THE VERB 351 this is an innovation is clear from Latin which preserves two grades in the case of the verb ' to be ' : O. Lat. siem, siet for later $im f sit beside slmus. A similar extension of the strong forms was observed in the case of roots in -a : 1 pi. pres, ydmas ‘ we go ’, aor. adhdma 1 we placed In the thematic classes the diphthongal stem of the optative (bhares, bhdret , etc. — Gk. <f)€pcus, <f>epoi, Goth, batrais, bairai) is formed by contraction of the thematic suffix and the weak form of the optative suffix (0+*). The terminations of the optative are mainly the normal secondary terminations. The 1 sg. middle has a special ending which has been noticed (§ 6), and the -ran of the 3 pi. appears in a minority of preterite forms ( dduhran , etc.). The anomalous Vedic 3 sg. duhlydt (after which 3 pi. duhiydn) seems to be based on *duhtyd formed without -t- after the fashion of the indicative {duhd, dduha). In the classical language the optative is formed from the present stem. In the Vedic language it is formed from all three stems, present, aorist and perfect, and, as with the subjunctive, no difference of meaning is attached to this difference of forma- tion. Root aorist optatives are fairly common ; asyam , rdhyam , gamy as, bhuyM , middle asiya , etc. They are rarer in the a-aorist and reduplicated aorist. From the sigmatic aorists optatives are formed only in the middle and the 2 and 3 sg. take invariably the precative s ; masiya {man- ‘ to think '), tnam- sisthcis, mamsista , gmisiya, janisista, ydsisisthds, etc. The perfect optative is common : j agamy dm, riricydm , vavrtyds, nimyat , papatydt , vavrtlya , caksamithds , jagraslta, etc. The oldest type of optative is that attached to root stems, present or aorist. Here the suffix is attached to the root in the same way as in the various present stems, and the normal secondary endings are added to it : gam-yd-m like kri-nd-m . This stem developed on its own lines on account of the special meaning which became associated with it. The main develop* ments which produced the optative in its final form were (1) the incorporation of the optative in the present system {asnuydt replacing asydt , etc,) and (2) the creation of optative forms to thematic stems by combining with them the weak form of the optative suffix. The first process is still incomplete in the Veda. On this theory the optative was to begin with a quite inde- pendent stem and its association with the various tense stems
