Bopp endeavors to defend the transition of an original t into Latin d by the termination of the old ablatives, such as gnaivod, etc. But here again it is certain that the original termination was d, and not t. It is so in Latin, it may be so in Zend, where, as Justi points out, the d of the ablative is probably a media.[25] In Sanskrit it is certainly a media in such forms as mad, tvad, asmad, which Bopp considers as old ablatives, and which in madîya, etc., show the original media. In other cases it is impossible in Sanskrit to test the nature of the final dental in the ablative, because d is always determined by its position in a sentence. But under no circumstances could we appeal to Latin gnaivod in order to prove a transition of an original t into d; while on the contrary all the evidence at present is in favor of a media, as the final letter both of the ablative and of the neuter bases of pronouns, such as tad and yad.
These may seem minutiæ, but the whole of Comparative Grammar is made up of minutiæ, which, nevertheless, if carefully joined together and cemented, lead to conclusions of unexpected magnitude.
[NOTE B.][text]
Did Feminine Bases in â take s in the Nominative Singular?
I add one other instance to show how a more accurate knowledge of Sanskrit would have guarded comparative philologists against rash conclusions. With regard to the nominative singular of feminine bases ending in derivative â, the question arose, whether words like bona in Latin, ἀγαθά in Greek, sivâ in Sanskrit, had originally an s as the sign of the nom. sing., which was afterwards lost, or whether they never took that termination. Bopp (§ 136), Schleicher (§ 246), and others seem to believe in the loss of the s, chiefly, it would seem, because the s is added to feminine bases ending in î and û. Benfey[26] takes the opposite view, viz. that feminines in â never took the s of the nom. sing. But he adds one exception, the Vedic gnâ-s. This remark has caused much mischief. Without verifying Benfey’s statements, Schleicher (l.c.) quotes the same exception, though cautiously referring to the Sanskrit dictionary of Boehtlingk and Roth as his authority. Later writers, for instance Merguet,[27] leave out all restrictions, simply appealing to this Vedic form gnâ-s in support of the theory that feminine bases in â too took originally s as sign of the nom. sing. and afterwards dropped it. Even so careful a scholar as Büchler[28] speaks of the s as lost.
There is, first of all, no reason whatever why the s should have been added[29]; secondly, there is none why it should have been lost. But, whatever opinion we may hold in this respect, the appeal to the Vedic gnâ-s cannot certainly be sustained, and the word should at all events be obelized till there is better evidence for it than we possess at present.[30]
The passage which is always quoted from the Rv. IV. 9, 4, as showing gnâ-s to be a nom. sing. in s, is extremely difficult, and as it stands at present, most likely corrupt:—
Utá gnấḥ agníḥ adhvaré utó gṛhá-patiḥ dáme, utá brahmấ ní sídati.
This could only be translated:—
“Agni sits down at the sacrifice as a woman, as lord in the house, and as priest.”