I&2 THE FORMATION OF NOUNS ‘ width '), tdnyas - * very swift 1 (cf. tan-sani inf.), rdghiyas- ‘ swifter mdhiyas- ' greater ’, sthdviyas - ‘ stouter 1 (cf. Av. ranjyah mazy ah-, staoyah -). In both accent and apophony all these forms (excepting bhuyas - with weak grade of root) are Or reminiscent more of the^, neut er typ es (cf. vartman vanvas- : u ranyas). The reason for this is not clear, though it must have some significance in the question of their origin. Corresponding forms of the comparative exist in Italic and Celtic : Lat. senior , O. Ir. siniu (IE *s^nyos) ‘ older The e- grade of the root and the a-grade of the suffix indicate an accent identical with that of Sanskrit (sdnyas-). In Greek the same suffix appears in some cases : eAao-craj (*eAax~?/os-a) acc. sg., iXdooovs (*iax-yo(7-€9) nom. pi., but in other cases a -yon- suffix with simitar function appears : eAaomjy, IXdaoovo^, etc. In Greek, as in Sanskrit, a suffixal t may be inserted before the comparative suffix : f}Sia w ‘ sweeter In Germanic a compound suffix -is -on- is utilised : Goth, batiza ' better etc. The weak form of the suffix (-is-) could make adverbs with comparative sense, e.g. Lat. magis ‘ more It also forms the basis of superlatives which are made by the addition of the further suffix -tha (elsewhere -to) : kdnistha- * smallest, young- est ', jdvistha- ‘ most speedy nedistha- * nearest ' (Av. naz- dista-), asistha- ‘ swiftest 1 (Av. dsista -), ojistha- ‘ strongest 1 (Av. aojista-), gdristha- ' heaviest etc. As with the comparative the accent of the superlatives is invariably on the root and the apophony is according. Superlatives of the same formation are found also in Greek (iJStoroff = svadistha - ' sweetest ') and in Ger- manic (Goth .frumists ' first etc.). As with the other neuter suffixes, adjectives and nouns of ad- jectival type can be made by the addition of the accented thematic vowel to the neuter s-suffix. These are of the usual two types, an older type in -sd with reduction of the suffix on account of the following accent, and a more recent type in -asd formed from the neuter as-stems with guna of suffix. Unlike some other suffixes of similar structure, -sd never became very productive or developed independently to any extent. sd ruksd- * shining ' ( rocas - * light '), dyuksd- 1 bright ' (for
- dyutsd - after ruksd- ; cf. also dvdksam for dvdtsam , etc.),
prksa- f nourishment 1 ( pfks - * nourishment a reduced 6-stem which has been adapted as a fem. root noun), ghramsd- * heat of the sun', vatsd- ‘calf' (Gk. Feros 'year'), vrksd - * tree '
