a 4/ A GRAMMAR OF GATHA-AVESTAN n 1 L hzei /2PC r £ tf>4 A GRAMMAR OF GATHA-AVESTAN BY- ROBERT S.P. BEEKES i f*P4X h E J. BRILL LEIDEN • NEW YORK • K0BENHAVN • KOLN 1988 Published with financial support from the Netherlands Organization for the Advancement of Pure Research (Z.W.O.) Pjf n Ham Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Beekes, R. S. P. (Robert Stephen Paul) A grammar of Gatha-Avestan. Bibliography: p. 1. Avesta language—Morphology. 2. Avesta language- Phonology. I. Title. PK6102.B44 1987 491'. 525 87-17888 ISBN 90-04-08332-4 ISBN 90 04 08332 4 © Copyright 1988 by E. J. Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or translated in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, microfiche or any other means without written permission from the publisher PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS BY E. j. DRILL a 39X IB DEDICATED TO Maria C. Monna f CONTENTS Preface xv Bibliography .'.. xvn Abbreviations . ; xix Introductory remarks xxi I. THE METRE AND THE TEXT 1. Introduction 1 2. The hymns 2 3. Metrical deviations from the norm 5 4. Conclusion 8 II. THE PHONEMIC SYSTEM 1. Introduction 10 : 2. The alphabet . 12 3- * 14 4. x° *' 15 5. P, y, 8 ' 15 6- i \ 16 7. / 17 8. s and hr 17 9. y and v 17 !0- ng 18 11. v 19 12. a 20 13. a 22 14. 5, a 24 15. e 31 16. e 31 17. o 32 18. o 32' 19. oi, ae 7 -e 35 Appendix: oi/de in Avestan 38 20. dUj ao, -o 40 21. The length of vowels 41 21.1 u, u 41 21.2 i, i ,..., , 42 VIII CONTENTS 21.3 a, a 44 21.4*, 3 47 21-5 e, e 48 21-6 0, 48 21.7 Conclusion 4g 21.8 The length of final vowels 49 22. The glottal stop, P 50 23. Epenthesis and prothesis 52 24. The phonemic system of Gathic 51 25. Other deviations from the text 52 25.1 Later developments 59 25.2 Editorial changes 53 25.3 Errors and unexplained changes 54 III. THE ACCENT 1-* 55 2. s, krk, hrp 55 21 Survey '. 57 22 Sirnplicia 5g 22a ~ta- 5g 22b -ti- ..- .....:.. 59 22c -tu- ; 59 22d -la- ZZ'Z. 60 22e -tat- gn 22f -tar- gn 22g Root nouns 50 " 22h fl - 60 22i Other 61 23 Compounds gj 23a Determinatives in a verbal noun or adjective 61 23b Determinatives ending in a substantive 64- 23c Bahuvrihis 54 23d Governing compounds 55 24 Forms not discussed ,...." 55 25 Conclusions gg 25a Sirnplicia gg -:» 25b Compounds g7 26 Date gg 3. Final conclusions 69 CONTENTS IX IV. HISTORICAL PHONOLOGY 1. Introduction 70 11 The PIE phonemic system — 70 12 The main developments in IndoTranian 70 2. The stops 71 21 General 71 ' 22 The sounds 71 23 Palatalization 72 3. Clusters with a stop 73 31 Stop 4- consonant • 73 32 Stop + stop 74 74 32a Dental + dental >st t zd 74- 32b k, £ + dental > .ft, zd 32c Labial + *'>// 75 •32d Aspirate + stop or s: Bartholomae's Law 75 33 Stop + j- 75 33a Dental + ^>i 75 33b *'+*>/ 76 33c Labial, velar + s> + s (see 46) 76 33d Aspirate + 5 (see 32d) 76 34 j + stop (see 41, 42) 76 34a sk>s ••• 76 35 Stop + resonant 76 35a k, g + n>sn 76 35b Av. zn>sn 76 35c ki>sy 76 35d dn>n? 76 36 Resonant + stop 76 36a rt 76 36b nO 77 37 Av. correspondences of Skt. ks, Gr. kl etc 77 38 Survey of die clusters 79 4. PIE *s 79 41 s = s initially before stop and n 80 41a sk>s 80 42 s = s after a before stop and n 80 43 s = s after dental (ir>j) 80 i u, r, A(w ) 80 44 s>s after t 45 s > s in -ns after z, u, r 81 46 s>s after labials and velars 82 47 s>h initially except before stop and n -82 A CONTENTS 48 s>h after a except before stop and n g *9 49 s>h after an, am 410 s>h wordfmally after a, a no 5. The PIE laryngeals „ fl 51 Word initial laryngeal ... "fl°, 5i-i hc- ;;;;;;;; 51.2HV- 34„; 52 After consonant „_ 52.1 -CH (see 52.2) "j? 52.2CHC ^ 52.3 CHV !'...'......,... 87 53 After vowel RR 53.1 -VH (see 53.2) ..Z'.'.'.'Z no 53.2VHC 53.3 VHV .'.."..1....".^ gg 54 After vocalic resonant q 9 5^1 rhc ;;;;;; r; 54.2p.Hv !!"!!!!!!!"."'" 93 I 55 Word final laryngeal : Q 9 J 55.1 -GH (see 52.1-52.2) -.. no | 55.2 -VH (see 53.1-53.2) !"!!!"!!!".'".""' 93 1 6. Resonants ' ] . |J 61 r and / J. ! . ] . ! * " ... ' 93 I 61a r>ar before * st? q4 §j 61b -Cr>~Car * I _ 94 J 61cri rt>s q g 62 m and n , n _ 1 y s 'j|g 62a ms>nh (see 49) " QI- IS 62b mr>,r? I? | y 3 ?:£i 62c mj, uns>is, us (see " 45) g5 1 62d m>a, am Qt. ;.';! 62e n>a. an " nr : fj ro • , yo £s oo 1 and w 3| 631 Between consonants nc 1 C ni „ ^ „ ^ yo ;$ DJla ~-'| usm>sm-? . g fi 631b IusC->xsC-? -.•..^'..*.....*......'.....r 97 1 632 Between vowels nn ;S y / /-sj 633 After vowel before consonant: *!' the diphthongs 97 I 634 After consonant before vowel no | 634a dui>dbi ...".*.. 90 I 634b ku, gu>sv, zv>sp, zb? 98 1 634c S levers' Law .-... _ no :S CONTENTS XI 7. PIE vowels 100 71 e, o and e, 6 100 71a Brugmann's Law 100 .8. Word-final developments 101 81 Vowels and diphthongs 101 81a Long and short 101 81b Long diphthongs 101 82 Consonants 101 821 -/ 101 821a Velar + i! 101 821b Dental + t, -si 102 821c -rt 102 821d -nt 102 822 -s 102 823 -H 103 824 -r, -/, -77i, -n , 103 9. Genera] processes 103 91 Assimilation 103 92 Reduction of geminates 103 93 Haplology 103 V. COMPOUNDS 1. Governing compounds ' 104 11 lm = verbal noun/stem 104 12 lm = preverb 104 2. Determinatives 104 21 2m = verbal noun/adjective. Stem in root ( + /); -a-; -ti-\ -ia-\ -ah-', other suffixes; participle 104 22 2m = substantive, lm = substantive; adjective; preverb; adverb 107 23 2m = adjective, lm — substantive; adjective; adverb 108 3. Bahuvrihis. lm = substantive; adjective; preverb; adverb 108 VI. THE NOUN 1. Introduction 110 11 Noun and adjective 110 12 Categories 110 13 Stem-classes and ablaut-patterns 110 14 The endings Ill 2. Inflection ...;;,,,,,.. .113 XI * CONTENTS 21 Root nouns -j 1 o 22 Stems in a PIE laryngeal jic 23 j-stems lit- 24- t- and ?z*-stems Iio 25 ?z-stems *yc) 26 r- and r/72-sterns ^29 27 z- and w-stems 124 28 f~ and zz-stems ^ 27 29 o-stems -inn 210 G-stems *on 3. The adjective -joc 31 Introduction joc 32 Flexion -.oc 33 Stem-formation joe 34 Comparison ^oc VII. THE PRONOUN 1. Personal pronouns 10,7 . 2. Possessive pronouns jgn 3. Demonstrative pronouns 1SQ 4. Relative pronoun |aq 5. Interrogative and indefinite pronouns ._ 140 :M 6. Pronominal adjectives I40 VIII. THE NUMERAL Cardinals, ordinals I40 m•Sit IX. INDECLINABLES 1. Alphabetical list , * * 2. Categories 147 1 21 Adverbs 14>7 ^ 21.1 Analysable forms 14,7 if 21.1a Case forms 147 4 2 1.1b Suffixed forms 248 8 21.2 Unanalysable forms 14.0 S 22 Prepositions, preverbs 140 |j 23 Connectives ^40 ;J 24 Negations ^q 25 Particles .^.q 26 Interjections ;.;; .^q CONTENTS XIII X. THE VERB 1. The verbal system 150 2. Augment 150 3. Reduplication 151 4. The endings 153 5. The subjunctive 155 6. The optative ". 159 7. The athematic presents 161 71 The root present 161 71a Static inflection 164 72 Reduplicated presents 166 73 Nasal presents 167 8. Thematic presents 169 9. The aorist 175 91 The root aorist . 175 91.1 Root aorists of roots in -a? 179 92 The thematic aorist 181 93 The 5-aorist 182 10. The perfect ' 186 11. The future '., 187 12. The passive 188 12.1 Passive presents '. 188 12.2 Passive aorists ." 188 13. Derived conjugations 188 13.1 Gausatives 188 13.2 Desideratives 188 13.3 Intensives 190 15. Non-finite verb forms 191 15.1 Participles 191 15.1a Present, aorist, future participles 191 15.1b Perfect participles 194 15.2 The verbal adjective 194 15.3 The gerundives 195 15.4 The infinitive 195 -dydi 196 -ah 198 -ai 198 -tax 198 -sai 199 -hai t -manai 199 -vai 199 XIV CONTENTS -vanai Other forms ' 199 16. Verb forms of uncertain interpretation 200 I 17. The verbal system compared with Sanskrit 209n n I 17.1 Introduction ° I 20 17.2 Results ° f 201 17.3 List of roots ..'........'.' J 3 18. Reverse index of verba] roots * ^° 216 I 18.1 Reverse index 216 18.2 Total numbers ... 219 Corrections to the index given by Monna 91Q Indexes liJ From • the text 1 to the phonemic 'transcription f2 l 2. From the transcription to the text ""* 99R 3. Gatha-Avestan ... - ^ 997 4. Yasna Haptanghaiti 5. Late Avestan 6. Sanskrit - 241 32. ' :js '4 PREFACE This is a — historical — grammar of Gatha Avestan. This language is the oldest form of Iranian; it is as archaic as Sanskrit, and therefore of great interest to Indo-European linguistics.