A Comparative Grammar of the Modern Aryan Languages of India v2.c12.31

v2.c12.31

The terminations vary with every relation or connexion of the noun, and their variations constitute what are called cases. In the modern languages the terminations of the Sanskrit noun no longer exist in their original form; in some of the seven languages no trace of them is perceptible in the singular, and only weakened and half-obliterated traces remain in the plural; in none of the languages are more than slight and doubtful indications of their presence still observable. The variations of case are expressed in the modern languages by particles placed after the stem, just as in modern European languages they are expressed by particles placed before the stem. The English declension, *fish*, *of fish*, *to fish*, stands in the same relation to the Gothic *fisks*, *fiskis*, *fiska*; and French *champ*, *de champ*, *à champ*, in the same relation to Latin *campus*, *campi*, *campo*; as Hindi *nar*, *nar kâ*, *nar ko*, does to Sanskrit *naras*, *narasya*, *narâya*.