A Comparative Grammar of the Modern Aryan Languages of India v2.c12.46

v2.c12.46

In any case, whether the influence of the accent be admitted or rejected, the collection of words now given will be useful as affording instances of the development of the -a suffix, whatever be thought of the cause of it. Those who hold that the termination â = o is due to the Prakrit (and at times also Sanskrit) suffix क must explain to us why this क, producing â = o, has been so capriciously employed, why, in fact, Skr. ओष्ठ “lip,” should not have taken a क and become Pr. ओट्ठओ, H. ओठा, just as much as, according to them, अण्ड “egg,” took क and became अण्डक, अण्डओ, अण्डा. If, as is asserted, all nouns might and did take this क, why do not all nouns of this stem end in the moderns in â = o, why do some end in a = u?