Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
inherits from its parent, the
Proto-Indo-European
Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo-E ...
language, the capability of forming
compound
Compound may refer to:
Architecture and built environments
* Compound (enclosure), a cluster of buildings having a shared purpose, usually inside a fence or wall
** Compound (fortification), a version of the above fortified with defensive struct ...
nouns, also widely seen in
kindred languages, especially
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
,
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
, and also
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
.
However, Sanskrit, especially in the later stages of the language, significantly expands on this both in terms of the number of elements making up a single compound and the volume of compound-usage in the literature, a development which is unique within Indo-European to Sanskrit and closely related languages.
Further, this development in the later language is an entirely artificial, literary construct and does not reflect the spoken language.
[Burrow, p. 209.]
Background
In Sanskrit, as in Proto-Indo-European, a compound is formed by the following process:
* Take the stem-form of the first element, i.e., remove its inflexion;
* Combine the two elements with a single accented syllable.
In the later language, this process can be repeated recursively—in theory, ad infinitum, with the freshly made compound becoming the first element of a new one.
[
The process of 'resolving' the compound, i.e., expounding the meaning using the component words declined as in sentence form is termed ''vigraha·vākya''.
Broadly, compounds can be divided into two classes: ''endocentric'' and ''exocentric''.][Adams, p. 35.]
Endocentric compounds
An endocentric compound, usually called ''determinative'', is where the compound is essentially the sum of its parts, the meaning being an extension of one of the parts:
* ''blackbird'' → a type of black bird
* ''White House'' → the official residence of the US president
* ''siṃha·purás'' → lion-city (Singapore)
Exocentric compounds
An exocentric compound refers to something outside the components:
* ''redhead'' → someone with red hair
* ''pickpocket'' → someone who picks someone else's pockets[
* 'bahu·vrīhi' → lit. 'much-rice', i.e., possessing much rice: an indication of wealth
Indeed, this term 'bahuvrihi' is used both in Sanskrit and standard Indo-European linguistics to denote this type of compound.
Sanskrit expands on these to provide several further distinctions as below:
]
Classification
Traditionally, Sanskrit compounds are divided into the following main classes:[Kale, §201.]
* Tatpuruṣa
** Tatpuruṣa proper
** Karmadhāraya
*** Dvigu
** Nan tatpuruṣa
** Prādi and gati
** Upapada
* Bahuvrīhi
** Dvigu
* Dvandva
* Avyayībhava
The first two of these, tatpuruṣa and bahuvrīhi, are Indo-European inheritances, the latter two are Indic innovations. Alongside the term ''bahuvrīhi'', ''tatpuruṣa'' has also been adopted in mainstream Indo-European linguistics as the technical term denoting this type of compounding.[
The following sections give an outline of the main types of compounds with examples. The examples demonstrate the composition of the compound's elements, and the meanings in English generally correspond to them, in most cases being a similar compound as well. Where this is not the case or the meaning is not clear, a further resolution is provided.
]
''Tatpuruṣa'' (determinative)
A ''tatpuruṣa'' is an endocentric compound composed of two elements, wherein the first one, named the attributive
In grammar, an attributive expression is a word or phrase within a noun phrase that modifies the head noun. It may be an:
* attributive adjective
* attributive noun
* attributive verb
or other part of speech, such as an attributive numeral.
...
, determines the second one.[Coulson, pp. 87.]
Based on the grammatical nature of the attributive member, six varieties of ''tatpuruṣa'' compounds are identified as seen in the classification above. A further distinction is also made based on whether the attributive is in the nominative or an oblique case.[
]
''Tatpuruṣa proper''
The first member here is an attributive in an oblique relationship with the second, and are therefore termed ''dependent determinatives''.[
]
''Karmadhāraya-tatpuruṣa'' (descriptive)
In a ''karmadhāraya-tatpuruṣa'' compound, the first element qualifies the second one adjectively when the latter is a noun. When the second member is an adjective, the qualification is adverbial. Other parts of speech besides adjectives and adverbs may be used to obtain the adjective or adverbial qualification.
= ''Dvigu-tatpuruṣa'' (numerative)
=
In essence ''dvigu'' can refer to several compound types where the first element is a numeral. Dvigu-tatpuruṣa compounds are a special subcategory of ''karmadhārayas''.
''dvigu'' compounds of ''bahuvrīhi'' type are noted below.
''Nañ-tatpuruṣa'' (negative)
In a ''nañ-tatpuruṣa'' compound, the first element is a privative
A privative, named from Latin language, Latin ''wikt:privare, privare'', "to deprive", is a particle (grammar), particle that negates or inverts the semantics, value of the root word, stem of the word. In Indo-European languages many privatives are ...
, a negator: ''a-'', ''an-'' or ''na-'', just like the English ''un-'', Latin-derived ''in-, non-'' or Greek-derived ''a-, an-''.
''Upapada-tatpuruṣa''
These are composed of a second member that occurs only in a compound and cannot stand on its own. These are either roots or verbal derivatives from them.
''Aluk-tatpuruṣa''
In an ''aluk-tatpuruṣa'' compound, in contrast to the standard pattern of being in stem form, the first element takes a case form as if in a sentence:
''Dvandva'' (co-ordinative)
These consist of two or more noun
A noun () is a word that generally functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.Example nouns for:
* Living creatures (including people, alive, d ...
stems connected with "and" (copulative or co-ordinative). There are mainly three kinds of ''dvandva'' pair constructions in Sanskrit:
''Itaretara-dvandva''
The result of ''itaretara-dvandva'' is an enumerative word, the meaning of which refers to all its constituent members. The resultant compound word is in the dual or plural number and takes the gender of the final member in the compound construction. Examples:
''Samāhāra-dvandva''
Words may be organised in a compound to form a metonym
Metonymy () is a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the name of something closely associated with that thing or concept.
Etymology
The words ''metonymy'' and ''metonym'' come from grc, μετωνυμία, 'a change of name' ...
, and sometimes the words may comprise all the constituent parts of the whole. The resultant bears a collective sense and is always singular and neutral.
''Ekaśeṣa-dvandva''
According to some grammarians, there is a third kind of ''dvandva'', called ''ekaśeṣa-dvandva'' , where only one stem remains in the compound of multiple words.
''Āmreḍita (iterative)''
While not strictly copulative, this is a compound consisting of the same word repeated with the first occurrence accented.
Āmreḍita compounds are used to express repetitiveness; for example, from dív- (day) we obtain divé-dive ('day after day', daily) and from devá- (god) we obtain deváṃ-devam or devó-devas ('deity after deity').
''Bahuvrīhi'' (possessive)
''Bahuvrīhi'' is an exocentric compound consisting of a noun preceded by a grammatical modifier
In linguistics, a modifier is an optional element in phrase structure or clause structure which ''modifies'' the meaning of another element in the structure. For instance, the adjective "red" acts as a modifier in the noun phrase "red ball", provi ...
which, taken together, functions as a single nominalised adjective.
A ''bahuvrīhi'' compound can often be translated by "possessing..." or "-ed"; for example, "possessing much rice" or "much-riced". In English, examples of ''bahuvrīhi'' would be "lowlife" and "blockhead" (they respectively denote 'one whose life is low' and 'one whose head resembles a block'), or the English surname Longbottom Longbottom is an English surname; notable persons with the name include:
*Arthur Longbottom (footballer) (born 1933), English footballer
*Arthur Longbottom (politician) (1883–1943), Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom
*Bruce Longbottom ...
('one who lives in a long "botham" alley
An alley or alleyway is a narrow lane, path, or passageway, often reserved for pedestrians, which usually runs between, behind, or within buildings in the older parts of towns and cities. It is also a rear access or service road (back lane ...
).
The second element could essentially have been a noun, which within such a compound, can take on adjective declensions with the compound used adjectivally. Endocentric compounds can thus be transformed into possessives, normally accompanied, and explicitly recognized in the older language, by a change in accentuation:
* ''indra·śatrú-'', 'Indra's killer' ⇒ ''índra·śatru-'', 'having Indra as killer'
* ''bṛhad·ratha-'', 'a great chariot' ⇒ ''bṛhád·ratha-'', 'having great chariots'
* ''sūrya·tejás-'', 'sun's brightness' ⇒ ''sū́rya·tejas-'', 'possessing the brightness of the sun'
A few typical examples of such compounds:
''Dvigu-bahuvrīhi''
When the first element of a ''bahuvrīhi'' is a numeral, the compound is called ''dvigu''. An English example would be a ''halfwit'' ('one who has half of their mind').
A few typical examples of such compounds:
''Avyayībhāva'' (adverbial)
''Avyayībhāvas'' ('indeclinable') are adverbial compounds composed of an indeclinable element (an adverb, etc.) and a noun, together expressing an adverb or another indeclinable () element.
See also
*Sanskrit nominals
Sanskrit has inherited from its theorised parent the Proto-Indo-European language an elaborate system of nominal morphology. Endings may be added directly to the root, or more frequently and especially in the later language, to a stem formed by t ...
*Sanskrit verbs
Sanskrit has inherited from its parent, the Proto-Indo-European language, an elaborate system of verbal morphology, much of which has been preserved in Sanskrit as a whole, unlike in other kindred languages, such as Ancient Greek or Latin. Sanskri ...
*Sanskrit grammar
The grammar of the Sanskrit language has a complex verbal system, rich nominal declension, and extensive use of compound nouns. It was studied and codified by Sanskrit grammarians from the later Vedic period (roughly 8th century BCE), culminating ...
*Vedic Sanskrit grammar
upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''.
The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the ...
*Proto-Indo-European verbs
Proto-Indo-European verbs reflect a complex system of morphology, more complicated than the substantive, with verbs categorized according to their aspect, using multiple grammatical moods and voices, and being conjugated according to person, nu ...
*Proto-Indo-Aryan
Proto-Indo-Aryan (sometimes Proto-Indic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Indo-Aryan languages. It is intended to reconstruct the language of the Proto-Indo-Aryans. Being descended from Proto-Indo-Iranian (which in turn is descended f ...
* Proto-Indo-Iranian
*Proto-Indo-European
Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo-E ...
*Kenning
A kenning ( Icelandic: ) is a figure of speech in the type of circumlocution, a compound that employs figurative language in place of a more concrete single-word noun. Kennings are strongly associated with Old Norse-Icelandic and Old English po ...
Notes
References
Bibliography
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* {{cite book , last1=Deshpande , first1=Madhav M , title=Sanskrit and Prakrit , year=1993 , publisher=Motilal Banarsidass , isbn=81-208-1136-4 , edition=1993
Sanskrit grammar
Vyakarana
Linguistic morphology