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1. As several stages can be distinguished in the development of the Vedic language, some of the following statements are strictly applicable only to the Rig-veda, the oldest and most important
The Alphabet.
2. The sounds are the same as in Sanskrit, with the exception of two additional letters. Cerebral ḍ and ḍh between vowels regularly become cerebral and h; — e.g. īé = īḍé, ‘I praise’; mīhúṣe = mīḍhúṣe, ‘to the bountiful.’
Sandhi.
3. A. Vowels. Hiatus is not avoided either within a word, or between the members, of a compound, or between the words of a sentence; and, in particular, initial a after e and o (
a. The e of the pronominal forms (dat., loc.) tvé, ‘to’ or ‘in thee,’ asmé, ‘to’ or ‘in us,’ yuṣmé, ‘to’ or ‘in you,’ remains unchanged before vowels; as does the final o produced by the coalescence of a with the particle u, as in átho (áthau), mó (mau), nó (náu).
B. Consonants. The final syllables ān, īn, ūn, n are treated as if they were āṃḥ, īṃḥ, ūṃḥ, ṃḥ (cp. 36 B 1, and 45, 1); i.e. ān becomes ā (except in the 3. pl. subjunctive, where it represents an original ānt), while īn, ūn, n become īr, ūr, r; — e.g. mah asi, ‘thou art great’ (but gacchān úttarā yugni, ‘later ages will come’); raçmr iva, ‘like reins.’
a. Sometimes rules which in Sanskrit apply internally only, are extended to the initials of words;— e.g. sahó ṣú ṇah (cp. 67).
Declension.
Stems in -man sometimes do not syncopate the vowel of the suffix, while when they do, the m or the n is occasionally dropped;— e.g. bhū-mánā and bhū-n- for bhū-mn-; drāgh-m- for drāgh-mán-ā.
b. Loc. Stems in i take ā, though less commonly than au; — e.g., agní, m. ‘fire,’ loc. agnáu and agn.
Stems in -an usually drop the i;— e.g. bráhmani and bráhman. They never syncopate the a of the suffix;— e.g. rjani only (cp. 90).
c. Voc. Stems in -mat, -vat, -vas, -yas regularly form their vocative in -as;— e.g. nom. bhānumn, voc. bhnumas; hárivān, hárivas; cakvn, cákvas; kánīyān, kánīyas.
Dual. a. The nom. acс. voc. take ā more usually than au;— e.g. açvinā, ‘the two Açvins’; dvrā, f. ‘the two doors’; nadíā, ‘the two rivers.’ Feminines in derivative ī remain unchanged;— e.g. dev, ‘the two goddesses.’
b. The personal pronouns of the 1. and 2. pers. distinguish five cases;— e.g. N. yuvám; A. yuvm;
Plural. Nom. a. Masculine stems in -a often (feminines in -ā rarely) take asas beside ās;— e.g. mártyāsaḥ, ‘mortals.’
b. Feminine stems in derivative ī take s only;— e.g. devḥ, ‘goddesses.’
c. Neuters take ā, ī, ū (sometimes shortened to a, i, u) as well as āni, īni, ūni;— e.g. yuga, ‘yokes’ (cp. Lat. juga, Gk. ?).
Instr. Stems in -a take ebhis nearly as often as ais;— e.g. devébhiḥ and deváiḥ.
B. Inflexional Type. The main difference in type of declension is in the polysyllabic stems (mostly feminines, with a few masculines) in ī and ū, a considerable number of which are inflected like the monosyllabic stems dhī and bhū (100), excepting the gen. pl., where they take -nām. (Stems in derivative ī otherwise for the most part follow nadī and vadhū as in Sanskrit: 100.) e.g. rath, m. ‘charioteer’; nad, f. ‘river’; tan, f. ‘body.’
