Wilson Philological Lectures on Sanskrit and the Derived Languages c8.81.2

c8.81.2

Such, for instance, are वच्छे acc. pl., the loc. sing. ending in the pronominal म्हि or म्मि, the double gen. तिस्साय, the 2nd pers. pl. ending in इत्था of the present tense, and a good many others. The consonantal and vowel changes also, so far as they go in the older language, are the same. We may therefore safely conclude that the Pâli represents generally an earlier stage of the same language which afterwards became the Prâkrit or Prâkrits. But there are again in the Prâkrits such forms as those of the ablative in दो and आहि instead of the old pronominal म्हा, the first pers. pl. of the Pres. in मो or मु instead of the Pâli म, the 1st pers. sing. of the Imperative in मु instead of the Pâli मि, the S'aurasenî absolutive in इअ corresponding to the Sanskrit य, which does not exist in the older dialect, and others. These Prâkrit forms cannot have been developed out of the Pâli forms, but must have grown independently from the Sanskrit originals. In the same way, though the Prâkrit sounds are generally the same as or further developments of the Pâli sounds, there are a good many which could not have grown out of the latter. Thus the रि in the Prâkrit words रिद्धि, रिच्छ, रिण, रिजू, &c.