THE DECLENSION OF NOUNS 255 tion. It is clear that the accent of fiia is not original since it rests on a weakened syllable and it follows that the accent of the oblique cases (fuas) must have originally prevailed in the nom. sg. also (*sMidn). The distinction between the two types of declension of the f-stems, which is strictly observed in the Vedic language, is not retained in later Sanskrit. The devt inflection is preserved at the expense of the vrkt inflection, but it adopts the inflections of the latter class in the nom.-acc. du. and nom. ph : devyau , devyds. Among the u-s terns inflection of a type parallel to that of the devt stems is exceedingly rare in the RV. In the later language it becomes the normal type ; vadhvat, vadhvds , vadhvdm, the development running parallel to that of the t- stems. The fusion of the termination and suffix in certain cases {devyai, devyds) produces the special feminine terminations which are later applied to the feminine i- and u-stems. The loc. sg. has a special termination -m. This -m is absent in Iranian (O. Pers. haranvatiya ), which shows that the loc. was originally without termination. The secondary addition of -m is paralleled elsewhere : tubhya : tubhyam ; instr.-dat.-abL du. -bhyam : Av. -by a. The stems in -d have been influenced in declension by the stems in -t“. The cases of the singular from the dative onward are formed by the addition of -yeti, -yds, -yam which have been abstracted from the devt declension. This peculiarity is shared by Iranian : Av. dat. sg. daenaydi , etc. The older IE endings are preserved elsewhere : gen. sg. Gk. ^O. Lat. vids, Goth, gib os, etc. §9. Stems in - a Sg. N. devds , A. detain , I. devena , D. dev ay a, Ab. devat , G. devdsya, L. deve, V. diva ; Du. N.A.V. devau , LD. Abl, devabhydm , G.L. devdyos ; PL N. devds , A, devdn , I. devais, D. Ab. devibhyas , G. devandm , L. devisu. Neuter N. A. yugdm, Du .yngi, PI .yngdni. The stems in -a are the most numerous type in the language (45 per cent of all nominal stems in the Rgveda ) . They are char- acterised by the absence of any shift of accent in declension, and this seems always to have been the case. Thematic stems are either masculine or neuter, and these differ in declension only
