A Comparative Grammar of the Modern Aryan Languages of India v1.c7.83

v1.c7.83

Judging at first from सताईस only, and the Hindi chiefly, I thought this abnormal long â arose from the व of विंशति amalgamating with the inherent a of सप्त, first from av (sapta-vinsati) into au (sattauis), and thus, according to the usual Hindi analogy, into â. But this suggestion broke down in two ways: 1st, Because the Marathi has both the long â and the v in सत्तावीस; so also have the Sindhi and Gujarati: and 2nd, Because we have the long â in words where there existed originally no v to coalesce with it into au.