not fall back on the elision of final consonants in order to arrive at a proper scanning of Vedic metres. On this point I shall have to say a few words in conclusion, because I shall frequently avail myself of this licence, for the purpose of righting apparently corrupt verses in the hymns of the Rig-veda; and I feel bound to explain, once for all, why I avail myself of it in preference to other emendations which have been proposed by scholars such as Professors Benfey, Kuhn, Roth, Bollensen, and others.

The merit of having first pointed out some cases where two syllables must be treated as one, belongs, I believe, to Professor Bollensen in his article, 'Zur Herstellung des Veda,' published in Benfey's Orient und Occident, vol. ii. p. 461. He proposed, for instance, to write hyâna instead of hiyânẩ, ix. 13, 6; dhyânó instead of dhiyânó, viii. 49, 5; sáhyase instead of sáhîyase, i. 71, 4; yânó instead of iyânó, viii. 50, 5, &c. The actual alteration of these words seems to me unnecessary; nor should we think of resorting to such violent measures in Greek where, as far as metrical purposes are concerned, two vowels have not unfrequently to be treated

as one.

That iva counts in many passages as one syllable is admitted by everybody. The only point on which I differ is that I do not see why iva, when monosyllabic, should be changed to va, instead of being pronounced quickly, or, to adopt the terminology

PREFACE.

of Greek grammarians, by synizesis. Synizesis is well explained by Greek scholars as a quick pronunciation of two vowels so that neither should be lost, and as different thereby from synalo he, which means the contraction of two vowels into one+. This synizesis is by no means restricted to iva and a few other words, but seems to me a very frequent expedient resorted to by the ancient Rishis.

Originally it may have arisen from the fact that language allows in many cases alternate forms of one or two syllables. As in Greek we have doul le forms like αλεγεινός and ἀλγεινός, γαλακτοφάγος atel γλακτοφάγος, πετηνός and πτηνός, πυκινός and πυκνός τε and as in Latin we have the shortening or sup pression of vowels carried out on the largest scale,

* Synizesis in Greek applies only to the quick pronunciation of two vowels, if in immediate contact; and not, if separated by consonants. Samprasârana might seem a more appropriate term, but though the grammatical process designated in Sanskrit by Samprasarana offers some analogies, it could only by a new defi nition be applied to the metrical process here intended.

† Α. Β. p. 835, 30. ἐστὶ δὲ ἐν τοῖς κοινοῖς μέτροις καὶ ἡ καλουμένη συνεκφώνησις ἢ καὶ συνίζησις λέγεται. Οταν γὰρ φωνηέντων ἐπάλληλος γένηται ἡ προφορά, τότε γίνεται ἡ συνίζησις εἰς μίαν συλλαβήν. Διαφέρει δὲ συναλοιφῆς· ἡ μὲν γὰρ γραμμάτων ἐστὶ κλοπή, ἡ δὲ χρόνων καὶ ἡ μὲν συναλοιφή, ὡς λέγεται, φαίνεται, ἡ δὲ οὔ. Mehlhorn, Griechische Grammatik, § 101. Thus in NeoTroepos we have synizesis, in Νουπτόλεμος synaresis.

Cf. Mehlhorn, Griechische Grammatik, § 57

§ See the important chapters on 'Kürzung der Vokale' and

not fall back on the elision of final consonants in order to arrive at a proper scanning of Vedic metres. On this point I shall have to say a few words in conclusion, because I shall frequently avail myself of this licence, for the purpose of righting apparently corrupt verses in the hymns of the Rig-veda; and I feel bound to explain, once for all, why I avail myself of it in preference to other emendations which have been proposed by scholars such as Professors Benfey, Kuhn, Roth, Bollensen,

and others.

The merit of having first pointed out some cases where two syllables must be treated as one, belongs, I believe, to Professor Bollensen in his article, 'Zur Herstellung des Veda,' published in Benfey's Orient und Occident, vol. ii. p. 461. He proposed, for instance, to write hyâna instead of hiyână, ix. 13, 6; dhyânó instead of dhiyânó, viii. 49, 5; sáhyase instead of sáhîyase, i. 71, 4; yânó instead of iyânó, viii. 50, 5, &c. The actual alteration of these words seems to me unnecessary; nor should we think of resorting to such violent measures in Greek where, as far as metrical purposes are concerned, two vowels have not unfrequently to be treated

as one.

That iva counts in many passages as one syllable is admitted by everybody. The only point on which differ is that I do not see why iva, when syllabic, should be changed to va, inst~ pronounced quickly, or,

* Synizesis in Greet appe of two vowels. I immense consonants. Samprasaran

but though the grammustaa proce Samprasarana offer som shange nition be applied to tie met

† Α. Β. μ. 635. 30 επέες συνεκφώνησις ή και συνίζησε και στα

γένηται η προφορά, τότε γίνει έτσι

δὲ συναλοιφῆς ἡ μὲν τοῦτον συναλοιφή, ὡς λέγεται πάντα 116 1 Grammatik, Twi

we find in Sanskrit, too, such double forms as prithvi or prithivi, adhi and dhi, api and pi, ava and va. The occurrence of such forms which have nothing to do with metrical considerations, but are perfectly legitimate from a grammatical point of view, would encourage a tendency to treat two syllables-and particularly two short syllables-as one, whenever an occasion arose. There are, besides, in the Vedic Sanskrit a number of forms where, as we saw, long syllables have to be pronounced as two. In some of these cases this pronunciation is legitimate, i. e. it preserves an original dissyllabic form which in course of time had become monosyllabic. In other cases the same process takes place through a mistaken sense of analogy, where we cannot prove that an original dissyllabic form had any existence even in a prehistoric state of language. The occurrence of a number of such alternate forms would naturally leave a general impression in the mind of poets that two short syllables and one long syllable were under certain circumstances interchangeable. So considerable a number of words in which a long syllable has to be pronounced as two syllables has been collected by Professors Kuhn, Bollensen, and

'Tilgung der Vokale' in Corssen's 'Aussprache des Lateinischen ;' and more especially his remarks on the so-called irrational vowels in Plautus, ibid. vol. ii. p. 70.