THE DECLENSION OF NOUNS 257 from the nom. pL (original form in Gk, (dial.) Au/cov?, etc.). The gen. pi. has acquired its -n- from other classes, the innova- tion being common to Indo-Aryan and Iranian (Av. masyanam, 0. Pers. bagandm ). The original termination is preserved only in the phrase dev An jdnma 1 the race of gods ' ; cf. Av. staoram, Gk. decov, Lat. deum, etc. Two forms of the instr. pi. appear in the Vedic language, in ais and in - ebhis . In Iranian Avestan has -dis, 0. Persian -aibiL Elsewhere there exist only forms corresponding to -ais ; Gk. AyVotff, Lat. lapis, Osc. nuvlanuls, Lith. vilkais. This form of the case has ’the appearance of being a pluralisation of the form that appears in the singular as dative. If so it must go back to a time when the cases were less differentiated than they became later. The ending -ebhis is an Indo-Iranian innovation after the pronominal declension. The innovation is later eliminated in classical Sanskrit, but it is the basis of the Middle Indo-Aryan forms of this case (: Pali - ehi , Pkt. -ehi(m)). The -e- which appears here is from the form of the pronominal stem which appears in most of the cases of the plural (nom. pi. ti, etc.). It also appears in the dat.-abl. and loc. pi. of this de- clension {-ebhyas, -esu ) .
