THE FORMATION OF NOUNS 135 (3) The two adjectival forms pdmar-d- and paman-d- r affected with scabies ' show that there was an old neuter rjn stem which has given way to the masc. pdtndn -, and asman 4 gall stone ' attests an old neut. *asmar as opposed to the masculine n-stem which is always found elsewhere (Skt. diman Lith. akmuo ; Gk. aKfUDv ‘ anvil '). The same relationship exists between the Gk. adjective Repos’ * gentle, tame ' and Skt. sdmand - ' quiet The general tendency of the neuter to decline, and with it the decline of the old antithesis marked by accent and gender between action noun and agent noun made it easy for a type of masculine (and feminine) action noun to develop. To a certain extent also personification is responsible for the gender. Terms like daman - ' liberality onidn- ‘ favour (of the gods) ' and bhiimdn - ' abundance * are regarded in the Vedic hymns as divine powers in their own right. Disease (takmdn-) and sin [dhvasmdn-, pdpman-) are likewise regarded as active evil powers. At the same time there are some more mechanical transfers. The abstract formations in - imdn - (prathiman- ‘ width varimdn ‘ id etc.) take the masculine gender as a class, and there is probably a rhythmical reason behind this because the formations in -man- preceded by long i remain neuter ( vdrhnan - ' width hdviman-) call etc.). Masculine action nouns of the same type are common in Greek : rippajv ‘ boundary 1 beside repp a nt. J id ' (Lat. termen ), Xeipwv ‘ winter ' beside x e W a nt., Orjfxwv ' heap ' beside 6fjp a nt. / ^ ) (Skt. dhdman- nt. with different sense), Xeipiwv ' meadow XipLijv 'harbour', dSrjv 'gland' (Lat. inguen nt.). In Latin there are both masculine (ordo t sermo) and feminine ( mar go } legio , cupido) n-stems of this type. Owing to their early obsolescence the neuter r-stems have not undergone this transference with the exception of a single example. The defective stem usar- _( usr -) ' dawn ' is feminine (acc. pi. usr as) but was originally a neuter r-stem (cf. usarbudh § 4 ). §7. Thematic Extension of Neuter Stems in r and n The original func tion of the thematic suff i x was adjectival andjn this case it was ac cented : karan-d * doing etc. This conclusion!! indicated by Hittite which possesses such stems [veitaras 1 herdsman , etc.) but no thematic neuters like the
