MacDonnell II - Wilbourhall.org

'268 NOMINAL COMPOUNDS [185-18(5The yaiidhi between the members is, moreover, sometimesdifferent from that between words in a sentence.a. The gender of compounds, if they end in substantives,is with few excejitions that of the last member the ; genderof collectives is always neuter. The number in comjioundsdepends on the sense ;that in collectives is always singular.When the word appearing as the first member has twostems, the weak stem is used ;when it has three, the middlestem (73 a).In substantive compounds the last memberretains, as a rule, its gender, form, and inflexion ;while inadjectival compounds the gender and inflexion of the lastmember are of course variable.h. Classification. Vedic compounds may be divided intothree main classes according to their syntactical relations :1.Co-ordinatives, or those in which the members areco-ordinated ;2. Determinatives, or those in which theexhaustively, three lesser groups:first member determines or limits the sense of the last;3. Possessives, or adjectives tlie general meaning of whichimplies possession (as bahv-anna possessing miicJi food). Tothese must be added, in order to classify Vedic compounds4. Governing compounds,or adjectives in which the first member governs thelast in sense (as ksayad-vira rulUui men) ;5. Syntacticalcompounds, or irregular formations arising from the juxtapositionof t\'\'o words in a sentence ;G. Iteratives, orrepeated words treated as compounds in the Sainhitasinasmuch as they have only one accent and a special meaningwhen thus combined.1. Co-ordinative (Dvandva) 'Compounds.186. These consist of two suljstantives, far less commonly'connected in sense with and '.adjectives,1This term applied to co-(jrdiiiutiv(j« by the later Hindu grammarians,means pair or couple.