Wilson Philological Lectures on Sanskrit and the Derived Languages c8.76

Language: English

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The terminations of the Present Tense are—3rd pers. sing. दि and दे in S'aur. and इ and उ in the principal Prâkrit, pl. न्ति and न्ते; 2nd pers. sing. सि and से, pl. इत्था and ह for which last the S'aur. has थ; 1st pers. sing. मि, pl. मो, मु, and म. Of these दे or ए, से and न्ते, of which the last is not given by Vararuchi, are remnants of the old Âtmanepada, and the first two are used after roots ending in अ only. With the exception of the first pers. pl. म and the 2nd pers. pl. इत्था, the terminations can readily be traced to the corresponding Skr. Parasm. The Sanskrit 2nd pers. pl. थ becomes थ in the S'aurasenî and ह in the Mahârâshtrî by the phonetic rules already noticed, and मो or its shortened form मु is the Skr. मः. In these points the primitive and derived languages perfectly agree; but म and इत्था are new terminations and were first used in Pâli, the latter however in the form of थ. The first is, as I have observed, transferred from the Imperative, Imperfect and other tenses, and थ is the Skr. स्थ 2nd pers. pl. of the root अस् To this is prefixed in the Prâkrit the usual augment इ, which मि and मु also take optionally. The terminations मि and मु are unknown to the Pâli. Other forms of the first pers. sing. and pl. made up by adding म्हि and म्ह or म्हो, as in करेम्हि, करेम्ह, गच्छम्ह, &c., occur in the plays, though the grammarians have not noticed them. These terminations are evidently the Skr. स्म 1st pers. sing. and स्मः or स्म pl.

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of अस्.¹⁰ You will remember that a good many verbs are made up in the Pâli by adding forms of this root. Hemachandra notices also another termination of the 3rd pers. pl., viz. इरे, which is transferred from the Perfect. The Imperative forms are made up by adding दु S'aur. उ Pr. 3rd pers. sing. and न्तु pl.; and हि 2nd pers. sing. and ह S'aur. ह Pr. pl.; and मु 1st pers. sing. and मो pl. The original form of the root ending in अ is also used as the second pers. sing. Of these दु, न्तु, हि or अ, and सु from स्व Atm. are both Skr. and Pâli; ह (Skr. थ) transferred from the Present is used in Pâli; but मु and मो are peculiar to the Prâkṛit, the Pâli using only the terminations of its present. Of these मो is transferred from the Prâkṛit Present, and मु is made up by adding the उ which is peculiar to the Imperative and distinguishes it from the present. The first pers. pl. takes म also sometimes as in the Pâli, but it is not noticed by the grammarians. The consciousness that the future is made up by prefixing स्य=स्स Pr. & Pâli to the terminations of the present has never been lost, and whatever changes these terminations undergo are transferred to the future; so that the S'aurasenî and Mâgadhî future differs from the Pâli in those respects only in which the Present tenses of the two differ. The मि of the first person sing., however, is optionally changed to an anusvâra; or the anusvâra may be a remnant of the conditional terminations; as हसिस्सं.

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In the principal Prâkṛit the स्य is still further corrupted to हि, य being dissolved into इ and स changed to ह, as in होहिइ for भविष्यति, होहिन्ति for भविष्यन्ति, &c. In the first pers. we have, in addition to this हि, स्स which is lengthened as in Skr. and also its other form हा as well as सि for the whole as in the S'aurasenî, e. g., होहि-स्सा-हामि or होहिस्सं, &c. A beginning in the direction of the हि was, you will remember, made in Pâli. We have also a few petrified Skr. forms such as दच्छं for द्रक्ष्यामि, मोच्छं for मोक्ष्यामि which are more conditional than future in their origin; and to these as bases are added the terminations of the present and also of the future to form new futures; as दच्छइ, दच्छिहइ, &c. We have also काहं and दाहं from कृ and दा. The only Potential form left is that of the 3rd pers. sing.; as हसेज or हसेज्जा, होज्ज or होज्जा. The termination is the same as in Pâli, the य of the 3rd pers. sing. being altered to ज्, and the general form of the termination य्या to ज्जा. After bases ending in अ, ज् or ज्जा becomes एज or एज्जा, as in Skr. and Pâli.¹¹ This being an isolated form and derived from the Potential, which does not signify any particular time, it is used in the sense of the Present, Future, or Imperative in all numbers and persons; and after roots in अ the terminations सु and हि of the second pers. sing. of the Imperative are added to जा to make up new forms of that mood, as हसेजसु, हसेजाहि;

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and another form हसेज्जे is also mentioned.¹² This Potential form of roots ending in vowels other than अ is used as a base, and the terminations of the two tenses and one mood are attached to it to make up new forms for them; as होज्जइ, होज्जाइ; होज्जउ, होज्जाउ, &c. The Aorist also has left its 3rd pers. sing. only; the termination to be added to roots ending in a vowel, is सी, ही, or हीअ and ईअ to those ending in a consonant or अ, i. e., such as take the augment इ or change the अ to इ. Of these सी and ही are derived from the Parasm. सीत of the fourth form; the first is found in Pâli, and ही is only another form of it. The Pâli has ई also for the 3rd pers. sing. corresponding to the ईत affixed to Sanskrit roots that take the augment इ. This is very likely the origin of ईअ also since we have it after the roots which necessarily admit the augment; but the अ of this and of हीअ is difficult to explain. हीअ must correspond to some such form as सीय or सीत which, the म being dropped after the augment इ, is reduced to ईअ. These सीय and सीत are forms of the Potential Âtm. of अस्, and they may have been added as terminations to form the Aorist as other forms of अस् are in this and other tenses in the Pâli. Or the सी of the Aorist may have been confounded with सीत the pot. of अस् from its resemblance to it.