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$181 J
ON THE MODERN INDO-ARYAN VERNACULARS
Ar. xàirāt, alms
Skr. paviti, he sits down
ùvaisài
So also H. (Upper Doab) y batth for or tais, of that kind; NL. šatán, for Jaitán, Satan.
ùvaisài becomes biht in S. and bähe in L.; but in H.M. and others baise.
It will be observed that the first three examples are all due to the influence of the stress
accent.
urlayam (-laydi), a father-in-law's
P. khàrát. M.Bg.G. básè, A. báhè.
[DECEMBER, 1932
At the end of a word, a(y)a is sometimes contracted to ai, and then weakened to a, which is not pronounced (exc. in S.), thus :
H., M.
sùsurálaya (-áland)
Ap. ghodau
baith, sit; M. mhais or mhas, a buffalo; IAV. tas
house devalayam, a
divalava
temple
dirayal, refuge
*ásrau
S. ásar, of. M.P.H.B.N.Bg.O.A. ásra.
1 In LSI, I have described this G. sound as a short e, but subsequent enquiries show that the true sound is more nearly that of , long or short according to position. See § 209.
181. Similarly au is regularly weakened to ō in the termination of the nominative of strong masc. nouns in G. and S. E.g. :
G.S. ghodo.
Skr. ghotakaḥ, a horse So also as a final in the 2nd person plur. of LAV. verbs. Thus :páthathah (dual), you pádhahu (pl.) two read
Ap. páklad
H.Bg. déval, G. val, B. divál, P. déválä, S. dévili.
OH. pádhahu or pádhau, Br. páḍhau, H.P.L.G.S. pádhō, ye (pl.) read; but B. parha.
Several instances of the weakening of medial au to à or ō will be seen in lists A and B in § 178. The change to à is almost confined to Gujarati (LSI. IX, ii, 329, 345), and that to ō is most common in Sindhi. But G. sometimes has ō, and this change also occurs elsewhere, as in M. lon, H. lon, salt; M. loni, butter; H. sapna, M. sopne, G. sophvi, to entrust. Other examples for G. and S. are:
H. maúdề, a wreath ; G. mad ; 8. mố H. caúthà, fourth; G. catho; S. cótho. H. kaudi, a shell; G. kádi; S. kórt. Ar. daulat, riches; G. dōlat.
So, many others. A full list of the G. words containing &, is given in LSI. 1X, ii, 345 ff. In B. the 2nd plur. of verbs, also has à instead of the ō mentioned above.
Here it may be mentioned that in Varhaḍi M. avi is contracted to ō, as in uḍōlā, for udavila, caused to fly (LSI. VII, 219).
In Assamese, au, though usually written, is invariably pronounced as ō. Thus Ts. aúşadh, medicine, is written aúsadh, and is pronounced oxodh.
au, ō, is also sometimes further weakened to u or i. E.g. :—
Regularly in Gujarati in forming the termination of neuter nouns in u. Thus :
Skr.
pákvakars, ripe
G. paku, of. H. pákkau, pákkā. Occasionally also in isolated words. E.g., IAV. V bhul-, bhul-, bhur- or bhur-, forget, from Skr. bhramarayati, through the Ap. bhavarai or (Mg.Pr.) bhavalai. Hence OLAV. bhaurai or bhaulai. Cf. also Skr. lávanam, Ap. loņu, M. lon, H. lon, but EIAV. also lun or nun, salt.
96