THE FORMATION OF NOUNS 195 husband illustrate the various types) inflect in what according to this theory is the adjectival declension. The weak stem in the nom. acc. sg. is parallel to that of the i- and w -stems. The origin of the variation is not clear, but as with the i- and u- stems, it appears that a more original form of the adjectival stem is preserved in the gen. sg., etc. Stems of the vrkt type comprise both action nouns and agent nouns together with some miscellaneous feminines. The de- clension of this type ( rathi gen. sg. rathiyas) and its accentu- ation is closely analagous to that of the adjectives in -in (bait, balinas ) . In the case of the latter type it was observed that the generalisation of the weak stem (from gen. sg., etc., which were originally suffixally accented) was secondary, and that compara- tive evidence indicated original vrddhied nominatives of the usual type. The same type of generalisation of the weak stem is likely to have happened in the case of rathi , vrki, etc., and in Avestan some traces of an older type of declension are preserved. The Avestan word for tongue is declined as follows : nom. sg. hizva, acc. sg. hizvam , instr. sg. hizvd, gen. sg. hizvd, loc. sg. hizvd , instr. pi. hizubis, This is clearly the same type of declen- sion as is found in data } dat. sg. ddtre, sdkhd, dat. sg. sdkhye , uksan gen. sg. nksnds, etc., with weak form of suffix in the oblique cases. As remarked above there are two forms of adjec- tival declension, one with the weak cases having the same form as the neuters (ddtri, etc.), and another with strong form of suffix and weak form of the gen. sg. termination in these cases (Av. pitars, Skt. agues, etc.). Both types are found among t-stems [sdkhye : agndye) and among the f-stems they are repre- sented by vrki- (gen. sg. vrkiyas) and devi (gen. sg. devyds) re- spectively. The oldest type of inflection is that which appears in the vdju stem hizvd fu in Avestan. Leaving aside the hetero- clitic -n- the same type of inflection appears in Av. kainya , gen. sg. kainind and in Skt. kanyd, gen. pi. kanindm. Elsewhere the weak stem is generalised as in ball, balinas . Alternatively the strong form w^as generalised in which case there was a transfer to the d- declension : jihvd, jihvayds . The adjective mahd 1 great ' remains in Sanskrit the only non-feminine adjectival d- stem, and it is defective. Apart from compounds where it remains in use in classical Sanskrit, it appears only in the Veda in the acc. sg. masc. mahdnt. The gen. sg., etc., appear as tnahas, etc. The other IE languages show g
