Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c27.s31: 7.28 Verbs

Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c27.s31

Language: English

c27.s31.t1 7.28.1 Verb stems in the Corpus — 9 parts
c27.s31.t2 7.28.2 Transitive and intransitive verbs — 4 parts
c27.s31.t3 7.28.3 Causative verbs — 1 part
c27.s31.t4 7.28.4 Causative suffixes — 6 parts

7.28 Verbs

7.28.1 Verb stems in the Corpus

c27.s31.t1.1

Verbs are words denoting action. They are characterised in grammar by their capacity to express tense. The following verb stems occur in the Corpus:

¹ *ama* (LT *amai*) 'to abide, remain' 48.6
2. *aṟu* 'to cut (> carve)' 61.14
3. *ā*, *āku* 'to be, become' 41.2, 61.13
4. *āṭu* 'to fight, play, win' 112.3
5. *āru* (LT *ār*) 'to be filled' 114.2.b
6. *ī* 'to give' 12.3
7. *ēvu* 'to command' 76.2
8. *karu(v)u*, *karu(k)ku* 'to carve, engrave' 17.2, 112.4 Not attested in LT as verbs; See Commentary.

c27.s31.t1.3

⁹ *koṭṭu* 'to hammer (> carve)' 1.8
10. *koṭu*, *kuṭu* 'to give' 3.9, 14.2 *kuṭu*: inscriptional form not attested in LT.

c27.s31.t1.4

¹¹ *ko(ṟ)ru* 'to carve' 52.3 Inscriptional form not attested in LT as a verb. See Commentary.

c27.s31.t1.5

¹² *cey*, *ceyi*, *cē* 'to make' 49.7, 65.5, 2.10 *ceyi* and *cē*: inscriptional forms not attested in LT. See Commentary (2.10).

c27.s31.t1.6

¹³ *tā* 'to bring > to capture' (*TL*) 73.3 (See Commentary )

c27.s31.t1.7

¹⁴ *tai* 'to make ' (*TL*) 101.2 (See Commentary )

c27.s31.t1.8

¹⁵ *toṭu* 'to dig, excavate' 84.5
16. *nōl* 'to do penance' 115.7
17. *piṟa* 'to be born' 49.3
18. *puṇaru* (LT *puṇar*) 'to combine (> compose)' 85.2
19. *muṭi* 'to complete > to end one's life' 115.8 (See Commentary )

c27.s31.t1.9

²⁰ *ve*, *vai* (LT *vai*) 'to put (> endow)' 13.4, 16.2

7.28.2 Transitive and intransitive verbs

c27.s31.t2.1

Transitive verbs can have objects, intransitive verbs cannot. The verb stems occurring in the Corpus may be classified accordingly as follows:

c27.s31.t2.3

*aṟu*, *ī*, *ēvu*, *karu(v)u* / *karu(k)ku*, *koṭṭu*, *koṭu* / *kuṭu*, *ko(ṟ)ṟu*,
*cey* / *ceyi* / *cē*, *tā*, *tai*, *toṭu*, *nōl*, *puṇaru*, *muṭi*, *ve* / *vai*

c27.s31.t2.5

*ama*, *ā* / *āku*, *āṭu*, *āru*, *piṟa*

c27.s31.t2.6

The preponderance of transitive verbs in the Corpus is apparently due to the votive context of the inscriptions which mostly record the giving or making of gifts or performing religious or charitable acts.

7.28.3 Causative verbs

c27.s31.t3.1

A characteristic feature of the verbs in the Corpus is the relative abundance of the causative forms of transitive verbs, which signify that someone gets something done by someone else ('cause to be done'). A typical case is when the donor of a cave gets the stonemason to carve the stone beds. While causative verbs occur in LT, their higher relative frequency in the Tamil-Brāhmī inscriptions appears to be the result of the influence of inscriptional Prakrit.

7.28.4 Causative suffixes

c27.s31.t4.1

The causative suffixes occurring in the Corpus are *-(p)pi-* and *-vi-*.

c27.s31.t4.2

7.28.4.1 *Causative verbs with the suffix -(p)pi-

c27.s31.t4.3

c27.s31.t4.4

7.28.4.2 *Causative verbs with the suffix -vi-

c27.s31.t4.5

*cey-vi* | 88.2
*ceyi-vi-* | 83.5
*cē-vi-* | 18.3

c27.s31.t4.6

7.28.5 The frequency and distribution of causative suffixes in the Corpus point to the following conclusions:
(a) Causative forms are more frequent in the earlier inscriptions (Nos. *1-59*), less frequent in the later inscriptions (Nos. *60-89*) and completely absent from the Early Vaṭṭeḻuttu inscriptions (Nos. *101-121*). This pattern is consistent with the surmise that the relative abundance of the causative verbs in the earlier inscriptions is due to the influence of inscriptional Prakrit, which must have waned with time.
(b) The causative suffix *-(p)pi-* is much more frequent (16 times) than *-vi-* (3 times). The form *ceyi-vi* has an earlier alternant *ceyi-pi*. The evidence appears to indicate that the causative suffix *-pi-* is more ancient than *-vi-*.