Wilson Philological Lectures on Sanskrit and the Derived Languages c7.45

c7.45

—Nouns in इ and उ. The nominative and accusative plurals have two forms and they are the same for both the cases, as अग्गी and अग्गयो, भिक्खू and भिक्खवो. Now अग्गी and भिक्खू are the Sanskrit accusative plurals अग्नीन् and भिक्षून्, and अग्गयो and भिक्खवो the nominative plurals अग्नयः and भिक्षवः. The distinction between the two is lost, and both are used indifferently in the sense of the nominative and accusative. The termination of the instrumental plural is भि or हि. The singulars of the genitive and locative are, like those of the corresponding neuter nouns or nouns ending in इन् such as दण्डिन्, formed by the addition of न्, as अग्गिनो and भिक्खुनो, अग्गिनि and भिक्खुनि. They have also the forms indicated in the general remarks, viz., अग्गिस्स and भिक्खुस्स, and अग्गिस्मि-म्हि and भिक्खुस्मि-म्हि; and the dative and ablative are, as usual, like the genitive and instrumental. The vocative is like the nominative, except in the plural of nouns in उ which ends in वो or वे as भिक्खवो or भिक्खवे. The rest are old or Sanskrit, the final vowel being, however, lengthened in the plural of the instrumental and locative, and the syllable ्रि of अग्नि being optionally dissolved into ्रिगानि in the nominative singular.