8 śámsā mitrásya váruṇasya dhā'ma súşmo rodasi badbadhe mahitvā' áyan mā'sā ayajvanām avī'rāḥ prá.yajñamanmā vșjánam tirāte. Of the sixteen words here eight (samșă, suşmaḥ, badbadhu, mahitvā, ayajvanām, yajñamanmā, vrj inam, tirāte) are quite unknown, one (rodilsī) is known but only as a borrowing from Vedic and one (pra) is unknown in such free use. 2. Intonation is significant. That is, the position of the accent often determines the semantic value and the grammatical function. Thus : rā'j uput- rah (Bahuvrihi): rājaputráḥ (Tatpuruṣa); súkrtam. “well done”: sukrtám “good deed”; dā'ta vásūni "giving riches”: dātā vásūnām "giver of riches "; brahman- (n) “prayer": brahmán- (m) one who prays”; yáśas- (n) “glory”: yaśás- (m)“glorious”. 3. e certainly and e probably are still short diphthongs, i.e. they are pronounced as ăi and ňu respectively. This pronunciation is indicated in the Prātiśākhyas by mentioning them as sandhyaksara (“ sandhi vowels”). Internal as well as external evidence supports this. In RV jyestha, and śr. ștha- are often to be pronounced as trisyllabics : jyaiştha- and śraistha -. (So in Avestan sraēsta-.) The derivation of these words warrant diphthongs. Similarly tredhā (i 154.I) is to be pronounced as traidha. The evidence for o is not clear. It is not unlikely that au had already become a monophthong. The only clear evidence in support is somya- beside saumya - . The latter (and later) form originated from the diphthongal pronunciation.
