PHONOLOGY

Modifications of vowels: a + final nasal

Complete table of sound changes involving a plus final nasal. Note that the second column below corresponds—in the main—to the Old Avestan stage (forms attested by OAv. have no *):

*-am >

*-an > -an

With preceding ii:

*-iiam > -iiam^{^[1]} > *-iim

*-aiiam > -aziam *-annz > -aem

*-äiiam *-äiiam *-äiim > -äim

*-iian > -iian *-iin > -in

*-aiian > -aiian *-aiin > -aên *-äiian > -äiian *-äiin > -äin

With preceding c, J

* -cam *-cam -cim

-jam ¥ -jam

*-can-cin ¥ -Jan

With preceding uu:

¥-uuam > *-uuam > *-uum > -um

*-auuam > -auuam *-auum > -aorn (-äum) *-äuuam *-äuuam *-äuum > -äum

*-uuan *-uuan *-uun > -un, -um

*-auuan *-auuan > *-auun > -aon, -aom (-äun, -äum)

-äuuan *-äuuan > *-äuun -äun, -äum

Notes:

In -uuan, in a few words, the -n is assimilated to the preceding -uu- and becomes -m.

The alternate forms of -aorn and -aon with long -ä- (-äun, -äum) are frequently found in the manuscripts. Note the following irregular acc. forms: Vaëm < *Vaiium, raêm < *raêuuam "*brilliant," õiium, õim, aoim < *aëuuam "one. "

Final original * -oh (< *-ns) affects a preceding -a- somewhat differently from final -m or -n.

* -aoh

*-iiaoh

*-aiiaoh

-aiia

*-uuaoh

*-uuã

-ü

*-auualÿh

*-aLIL171ÿh

*-auuã

-auuü, -aü

Notes:

These endings are found in the plur. acc. of masc. a-stems and in the sing. gen. of some neut. n-stems. The final form -5 is found after most consonants, e.g., yazat5. The final form -Q, is regularly found after

2003

-ii, -m-, and occasionally elsewhere, e.g., mašiiq, aêsmq "pieces of fire wood," garaßQ "wombs."

The long final -ü in such words appears to be the only regular exception to the rule that final vowels are short in polysyllables.

Students should make a special effort to learn, remember, and identify these forms! Most importantly, they should be trained to recognize the ambiguity of the endings -im and -um and not jump to the conclusion that they are from i- and Il-stems.

NOUNS

The accusative

The accusative is not distinguished from the nominative in neuter nouns or in the plural of feminine äand ï-stems. The accusative of neuter nouns and adjectives is identical with the nominative.

Consonant stems with ablaut take the long grade in the sing. but the full or zero grade in the plur.

The endings of the accusative are:

a-decl. i-decl. ä-decl. ï-decl.

m. n. n.

acc.-am -im -gm. -im

acc.-a -iš -d, -ås ⁰-iš

u-decl. ü-decl. cons.-decl.

acc. - um -u - um

acc. -uš -u -uuõ -õ, -as ^o

Note again that the manuscripts are not consistent in writing short or long -im/-um or -ïm/-üm. In the grammatical sections of this manual, these endings will always be normalized with short vowels.

The acc. plur. ending is from *-aoh (< Indo-Iran. *-ans, cf. Olnd. -ah), which developed differently in different contexts to produce the variants listed above.

Vowel stems

Paradigms (masc.: yazata- "divine being, god," mašiia-, gaiia- "life," daêuua-, grauua- "handle," juua"alive"; neut.: xša9ra- "(roayal) command," vãstriia- "pasture, grass," 9rišuua- "a third"):

masc.

	a-stems		iia-stems		uua-stems
nom.	yazatõ	haomõ	mašiiõ	gaiiõ	daëuuõ grauuõ	juuõ
acc.	.yazatam	haomam	mašim	gaë,m	daëum graom	jum
nom.	yazata	haoma	mašiia		daëuua grauua	juua
acc.	yazat5,	haomq,	mašiiq,		daëuuü grauuü	*j(uu)ü
	yazat5s0	haomqs0	mašiiqs0		daêuuüs0

neut.

	a-stems	iia-stems	uua-stems
nom.-acc.	xša9ram	västrim	erišum
nom.-acc.	xša9ra	vãstriia	erišuua

Note such forms as maiðim < maiðiia-, ainim < aniia-, etc

	ä-stems m.			ä-stems f.			iiä-stems
nom.	mazdå	raeaêštå		daëna			kaine
acc.	mazdqm	raeaë.štqm		claënqm			kaniiqrn
nom.		ra9aêštå, ra9aëštås ⁰		daênå, daênås ⁰			kaniiå, kaniiås ⁰
acc.		ra9aêštà, ra9aeštås ⁰		daënå, daënås ⁰			kaniiå, kaniiås ⁰
	i-stems		n.	Il-stems		n.	pasu-.
nom.	frauuašiš		büiri	ratuš		pouru	pasuš
acc.	frauuašinz			ratum		pouru	pas um
nom.	frauuašaiiõ			ratauuõ		pouru	pasuuõ
acc. nom. acc. nom. acc.	frauuašiš ï-stems vaì'hi vaÌ'him vaì'hiš vaì'hiš		büiri Il-stems tanuš tanum tanuuõ tanuuõ (tanuš)	ratuš		pouru	*pasuš
Note: tanum < *tanuuam (OAv. tanuu5m). Consonant stems
spas- baraz-					ap-		vak-/vac-
nom. druxš spaš					äfš		växš
acc. drujim spasam barazam					äpam, apamca		väcim
nom. drujõ, drujas ⁰spasõ barazõ					äpõ, apas⁰		väcõ
acc. drujõ, drujas ⁰spasõ barazõ					apõ, apas ^o, (äpõ)		vacõ, vacaso

Notes:

The long ä in äpam is shortened in aparnc.a as in the nom. plur. apasca. The nom. plur. äpõ is sometimes found in the manuscripts instead of the acc. apõ. karap- f. "body" has the acc. sing. kahrpam.

r-stems

masc., fem.

	atar-	dätar-	star-	nar-	pitar-	mätar-
nom.	ätarš	däta		nä		mata
acc.	ätram (ätaram)	dätäram	stäram	naram	pitaram	mätaram
nom.	ätarõ	dätärõ	stärõ	narõ	pitarõ	mätarõ
acc.			str5š	narqš, nar5š	f9ðrõ	mätarqš

Notes:

In the acc. plur. the original ending *-rnš must first have become *-areš (with a nasalized vocalic r [cf.

Olnd. ntñl], which was then realized either as -arqš or -ar5š, with the usual substitution of Q or 5 for *5. The ending -ar5š in time came to be felt as incorrect and the common diphthong 5u was introduced to produce the form -ar5uš (strãuš, nar5uš) frequently found in the manuscripts.

ätar- was probably originally a neuter r-stem, with nom.-acc. sing. *ätr. When it became a masc. noun, the endings were simply added onto this form: *ätr-š, *ätr-am, which produced the nom. ätarš and acc.

ätram.

m-stems

The In-stems zam- f. "earth" and ziiam- ln. "winter" are irregular:

nom.	zå	ziiå
acc.	zam	ziiqnz
nom.-acc.	zamõ	zimõ

Note: From now on regular sandhi forms will not always be included in the paradigms.

Neuter nouns

The most common neuter consonant stems are the an-, ar-, and ah-stems, which form the nom.-acc. sing. in -a, -ara, and -(5 (-as ⁰), respectively, and the plur. by lengthening the final syllable of the stem: -gn, -ära, -å (-ås ⁰). Neuter in-stems have nom.-acc. sing. in -i. See Lesson 8.

Other neuter consonant stems appear to take the ending -i, e.g., ast- "bone," nom.-acc. plur. asti.

h-stems. I

The Il-stems includes a relatively large number of common neuter nouns, but few masculine nouns and adjectives. Most of the masculine forms are in compounds with neuter h-stems. In addition, comparatives in -iiah- and active perfect participles in -uuah belong to the h-stems (see later). The endings of these hstems are:

m. n.

nom. -d voc.

acc. -aoham

nom.-acc. -aohõ -å

Notes:

The vocative cannot receive enclitic -co, so there are no sandhi forms of the vocative. Remember that regular sandhi forms are no longer usually included.

Paradigms (naire.manah- "valorous," manah- n. "mind"):

nom.	naire.manå	manõ
voc.	naire.manõ
acc.	naire..manaoham	manõ
nom.-acc.	naire..manaohõ	manå

Notes:

The proto-Iranian endings were *-äh > -å (-ãs ⁰), *-ah > -õ (-0 ⁰), and *-aham > -aoham.

Irregular forms include nom. Haosrauua from Haosrauuah-, name of a legendary hero.

Remember that neuter nouns have no vocative.

PRONOUNS

The accusative

The personal pronouns have some "alternative" forms called "enclitic." These forms cannot stand first in a sentence, but usually follow the first word of the sentence, e.g., äat mê mraot "then he said to me."

Personal pronouns:

1st 2nd 3rd pers.

masc. fem. neut.

nom. azam tum hõ hä tat acc. mam epqrn tam tat encl. mä 9ßä dim (dim) him (him)

nom. vaêm yužam tê tå tä acc. o tå, tås ⁰tä encl. nõ diš hiš

Note:

The form dim is used as fem. in Yt.5.90, but this is probably an example of the generalization of dim, which eventually seems to be no more than a particle in late texts.

There are other examples of confusion of masc. and fem. in strongly formulaic sections of the yašts to female deities, as well, such as tam for tqnz.

	The demonstrative pronoun ima- "this":	The demonstrative pronoun auua- "that":
	masc. fem. neut.	masc. fem. neut.
nom.	aêm im imat	häu häu auuat
acc.	Žmam zmqrn imat	aorn auuqrn auuat
nom.	imå ima	auue auuå auua
acc.	inta imå ima	auuü, aü auuå auua
	The relative pronoun ya- "who, which":	The interr. pronoun ka-/ci- "who, what?":
	fem. neut.	masc. fem. neut.
nom.	yat	kõ, c.iš kä kat, cit
acc.	Yim yern hiiat	kam, cim kat, cit
nom.	.yõi yå	kaiia, caiiõ
acc.	ytd, yqs ⁰Yå
There is another den-ionstrative pronoun meaning "this," namely aëta-, which is declined as the other
two, except in the nominative:
masc. fem. neut.
nom. aëšõ aêša aë.tat
acc. aë.tam aë.tqm aëtat
nom. aête., aë.tae ⁰aëta
acc. aêt5 aêtå aë.ta

Notes:

The adverb aë.ta&z "here" is made from this stem.

A masc. sing. aë.ša appears to occur in V .5.26 aêša yõ ratuš "this, the model" and aêša yõ aparanäiiukõ "this, the child" in V. 15.16, 18. We must note, however, that the expression aëša druxš "this Lie" is common in V.5, aêša kaine "this girl" is common in V. 15, and aëša druxš and aë.ša nasuš "this pollution" throughout the Videvdad, and that the regular aë.šõ is frequently used in the Videvdad. All this suggests that the use of aêša for aëšõ may be a mistake.

ADVERBS

The nom.-acc. neuter sing. of an adjective can be used as an adverb, examples: paoirirn "first(ly)," darayam "long, for a long time," hai6im "truly," pourum "in front," pouru "plentifully."

Note also pronominal forms: yat, hiiat "that, when," kat "when?" The form cim "why?" is originally a masc. acc. sing.

VERBS

Imperfect-injunctive active. 2

Among the the various present classes, verbs of the form C VCa- (consonant + vowel [mostly a] + consonant + thematic vowel a) are very common, e.g., bara- "to carry," bauua- "become," and saoca- "to burn (by oneself)."

Another group contains verbs ending in -iia-, which are in turn divided into classes of verbs of the form CVCiia- and CVCaiia-. These may be referred to as iia-stems and aiia-stems. Both the iia-stems and aiiastems are in turn divided into three groups, iia-stems into "passive," "denominative," and "other" verbs, and aiia-stems into "causative," "denominative," and "other" verbs.

Passive and causative verbs can be paired with other verbs, from which they appear to be derived and denominative verbs with nouns or adjectives from which they appear to be derived, while "other" iia-stems and aiia-stems do not usually have such pair mates.

Note: It is wrong to call all iia-stems "passive" or all aiia-stems "causative."

Examples:

"Underived":

jaiöiia- "to implore" bandaiia- "to bind"

Passive:

jan- "to smash, kill"	janiia- "to bekilled"
bara- "to carry"	bairiia- "to be carried" Causative:
srao-/sru- "to hear"	sräuuaiia- "to recite, sing"
taca- "to run, flow"	täc.aiia- "to make run, flow" Denominative:
aênah- "sin, transgression"	aênaÚha- "to sin, transgress (against)"
namah- "reverence"	namaíiia- "to bow to, do reverence to"
araza- "a battle"	arazaiia- "to battle"

The iia-stems and aiia-stems, as well as stems in -ca-, are subjected to all the kinds of phonetic modification discussed above, e.g. (jaiöiia- "implore (for)," uxšiia- "grow" (intrans.); pazdaiia- "*pursue," sräuuaiia- "recite"; fraoraca- "*catch up with"):

	Active		Middle
I	-iiam > -im -aiiam > -aë.m	jaiðim sräuuaêm
3	-iian > -iian > -in	jaiöiian, uxšin	-iianta	jaiðiiar.zta
	-aiian > -aiian, -aë.n	sräuuaiian, sräuuaên	-aiianta	pazdaiiaeta
	-can > -cin	tacin	-canta > -cinta	fraoracinta

In the 3 plur. of (a)iia-stems, the -a- was usually reintroduced, e.g.,jaiðiiar.zta "they requested," instead of fraoracir.zta (Yt. 17.19) seems to be the only attested "regular" form.

The uua-stems undergo similar modifications (bauua-, dauua- "chatter," stao- "praise"):

Active Middle

Sing. 1 -auuam > -aom baom, staom

Plur. 3 -auuan > -aon baon -auuanta > -äunta adäunta

The form adäu4ta seems to be the only example of the 3 plur. mid. of uua-stems.

2()()3

SYNTAX

Uses of the accusative

1. The main use of the accusative is to indicate the direct object and the predicate of the direct object.

2. Two accusatives are found with verbs of asking (sb. for sth.) and taking (sth.) away (from sb.).

3. The accusative is used to express measure, answering to the questions "for how long, how far?"

4. The accusative is used with several prepositions.

5. Appositions to and comparisons with nouns in the accusative are themselves in the accusative.

Examples:

ire

Yimõ haomam x^Varat "Yima ate (drank) the haoma"

• • bro ' • • •

Araduuïm Surem Anãhitam upa.zbaiiat Päuruuõ yõ vifrõ nauuäzõ

"Päuruua, the wise ship's captain called upon Aroduuï Sura Anähita."

. ...quos. • eraëtaonõ ažim dahãkamjanat 9ri.zafanam eri.kamaraöam

"9raëtaona slew the giant dragon, the one with three mouths, three heads.' äat Yimõ imam zem vï.šäuuaiiat

"Then Yima made this earth spread out." (V.2.11) äat mã nõit mašiiäka yazanta

"Then people did not sacrifice to me." (after Yt. 10.54)

dim parasat Zara9uštrõ kõ nara ahi "Then Zarathustra asked him (Haoma): Who, O man, are you?"

hõ aënaúhaiti nõ manõ hõ aënaúhaiti nõ kahrpam (Y .9.29)

"He makes our mind sinful; he makes our body sinful." vaêm drujam niš.näšäma vaëm him janäma

"We destroyed the Lie (and sent her back) down; we smashed her.' (after Y.61.5) yaea hišfra.daeat Mazdå

"As Mazdä brought them forth (created them)." (Y .55.30)

lb. Direct object + predicate of the direct object

auruuautam 9ßã dãmiôãtam bayõ tašat

"The god fashioned you (as) the fleet one, established by the *Weaver" (after Y. 10.10)

• • -qèv.. ....Çto.

äat dim daôqm auuåetam ... yaea mgmci! Yim Ahuram Mazdqm

"Then I made him just as great as myself, Ahura Mazdä." (Yt. 10. l)

2. Double accusative

hõ mem yãnam yäsa! azam tam ištimjaiôim

"He asked me for a boon, I asked him for a wish to grant my wish)." yõ tat draonõapa.yäsa!ca trafiia!ca

"Who asked away from me and stole (from me) that darun." (after Y. 1 1.5)

3. Accusative of measure

ya! upaohacat Yimam xšaëtam huu@Pam darayamci! aipi zruuãnam

.. which followed splendid Yima with good herds for a long time after, indeed." (after Yt. 19.31)

4. Accusative with prepositions and postpositions

ã tat hapjamanam paiti.jasa! yõ Yimõ xšaëtõ huuQ¶õ

"To that gathering came he, splendid Yima with good herds." (V .2.21) tat vispam namaúiiäma auui inwn tanum

"We humbly asked for all that (to come) upon this body." (cf. V .20.5) fraoratfraxšni auui manõ

"with foreknowing thought turned toward (the reward?) "

*õimcit *auui vãcim gä9anqm asrutam

"with even a single word of the Gä9äs not yet heard." (N.85) Note: gä9anqm is gen. plur. of gä9ä-.

A5iš vao ^Vhi rämaiiat iôa upa imat nmãnam yat ãhuiri

"Good Aši dwelt here in this house which belongs to Ahura (Mazdä)." (Y. 10.1) upa rapi9ßun "at noon" tam aoi tbaêšå paitiiavtu yõ daôat

"Let the hostilities return upon him who made them." (after Y .65.8)

ahunamca vairïm fraëšiiämahï antaraca em antaraca asmanam

"And we send forth the Ahuna Vairiia between heaven and earth." (Y .61.1)

There are several examples of appositions above. Comparison:

äat dim daôqm auuåotam ... ya9a memci! Yim Ahuram Mazdqm

"Then I made him just as great as myself, Ahura Mazdä." (Yt. 10.1)

Feminine plural of neuter a-stems

In Young Avestan neuter a-stems frequently have fem. forms in the plural, e.g., sing. nmänam, plur. nmänå. Adjectives agree with the fem. plur. form, e.g.:

aëtå x^Varaeå x^Varatu aëtå vastrå vaohatu "he shall eat these foods, he shall put on these clothes!"

(V.3.19)

Note also lexical doublets such as za09ra- n. and za09rä- "libation."

The present injunctive

There are some uses of the injunctive other than as past tense. The principal one is as negated imperative after mä "do not." There are only a couple YAv. examples:

mã dim parasõ Yim parasahi

"Do not keep asking him whom you ask!" (H. 2.17) mã ciš barat aêuuõ yat iristam

"Let no one carry alone what (is) dead (matter)!" (V.3.14)

There also appear to be a few examples of the original "timeless" meaning of the injunctive:

yaiti catica spitama zaraeuštra dahmõ ašauua hauruuü ratuš daeat

"However many times, O Spitama Zarathustra, the Orderly qualified (priest) establishes all the models

EXERCISES 7

l . Write in transcription and Avestan script the acc. sing. and plur. (where appropriate) forms of the following nouns and adjectives:

mazišta- yazata-, vaohu- pasuu-, vao ^Vhï- upastä-, ya- hauua- za¿ztu-, vohu- zairi.gaona- västriia-, yä- hauuä- daënä-, ima- x^Vara9a-, juua- mašiia-, kaniiä- huraoôä-, gauua- parana-, aka- daëuua-, hai9iiavak-, haoma- zairi-, vohu- manah-; naire.manah- Karasäspa-.

2. Write in transcription and Avestan script the imperfect-injunctive fórms of the following verbs:

Active: frapaiia-, zauua-, juua-; middle: yaza-, us.zaiia-, dauua-; act./mid. bara-.

3. Identify the forms below (gender, stem, meaning) and write the corresponding nom. sing. or 3 pers. sing. forms of the nouns-adjectives and verbs, respectively:

haomam zairim, xšaeram vairim, maiðim jaiôim, ašim vao ^Vhim, pasum jum, sraošam ašim, ainim mašim, zaranaënam, zaranaêinim, tum, drum, akam mairim, haom gaom, baom, gaom zaom, tanum druuqm, aspam drum.

4. Transcribe and translate into English: