On “ i -substantivizations” in Vedic nominal compounds Laura Grestenberger, Concordia University Laura.Grestenberger@concordia.ca 16 th World Sanskrit Conference, June 28–July 2, 2015, Bangkok 1 Introduction 1.1 Background: the suffix -i - in Indo-European & Vedic • Vedic suffix -i -: forms f. action nouns (dhr´ ¯ aji - f ‘gust of wind’, jálpi- f ‘whisper, muttering’, rándhi - f ‘submission’, rá ˙ mhi - f ‘hurry’, etc.) and m. or adjectival agent nouns (dhúni - ‘resounding’, bhŕ ˙ mi - ‘lively’, cákri - ‘doing, performing’, babhrí - ‘carrying’, etc., AiG II,2: 291ff., Macdonell 1910: 115f.) • This dual function of the suffix is inherited from Proto-Indo-European (PIE), (Nussbaum 2014: 304): (1) Derivation of i -stems in PIE 1. Adjective 2. (m.) ‘substantivized’ adjective 3. (f.) abstract PIE *h 2 é ´ kro- ‘high’ *h 2 ó/é ´ kri- ‘high (one)’ *h 2 ó/é ´ kri- ‘height’ Ex. Gk. ákros ‘high’ Lat. ocris m. ‘mountain’ Gk. ákris f. ‘peak’, Ved. °áśri - f. ‘edge’ • Crucially, the derivational basis of both substantivized adjectives and verbal abstracts was an *o -adjective (= Ved. a -adj.), Schindler 1980, Balles 2006, Nussbaum 2014: (2) Masc. substantivized adjectives a. Av. tiγ-ra - ‘pointed, sharp’ → tiγ-ri - m. ‘pointed thing; arrow’ b. PIE *mn ˚ tó - ‘protruding’ (Lat. mentum ‘chin’) → *mont-i - ‘protruding (one)’ (Lat. m¯ ons m. ‘mountain’) c. Ved. j¯ ırá - ‘quick, lively’ → j¯ ırí - ‘stream’ (< ‘quick, lively one’) (3) Fem. abstracts a. Lat. ravus ‘hoarse’ → ravis f. ‘hoarseness’ b. Gk. argós ‘bright, shining; fast’ → argi - ‘brightness’ (in compounds, cp. Ved. r ˙ ji - in r ˙ jí-śvan - ‘having swift dogs’) c. OIr. glan ‘clear’ → glain f. ‘glass; clearness’ (Weiss 2013) Semantics of (2): ‘masculine endocentric substantivizations’, comparable to definite adjectives in Germanic, Balto-Slavic, etc. (Nussbaum 2014) – tend to develop into adjectives → semantic difference between adjectival base and (substan- tival) derivative not always clear-cut in the individual branches NB not clear how formally related vr ˙ ddhi -formations (patronyms, nouns of appurtenance) fit into this, e.g., sarátha - ‘(driving) the same chariot’ → s´ ¯ arathi - m. ‘co-driver’, agniveśa - personal name → ´ ¯ agniveśi - ‘descendant of Agniveśa’, purukútsa - → paúrukutsi -. Not treated here. 1.2 -i - in compounds In some IE languages, an *-o -stem (or *-¯ a -stem) is replaced by an *-i -stem in the second members of compounds (SMC), possibly by the same ‘substantivizing -i-’ process: 1