THE FORMATION OF NOUNS 137 With the tar- suffix we have a neuter formation in -tara in srastara - * bed of grass ' (fsrams-) and a fairly abundant series of neuters in -tra : dtra- " food ' (: atrd- m. ' eater'), kdrtra - ' spell ', ksitra- 4 field ' (: Av. $6i6ra- " habitation '), vdstra- 4 garment srotra- "hearing, ear* (: AS. hleopor "noise'), stitra- 1 thread * (cf. the Lat, agent noun sutor). In addition to such words which can be explained quite simply out of primitive neuter tar-stems, there is another series of neuters with the suffix - tra less easy to explain since they have paradoxically accent on the final syllable. Such are antra-, antra- (: Gk. *^7 ^ ^ evrtpa pi.), astra-, destrd - "direction', netrd- 'guidance', r astra - 4 rule, kingdom ', iastra- ' invocation sattrd- ' sacrificial session iastra - 4 command ', stotrd- " praise, hymn of praise ’, sthdtrd - 4 station ', hotra- 4 office ot hotar-, oblation potrd- " office of pdtar- ', nestrd- ' office or vessel of ndstar- '. A few of these forms may be explained as originally adjectival, e.g. antra - ‘ what is inside astra- ' what is thrown ', but the majority clearly cannot be explained in this way. They must be explained from a different point of view. There is a series of agent nouns in -tar denoting holders of professions and priestly offices, e.g. sdmstar- ' reciter ' hdtar - " sacrificial priest polar - ‘ purifier ’ and closely associated the ndstar- (prob. " sifter cf. Gk. vaicrjTTip A LKpirjT^p Hes,), Such nouns as a class have the nominal accent, i.e. on the root. The above neuters, hotra - ' office of hotar- , etc., have become, as far as their meaning is concerned, secondary derivatives from these agent nouns, thus reversing the position originally prevailing between neuters and agent nouns. In ordinary taddhita derivation there is a special rule in Sanskrit whereby the taddhita derivative is accented on the final -a if the primary formation from which it is derived is accented on a previous syllable : nairhasta- " hand- lessness atithya- ' hospitality ', saumanasd- " friendliness ' from nirhasta -, dtithi sumanas - (and vice versa, p&lityar from palitd- "grey-haired'). There are also examples from non- vrddhied formations, e.g. sakhya- 1 friendship ' from sdkhi-. This is a new way of using accent in derivation which Sanskrit has developed, and it is this system which accounts for the final accentuation in hotra-, etc. These formations are however not from the beginning taddhitas, but a subdivision of the old simple neuters in -tra which have been adapted for a special purpose and have had their accent altered accordingly.
