rundhanti
Optative
rundhyam rundhyava rmldhyama
'"etc.
Imperative
ru~adhiini rul)adhiva rul)adhama
'"
2nd runddhi runddham runddha
)'d rul)addhu runddhiim rundhantu
Imperfect
aru9adham arundhva arundhma
"'
znd arul)at arunddham arunddha
J'd arul)at arunddhiim arundhan
Middle
Present Indicative
rundhe rundhvahe rundhmahe
'"
znd runtse rundhathe runddhve
J'd runddhe rundhiite rundhate
86 MORPHOLOGY

Optative
Singular Dual Plural
rundhiya rundhivahi rundhimahi
"'etc. Imperative
rut;~adhai rul).adhivahai ruq.adhamahai
"'
znd runtsva rundhitham runddhvam
Jtd runddhim rundhitim rundhatim
Imperfect
arundhi arundhvahi arundhmahi
'"
znd arunddha!) arundhathim arunddhvam
Jrd arunddha arundhitim arundhata
From Vedic cf. especially subjunctive forms like 3rd sing.yuruij-a-t
(: ind. yundk-ti); Jrd sing. mid. -e beside -te.

Eighth Class
§104. Most roots of this class end in-n: tan- "stretch,'' man-
" think" (dep.), san- "win," k.ran- "hurt," etc. The stem-
formation suffix is -o-, in the weak forms -u-: tan-o-mi, tan-u-
mal} "I stretch, we stretch." The conjugation is exactly the same
as that of sunomi: sunuma&, that is, that of the Old Ind. 5th class
(§roo).
From a historical point of view the establishment of the ''8th class''
has no justification, for tanomi is not to be analyzed into tan-o-mi, as
the Indians must have thought, but belongs, like •11)-neu-mi (§8),
to •t1'}-. the weak grade of tan-, just as su-no-mi belongs to the weak-
grade root form su-; thus verbs of the neu- class, §100, are under
consideration here. Cf. also § 105.
§ 105. The strong stem of the frequent verb of this class kr-
"do, make" is karo-; the weak stem is kuru-, before -m-, -y-,
and -v- only kur-: pres. sing. karomi, karofi, karoti, dual kurval),
kuruthal), kuruta}J., plural kurma}J., kurutha, kurvanti, optative
kuryiim, etc.
 THE VERB

kdroti is not to be separated from an older attested present forma~

tion ofthis root, Ved. kr~!lri-ti (thus 5th class). For the many attempts
at explanation, see the lit. in Thumb-Hauschild, Handbuth des
Stu~Jkrit, Vol. I, 2 (1959), pp. z&; ff., and W. P. Schmid, Indo~
gtrm(111isthe Forsthungm, Vol. 65 (196o), pp. 235 ff.

Ninth Class
§ Io6. The sign for the present is ·nti· in the strong stem, ·ni·
in the weak stem, ·11· before endings beginning with a vowel.

Old Ind. -nii-mi, -nr-ma~. -n.anti <IE •·nii-mi, •·u-mes, •-111-enti;

Gr. 156:1.1·\ITl·I-LI, MJ,I.-vi!i-IJEV. The ultimate origin of this present
formation is probably infixation (§102) in set-roots (§37), whose
final-a appeared after the infix. The present of •pej!a- "purify"
(>Old Ind. pavf-tdr· m. "purifier," povi-tum inf.) was •pu-ne-1-ti
(>Old Ind. jnmiiti), just as, for •;eug- "harness," the present was
•iu·ne-g-ti (>Old Ind. yunalni).

Paradigm kri· "buy":

Active
Present Indicative
Singular Dual Plural
Ist kril}imi~'~ kril).ivab kril).ima])
znd kril)isi kril).ithab kril).itha
J•d kril}iti kril).itab kril).&nti

Optative
Ist kril).iyim kril).iyiva kril).iyima
etc.
Imperative
Ist kril)ini kril).iva kril).irna
znd kril).ihi kril).itam kril).ita
J•d kril).itu kril).itim kril).antu
"'-tr-accord.inglo§zo.
88 MORPHOLOGY

Imperfect
Singular Dual Plural
1St akri~;~im akril).iva akrii)ima
znd akril)iii) akrit:Utam akril).ita
Jrd akril).iit akril).itiim ak.ril).an
Middle
Present Indicative
l.t kril).e kril).ivahe kri~J,imahe
znd kril).iJ;>e kril).ithe krit:Udhve
Jrd krit;~ite kril).iite krioate
Optative
l.t krir;tiya kril).ivahi kril).imahi
etc.
Imperative
l.t kril).ai kriQiivahai kril).iimahai
znd krii_li:?va kril).iitham kriQidhvam
Jrd kril).itiim krii).iit:im kril).atam

Imperfect
l.t akrii).i akri~:tivahi akril).imahi
znd akrii).ithlii) ak.ril).iithiim akril).idhvam
Jrd akrit:tita akril).1itiim akriJ;tata
§ro7. Roots of this class which end in a consonant (like aS-
" eat," grah- "seize") form the :znd sing. imper. act. in -ana:
aiana "eat!," grhiit~a "seize!" (as opposed to kri~ihi).
§ro8. grah- "seize," bandh- "bind," stambh- "prop," j7iii-
''know'' formgrh~iimi, badhniimi, stabhniimi,jtlniimi.
These are the usual zero grades with the presents of the 9th d.:
-r- to -ra-, -a-< •-t~- (§8) to -an-, ja-< •tw- (§9) to jiiii-< •Jm5-.
More archaic than the latter is the type of zero grade in -a (like
• pu<J- > pii-), whose -<1, according to § 106, does not appear before the
infix. The following rule relates to them:
 THE VERB

§109. Roots in -ii, like pU- "purify," lu- "cut," show short
-u- before -nii-f-n(i)-: puniimi, lu.niimi.
Some subjunctive forms of this class appear in Vedic, for example,
act. 2nd sing. grbh!!d!.r, 1st plur. jundnw, mid. 1st dual krr!liivahai;
forms with the following special endings also appear: act. 1st plur.
-masi, znd plur. -thana, mid. Jrd sing. -e, imper. act. znd sing. -tiit,
plur. -tana.
The Nonpresent Forms
§110. Like the present stems (§§83-109), the aorist stems,
perfect stems, and future stems, as well as additional derivative
forms, are formed directly from the root.

I. Aorists
In classical Sanskrit the aorist is used as a past tense beside imperfect
and perfect, without distinction. Its forms thus retreat more and
more before those of the other two preterites. Vedic, however, still
shows a full array of aorist fonns, augmented and augmentless, and
even has subjunctives, optatives, imperatives of aorists. Concerning
aorist injunctives, which still play a role in Sanskrit, see above, §85.

(a) asigmatic aorists

§ 11 I. The root aorist is formed by means of the augment (a-),
the pure root, and athematic endings.
Paradigms dii- "give," bhU- "be, become."
Singular Dual Plural

a dim abhiivam a diva abhiiva adima abhiima

'"
2nd adil:t abho.l) aditam abhO.tam adata abhiita
)Id ad it abho.t aditim abhiltim adul) abhflvan
Cf. the Gr. root aorists like rq:ow, EO'Tflv, E13T"Jv, E-6E-1..LEV.
§ Ir2. The thematic aorist is equal to an imperfect of the 6th
class (§83). Thus the imperfects from the roots sic-, sad-, gam-,
lip--according to the present stem-are asiiicam, asidam,
 MORPHOLOGY

agaccham, alimpam, but the aorists are anCam, asadam, agamam,

al£pam. Inflection like abharam (§84), etc.
Cf. Gr. aorists like iAmov, Sipvyov, for the presents i\Ei1rw,
q.eVyw.
§IIJ. The reduplicating aorist is likewise inflected thematic-
ally. The vowel of the reduplication syllable is usually quanti-
tatively different from that of the root syllable; with roots with
medial -a- and in -ii, -f, -r it is usually -i-, -i-. Cf. for cur- IO
"steal": a-cU-cur-am; for ga1}- 10 "compute": a-ji-ga1}am; for
ni- I causative (§I29): aninayam; for sthii- I causative (stha-
payati, § 129): atifthipam; for nai- 4 "get lost": aneiam; for
pat- I "fly": apaptam; for vac- 2 "speak": avocam; etc.
Cf. Gr. reduplicating thematic aorists like E-m;-qw-ov.

(b) sigmatic aorists

§I I4. The athematic s-aorist. The augmented root shows
vrddhi (§35) in the active, fundamental grade in the middle,
guiJ.a with roots in final -!, -d; to the root is added -s- (or -!-
according to §25) with athematic endings.
Paradigms: ni- 1 "lead" (aorist stem act. a-nai-~-. mid.
a-ne-f- [guQa]); yuj- 7 "bind, harness" (a-yauk-~-. a-yuk-f-):
Active Middle

Singular
anai!)am ayauk!iam ane~i ayuk~i
"'
znd anai!)i}:t ayauk~ii). ane!)~hai). ayuktha}:t
J'd anai!iit ayauk!)it ane!ita ayukta
Du.J
Jst anai~va ayauk!)va ane?vahi ayuk!)vahi
znd anai!itam ayauktam ane$3th3m ayuk$.ithli.m
Jed anai!itam ayauktam ane!?itim ayuk$.itli.m
 9I
Active Middle

Plural
Ist anai:;;ma ayau~ma ane~?mahi ayuk:?mahi
znd anaii?ta ayaukta anet;ihvam ayugdhvam
Jed anai!?ul:t ayauk!?ul:t ane!?ata ayuk!}ata
The peculiarities of these paradigms are explained by phonetic
processes: for example, -s- in the group •-k-s-t- is eliminated;
therefore we have a-yauk-ta as opposed to a-yauk-f-ma; -f-
before d 0 becomes voiced (•~) and disappears by cerebralization:
anetjhvam for a-nef+ dhvam. For rudh- "obstruct," on the other
hand, the active plural forms, for example, are: rst a-raut-s-ma
(assimilation -dh-s- > -ts-), 2nd arauddha ( •a-raudh- + ta, § 30, I),
3rd araut!u~.
Compare the Gr. s-aorists like !'&t~a, €Jev~a, Eypa~fa, and the
Lat. perfects of s-aorist origin like viXi, diXl, di1.Xi.
§I 15. The if-aorist. -4- is added to the augmented root
(gul).ated, with final vowel vrddhied in the active). Endings as in
§114. Cf. lU- 9 "cut off": a-/av-4-am, a/iiviQ, alavit, plur.
alth•ifma, aliiv4ta, a/iivifuQ; middle a/avip.', a/avifthiiQ, alavifta,
etc.; budh- 1 ''awaken'': abodJnjam, abodhifi; pil- 9 "purify'':
apiit:zjam, apavip:; grah- 9 "seize": agrahifam ( -i"-).
Rather frequent in the older language, but only a few examples left
in classical Sanskrit. Since this aorist generally belongs to se~-roots
(§37), -if- will chiefly go back to root-final-;;~+s-; cf. also Gr. forms
like t56:1Jacra, bcpE1.1acra.
§I 16. The s1~-aorist. This rare formation is found only with
some roots in -ii, diphthongs, and -am. It is solely active. -sif-
is added athematically to the gul).ated root bearing the augment;
cf. yti- .z "go": ayiin~am; ram- 1 "enjoy oneself": aramst~am.
§ 117. The sa-aorist. -sa -is joined to the augmented weak-grade
root. The inflection is thus thematic, and this aorist is conjugated
in the active like abharam (§84); in the middle there are some
 MORPHOLOGY

deviations. The sa-aorist of diS- 6 "show" is in the active

adikfam (§24), -a};, -at, etc., in the middle adilqi, adilqathii};,
adilqata, adikfii.vahi, adilqiithiim, adi~titii.m, adi~iimahi, adik-
~adhvam, adik!anta.
§I x8. A rare modal form related to the s-aorist, which has
approximately the function of the optative, is called the prec-
ative; it is formed in the active by the addition of -yds- with
athematic endings to the weak root form. budh- I "awaken" has
the following paradigm:
Singular Dual Plural
budhyiisam budhyiisva budhyiisma
'"
znd budhyiii:l budhyiistam budhyista
J'd budhyiit budhyiistiim budhyiisul:l
Historical explanation by T. Burrow, Festschnjt F. Weller (1954),
pp. 35 ff., lndo-Iranio.n Journal, Vol. 1 (1957), pp. 61 ff.
2. Future
§I I9. To the root, almost always gul).ated, is added the thematic
suffix -sya- (or -~ya- according to §25), with some roots -irya-.
Inflection like §84. Cf. da- "give": ddryii.mi, dasyasi, diisyati,
etc., middle diisye, diisyase, diisyate; kr- "make": kar-i-~yii.mi,
mid. karirye.
Additional examples: ni- "lead," nefYiimi; labh- "take,"
lapsyiimi; vas- ''dwell," vatsyiimi (-ss->-ts-); drS- "see,"
drah!yii.mi; grah- "seize," grahi~yii.mi; sad- "sit," sidifyiimi;
verbs of the 10th class and causatives (§§83, 129) keep -ay- and
add -ifya-: pat-, causative piitayati: patayzfyiimi.
The rare conditional is formally an "imperfect" of the future:
adiisyo.m "I would give, would have given, should have given."
§ 1 zo. A noun of agent in -tr- (dti-tr-" giver": dii-) forms a peri-
phrastic future with the verb" to be'' (as-, §88): datasmi ''I shall
give" < dtitii asmi. The third persons are without verbal form.
 THE VERB 9J
Active
Singular Dual Plural
datasmi d3.t3.svaJ:t datasmal:t
'"
2nd d3.tisi d3.t3sthal:t d3.t3stha
Jed data datarau diit3.ral:t

Middle
ditahe datasvahe ditismahe
'"
2nd diitiise datasathe diitiidhve
Jed diiti datarau diitaral:t

3· Perfect
§ 121. The stem of the perfect is formed from the root by re-
duplication; this follows for the most part the rules given in
§96, but the reduplication vowel for roots in -r, -f and diph-
thongs is -a-. Initial a-, ii- become 0.- in the perfect stem (ad-
" eat": perf. O.d-a, a.p- "obtain": a.pa); initial r- and a- before
several consonants have the reduplication syllable Qn-: rdh-
"develop," perfect stem iin-rdh-, afij- "besmear," Qnafij-.
Roots beginning with i-, u- are reduplicated by iy-, uv-, which
are contracted with the root vowel in the weak forms, giving i-,
U- (§122): if- "wish," £y-ef-a, i!-ul;; Uf- "burn," uvofa, iifu~;
roots with ya, va are reduplicated by£, u; the weak-grade form
in the weak stem(§ 122), i, u, is combined with these reduplica-
tions, giving i, U: yaj- "sacrifice," i-yiij-a, ij-ul); vac- "speak,"
uviica, Ucu~.

§ 122. The root is generally guQ.ated (strong) in the active

singular, but is of weak grade (weak) in the remaining forms.
Roots With medial -a- have -a- or -ii- in the 1st sing. act.,
always -ii- in the Jrd sing. Likewise, roots in -i, -i, -u, -U, -r, -f
have vrddhi optionally in the 1st sing. act. but always have
vrddhi in the Jrd sing. Roots which begin and end with a
94 MORPHOLOGY

consonant and whose vowel is long by nature or by position

(jiv-, nind-) show no gradation.
§ 123. Moreover, the perfect shows special endings, which arf
set off by hyphens in the first of the following paradigms.
(a) Paradigm tud- "push" (strong perfect stem tu-tod-, weak
stem tu-tud-):
Active
Singular Dual Plural
tutod-a tutud-i-va tutud-i-ma
"'
znd tutod-i-tha tutud-athui:t tutud-a
Jfd tutod-a tutud-atu):l tutud-ui:J.
Middle
tutud-e tutud-i-vahe tutud-i-mahe
'"
znd tutud-i-~e tutud-iithe tutud-i-dhve
Jtd tutud-e tutud-ate tutud-ire
(b) Paradigm kr- "do''; (c) gam- "go"; (d)jiv- "live."
These paradigms, given only in the active, show that the "con-
necting vowel" -i- standing before some endings can be lacking (b) or
can be used optionally (c); they show the lengthening of the medial
·Q:· of gam· (weak form gm·) and of the gul)a form of kr- (kar-)

in the Jrd person singular, optionally in the ISt person singular

(§122), as well as the lack of gradation injiv- (§122).
Singular
tst cakara, cakara jagama, jagama jijiva
znd cakartha jagantha, jagamitha jijivitha
)td cakara jagama jijiva
Dual
Ist cakrva jagrniva jijiviva
znd cakrathui:l jagmathui:l jijivathui:l
Jtd cakratui:l jagmatui) -jijivatul;l
 THE VERB 95
Plural
cakrma jagmima jijivima
'"
2nd oalm jag rna jijiva
J<d cakru}:l jagmu}:l jijivu}:l
The Vedic language deviates from this, above all, in the following
details: -Tire also appears in the 3rd plur. mid. (vi-vid-rire); the
"connecting vowel" is distributed differently; many reduplications
contradict the classical rules (sa-sit-, root sri- "bear"; lengthened
va-vrt-, root vrt- "roll"); we find subjunctives, optatives, impera-
tives of the perfect stem, as well as an augmented pluperfect. The
position of the Vedic accent explains why the root has full grade only
in the sing. act., for the accent falls upon the ending in all other
forms. Cf. act. 1st sing. tutdda, but du. tutudivd, pl. tutudimd, sing.
mid. tutudi.
Compare the reduplicated perfects like Gr. S€SopKa, lliorrra,
Lat. memordljmomordi, tetuli, tutudr; Old Ind. cakar-a, cf. Gr.
SESopK-a, -tha=Gr. oTcr-6a (§126), -a=Gr. -s. The length of medial
-a- in the Jrd sg. act. (§ 122) probably proceeded from cases like
jagama-Goth. qam, where -ii- for •-o- was in conformity with
phonetic law (§9; older jagdma of the rst sg. can perhaps be traced to
a basic form •g"eg"omja, in which -o- did not stand in an open
syllable). The Germanic preterites still clearly reflect the stem
gradation and accentual alternation of Old Ind.: cf. 3rd sg. Ved.
ju)O!a "has enjoyed," plur.juj!i!Ult with OHG Ms "chose," kurum
"we chose"<proto-Gmc. •kaus, formerly •kdus-a (Old Ind. -jd~-),
but •kuzum, formerly •kusum-e (Old Ind. -j!lf-').
§ 124. Roots with medial -a- which are reduplicated with
their own initial consonant (for example, pac-: papac-, sad-:
sasad-, but notgam-:jagam-, has-: jaha.s-) form the weak stem
without reduplication but with -e- instead of -a- in the root
syllable: sasad-: sed-, papac-: pee-, tatap-: tep-, etc. If the
ending -itha instead of -tha is added to the znd sing. act., then
this person is also formed from the weak stem.
Paradigm tap- "atone for":
 MORPHOLOGY

Active
Singular Dual Plural
1St tatapa, tatlipa tepiva tepima
2nd tataptha, tepitha tepathul;t tepa
)td tatlipa tepatui). tepui).
Middle
1st tepe tepivahe tepimahe
2nd tepi!?e teplithe tepidhve
Jrd tepe teplite tepire
The origin of this fonnation lies in the regular weak fonns (e.g.
ISt plur. act.): •sa-sd-iTrUJ (> •sazd-) beside sardda, •ya-im-imo
beside yaydma (sad- "sit," yam- "extend"), which must have gone
to sedima,yemima (•az, •ai> e, § q.); the model sa-sad-jsed- was then
carried over to ta-tap-ftep-, pa-pat-fpet- (:pat- "fall"). Vedic still
has pa-pt-U~ beside pe~, etc.
§125. Roots in -ii have -au as their ending in the tst and Jrd
sing. active; in the weak forms (and in the 2nd sing. active before
-itha) the root vowel falls away.
Paradigm dhii- "put":
Active
Singular Duol Plural
tst dadhau dadhiva dadhima
2nd dadhatha, dadhitha dadhathul:l dadha
)td dadhau dadhatui). dadhul:l
Middle dadhe, dadhife, etc.
Vedic paprd beside paprdu (prii- "fill").
§t:z6. The perfect of bhii- "be, become" is babhUva, babhii-
t'itha, babhiiva, plur. babhiivima, babhUva, babhiivu/.1.. For ji-
"conquer" we have: perf. 3rd sing. act.ji-giiy-a, plur.ji-gy-u~;
for hi- "throw'':jighaya,jighyuJ:t. For han- ''strike":jaghana,
jaghnul}. ci- "gather" forms dcaya or cikiiya.
 THE VERB 97
babhiiva is an archaism(: Gr. m-q.v-Ws), cf. also Ved. ra-sU-, §tzJ;
the perfects ofji-, hi-, etc. show thatj, h there are palatalizations of
g,gh, §§r8, 27.
ah- "speak'' occurs only in the perfect forms aha, dttha, tiha,
dual 2nd dhathulJ, Jrd tihatu/.1, plur. Jrd iihu/.1.
A "preterite-present" is veda "I know" without reduplica-
tion, root vid-: sing. 2nd vettha, 3rd veda, plural vidma, vida,
vidu/.1.
f.Jeda, 'l.!ettha, t:idma=Greek o15a (o15£), ol~a. i5~v, Goth.
wait, waist, witum.
§ 127. A periphrastic perfect is formed from the derived verbs,
especially the causatives, as well as from tis- "sit" and from
roots which begin with a vowel (except 4-) and are long by
nature or by position. Its means of formation: -dm is added to
the present stem of the derived verbs, to the roots of the others,
and the perfect of kr- "do" (§ I2J), as-" be" (dsa), or bhii- "be,
become" (§126) is then added; for example:
ds- "sit": dsdm-iisa, iisiim-cakre, asam-babhUva;
ct."nt- "think," cL 10 (cint-ay-a-ti): cintayiim-dsa;
lu§-, caus. tofayati "satisfies": tofayiim-iisa.

4· Derived Conjugations
§128. The passive is formed by addition of a stem-formation
element -ya- to the weak form of the root; the endings are those
of a middle of the thematic classes (§84).
Cf. yuj- "bind": yuj-ya-te "he is bound," dvif- "hate,"
dv#yate.
Final -i-, -u- of the root is lengthened before -ya-: ji-
"conquer," jiyate; Sru- "hear," Sruyate. Root-final -r- appears
before -ya- as -ri-, after a double consonant as -ar-; -t- appears
as -ir-, after labials as -iir: kr- "make," kriyate; smr- "remem-
ber," smaryate; tf- "cross over," tiryate; pf- "fill," piiryate.
 MORPHOLOGY

Roots in ·ti· usually show -i·: dti· "give," diyate. Cases with an
unchanged high-grade root also appear (jna- "know," Mad-
" eat," nind- "blame," gam· "go'':jiitiyate, khtidyate, nindyate,
gamyate). Note also bandh- "bind": badhyate, vac- "speak":
ucyate, ·cas- "dwell'': uryate, yaj- ''sacrifice'': ijyate, grah-
"seize": grhyate, Siis- "order": hryate.
Verbs of class 10 (§83) and causatives (§129) form the passive
from the form of the present stem left after ·aya- is dropped:
cur- 10 "steal" (cor-aya-ti), pass. coryate; vad- "speak,"
causative vtidayati, pass. t•iidyate.
The +present, having become the passive, thus shows, with few
exceptions, a zero·grade (§ 36) root form: •kr-i· > •kr-#-, •tu-f-,
•p[l·i· > tlr·y-, pilr·y- (§ IJ); •tb- (zero grade of dii-, §37), > •di-,
but di·y- with the same lengthening as withjiy-, irQy-; also •g"1p-j- >
gam-y-; •bh'l}dh-j- (: bandh-)>badh-y- (§8), uc-, u;- (§zs), i}- as
zero grades of vac-, vas-, yaJ-; •kas->ii;- (§§11, zs), high grade
iiis-.
As future, perfect, and aorist of the passive the corresponding
forms of the middle are used, but a Jrd sing. aor. of the passive
is formed by addition of-ito the augment-bearing guJ;tated root,
which is usually vrddhied if we have -a- in an open syllable:
budh- ''awaken'': a-bodh-i; iru- "hear": a-iriiv-i; kr- "make":
a-ktir-i; but e.g. jan- "be born," dam- "tame," ajani, adami.

In Vedic we also find unaugmented forms like irti:vi.

§ 129. Causatives are formed from the root in the same way
as for the 10th present class (§83): budh- "awaken": caus.
bodhayati ''he awakens,'' dri- ''see'': dariayati "he causes to be
seen, shows," ni- "lead": niiyayati "causes to be led," kr·
"make": ktirayati" he causes to be made," but jan- "be born":
janayati ''he begets." They designate the causing of the action
which the basic verb expresses.
A historical explanation appears on p. 72.
 THE VERB 99
Roots ending in -ii (-ai) usually have as their causative sign
-paya-, before which -ii- sometimes appears as short: jiiii-
"k.now," gii(i)- "sing," dii- "give": jii.4payati, giipayati, diipa-
yati(''causes to be given"). Note r- ''go,'' adhi-i- ''study," ruh-
" climb": arpayati, adhyiipayati, ropayati (beside rohayati), etc.
For the perfect of the causatives see§ 127, for the passive§ 128;
the future is formed from the causative stem, cf. bodhayifyati:
bodhayah' (budh- ); the reduplicating aor. (§I 13) serves as aorist.
Participles: §131, 135, infinitive §137, gerunds §139.

§130. Intensives are formed by means of a stem with

strengthened reduplication and -ya-: pii-pac-yate "he cooks
repeatedly": pac- "cook''; rorilyate "he cries very much": rU-
''cry''; other formations are veveth·, vevediti (: ·vid- "know''),
dari-drii-ti (: drQ- "run''), baribharti (: bhr- ''bear''), etc.
Desideratives add -sa- (-ifa-) to the reduplicated root: pi-pO-
sati "wishes to drink'': pa- "drink," Ju-irU-~ati ''should like to
hear"(: iru-). Note ditsati, dhitsati: dO- "give," dhii- "put";
ipsati: ap- ''obtain'';ji"ghiiritsati: han- "kill,'' etc.
By means of -ya- denominative verbs can be derived from
nominal stems, for example: amitra-yati "is hostile": amitra-
"enemy,'' dolii-yate "swings'': dolii- ''swing," tapar-yati
"castigates himself": tapas- "repentance." Note the occasional
lengthening of the stem-final sound (e.g. in kr~iiyati "colors
black," kaviyant- "acting like a wise man": kr~a- "black,"
kavi- "wise man''), as well as the occurrence of a stem in -i- for
a-nouns: putri-yati ''desires a son" (putra- "son").

The Nonfinite Verb

(a) Participles
§ 131. A present active participle is derived from the present
stem by means of the suffix -ant-f-at-, already discussed in §62:
bhr- 1, bharant-; with athematic verbs (e.g. hhiMd-mi: hhind-
 MORPHOLOGY

antijbhid-) -ant- is added to the weak form: bhind-ant-. Verbs of

class 3 (§§96 ff.) have only -at-: dti- 3 (do.dtiti), do.do.t-.
Causatives and futures also form their participles in this way:
stidayati "puts," bhm:r!yati "will be": stido.yant-, bhavr!yant-.
§I 32. The present middle participle adds -mdna- (f. -a-) to the
present stem in the thematic classes, -ana- (f. -a-) in the
athematic classes: bhr- 1, bharamiitra-,Zil Sru- passive,irii.yamti~a-,
dti- future (middle): da-sya-mtina-; bhid- 7, bhindtina-; note iis-
2 "sit": tisina-.

Cf. -miina- with Gr. q>tp6-~vo-s, Lat. alu-mn-us, etc.

§I 33· The perfect active participle, whose inflection has
already been given in §68, adds -vas- to the weak perfect stem
(§122): kr- "make," weak perfect stem ca-kr- (1st plur. act.
cakrma), perf. act. part. cakrvas-. If the weak stem is mono-
syllabic (ii.c-: u·vtica, tep-: tatiipa,jajfi-:jajana, §§I2I, I24), then
the connecting vowel -i- usually appears before the suffix:
iicivas- "having spoken," tepivas- " having castigated himself,"
jajfiivas- "having begotten," but ·vidvas- "knowing."
§ 134. The perfect middle participle adds -tina- to the weak
perfect stem (§122): tud- ''push,'' tu-tud-tina-; kr- "do," ca-
kr-ii~a- (§zo); tap- "atone for," tep-iina-.

§ IJS· Perfect passive participles (which have active meaning

with intransitive verbs) are formed by addition of -ta- (f. -tii-)
or -na- (f. -nii-) to the weak-grade root.
-ita- also occurs beside -ta-, usually with set-roots (§37). Cf.
iru- "hear," p.p.p. iruta-; kr- "do," krta-; pat- "fall," patita-.
Further -!a-participles show peculiarities for whose under-
standing a knowledge of phonological history is necessary, e.g.
vac- "speak," ukta-; yaj- "sacrifice," itt a-; itis- "order,"
iifta-; bandh- "bind," baddha-; man- "think," mata-; jan- "be
28 -"-according to§2o.
 THE VERB

born,'' jiita-; dam- ''tame,'' diinta-; dah- ''burn,'' dagdha-; guh-

"hide," gUt)ha-; /ih- "lick," lit)ha-; vah- "travel," Wjha-; sthii-
"stand," sthita-; dhii- "put," hita-.
The following sound laws and ablaut laws are to be referred to for
the explanation: the zero grade (§36) of Old Ind. ya, va=i, u; of
ii =•1 > i (§ 11 ; thus ii~- is the zero grade of iiis-, with -!- according
to §25); of an, am=•~>a (§8), of ani (§37)= •w>a (§9) {and of
dami-: •dtpi·ld- > dan-ta-, §9?]. Origin of c from •k (§ rS; uk-ta-),
of} from •j(and •gt> •kt> Old Ind. N, Old Ind. i1ta-, §§r9, 25), of
h from •gh, •zh (§27); •dh-t, etc.>ddh (§Jo, t), also •iiih-ta->
•tiidha-, lf4ha- (: lih-), •uih-ta-> •u:idha-, o.¢ha- (-u- zero grade of
vah-); h also from •dh (§27), •Jh1-td->hita- (dha-).
The -!a-participle comes from an IE verbal adjective in -td-; cf.
Gr.crTOT6<;, Lat. status, etc.
Causatives and verbs of the toth class always form the p.p.p.
in -ita-; before it they have the form of their stem without -aya-:
cur- to "steal," cor-ita-; sthiipayati "puts," sthiipita-.
-na- is rarer: cf. kr- "scatter," kin;ra- (§zo) ;pt- "fill," pUrtJ.a-;
ha- "leave," hina-; lqi- "destroy," ksi1_1.a-; Iii.- "cut off," /Una-;
bhafij- "break," bhagna-; sad- "sit," sanna-.
Zero-grade root (•krl-. •pt1-, •bh'}g-); note the lengthening of k#-
and •hi- (zero grade of hii-) before -na- (see concerning this
M. Leumann, lndogennanische Forschungen, Vol. 58 (1942), p. 24)
and the assimilation in •sad-na- > sanna-, etc.
Origin from an IE verbal adjective in -nO-; cf. Gr. Cry-v6-s", Lat.
pie-nus, dignus, etc.; participial meaning above all in •(-efo-)no- of
Germanic and Slavic, cf. Goth. bund-an-s "bound," OCS nu-en-'b
''borne."
A perfect active participle can be formed by addition of -vant-
(§62) to participles in -ta- and -na-: ukta- "spoken"(: vac-),
ukta-vant- "having spoken''; cint- cl. ro, cintita-vant~ "having
thought"; chid- "split," chinna-·vant- "having split."
§ IJ6. A participle of necessity (also called a future participle
or gerundive) is formed by means of the suffixes -ta't-ya-, -aniya-,
 MORPHOLOGY

and -ya- (-tya-). -tavya- is added to the gul).ated root (§35): kr-
" do," kar-ta•vya- "what must be done" ;ji- "conquer," jetavya-
''to be conquered"; bhii- ''become,'' bhavitavya- ''what has to
happen" (-i- with set-roots {§37]); iru- "hear," irav-~fya­
"what is to be heard" (§2o); budh- "awaken," bodhya- "to be
awakened." Before -ya- vrddhi and other fonns of the root also
appear: siidya- (sad- "sit"), kiirya- (kr- "do"), bhiivya- and
bha1.ya- (bhii-),jeya- andjayya- (}£-), lkya- (dii- ''give"). -t-ya-,
with the weak form of the root, also occurs: itya- "what must
go" (i-), Srutya- "to be heard, what must be heard" (Sru-); cf.
§ 1]9·
(b) Infinitive
§ 137. The infinitive is formed by means of -tum, which is added
to the high-grade (gul).ated) root; frequently, originally with
set-roots (§37), -i- appears before -tum. Cf. dii- "give," dii-tum;
ni- "lead," nl!tum; Sru- "hear," Srotum; bhil- "become,"
bha·r:itum; pat- "fall," patitum; yudh- "fight," yoddhum; ?.'ah-
" travel," vo.jhum; sthii-, causative sthtipayati, inf. sthtipay-i-tum.
The same sound laws are to be noted in this case as for the addition
of the participial suffix -ta- to roots ending in a consonant (§135).
Old Ind. -tum is originally the ace. sing. of a noun in -tu-; the same
formation is shown by the Lat. supine, e.g. da-tum. Vedic also uses
other case forms of -tu- as infinitives, such as -to~. -tave, -tavai; it
still has an abundance of additional infinitive fonnations, e.g. in -taye,
-mane, -vane, -ase, -adhyai, etc.

(c) Gerunds
§ IJR. A characteristic syntactical trait of Sanskrit is its use of
gerunds. They are best translated in English by a dependent
clause with "when'' or "after'' (or a participial construction).
Cf.: Damayanti tu tac chrut?.·ii vaco . .. "But when Damayanti
had heard this speech''; Srgiilo 'yam iti matvti" 'This is a jackal'
-as he so considered ... " ; Siinyam. viisagrham. vilokya "looking
at the empty bedroom ... "; etc.
 THE VERB lOJ

§139· Four suffixes can form gerunds: -tvii, -ya, -tya, and
the rare -am. Before -ttJii the verbal root as a rule assumes the
same form as before the suffix -ta- (§IJS)i cf. tJaC- "speak":
uktrJii (: ukta-); roap- "sleep'': suptvti; gam- ''go":gatrJii; sthti-
causative: .rthiipayitvd.
-ya'l' is added to roots which are compounded with preposi-
tions. Cf. ii-dii- "take": iidiiya; ni-pat- "fall down": nipatya;
jan- "be born" and khan- "dig" form 0 jii-ya, 0 khii-ya just as
they do 0jan-ya, 0 klran-ya. Compounded roots in a short vowel
have -tya, cf. sat-k!- "entertain": sat-kr-tya, abhi-dru- "run
towards": abhi-dru-tya. Note ru'-han- "strike down'': ni-M-tya
(etc.), as well as the double possibility ii-gam-ya and ii-ga-tya
for d-gam- "come near."
0 jii·ya< •jf!l•, §9; 0 ha-tya, 0 ga-tya show -a- from •-CJ-, •-,-, §8.

-t-ya beside -ya is comparable to -tya-: -ya- with the participle of

necessity, §136.
-am: e.g. kiir-am (kr- "do"), viid-4m (fJIId- "say"), tJed-am (vid-
"know").
F. Composition
§ 140. Verbal Composition. Old lndic verbs can be compounded
with prepositions and thereby modified in their meaning. The
most important of these prepositions are:
d- "hither, unto": cf. ii-gacchati "comes to";
abhi- "toward, to, around'': cf. abhi-tbm:ati ''hurries to, sets
out";
adhi- "over, to, into": cf. adhi-gacchati "finds, comes upon";
adhi-karoti "puts over something";
anu- "toward, after, along'': anu-patati" follows, runs after";
apa- "off, away": apa-nayati "leads away";
api- "toward, unto, further": api-gacchati "goes unto";
• Causative& with a long root syllable drop -ay- before -ya: ava-t4rayati
"fetches," avatclrya, but saril-pmayati "brings together" (with short root
ayllable):sal'li-pmay-)'4.
 MORPHOLOGY

ati- ''beyond'': ati-gacchati ''goes past";

a·va- "down, off": ava-rohati "climbs down";
ni- "down, into": ni-patati "falls down";
m!- (nir-, ni~-) "out": nir-viiati "goes out";
pard- ''over, through, away'': parii-jayati ''overcomes'';
pari- "around": pari-1,1ayati "leads around";
pra- "forward, forth": pra-bhavati "arises, comes to light";
prati- "toward, against, back" : prati-hhii!;ate "replies,
answers";
sam- "together": sam-yacchati "holds together";
upa- "unto, to, toward": upa-fr7}oti "listens to";
ut- "up, away, out": ud-yacchati "lifts up, promotes";
vi- ''apart'': vi-gacchati "goes asunder, goes away."
These prepositions are an IE inheritance; cf., for instance, apa:
ci:rr6, api: 1!-lri, pari: mpi, pra: TTp6, prati: TTpoTi, upa: &n-6, etc.

Nouns can also be compounded with kr- 8 "make," bhil- 1

"become"; in this case stem-final -a-, -an- become -i-; -i-, -u-
are lengthened. Cf. aryaya- "indeclinable," avyayi-bhavati
''becomes indeclinable''; iikula- ''confused,'' iikuli-karoti ''con-
fuses"; iuci- "pure," iuci-bhavati "becomes pure," etc. These
two verbs are also compounded with certain adverbs: alam-
karoti "decorates" (: a/am "enough"); iivir-bhavati "becomes
evident" (ii1.-·iM.
§141. 1\iominal Compounds. :;\iominal compounds are very
abundant in Sanskrit; with the development of literary style, a
larger and larger part of the content of a sentence is expressed
by extensive compounds. It can already be seen from an epic
text like the Song of :;\!ala that a rather long sentence could, for
example, be formed by a dvandva-compound (§142) and a non-
finite form, the perf. act. part.(§ 135) ofdri- "see," in addition to
the subject (literally, "[we are] having seen''): vayam hi deva-
gandhan:amiinU!oragariileyasiin drftavantaJ.r "but we have seen
 CO:MPOSITION 105

gods, Gandharvas, people, snakes, and R~asas." The ability to

decompose compounds correctly is thus a prerequisite for the
practical understanding of texts.
The scholars of ancient India gave names to the types of
compounds which have come into the terminology of Western
linguistics; they are given in the following paragraphs.
In general it is to be noted that the constituents of compounds
usually appear in the stem form, with manifold gradation (§58)
in the middle or weak form; the "stems" of the pronouns cited
in §§73 ff. appear in composition. For mahiint- (§62) mahii- is
found as a first member; final members sometimes change to the
-a-declension (§ 39).
For the last two rules the compound from mahiint- "great" and
riljan- ''king" is exemplary: mahii-rilja- m. "great king." mahii- is an
older fonn, to which -nt- has been added only secondarily and which
still appears separately in Vedic (ace. mahd-m, gen. mah-<#1). Sound
laws (§§8-30) and sandhi rules (§33), which also apply in word-
interior position, should be referred to for an understanding of the
compound forms.

t. Copulative Compounds
d"t•andva- ''pair''
§ 142. The members of these compounds must be connected
with "and" after decomposition, as in Eng. fourteen==" four
and ten," Gr. vvx.6iJilepov="night and day." They occur with
dual or plural inflection of the second member but also as
collective neuter singulars. Cf.: putra-pautr~ "sons and grand-
sons''; artha-dharmau ''benefit and right"; briihma{!a-}qatri"ya-
vit-iildriib "Brahmans, warriors, merchants, and Su.dras."
Collective: sukha-dubkham "joy and sorrow." Adjectival: iukla-
krula- "bright and dark."
106 MORPHOLOGY

2. Determinative Compounds
tatpurU!a- ''his servant"
§ 143· A case relationship is expressed by the composition; thus
in the example tat-purufa-, chosen to name the type, the stem
tad- replaces the genitive "his" (Old Ind. tasya). Cf. Ger.
Kiinigs-haus "the king's house." Examples: videia-gamana- n.
"going abroad"; svarga-gati- f. "trip to heaven"; aiva-ko·vida-
"skilled in horses." Sometimes not the stem but an inflected
case form appears as the first member: cf. divas-pati- m. "lord
of heaven" (gen. diva~).

karmadhtiraya-
§ 144· Karmadhiirayas-there is no accurate translation of the
Old Ind. technical term-are compounds in which the second
member is more closely defined attributively by the first
member: cf. maha.-rii.ja- m. "great king" (§ 141); priya-sakhi- f.
''dear girl friend''; su-deva- ''good god''; su-krta- ''well done";
kanyii-ratna- n. "pearl of a maiden"; riija-r#- "royal sage, a
sage who is also a king."

dvigu- "consisting of two oxen"

§ 145· These are determinative compounds whose first member
is a cardinal numeral. As a rule they designate a collective rela-
tion and usually have the form of the neutr. sing., more rarely
that of a feminine in -i: tri-loka- n., tri-loki- f. "the community
of the three worlds, the three worlds"; catur-yuga- n. "the four
ages of the world"; tri-riitra- n. "space of three nights."

3· Possessive Compounds
bahuvrihi "possessing much rice"
§ 146. These primarily adjectival compounds are to be trans-
lated by "having [a definite property]," "being in [a certain
 COMPOSITION 107

situation)," like Ger. Dickkopf="having a thick head, whose

head is thick,'' Langfinger, Lat. magn-animus, Gr. poso-6CncrvAos,
etc. Cf. divya-rUpa- "possessing divine form," mahdtman-
''magnanimous, whose soul is great,'' an-anta- "endless, having
no end," su-manas- "having a good mind, well-disposed," sa-
bhdrya- "having one's spouse with one, accompanied by one's
spouse," prajti-ktima- "whose desire is offspring, desiring
children," iastra-ptiTJi- "having a sword in one's hand."-tidi-,
O.dika-, iidya- "first, beginning," more rarely prabhrti- "begin-
ning" as final members express "etc., and the others": sim-
hadayal) "the lions (sitnha-), etc., the lions and the other
animals''; ghata-iara.va.dika- n. "pitcher, plate, etc." (=what
has "pitcher [gha1a-] and plate [iarti'l.>a-] as first"), sirnha-
vyO.ghra-dvipi-vrka-prabhrtayaQ "lions, tigers, panthers, wolves,
etc."
4· Adverbial Compounds
avyayibhiiva- " indeclinable"
§147. Avyayibhavas--for the formation of the name see §140
end-are adverbial compounds in the ace. sing. neuter form,
with an indeclinable (a preposition, an adverb, etc.) as the first
member. Cf. yathti-kiimam "according to desire"; sa-kopam
"with anger, in anger"; praty-a/4am "before the eyes, pub-
licly"; yrivaj-jfvam "for one's whole life, so long as life lasts."
 APPENDIX
Three Old Indic Texts

1. The Dawn. A sample of Vedic. (Rig-Veda 6, 64, 3-4)

·vdhanti sim aru~&so rUianto gfi.va~ subhdgiim urviy& prathiinJm /
dpejate ii1ro dstet:a idtrUn bddhate tdmo ajird rni vdfhii II 3 II
sugdtd te supdthii pdrvaterv O't'titi apds tarasz· svabhiino f
stf na cf vaha prthuyiimann rrve rayiril divo duhitar irayddhyai
II 4/f.
"Reddish, bright oxen draw her (the dawn), the darling, who
extends far;
she drives away (the darkness) as a brave marksman drives away
his enemies;
she drives away the darkness like a swift driver.
Good paths and good roads are yours even in the mountains;
with no wind you travel over the waters, you self-lighting
one.
You bring us, wide-coursed, high daughter of the sky, wealth as
a comfort!"
vah- (§84) "travel, draw" [Lat. vehere, Ger. be-wegen].-sfm,
enclit. ace. sg. "her, him" [cf. OHG rl "she"?].-aro!!d- adj.
"reddish," Ved. nom. pl. -dsa!r (§39), in sandhi -dso (§JJ, IZ).-
rUiant- adj. "shining, bright," nom. pl. -a/:J (§57).-gO- m. f. "ox,
bull, cow" (§54 [Gr. ~Gs, etc.]).-su-hhdga-, f. -ii- adj. "lovely,
channing," orig. bahuvrihi (§146) "having a good share," from su-
"good" (=Gr. V-ynis] and bhdga- "share, luck" [-OCS hogan
"rich"].-urviy& adv. "far" [from urU- "wide, broad," cf. Gr.
EVpV<; "wide"].-prathand- mid. part. of the root aorist of prath-
"spread" {cf. PfthU-, see below, =Gr. Tri\crnJs "broad"].
lj-+ti.pa (§§s, 14, 84) "drive away."-ilira- adj. "heroic, brave"
(cf. Gr. KVptos "ruling, lord"]; -o according to §JJ, 12.-dsteva for
dstii iva (§33, 2): d.rtar- m. "marksman" (§52), it,•a "as."-fdtru-
( Io8)
 APPENDIX
"'9
m. "enemy" [cf. Ger. Hader1J.-hiidh- "drive away, expel."-
tdma.r- n. "darkness" (§§33, u; 6o) [cf. Lat. temere "blindly,"
tenebrae "darkness"].--ajird- adj. "quick, active" [from aj- "drive
on," Lat. agere].-nd "like."-~·dfhar- m., with Ved. -!- for -/.-:
vddhar- "driving, driver"< ·~·a;l)har- < •vaih-tar- (§§ Lf; 30, 1),
from vah- "traveL"
s:ugdtd for sugd utd (§33, 2), from su-gd- ''wetl passable, good path,"
utd "and" [Gr. ~-VTe "just as"]; su-pdtha- "well paved, good road"
(§66); Ved. nominative pl. n. in -ii, §39.-te enclit. "to you" (=Gr.
To1], §73.-pdr•vata- m. "rock, mountain," Joe. pl. -e;u (§33, 4).-
a-viitd- n. "windlessness" [a- "un-,"=Lat. in-, Gr. d:-, Gmc. un-,
§8; vdta- m. "wind," cf. Lat. ventus].-ap-, ace. pl. (§69) "water";
§33, 12.-tf- (d. I, §83) "overcome"; enclisis of the verb.-svd-
bhiinu- (unstressed voc. sg.) "self-lighting," bahuvrlhi (§146) from
svd- "own" [Lat. suus], bhtinu- m. "light."
sddem. pron. "this, that'' [ =Gr.f!, §74]; bound with a verb in the
2nd person, approximately "that which you are."-na!r (sandhi:
§33, 12), enclit. pers. pron. of the rst plur. (§73).-vah- with J "bring
to, lead to," 2nd sg. imper.-prthu-yiiman- adj., bahuvrihi-comp.
"with broad (PrthU-, see above) course (ydman-) ''; voc. sg.-here and
in the following tmstressed-in -an (§6s; sandhi: §33, IO).-nvd-,
f.-&- adj. (§§40, 41) "high, exalted."-rayi- m. "wealth, propeny"
(§§ll, I; 56).-div-d[l (§33, 12), gen. sg. of dydu[r m. f. "sky"
(§55); duhitdr- f. "daughter" [=Hom. Gr. voc. tu6s &Uycrrep].-
ih i1-aya- "be strong," Ved. inf. in -adhyai {§I37).

2. Damayanti. A piece of epic language

Nalopakhyiina 1, xo-r2. The beginning of this song has been given
above, p. 35· After the introduction of the hero, ~ala, begun there,
the story tums to the heroine of the short epic and describes how the
ardent desire of the Vidarbhan prince Bhima for children was
fulfilled: he became the father of three princes and of a maiden,
Damayanti. But Damayanti-

Damayanti tu riiperJa tejasa ya.Jasa iriya I

saubhtigyena ca lokefU yaia!r priipa sumadhyama /I 1 o /I
atha tam vayasi priipte ddsiniim samalamkrtam I
iatam iatam sakhinti1it. ca paryuptisacchacimiva //t I //
tatra sma rii.jate bhaimi sarvii.bhara~abhitp"tti f
sakhimadhye 'navadytiligi vidyutsaudtimani yathti II rzf/.
"But fair-waisted Damayanti obtained fame among people by
reason of her beauty, splendor, glory, magnificence, and
charm.
Then when she came of age, a hundred adorned maidservants
and a hundred girl friends served her like Saci.
There, indeed, the daughter of Bhima, clad with every adorn-
ment, shines in the midst of her girl friends with a faultless
body, like a special kind of lightning flash."

tu "but."-rupa- n. "form, beauty" (§39).-tejas- n. "splendor,

majesty"; yaias- n. "glory, favorable conduct" (§6o).-1r!- f.
splendor, magnificence" (§51).
saubhiigya- n. "charm, attractiveness" (vrddhi derivative {§35] of
su-bhaga-, see above, I, firstline).-ca "and" [=Gr. -n:, Lat. -que].-
loka- m. sg. and plur. "people, men, world" (§39).-iip-+pra-
"obtain" [cf. Lat. api.scor, prOJ, perf. (§121).-ru-madhyama-, f. -if-,
bahuvrihi (§146) "with beautiful middle" (su- "good," madhyamJJ-
m. n. "middle of the body, waist"; see below, 6th line).
atha "then, thereupon, further."-ta-, dem. pron.: §74.--vaya.r-
n. ''age, youth"; priipta- "reached,'' p.p.p. of iip- +pra- (see above);
Joe. absol. (§38).-diisi- f. "maidservant, slave girl" (§so).-kr-+
sam-a/am- "prepare, adorn," p.p.p. 0 krta-.
iata- n. "hundred, a hundred" [Gr. ~Kcrr6v, Lat. centum, §24].-
sakhi- f. "girl friend" (§§f+, 50).-iis- "sit" (Gr. i't(FTal] +pari-upa-
[Gr. m:pi, \nr6] "sit around, surround in sitting, serve"; 0 iisat
themat. 3rd sg. imperf.-iacl- f. (sandhi: §39, g) name of Indra's
wife (§so).-iva "as, just as."
tatra "there."-sma "truly, certainly."-riij- "shine, sparkle,"
cl. I, mid. (§84).-Bhaimi- f. (§so), vrddhi derivative of the name
Bhima-: "the daughter of Bhima" (=Damayanti).-sarva- adj.
"whole, every" [Gr. Oi\o~]. iibhara1_1a- n. "piece of jewelry, adorn-
ment," bhU!- (p.p.p. 0 ita-) "adorn"; with the kannadhiiraya (§144)
san:obhara1_1a- "every adornment," bhU{ita- is joined as a tatpuru~a
(§143) "clad with every adornment."
madhya- n. "middle" [Lat. medius]; sakhi-m 0 Joe. sg. (§39) "in the
 APPENDIX

midst of girl friends.''-anavadyiirig!~ f. (sandhi: §33, Si inflection:

§so), bahuvrihi (§ 146) from ano.vadya~ adj. "faultless" and ariga- n.
"member, body."----vidyut- f. "lightning flash" (§59).-saudiimani-
f. "a special kind of lightning flash, the saudamani" (§so).-yatha
"as, just as."

J. The One Garlanded in a Grove. Verses from later

courtly literary poetry
Gitagovinda of Jayadeva (uth century A.D.), v, 1o-11. The erotic
and mystical operetta describes the love of the pastoral god Krishna
for Radha, the estrangement, longing, and final reconciliation of the
two lovers. The following verses are taken from the request of
Radha's girl friend to Radha to give up her jealous reserve and to
hasten to the waiting Krishna.
patati patatre vica/ati patre iarikitabhavadupayanam /
racayati iayanam sacakitanayanam paiyati tava panthtinam I
dhirasamire yamuntitire vasati •vane vanamiili /Ira II
mukharamadhiram. tyaja mafijiram ripumiva kelisulolam /
cala sakhi kuiijam satimirapuiijam iilaya nilanicolam I
dhirasamire yamuniitire vasati vane vanamtili fI 11 II.
"If a wing flies and a leaf moves here and there, suspecting your
coming,
he prepares the couch and observes your path with fearful eye.
Under a quiet wind on the bank of the Yamuna he dwells in the
forest wearing a garland of woodland flowers.
Abandon the resounding, unstable ring for the foot, [which is)
like a traitor [and] eagerly longing for dalliance.
Hasten, 0 girl friend, to the bushes filled with darkness; put on
a dark~colored cloak.
Under a quiet wind on the bank of the Yamuna he dwells in the
forest wearing a garland of woodland flowers."
pat- "lly, soar" [Gr. TThOIJCIL "lly," Lat.petO "seek"], pres. part.
(§131) patant-; patatra~ n. "wing, feather" [from pat-]; cal-+vi-
"move here and there" [cal- with-/- (§zJ) beside car- "move," Gr.
 APPE~DIX

'TtiAo~o:L "am in motion"], pres. part. calant-; patra- n. "leaf" [cf.

Eng.feathtT]; locative absol. (§38).-iatikita- ''supposing, suspecting,
anxious, uneasy" (orig. p.p.p. of iarik-); hlravant- "you," polite
address (§62), stem bhavat-, before voiced sounds bhavad" (§JJ, 8);
upayiina- n. "coming near."
rae-, racayati "get ready, prepare."-iayana- n. "couch, place of
rest" [from ie-te "lies"-Gr. KEI-To:t, §92].-sa-cakita- "fearful;
with (sa-; see the 2nd strophe) fright (cakita-)"; nayana- n. "eye";
bahuvrihi (§146), used adverbially (explaining paiyaci).-paiyati,
present (suppletive to dri- "see") "sees, observes" [full root form
s-pai-, cf. Lat. speci6, Ger. spiihen].-tava "your," gen. sg. of the
pers. pronoun of the 2nd person (§73).-path-, strong stem panthiin-
m. "way, path": §66.
dhira- adj. "quiet, slow, continuous"; samrra- m. "wind";
karmadhiraya (§q4).-Yamunii- f. name of a river, Yamuna (today
Jumna); tira- n. "bank"; tatpuru~a (§143).-vas- "dwell, stay"
[Goth. wisan "be," Ger. Wesen, ge-wesen, Eng. warJ.-vana- n.
'' forest."--'l;ana-miilin- adj." wearing a garland of woodland flowers"
(from vana- (see the preceding] and miilii- f. "garland").
mukhara- adj. "noisy, resounding, talkative."-adhira- adj. "in-
constant, unstable" (with a-privative added to dhlra-; see the pre-
ceding strophe).-tyaj- "leave," 2nd sg. imper. (§84).-mafiji'ra- m.
n. "decoration for the foot, ring for the foot."-ripu- "treacherous,
m. deceiver, traitor'' (§48).-iva "like."-keli- m. f.'' play, dallying";
su- "well, very"; lola- "unsteady, restless, desiring something."
cal- "hasten, move about" (see the rst strophe).-sakhi- f. "girl
friend" (see under 2); voc. sg. (§so).-kufija- m. "bushes, leaves."
-sa- "with, together with" [IE •ntt-. cf. Gr. 0:-1rAoV~. Lat. sim-plex,
etc.]; timira- ''dark";puiija· m. "quantity"; sa-t 0 ''filled with dark·
ness, full of d:ukness."-iflayati "wears, puts on," 2nd sg. imper.
(§84).-ni/a- adj. "dark-colored"; nicola· m. "covering, cloak";
karmadhiraya (§ 144).
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
(a) General Treatments, Grammar,
History of the Language
Burrow, T., The Sanskrit Language. London, 1955, 1965.
Renou, L., Grammaire de Ia langue vediqUI!. Lyon-Paris, 1952.
Renou, L., Histoire de fa langue Sanskrite. Lyon-Paris, 1956.
Renou, L., Grammaire Sanscrite. 1-11. Paris, 1939; 2nd ed.
tg6x.
Thumb, A., and Hauschild, R., Handbuch des Sanskrit. Eine
Einfii.hrung in das sprachwirsenschaftliche Studium des Altind-
ischen. Heidelberg: Vol. I,1 (Introduction, Phonology), 1958;
r, 2 (Morphology), 1959; 11 (Texts and Glossary), I953·
Wackernagel, J., Altindische Grammatik. GOttingen: Vol. I
(Phonology), r8g6, 2nd ed. (General introduction, written by
L. Renou; reprint of the phonology; supplements by A.
Debrunner), 1957; Vol. II, I (Introduction to inflection,
nominal composition), 1905, znd ed. (with supplements by
A. Debrunner), 1957; Vol. II, 2 (The nominal suffixes, by
A. Debrunner), 1954; Vol. III (Nominal inflection-numerals
-pronouns, with A. Debrunner), 1930; index to Vols.
by Richard Hauschild, 1964.
Whitney, W. D., Sanskrit Grammar, 2nd ed. 1889; 1oth
printing, Cambridge, 1964.
Grundriss der indo-an·schen Philologie und Altertumskunde.
Founded by G. BUhler, continued by F. Kielhorn, H. LUders,
and J. Wackernagel. Strassburg, 1896 ff. [Includes, among
other things: E. Windisch, Geschichte der Sanskrit-Philologie
und indischen Altertumskunde, 1917, 1920; A. A. Macdonell,
Vedic Grammar, 1910; J. S. Speyer, Vedische und Sanskrit-
Syntax, 1896.]
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