Wilson Philological Lectures on Sanskrit and the Derived Languages c8.56

c8.56

The first अ of समृद्धि, प्रसिद्धि, प्रकट, प्रतिपद्, सद्क्ष, &c., is lengthened optionally; and we have सामिद्धि or समिद्धि, पासिद्धि or पसिद्धि, प-पाअड,, प-पाडिव, स-सारिच्छ, &c. On the other hand, the आ of यथा, तथा, उत्खात संस्थापित, प्राकृत, हालिक, कुमार &c. is optionally shortened; and these words become जह-हा, तह-हा, उक्खअं-खाअ, संठविअ-ठाविअ, पअड-पाअड, हालिअ-हालिअ, कुमार-मार &c. The ई of पानीय, अलीक, जीवति, गभीर, द्वितीय, तृतीय, &c., is necessarily shortened, and we have पाणिअ, अलिअ, जिवइ, गहिर, दुइअ, तइअ &c. Changes of this nature seem to be due to some kind of accent with which the words must have been pronounced. When one of the syllables of a word is accented, the whole vocal weight of that word gravitates towards that syllable. It is sounded with greater force and pitch and with a jerk which are apt to cause a wider opening between the organs of speech than is necessary. Hence the less open vowels अ, इ, and उ have a tendency to become more open, i.e., आ, ए, and ओ. Similarly the force and the jerk tend to prolong the time occupied by the utterance of the vowel, that is, to lengthen it. And long vowels occurring in the unaccented syllables often become short, since they are uttered hurriedly or carelessly. Supposing प्रतिपद् was pronounced with the accent on प्र, that would be a reason why the प्र should become प्रा in the course of time; and if द्वितीय was pronounced with the accent on य, we can understand why the ती should become short. But the real nature of the old Sanskrit accents, notwithstanding the labours of the grammarians, is little understood. How words were actually pronounced in this respect it is difficult to say. If the udâtta was really the acute accent, it falls in some of the above words on syllables by being on which it could not have operated in the manner indicated above. The supposition that the svarita was the acute accent fails equally. But perhaps the old accents went out of use very early, and others took up their place. Whatever may have been the case, the changes we have been considering seem to have risen from an accent of some sort. The ए of वेदना, चपेटा, देवर, and केसर is optionally changed to इ; for supposing that the accent fell on the second or third syllable, the force necessary to pronounce it could not be successfully exerted if the mouth had to be previously opened wide for sounding ए. It is thus reduced to the close vowel इ; and so we have विअणा, चविडा, दिअर and किसर. The dropping of initial vowels as in रण् for अरण्य and लाबू for अलाबू must also be traced to those vowels being unaccented. The accent on the penultimate vowel which is very general in the vernaculars as will be noticed in the next lecture had probably its beginning in these Prâkṛits and of this fact these six words are instances. This penultimate accent seems to have had a wider range in the later stage of these dialects represented by the Apabhraṃśa.