A Comparative Grammar of the Modern Aryan Languages of India v3.c17.s2.72

v3.c17.s2.72

There being in O. no positive present from *as*, the survival of the negative present has naturally been accounted for by referring it to the only positive present remaining, namely, that from *bhú*; but this seems to be a false analogy, because, as will be shown later on, in many constructions the negative is used without the *u*, and is generally so used by the rustic classes.