MacDonnell II - Wilbourhall.org

'80 DECLENSION [98rare in it,not occurring at .ill in several cases. In theu declension the masculines greatly preponderate, beingabout four times as numerous as the f. and n. stems takentogether, while the neuters here greatly outnumber thefeminines. The inflexion, which is closely parallel in bothgroups, is practically the same in all genders except thatthe N.A. s. and pi. n. differ from the m. and f., and theA. pi.m. and f. differ from each other. The final vowel ofthe stem shows Guna in three of the weak cases of the s.(D.Ab.G.), as well as in the V. s. and the N. pL m. f.,while it is abnormally strengthened in the L. s. Thenormal ending as of the Ab.G. s. is reduced to s,whilethat of the L. s. is always dropped in the i declension andusually in the u declension. The inflexion of the n stemsbut thehas influenced the i declension in the I. s.only,u declension in the G.Ab. and L. also. Oxytone stems,when i and u are changed to y and v, throw the accent ona following vowel, not as Svarita,on the nam of the G. pi., thoughbut as Udatta, and eventhe stem vowel in thatcase does not lose its syllabic value.The adjectives siic-i IrUjlitand madh-u sweet may be usedto illustrate the forms actually occurring:Singular.m.n.m.N. stici-s suci-s suci madhu-sA. suci-m suci-m suci madhu-msiicy-a madhv-a ^'^-J- jsucy-a suci-n-a jo.^v.jsiici suci-n-a madhu-n-aI j[sucif. n.madhu-s madhumadhu-m madhumadhv-amadhu-n-1Five Btems in the EV. form their I. like siicya, but twenty-five(under the influence of the n declension) like siicina.2This is the normal formation, but the contracted form in i is morethan twice as common in the EV. The latter is in the EV. furthershortened to i in about a dozen words.3The normally formed I. in a is made in the m. by only four stems,but that with na by thirty in the EV. ;in the n. the na form is usedalmost exclusively.