saṃdhi general offers
hariḥ om̐
~~~~~~
namasté
We talked a bit about the rules of saṃdhi¹ in another string and by no means have the conversations been comprehensive.
I thought to show a few examples on how words we see or read come into use. This post and others will offer a few examples on
these rules. I always look for imput and corrections on my offers as I am not the final authority on this matter.
When a word or sound is combined with another these rules of saṃdhi are applied. Here's one example. Let's say one writes
chāndogya upaniṣad and these two words wish to be combined as it is found in various saṃskṛtā text.
We look at the two letters at the end of the word, then look for the proper rule: chāndogya upaniṣad :
The rule says when an 'a' is followed by 1 of 5 simple vowels other the 5th being another 'a' ( and another rule applies¹ then
the letters are replaced by guṇa. We will define guṇa in a moment.
So, the rule says it does not matter if this 'a' is long ā (dīrgha) or short a (hrasva).
The rule is written like this:
- a ( long or short) + i ( i can be long ī or short i) = e
- a + u ( u can be long or short) =o
- a + r ( r in saṃskṛtā is a vowel, and can be long or short ) = ar
- a + l ( l in saṃskṛtā is a vowel and can be long or short) = al
We apply the rule to chāndogya upaniṣad = a+u = o. This is written as one word chāndogyopaniṣad.
Now what does this guṇa mean? In grammar it means a secondary or auxillary form of a vowel. Pāniṇi-ji¹ the grammarian that
really systemized the rules defines guṇa as the 3 primary vowels a, e and o. Note the rules above that the letters are replaced by
these guṇa vowels a, e and o.
Yet one notes, there are other replacement letters 'ar' and 'al' . This is correct, and these are called vṛddhi ( or increase) .
In both cases guṇa and vṛddhi, the principle is that it strengths the vowel sound, that is the point. In short, the 'strength' comes
by adding a measure (or mātra) to the sound.
I use this rule is to reverse engineer words to understand their root word meanings. Let me offer a unique observation
I have found in the next post.
praṇām
words
- saṃdhi , some write sandhi - In general, containing a conjunction or transition from one sound to another .
- More specifically according to the Monier-Williams Saṃskṛt Dictionary, saṃdhi is a junction of final and initial sounds meeting in words (grammar)
- the saṃdhi rule for 'a'
- When two 'a's come togther long (dīrgha) or short (hrasva ) doesnt' matter, then we end up with a long a sound ā. So we can write the rule like this:
- a + a = ā
- a + ā = ā
- ā + a = ā
- ā + ā = ā
- Pāniṇi-ji's work called Aṣṭādhyāyī, meaning 'eight chapters' laid down about 3,900 rules for all of classical ( vs. vedic) saṃskṛt grammar.
Last edited by yajvan; 29 March 2011 at 04:29 PM.
यतस्त्वं शिवसमोऽसि
yatastvaṁ śivasamo'si
because you are identical with śiva
_
Bookmarks