Collected Articles Of LA Schwarzschild On Indo Aryan 1953 1979

Author(s): Royce Wiles
Publisher: Australian National University

Page 64

THE INDECLINABLE JE IN MIDDLE INDO-ARYAN
LA SCHWARZSCHILD
tions for instance there are on the one hand some relative pronouns and derivatives of relative pronouns which have lost their initial y : ata < yatra, ath <yatha, dva <yávat, adisa <yada, e < ye, ena <yena, and am for the relative particle yad. On the other hand precisely in the same inscriptions eva sometimes appears as yeud. This characteristic of the eastern inscriptions is still found in the later inscriptions from Udayagiri.14 There is little doubt that the pronunciation of initial y was particularly weak in the eastern dialects: initial y stayed as a weak y and did not become the affricate j in the Māgadhi of the classical dramas. This situation may well have led to some uncertainty as to where the initial y should be pronounced. But in the Asokan inscriptions the sporadic loss of the initial y is confined to the relative pronoun, and the introduction of y- to the pronominal particle eva y epaIt seems therefore that the weak pronunciation of initial y- was associated in the East with a temporary tendency for confusion between the relative pronouns of proximity with the base a-,-. It is very unlikely that this confusion was ever very widespread, except in the lowest strata of the language, and it therefore barely penetrated into literary usage: the clear system of relative, demonstrative and interrogative pronouns was probably very soon reestablished. There is however nothing unusual in such a tendency, which has parallels outside Indo-Aryan and perhaps even in Indo-Aryan (Pashai).15 It is only among the adverbs that this confusion left any clear marks at all: there are numerous instances in Ardha-Māgadhi of the loss of the initial y of relative adverbs. Thus aim occurs for jasm <
ini as a relative adverb in the canon (e.g. in the Nayadhammaleahão and the Bhagavatista), and particularly usual in ArdhaMāgadhi are and < tatha and dva < yavat in compounds such as ahürihan atharham and avalcaham < yavaticatham, while the adverb dua yauat is also used independently.18 In the case of the particle epa, however, the longer form with the historically unjustified y-, borrowed from the relative pronouns was favoured, mainly because such a longer form was more expressive and suited as an emphatic particle. The development of eva to yeva <jeva, je, may thus be considered to be an example of the insertion of an intrusive consonant in an adverb: the presence of this consonant may be explained by the phonetic weakness of y in the East combined with a temporary confusion between the relative and demonstrative pronouns.
ed in more accented positions in the sentence. There are other examples of the loss of entire syllables in particles in Middle IndoAryan, as in Ich <lchalu. There may even be an exact parallel to to the development of je from jeva, namely in the exclamatory de, which is very frequent as an interjection in just a few Jain narrative texts, especially in the Kuvalayamala, Although Hemacandra mentions (2.196) that this word could be used to address a female, the texts show that it was used as a general emphatic exclamation. It is therefore possible that de developed from the vocative deva when used as an exclamation, just as je came from jeva used enclitically.
Apart from its use with infinitives and later as a mere expletive, the particle je may have had another and more specific use in the exclamation and form of address hafije. The exclamations and forms of address resemble the emphatie particles, they show similar Irregularities in their phonetic development and have the same tendency for reinforcement, particularly by accumulation of particles. One of the more usual forms of address in Sanskrit is hanta "come on', which also figured as an interjection to express surprise, joy and grief. It is still used in Pali and in Ardha-Magadhi, sometimes with phonetic weakening as handa (in the Therfgatha and in the Ayiraigasutta and sometimes with the further addition of the intensive particle ha as in handana (Ayarasigasutta II. 1.11). Much rarer is the form hom, which is found as an interjection, or is combined with ho, bho. and used as a form of address, hambho, haxho 'hallo' Handi which appears in Ardha-Magadhi and in Jain Maharastri as an exelamatory particle is so much like hande 'come on, that it gives the appearance of being a variant of this word; but Pischel 17 has explained it as being derived from ham, strengthened by the addition of the particle iti 'thus'. There is a possibility that the particle je was also used in conjunction with the exclamation hom to form hanie. The fact that this word is used exclusively to address female servants in the drama may be due to the finale, which gave the particle the appearance of being a feminine vocative form, as is found for instance in ambe 'mother' Hantie is used as a general exclamation in stage conversations with a female slave, e.g., in the Malavilionimitra (Act III): hamje, me calana arrado na pavattanti, which one might translate as 'alas, my feet will go no further. It is also used in conjunction with the name of the female attendant as a form of address, e.g. (ibid.): hamje Niunie, to you there, Nipunika'. In view of its highly stylised usage hapje was probably not current in really popular speech, and it is not represented in Apabhrama or the modern languages
The word je in Prakrit therefore shows some of the intricacies which are so typical of particles. It was derived by a complex and
Through excessive use, particularly in an enclitic position the particle jeva tended to be pronounced with the second syllable slurred and it gradually became je, while the full form jeva was preserv
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