i

g n 41.a.

† A final n before s and j is often allowed to remain unchanged.

CHAPTER III.

ON SANSKRIT ROOTS, AND THE FORMATION OF THE CRUDE BASES OF NOUNS.

BEFORE treating of Sanskrit nouns (संज्ञा or नामन् ), it will be advisable to point out in what respect the peculiar system adopted in their formation requires an arrangement of the subject different from that to which we are accustomed in other languages.

74. In Sanskrit nouns (including substantives, adjectives, pronouns, and numerals) there is this great peculiarity, that every one of them has two distinct states prior to the formation of the nominative case; viz. 1st, a root (dhátu); 2dly, coming directly from the root, a state which is called the crude form or crude base (prátipadika); that is to say, a state antecedent to inflection, and anterior to any of the cases, even the nominative. This crude form or crude base of the noun is sometimes termed the inflective base, because it generally coincides with this inflective base or an-ga* (Pán. I. 4, 13), i. e. with that changed form of the root, which serves as the basis for the construction of the case t.

In the first place, then, let us inquire what is the root?

There are in Sanskrit about two thousand elementary sounds (dhátu), out of which, as out of so many blocks, are carved and fashioned, not only all the nouns, but all the verbs which exist in the language.

a. Though the root may be compared to a rough block, or to the raw material, out of which nouns and verbs are constructed, yet the student must understand that in the dialect of the Vedas, and even in modern classical Sanskrit, roots are not unfrequently used by themselves as substantives and adjectives, and are very commonly so used at the end of compounds. See 84, 87, and 172.

*The an-ga or inflective base though often identical with the crude form or crude base is not always so; thus, in the model of the 1st class of nouns masculine, the crude base is sira, but the inflective base is not only sira, but also sivá, sive, and siván.

†The crude word, before declension, is called prátipadika (or sometimes śabda), whereas pada is the name for the inflected word, or base and case-affix together.

b. Every one of these roots or primary sounds conveys some simple idea, which appears under different modifications in the derivatives from it. Thus-to mention a few of the most common -the root fa kship conveys the idea of throwing;'

kri, of

krí, of buying;' hri, of seizing,' 'taking;'

as, a vṛit, ‘being;' bhú, becoming;'

गम्

jív, ‘living;' ♬ ní, 'leading;' f ji, 'conquering;' gam, πyá, चर् car, क्रम् kram, इ i, सृ sri, स्कन्द skand, 'going ;' वद् vad, वच् val, a brú, 'speaking;' TM budh, ☎ jná, knowing;' dṛiś, 'seeing;' इष्ish, कम् kam, ‘ wishing ;' मृ mri, ‘ dying ;' दा dà, 'giving ;' जन् jan, 'producing;' dhá, placing;' ad, bhuj, a bhaksh, ‘eating;' π pá, drinking;'pać, 'cooking;'

han,‘killing;' pat,

'falling;' vas, dwelling;' fan vis, 'entering;' sthá, stand

ing;' śru, ‘hearing;'

'accomplishing;'kup,

ing;'

ghrá,smelling;'

spriś, 'touching;' fay sidh, my sádh, krudh, 'being angry;' faći, 'collectkhyά, 'relating;' naś, ' perishing ;'

♫ tyaj, të rah, ‘quitting;' f dvish, ‘hating;' fa nind, ‘blaming;'dru, running;' dyut, díp, ↳ bhá, π subh, ' shining;'

Į pú, ‘purifying;' praćth, ‘asking;' ч áp,

स्तु stu, शंस् sams, 'praising ;' यत् yat, ' striving ;'

ing; sak, ‘being able;' tap, heating;'

laughing;'

being glad ;'

labh, ‘obtaining;' यम् yam, — restrain

dah, ‘burning;'

yudh, 'fighting;'

खा sná, ‘bathing ;'

हृष् hrish, नन्द nand, ह्लाद् hlàd, रम् rabh, ‘beginning ;' स्वर् svar, ' sounding ;' सह् sah, वह् vah, ‘bearing; smri, remembering;'art, ‘honouring.'

c. Observe, that it will be convenient, in the following pages, to express the idea contained in the root by prefixing to it the infinitive sign to. But the student must not suppose that the sound kship denotes any thing more than the mere idea of 'throwing;' nor must he imagine that in deriving nouns from it, we are deriving them from the infinitive, or from any part of the verb, but rather from a simple original sound, which is the common source of both nouns and verbs.

75. A cursory glance at the above list of common roots will serve to shew that there are two particulars in which they all agree. Every one of them is monosyllabic, and every one of them contains a single vowel, and no more. In other respects they offer considerable diversity. Some consist of a single vowel only; some begin with one or two consonants, and end in a vowel, but none end in

H

either a or au;

*

some begin with a vowel, and end in one or two consonants ; and some begin and end with one or two consonants †, inclosing a medial vowel; so that a root may sometimes consist of only one letter, asi, 'to go;' and sometimes of five, as skand, to move; praććh, 'to ask.' It is probable that those roots which consist of simple letters, such as,,, f, , &c., are the most ancient; and that those which have compound consonants, such as &c., are less so. Those which have cerebral letters, such as 'to roll,' are probably derived from the aboriginal language of India.

a. There are a few polysyllabic words recognised as roots, but they are generally the result of the accidental conjunction of a preposition with a monosyllabic root; that is to say, the preposition has been so constantly used in conjunction with the root, that it has at length come to be regarded as part of the root: thus in the roots san-grám, 'to fight,' and avadhír, 'to despise,' the prepositions sam and ava have combined with the root in this manner. A few other polysyllabic roots are the result of a reduplication of the radical syllable; (as, ¿ftçı daridrá, to be poor;' jágṛi, ‘to be awake;' ćakás, ‘to shine;' a veví, 'to go,' 'pervade;') and a few are derived from nouns; as, to play,' from Я kumára, ‘a boy.'

b. An and ☎s at the beginning of a root are liable, according to 58 and 70, to be changed to ņ and ч sh. Hence most of these roots are exhibited in Native Grammars as beginning with T and, because the Indian system requires that in exhibiting any general type of a class of words, that form should be taken which may occur even under the rarest circumstances. But in this Grammar, roots of which the initials are n and s will be exhibited as beginning with these letters, by reason of their more frequent occurrence.

c. According to Indian grammarians, roots are either udátta or anudátta (see r. 24). Udátta roots take the insertedi in certain tenses (see r. 391), anudátta roots reject this inserted vowel (Páṇini VII. 2, 10). Modern native grammarians attach to roots certain symbolical letters or syllables (called anubandhas, 'appendages,' or technically it) to indicate peculiarities in their conjugation,

* Rule 43, which requires that if a word ends in a conjunct consonant, the last member shall be rejected, is not applicable to roots, unless they are used as complete words in a sentence. Nevertheless, in the case of roots ending in a consonant, preceded by a nasal, the latter is often euphonically dropped, as बन्ध् becomes बध्.

One root,

séyut, 'to drop,' begins with three consonants.

But not all, ex. gr. the of roots containing,, or generally remains, as in सृज्, स्फूर्ज्; as also the स of सूच्, स्तन्, स्यन्द्, and a few others; and a few may be

written with either or 4.

which anubandhas or its may either have the udátta accent to shew that the verb takes the Parasmai-pada (243) terminations only (such verbs being then called udáttetaḥ); or the anudátta to shew that it takes the Atmane-pada only (such verbs being anudáttetaḥ); or the svarita to shew that it takes both (such verbs being svaritetaḥ). See Páṇini I. 3, 12, 72, 78. The following is a list of Páņini's anubandhas (with one or two added by Vopadeva): indicates that the past participle affixes (530, 553, called nishtha in native grammars) do not take the inserted i, P. VII. 2, 16. that a nasal is inserted before the last letter of the root in all the tenses; thus nid i shews that the present is nindámi &c., P. VII. 1, 58. that the 3d pret. is formed in two ways, either with form I (418) or form II (435); thus ghush ir shews that the 3d pret. is either aghoshisham &c. or aghusham &c., and dris ir that the 3d pret. is either adráksham or adarśam.

that the past participle (530, 553) is formed without i, P. VII. 2, 14.

that the indeclinable participle (555) may optionally reject i, while the past part. always rejects it, P. VII. 2, 56, 15. that i may optionally be inserted in that in the caus. 3d pret.

4, 2.

the non-conjugational tenses, P. VII. 2, 15.
the radical long vowel must not be shortened, P. VII.
may be either lengthened or shortened in the caus. 3d pret.
pret. takes form II (435) in the Parasmai, P. III. 1, 55.
admitted in the 3d pret. Parasmai, P. VII. 2, 5.
is formed with na instead of ta, P. VIII. 2, 45.
that it rejects the inserted i.
3, 12.

72.

च्छ that the vowel that the 3d

that Vriddhi is not that the past pass. part. that a root is anudátta, i. e.

that a root is inflected in the Atmane, P. I. that a root is inflected in the Parasmai and Atmane, P. I. 3, fЯ that the past part. has a present signification, P. III. 2, 187.

3 that a noun with the affix athu may be formed from the root; thus tu-kshu indicates that kshavathu may be formed from kshu, P. III. 3, 89. that a noun with the affix trima may be formed from the root; thus ḍu kṛi indicates that kṛitrima may be formed from kri, P. III. 3, 88. indicates that the vowel a must not be lengthened in forming the causal, that in the 3d sing. 3d pret. pass. (technically called ćin, 475) and indec. part. of repetition (567, technically named namul) the vowel can be optionally lengthened or shortened, and that nouns of agency in a (580) can be formed from causal bases having short radical vowels, P. V. 4, 92, 93, 94. that a noun may be formed from the root by adding the affix á

(80. XXII), P. III. 3, 104.

76. The learner is recommended to study attentively the commonest of these roots, or elementary sounds, as given at 74. b. He may rest assured, that by pausing for a time at the root, his progress afterwards will be more rapid, when he ascends to the branches which spring from it. For it must never be forgotten, that every word in Sanskrit, whether substantive, adjective, verb, or adverb, stands in close filial relationship to some radical sound. In fact, every root is a common bond of union for a large family of