THE FORMATION OF NOUNS 194 Stems in ~d are used to form a number of adverbs, in the same way as is done with the neuter suffixes above. Such are ; sddd ' always purd f formerly dvitd ‘ doubly so mrsd ' falsely ’, saca ‘ with *, devdtd ' among the gods sasvdrta ' secretly In this class are the absolutives in -tva and -tvi (see above, P* I 7 1 )- In their adjectival function these suffixes are principally used to make the feminine stem of adjectives, etc, : navd ' new de vi ' goddess madhu ‘ sweet etc. This is the result of specialisation in the later Indo-European period. Originally, it must be assumed, adjectival -a, -i, -u were on a par with other suffixes used adjectivally, indifferent to gender, and having the usual relation to the corresponding action nouns. Traces of the more general use of a- stems as agent nouns survive in a number of languages which still have some masculine agent nouns in -a : Lat. scriba, agricola , nauta , Gk. vavrys, rroXlnqs, O. Sh sluga 1 servant *, etc. Stems of this kind have totally disappeared from Indo-Iranian, but there remain in the Vedic language a number of masculine stems in -i, of which the commonest is rathi- ' charioteer 7 as well as two rare and obscure masculines in -u ( praiu krkaddsti-). These are the remnants of an older system in which adject iv es_a nd agent n oun^ of. J^rpe could be made with these^ suffixes in the same way .aa.with other suffixes^ Some evidence that there originally existed a formal distinc- tion between the action nouns and adjectives of this class is pro- vided by the existence of tv/o types of declension of I-stems in the Vedic language. One type is fepresented in the declension of ratht nom, sg. rathis , gen. sg. rathiyas and the other in that of devi, nom. sg. devt, gen. sg. devyds. This distinction corre- sponds exactly to that between the two types of i- and ^-sterns (gen. sg. dvyas, mddhvas : agnds, bahos). In the case of the i- and w-s terns there was evidence enough to show that one type was the declension proper to the neuter action nouns and that the other was the special adjectival declension. It is likely therefore that the same is the cause of the different declensions of the f-s terns, The bulk of the feminines formed from adjectives and agent nouns [devt 1 goddess prthvi ‘ broad adati ' eating*, jagmusl ‘having gone ndviyasT ‘newer*, avitri ‘helper*, dhenumdti * possessing cows dmavatl ‘ strong *, samrdjni 1 sovereign *, rtavan ‘ pious * and dpatihgm * not slaying her
