Wilson Philological Lectures on Sanskrit and the Derived Languages c8.43

c8.43

The u in these words must for some reason that we will hereafter consider have been pronounced short and hence interchangeable with i. Sometimes the consonant following an e or o is doubled, as in तेल्ल, पेम्म, सोत्त, जोव्वन, &c., for तैल, प्रेमन, स्रोतस्, यौवन, &c., which could only be because those vowels were pronounced short, and the loss of quantity thus occasioned made up for by rendering the pronunciation heavy and forcible. In other cases the u was so pronounced by some and not by others; and so we have एक्क or एअ for एक, सेव्वा or सेवा for सेवा, &c. The syllables अय and अव are changed to ए and ओ oftener than in Pâli, the अय of the causative and the tenth class becoming ए necessarily throughout, as in कारेइ, हासेइ, कहेइ for कारयति, हासयति, कथयति &c.