A Comparative Grammar of the Modern Aryan Languages of India v1.c5.32

v1.c5.32

§ 33. The next change is that of ऋ into उ. As we find the substitution of the *i* sound most frequent in the western languages, so we must look to the eastern for the *u* sound. Vararuchi gives no examples of this change. The obscure indications of such a change, which Lassen has picked up from ch. viii. of Var. (viii. 32, 68), are—(1) वुट्ट, and खुप्प for मसज, in which example we are not to consider *vuṭṭ* and *khupp* as derived from *masj*, which would be impossible; rather we have here two vulgar words which in Prakrit are used instead of the classical *masj*. *Vuṭṭ* is the origin of the common modern word बुडना, and reversed डुबना “to drown”; of *khupp* there seems to be no trace. (2) Var. viii. 32, *uddhmâ*, *uddhumâ*. An *u* is interpolated in the word *dhmâ*, making it *dhumâ*. But this is not a substitution of *u* for *a*, but an introduction of *u* in the middle of a nexus. (3) Var. viii. 23, मुणि = मनति may be a genuine instance of this change, but if so it is a solitary one. The word मुनि “a sage,” is classical Skr., and it is strange that the classical verb should have the *a*, while the vulgar one has the *u*, from which alone *muni* could have been derived. It is more probable that the original root was मुन्, where the *u* has been correctly preserved by the people, but softened into *a* by the Pandits. (4) viii. 18, सुमर for स्मर is again an interpolation of *u*, not a substitution of it for *a*. H. सुमिरन = स्मरण rests on this form. (5) पहुम for प्रथम occurs, but less frequently than पढम.