Vṛddhi (also rendered vr̥ddhi)
is a technical term in
morphophonology
Morphophonology (also morphophonemics or morphonology) is the branch of linguistics that studies the interaction between morphological and phonological or phonetic processes. Its chief focus is the sound changes that take place in morphemes ...
given to the strongest grade in the
vowel gradation system of Sanskrit. The term is derived from
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...
''vṛddhi'', , 'growth', from .
Origins
Vṛddhi itself has its origins in proto-vṛddhi, a process in the early stage of the
Proto-Indo-European language
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 ...
originally for forming possessive derivatives of
ablauting noun stems, with the meaning "of, belonging to, descended from".
[Clackson, §3.3.] To form a vṛddhi-derivative, one takes the
zero-grade of the ablauting stem (i.e. removes the vowel), inserts the vowel *''e'' in a position which does not necessarily match that of the original vowel, and appends an accented thematic vowel (or accents any existing final thematic vowel). For example:
However, in a later stage of the language this appears to have extended to non-ablauting noun stems that already contained ''*e'', which would contract with the inserted vowel to form a lengthened ''*ē'':
The above example also displays the stressing of the thematic vowel when it already exists. It is this later version of proto-vṛddhi which is displayed in Sanskrit's lengthened vṛddhi grade.
Vṛddhi in Sanskrit
The general phenomenon of vowel gradation, including vṛddhi formation has been extensively studied and documented as part of Sanskrit's vigorous grammatical tradition, most importantly in the ''
Aṣṭādhyāyī
The ( Devanagari अष्टाध्यायी) is a grammar that describes a form of an early Indo-Aryan language: Sanskrit.
Authored by Sanskrit philologist and scholar Pāṇini and dated to around 500 BCE, it describes the language as ...
'' of the grammarian
Pāṇini
, era = ;;6th–5th century BCE
, region = Indian philosophy
, main_interests = Grammar, linguistics
, notable_works = ' ( Classical Sanskrit)
, influenced=
, notable_ideas= Descriptive linguistics
(Devana ...
.
[Burrow, §2.1.]
For example:
* "carried" (zero grade)
* "burden" (first grade, full grade, or
guṇa
( sa, गुण) is a concept in Hinduism, Jainism and Sikhism, which can be translated as "quality, peculiarity, attribute, property". )
* "to be carried" (second grade, lengthened grade, or vṛddhi)
The full pattern of vowel gradation can be observed as follows:
Vṛddhi in Indo-European
In modern
Indo-European linguistics
Indo-European studies is a field of linguistics and an interdisciplinary field of study dealing with Indo-European languages, both current and extinct. The goal of those engaged in these studies is to amass information about the hypothetical pr ...
it is used in Pāṇini's sense, but not restricted to Sanskrit but applicable to the
Indo-European languages
The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, D ...
in general as well as to the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) language from which this feature was inherited:
* (zero grade of the reconstructed verb meaning "to carry")
*
(full grade)
* (vṛddhi, lengthened grade)
Notes
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
*
* Bucknell, Roderick S, ''Sanskrit Manual'' (2000)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vrddhi
Sanskrit grammar
Vyakarana
Indo-European linguistics