Grammar Of Apabhramsa

Author(s): Madhusudan Mishra
Publisher: Vidyanidhi Prakashan

Page 30

Declension
19 a few words in long a bad newly developed.
27. The fem. nouns generally ended in ā, i į and u ū, but in declension the long vowels are shortened before the endings : sahi> sahi-e, bālā bāla-hi, etc.
(a) On metrical grounds also the short vowels are lengthened and long vowels are shortened, at least in the written Apbh.
28. As regards the cases, the nominative and accusative had fallen together in masc., both in sg. and pl., having no ending at all. But the pl. forms were often distinguished in fem. by special endings, a feature coming down to Hindi also.
29. But there is a pl. ending -ho in vocative both for masc. and fem. It represents the Vedic pl. in -as-aḥ : janāsaḥ, etc.
(a) It has come down to Hindi also in the form of -o: bacc-o, log-o, devi-y-o, etc.
30. The instrumental and locative had fallen together in pl. : taru-bî aggi-bs, etc.
31. In fem. the ablative and genitive had fallen together, but in masc. the distinction was maintained.
32. There was a tendency to distinguish masc. declension from the fem. in instrumental sg. and genitive. The dative was long ago merged with genitive.
33. The locative forms are very clearly distinguished in sg. and pl : in fem., there is -hi in sg. and -hi in pl.: in masc. there 'is -hĩ both in sg. and pl., if the base is a- in sg. and ě- or i- in pl.; otherwise the ending is -e, -i with a base and -hi elsewhere in sg. and -hĩ in pl.
34. The endings of the different cases then may be seen in the following tables :
sg.
pl.
Nominative
Accusative
1-2
-
-0, -U