Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c22.s3.t4: 3.3.4 Prakrit grammatical usages
Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c22.s3.t4
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3.3.4 Prakrit grammatical usages
c22.s3.t4.1
While the grammar of the Tamil-Brāhmī inscriptions is almost wholly Tamil, there are a couple of Prakrit grammatical forms occurring in them.
c22.s3.t4.2
*-ō*: Nominative case-ending of masculine singular noun in *-putō* 'son' in *satiyaputō*.
c22.s3.t4.3
*-sa*: Genitive case-ending of masculine singular noun in *utayaṇasa* 'of Utayaṇaṉ'.²
c22.s3.t4.4
² See No. 1, Table 1.6 for the occurrence of the Pkt. genitive ending *-sa* in a coin-legend.
c22.s3.t4.5
The relatively higher frequency of causative verb forms in these inscriptions when compared with Literary Tamil appears to be due to the influence of inscriptional Prakrit.¹
c22.s3.t4.6
(e.g.) *koṭupitōṉ* 'he who caused to be given'.