पृष्ठम्:The Sanskrit Language (T.Burrow).djvu/२०९

THE FORMATION OF NOUNS 203 languages, there is no reason why the Hittite evidence should not be taken at its face value. The evidence from Sanskrit and the other languages is briefly that (i)The bulk of the masculine suffixes is also to be found in feminine nouns, and (2) that the specifically feminine suffixes a, % are used also in masculine de- rivatives. (i) The suffix Aar forms mainly agent nouns which are mas- culine. For the feminine the suffix l is added (ddtri) and a similar differentiation appears in other languages (Gk. ScmrZpa, Lat. ddtrlx ), On the other hand in the ancient group of nouns in Aar expressing family relationships the undifferentiated suffix is used for masculine ( pitdr -) and feminine (1 malar-, ydtar-) nouns. This conservative type preserves the older system which has been abandoned in the ordinary agent nouns in favour of a system in which masculine and feminine are distinguished. The suffix - sar which appears in svdsar- ‘ sister also in tisrds , cdtasras, Lat. uxor and thematised in Hitt, iihassarai ' lady ' functions adjectivally in the same way as -tar (both being opposed to the neuter -sar, Aar), but it tended at an early period to be specialised in feminine formations. The eventual adoption of il-suffix as the normal means of expressing the feminine •checked this development, and only these few survivals remain. The adjectival suffix - man is normally masculine (brahman-, etc.), but in bahuvrihi compounds it remains indifferent to gender according^ to the earlier system. Vedic examples of this are pnruiarma (Aditis), dyutddydmdnam (usdsam), sutdrmdnam (navam), acc. pi. sucijanmanas {usdsas), instr. pi. vdjabhar- mabhis ( utibhis ). The Atharva-veda first begins to show special feminine forms in compounds containing the word naman- ‘ name J : pancandmm ‘ having five names etc. The feminine suffix is added to the present participle in San- skrit and in Greek ( bhdranti , pipovaa), but in Latin the older undistinguished type is used for both masculine and feminine { ferens , jerentem ). The non-neuter (i.e. accented) suffix - as functions in both masculine and feminine nouns, e.g. apds- ' active ' masc. and fem. as opposed to dpas - neut, ' work ' ; likewise in bahuvrihi compounds, sumdnds nom. sg. masc. and fem. r well-disposed The same state of affairs appears in Greek, dXrjQri?, svjjLsvris, etc. The compound suffix -yas , functioning in a comparative