________________
Assimilation of Conjunct Consonant in Prakrit and Greek
Skt apsara > Pkt acchara
But S+mute is not assimilated in Greek e. g. gkt esti (< IE esti), gk basko IE gwmsko etc.
Mute+sibilant is sometimes assimilated in Greek.
i. e. dental (t/th/d)+s> ss in Gk
e. g. pod + si possi
ornith+s
ornis (< *orniss) 'bird'.
V with a mute is assimilated and the mute prevails in Prakrit.
i. e. kukk and
jov > jj etc.
e.g. Skt pakva > Pkt pakka
Skt ujjala
Pkt ujjala
But in Greek unassimilated v is lost or becomes u. In most of the conjunct in V, v is lost. In a few cases it has a clear trace of assimilation. (It should be noted that in conjuncts o always follows another consonant, it does not precede. That is the case with 1)
२२७
i. e. IE kw> pp in Greek and tw> dialectally ss or tt. e. g. IE ekwos>Gk hippos
IE qewares > Gk tessares, tettares
r with a mute is assimilated and the mute prevails in Prakrit.
i. e. kykk and
bhybbh etc.
e.g. Skt canakya> Pkt cāṇakka
Skt abhyantara Pkt abbhantara
r with a mute is assimilated in Gk and it has various treatments depending on the preceding consonants.
i. e. t/th>ss in Gk and k/kh+y > dialectally tt/ss.
e.g. IE med hyos>*methyos > Gk messos mesos.
*pikya> pitta pissä in Gk.
r with a mute is assimilated and the mute prevails in Prakrit. i. e. rggg, kr> kk etc.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
परिसंवाद-४
www.jainelibrary.org