THE FORMATION OF NOUNS T45 general sense ' one connected with slaying Such a general meaning is all that is inherent to begin with in any adjectival formation, and it is by adaptation that the special functions of the various suffixes arise. The non- thematic participles and those from thematic verbs which are accentuated on the suffix keep the suffixal accent : addnt- 4 eating tuddnt- 4 pushing etc. Elsewhere it conforms to the regular accentuation of the verbal stem : bhdrant- ' bear- ing jighdmsant - 1 desiring to slay etc. This accent is shifted to the suffix in the weakest cases, an ancient feature which has often been levelled out, and the same applies to the suffixally accented adjectives ; gen. sg. adatds, brhatds. In the nom. sg. the stems in -ant differ from the adjectival types in simple -n in that the case is denoted by the termination s and not by vrddhi. This is so also in Hittite and it seems that from the earliest period of Indo-European that can be reached the nom. sg. was normally expressed in this way in the case of stems ending in occlusives. The suffix -vant occurs in a number of primary formations which illustrate its origin from the compounding of simpler suffixes. Primary formations are : vivasvant- also vivasvant -
- brilliant ' (: simple w-stem in vivasvan - nt. ' brilliance ’ and in
the Av. derivative Vivayhana-) , idivant- ' numerous, all # (cf. idsiyas- 'more numerous" and s as ay a- 4 abundant '), drvant- 1 swift, steed ' (: drvan- r id '), fkvant- 1 hymning, worshipping ' (: fkvan - 4 id "), satvdni ■ * name of a tribe of warriors ' (: satvan- 4 warrior ’), yahvdnt 1 young, youngest’ (: yahu - 'id'), vivak- vdnt- 1 eloquent The existence of pairs like fkvan- : fkvant ; drvan- : arvdnt illustrates the fact that this suffix is a ^-extern sion of a simpler I'aM-stem. In yahu : yahvdnt the analysis goes further and a simple if-stem is left. In Avestan we find drzgvant- r wicked as opposed to Skt. druhvan - 1 id f , and an interesting treble series, zrzzu-, vrzzvan-, drnvant- ' straight 1 which shows how the compound suffix is built up step by step. Av. b9zvani- 4 abundant ' bears the same relation to Skt. bahu as Skt. yahvdnt - to yahu-. Such pairs are found also in Hittite : dassu-: dassuwant- 4 strong, healthy It is as a secondary suffix that -vant is most frequently used in Sanskrit : dsvavant- 4 possessing horses kisavant- ‘ hairy ", putrdvant 4 having a son ' and so on in unlimited number. The usage also occurs widely in Iranian, Av. zastavant - 'having
