THE DECLENSION OF NOTJNS 225 notably bhiyas - 4 fear instr. bhiydsd beside older bhtsd (p. 159). When the neuter nouns had substituted fixed radical accent for the shift of the accent to the suffix in the oblique cases, the only type where it normally took place were masculine stems in which the vowel of the suffix was elided in these cases : uksa t uksnds . On this analogy the few remaining neuter stems which retained oblique cases with terminational accent received suffixal accent in nom. acc, (acc, bhiydsam corresponding to bhtsd like uksdnam to uksnd ; later bhiydsd is created by stabilis- ation of the new accent). In this, noun the feminine gender results from its changed accent. Suffixal accent has become normal in the majority of the neuter nouns in -is : arcis- ' flame gen. sg. arcisas, etc., as opposed to the rarer type jyotis - ' light '. The anomalous nature of this accent is clear from the weak grade of the syllable on which it is placed, and also from a comparison with the related -as and -us stems. The same type of accent appears in the I-stems of the vrkt- type and in ii-stems (originally -in and -wh stems). The system here is more complicated inasmuch as these classes contain both action-noun types (dehi 4 rampart tanU 4 body ') and agent-noun/adjective types (vrkt- 4 she- wolf agrii- ‘ maid '). The accent of the former type is exactly parallel to that of arcis-, etc. An exact parallel to the latter type is found in the adjectives in -in : bait , balinas. In both these adjectival types the suffixal accent is regular, but its weak grade is to be explained out of forms in which the accent was originally on the suffix (*vrkiyds, * balinas). The weak grade associated with the latter forms has been generalised, but also the suffixal accent of the nom. acc. where originally the strong grade of the suffix must have prevailed. The action nouns of the {vrkt) t- and w-stems have fallen together with the adjective/agent-noun type in accent as in other respects. The same kind of development seems to have taken place in a number of originally neuter i- and u- stems. This is clearest in the case of the stem paid - 4 domestic animal A neuter paiu is preserved in one instance and comparative evidence shows that this form with its radical accent is original (cf. Lat. pecu , Goth. faihu , 0 . Pruss. pecku : IE piku). The old form of the gen, sg. to this, with its terminational accent is preserved in Sanskrit ( pasvas ), but by the analogy of the masc, stems mentioned above this form is the cause of the creation of a new. masculine,
