MacDonnell II - Wilbourhall.org

2 PHONETIC INTRODUCTION [1-3is fully dealt with, because it illustrates the construction ofsentences better than the metrical hymns of the Vedas.2. The hymns of the Vedas were composed many centuriesbefore the introduction of writing into India, which canhardly have taken place much earlier than 600 b. c.Theywere handed down tillprobably long after that event byoi'al tradition, which has lasted down to the present day.Apart from such tradition, the text of the Sanihitas hasbeen preserved in manuscripts, the earliest of which, owingto the adverse climatic conditions of India, ai*escarcely fivecenturies old. How soon they were first committed towriting, and whether the hymns of the Rigveda were editedin the form of the Sainhita and Pada texts with the aid ofwriting, there seems insufficient evidence to decide ;but itis almost inconceivable that voluminous prose works suchas the Brahmanas, in particular the Satapatha Brahmana,could have been composed and preserved without suchaid.^3. The sounds of the Vedic language. There arealtogether fifty-two sounds, thirteen of which are vocalic:—and thirty-nine consonantal. They are the followinga. Nine simple vowels: aaiiuurfl; four diphthongs :e o ai au.I).Twenty-two mutes divided into five classes, each ofwhich has its nasal, making a group of twenty-seven :(a) five gutturals (velars) : k kh g gh n ;*(/?) five palatals : e ch j jh ° n ;^The text of the Vedas, with the exception of Aufrecht's andWeber's transliterated editions of the RV. and theTS., isalways printedin the Devanagari character. The latter having been fully describedin my Sanskrit Grammar for Beginners (§§ 4-14), it is unnecessary torepeat what is there stated. It will suffice here to give a summaryaccount of all the sounds of the Vedic language.-This sound is very rare, occurring only once in the RV. and notat all in the AV.