A Comparative Grammar of the Modern Aryan Languages of India v2.c12.s2.6

v2.c12.s2.6

In Sanskrit, the primitive type इ is overlaid by accretions, which render it somewhat difficult to identify (Bopp, § 360). The form which this pronoun has assumed in classical Sanskrit is अयं m., इयं f., इदं n.; and in Vedic Sanskrit there is a form इत neuter, which, however, is used merely as an emphatic particle. Scenic Prakrit has nom. अयं m., इयं f., इणं n., and an oblique base इम, also इण (Lassen, p. 326; Weber's Hala, p. 55). The ordinary Apabhrańśa of the plays has इम, and in the songs in the fourth act of the Vikramorvaśî are found loc. pl. इमेसुं (Skr. एषु); से "of her" (Skr. अस्या); दुराळ्ढो अ से प्पएओ "and excessive is her affection;" एत्य, abl. sing. "than it" (Skr. अस्मात्), and other similar forms. But it is perhaps useless to seek for the origin of the modern forms in any written works. They have their origin in all probability in a much lower stratum of popular speech than ever found its way into writing before the time of Chand, whose forms may therefore in this, as in so many other instances, be taken as the furthest point to which researches can at present be pushed back.