THE FORMATION OF NOUNS 133 elsewhere (Lat. gluten ‘ glue etc.) and in Old Persian it is used to make dative infinitives ((artanaiy 1 to do etc.). ^ The compound suffix sarjsn , which is very common in Hittite, is more or less obsolete elsewhere. It is an extension of the neuter s-stems, and in Hittite the -arjn has been added so con- sistently that the simple s-stems have practically disappeared. In other languages the simple s-stems are well preserved so that it is unlikely that the sar/sn formation ever had the same exten- sion elsewhere as appears in Hittite. Nevertheless there are considerable traces of it. Adjectival derivatives of the type matsar-d ' exhilarated ' are based on such formations, and the coexistence of mandasdna - f id/ shows that there was the old rjn alternation. Similarly pusary a- * well-nourished r implies
- pusar nt. ‘ fatness, prosperity equivalent to Gk. Trvap ‘ beest
milk and the alternative n-stem is used in the masc. derivative Pusan- f nourisher (name of a god) V A few neuter stems in -sn- are preserved in the oblique cases of nouns which appear in the nom. sg. as simple 5 -stems, e.g., gen. sg. sirsnas, dosnds , nom. acc. sg. Ur as ' head dos ' arm A small class of locative infinitives is made on the basis of neuter stems in - san r : nesdni to lead parsdni ‘ to pass grnisdni 1 to sing isdni ' to emit ' (for is-sani with the old & - sandhi, p. 95). In Greek also this suffix forms infinitives. The common type ptpeiv is best explained in this way (*p€p€a€v,
- bheresen, the simple base without ending being used as in
iSfjL£v, etc.). §6. Action Nouns transferred to the Masculine It has been remarked above that the major distinction in Indo-European was between neuter action nouns accented on the root and masculine, originally common gender, agent nouns accented on the suffix. But in Sanskrit as in other languages not all nouns fit into this simple classification ; among the w-stems for instance with which we are dealing there are quite a number of masculine formations which cannot be classed as agent nouns, and which from the point of view of their meaning go rather with the neuter action nouns of the above type. Such 1 Originally *py-u$ar ( v r pi) as is seen by comparing vvap and Skt. ptyusa-. Similarly pus- J to thrive, prosper ’ is for *pyus~, originally a denominative formation like urusydti, etc. [*pyusydii) t
