Wilson Philological Lectures on Sanskrit and the Derived Languages c10.74

c10.74

These forms have been traced by Dr. Trump in his Sindhi Grammar to the Pr. base in इज used in the Present, Imperative and Future and derived by Lassen from the Present and by me from the Potential; and so far as the form in the S. and G. is concerned there is no objection. But these forms are in the vernaculars used when respect for the person spoken to is intended and the Potential as distinguished from the Imperative is by no means more respectful in Skr. The H. forms are not assigned each to each number but both of them are used in the sing. or pl. and its य can by no means be derived from ज; for though the contrary process the changing of य to ज is common there is so far as I am aware no single well established instance of the other. In Skr. nothing is more usual than to use the Passive of the 3rd pers. sing. Imperative in respectful solicitation. The second pers. of the active Imper. is the least respectful since there is a direct reference in that voice to the agent and such a reference to great men is regarded as improper or in the case of others not courteous. The 3rd pers. with भवान् as the nom. is more so; because the reference is indirect but the most respectful construction is the Passive as it does not point to the agent at all but to the thing done by him. Thus the ज in these forms is from the य of the passive and the Hindî ईय from ईअ which is the other corruption of that termination in the Pr. The M. देइजो corresponds to Skr. दीयताम्, the Imper. 3rd pers. sing. termination in that language being त. दीजे corresponds to दीयते of the Present and the potential sense may be attributed to the fact that the whole tense has assumed that sense in the vernaculars. The agent may, if the forms are passive, be any person and any number since it does not agree with the verb; and this explains the Hindî usage. But as generally in solicitation the person addressed is the second pers. though he is referred to indirectly and is, when cases are used, put in the instr. as in the Jñânes'varî:—