TRACING VEDIC DIALECTS - People.fas.harvard.edu

occurrence of the opt. in -īta (AB,KB, Up.s, BŚS, other Sūtras, later language,
cf.O.v.H, Überblick, § 444 ). 22
* Syntax provides some useful materials as well, especially the varying use of
particles, the persistent occurrence of tmesis even in some of the later texts
(Śrautasūtras: BŚS ), etc.
* Typical expressions (phrases) and stereotype sentences again can be used
as evidence, e.g., phrases like ya evam veda: ya evavidvān, or such
stereotype sentences that had become traditional by the time of the YV-
Saṃhitās, like devāś ca-asurāś ca sayattā āsan :: ..°ca-aspardhanta. 23
* However, typical examples of the style of a particular Vedic text or school
should be treated with caution or should be avoided. One can only study the
spread of such features as a fashion among fellow speakers of a learned
language, comparable to such modernisms as chairman > chair(person), user
friendly, etc. On the other hand, the sudden diffusion of a certain particle
may reflect the actually spoken general language (cf. recent German also
'thus' or Dutch dus 'thus' at the beginning of nearly every other sentence in
not so precise, colloquial speech, or Japanese (speaker's name) desu-kedo...<
keredomo "though," in answering the telephone. 24
Typical examples in Vedic are the spread of khalu or svid, or of the various
combinations of (u) (ha) (vai), or phrases like eṣā...sthitiḥ; brahmavādino
vadanti, etc.
22 So far attested at: AB 3.19.10, 3.45.7, 4.7.3, 6.21.12 (thus also in the older parts of AB!);
KB 4.4, 19.10, KU 3.8, ChU 6.14.1; PrU 5.1; BŚS very frequent, BhŚS, etc.; note also –iyuḥ
for –īyuḥ in AB,KB.--- Could this be an Eastern development: KB < AB < BŚS, due to the -
e- preterite, see O.v. Hinüber, Überblick § 445 and MSS 36 p. 39 sqq.? In that case, did one
want to make a distinction of forms with e-pret. from the forms in -ī-/-i- of the Opt.? Cf.
analogical forms, O.v. Hinüber, §435: TB sanem instead of saneyam, Pāli labhe (cf. Renou,
Gramm. Skte.§282); cf. also the confusion arising in late Vedic of forms with the augment
a- (meaning "vorzeitig,"/ "pluperfect" value), and the other pret. forms, see below, § 5.2). -
Bronkhorst, in his treatment of Śvetaketu, makes wrong use of some of these data; he
simply attributes the usage of -īta in various texts to the same synchronic level (ĀpDhS =
AB,KB!), without paying any attention to the problems of textual layers, problems of
composition of the texts, redactional activity, dialect spread, and geographical distribution
(AB,KB, Taitt. Sūtras: BŚS, ĀpŚS, BhŚS, etc.). Pure 'diachronic' treatment and
speculation, especially with texts of unknown date and unknown authors, is fruitless.
23 See author in WZKS 23.
24 "this is XY, though...." which carries no meaning whatsoever, except to leave the caller,
psychologically, room to state what he/she wants.
11