WORD
FORMATION
Prefixes
There are basically two types of prefixes, those attached to nouns and
adjectives and those attached to verbs. Since, however, many verb forms are
used with nominal function (nouns, adjectives), the verbal prefixes are often
found in nouns and adjectives as well.
Nominal prefixes
The
exclusively nominal prefixes usually make adjectives from nouns:
a-, an-
before vowels, a- before uui (Lesson 5):
This prefix is used to negate nouns and adjectives (including those made
from verbs): a- + srušti"hearing" > asrušti- "non-hearing,
lack of hearing" a- + ra¶iia- "according to the models" >
ara9Piia- "not according to the models," a- + ašauuan- >
anašauuan- "not Orderly," a- + vista"found" > auuista-
"unfound, not to be found," a- + viöuuah- "knowing" >
auuiöuuah- "ignorant.'
It also
makes adjectives from nouns expressing "lacking sth.": a- + karana-
"border" > akarana-
"endless, unlimited," a- + awa- "tip, front" > anayra- "without beginning." aipi-: This prefix is found in a few adjectives from nouns: aipi.aßra- "clouded(?)" (< apra- "cloud").
arš-, OAv. araš-, araž-: This prefix means "correct(ly)." It
modifies nouns and makes adjectives from nouns: arš.manah- "having correct
thought," aršuxöa- "to be spoken correctly," beside which the
OAv. form aražuxöa- is also used.
mat.-:
This prefix makes adjectives from nouns expression "together with,
posessing": mat.äzaieti- "with *examples," mat.ra9a-
"possessing chariots." hu-: This prefix means "good." It
modifies nouns and makes adjectives from nouns: hušiti- "good dwelling,"
humanah- "having good thoughts." duš-, duž-: This is the opposite of
hu-: dužiti- "bad going," dušsaoha- "having bad (evil)
announcements.'
Verbal (and nominal) prefixes
The
principal verbal prefixes are the following (some are also used with nouns):
aißi-,
auui- "to, toward": aißi.vaë.na- "to look upon, catch sight
of," aißi.druža- "to lie to," (paiti.)aißi.vőiždaiia- "to
brandish (back) upon," auui.bara- "to bring to." aipi-
"back, in addition to(?)": aipi.karargta- "cut back, off(?) "
aipi.jan- "to strike back, down(?)." aiti- "to, into":
aiti.jasa- "go up to, into," aiti.bara- "carry up to,
into." anu- "along (with)": anu.marazata- "to follow
close," anu.taca- "run along with," anu.maniia- "(help)
along with one's thought(?)." antara- "inside": antara.araöa-
and aotara.naëma- "interior"; antara.mrao- "to 'say away,'
refuse to have anything to do with, interdict" antaruxti- "interdiction."
apa- "away": apa.taca- "to run away," apa.bara- "to
take away." auua- "down": auua.jasa- "to come down,"
auua.jana- "to strike down, kill." ä- (a-): This prefix expresses
motion, usually toward the speaker, occasionally toward the spoken of: ä.jasa-
"to come hither," ä + bara- > auuara- "to bring." It is sometimes not clear whether we
are dealing with an abbreviated ä- or the augment (see Lesson 19);—with nouns:
axšafni "in the evening(?)" and asüiri "in the morning(?)"
(Yt. 14.20).
fra-,frä- "forth": frä.bara- "to
bring forth, present," frä.hunao- "to press forth," fra.mrao-
"to say forth," fra.var- "to choose (to be)." With a
following ar we havefr5-: fr5ranao- "to send forth(?)." ham-, hqnz-,
han-, han- "together": ham.parasa- "to deliberate,"
havgjasa- "to come together," haebara2003
"to
carry together, collect" (verbs with this preverb are commonly middle).
nď-, ni-
"down": nijan- "to strike down," nidaea- "to lay down,
place" niš.hiđa- "sit down," nišä&ziia-
"set down, establish." niš-, niž- "out, away":
niž.bara- "to take out, take away," niž.duuara- "to run
out." para-, parä- "away": para.iri9iia- '.'to pass away,"
para.jasa- "to go away to(?)." paiti- "toward, against, in
turn": paiti.aog- "to answer," paiti.jasa- "to come
toward.' 
pairi- "around; at a
distance": pairi.jasa- "to go around, serve," pairi.vaęna-
"to encompass with one's sight," pairi.maniia- "to
despise," pairi.štä- "to stay away," pairištaiia- "to keep
away." upa- "(up) to": upa.taca- "to come running,"
upa.zbaiia- "to send one's invocation to, invoke," upa.daržnao- "to
dare, trust oneself to, venture upon.' 
us-, uz- "up, above":
us.pata- "to fly up," us.zaiia- "to be born," uz.daôä-
"to set up," uz.vuruuaiia- "to take up." vď- "apart,
aside": vď.jasa- "to go in all directions," vď.šäuuaiia-
"to make go apart."
Note Yt. 10.144: aiPi.daáiiu-, argtara.daíiiu-, ä.daíiiu-,
upairi.daíiiu-, ađairi.daáiiu-, pairi.daáiiu-, aipi.daáiiu- "(Miera) being
near, inside, close to, above, below, around, behind(?) the land (the
world)," presumably describing the sun and Miera's journey above and below
The earth.
NOUNS
r/n-stems
A small number of common neut. n-stems have nom.-sing. in -r, among them: aiiar/n- "day," azar/n"day," baë.uuar/n- "10,000," huuar/n- "sun," karšuuar/n- "continent," mi9ßar/n- "couple, pair," eanuuar/n"bow," uru9ßar/n- "intestines," yär- "season, year(?) " (only form).
In the
following paradigms thematic and other secondary forms are in parenthesis.
nom.-acc. yära huuara aiiara hü (hurő) aiiQ dat. asne abl. (asnäat0)
nom.-acc
aiiqn
gen. asnqrn
nom.-acc
karšuuara baęuuara 9anuuara uru9Para
gen. uru9ßQ abl. (Banuuanät) uru9ßan
Dual nom.-acc. mi9ßana, mi9Paire
nom.-acc. karšuuqn baëuugn, baëuuan uru9ßqni
gen. (baęuuaranqm) (baëuuarabiš)
Notes:
hü is formed like the acc. of masc. uua-stems (Lesson 7): hü < *huuÜ
< *huu5 < *huuao-h. Similarly, gen. Q is < -aoh.
In the
manuscripts, forms such as aiiQ and aiiqn (also aiiqm) are usually not
distinguished.
PRONOUNS
Special pronominal
forms 
Pronouns are basically inflected according to
the a- and ä-declensions. They have some special characteristic endings,
however, which are:
in the neuter
nominative-accusative singular the ending -at; in the masculine nominative
plural the ending -e; 
in the dative,
ablative, locative singular masculine and neuter an element -hm- is inserted
before the ending, in the dative and ablative singular feminine an element
-Úh-.
Another typical
feature of pronouns is "suppletivism," that is, the declensions are
made up of different stems, e.g., ima- and a- both belong to "this,"
etc.
A few pronominal adjectives are inflected like
the pronouns. Note: neuter nom.-acc. sing. aniiat (but vispam), masc. dat.
sing. aniiahmäi, vispamäi (< *vispangäi?), masc. nom. plur. aniie, vispe,
gen. plur. aniiaęšqm, vispaęšqm.
Reflexive and reciprocal pronouns
There are three forms
meaning "own": x"a- (huua-), hauua-, and xl'aëpai9iia-.
x va- is declined as a
pronoun, hauua- and xVaępai9iia
-as adjectives. xva- and hauua- have the following forms:
nom.
x Vaúhe, .x Vahe (xl'äi) xlaxiiĺ dat. huuäuuőiia
.xVä
x'äiš loc. xl'aęšu (FN.)
Note: huuäuuőiia is
< *huaßia, like mäuuőiia < *maßia.
|
|
m. |
n. |
|
|
nom. |
hauuő |
haom |
hauua |
|
acc. |
haonz |
|
hauuqnz |
|
|
hauuahe |
|
hauuaiiĺ, haoiiĺ |
|
dat. Dual |
hauuäi hauua |
hauuaiiäi, haoiiäi |
|
|
nom.-acc. |
*hauua (Yt. 10.112) |
|
|
|
dat.-abl.-inst. |
hauuaęibiia |
|
|
|
nom.-acc. |
hauuĺohő |
|
|
|
gen. |
hauuanam hauuäiš |
|
|
|
loc. |
|
|
hauuähuua |
The
pronoun "self" ("of oneself, by oneself') is xl'atő.
Reciprocity
is expressed by aniia- ( ... ) aniia- "one another, one ... another/the
other. "2
Indefinite
pronouns
Indefinite pronouns are formed by repetition or by adding -cit to the
interrogative pronouns or by a combination, e.g., kahmäicit "to
whomsoever," kahe kahiiäcit "of each and everyone," kahmi
kahmicit "in each and every," kaÚhe kaúhe "in each and
every." Indefinite relative pronouns: yatcit "whatever,
whenever"; indefinite adverbs: kuuacit "wherever.'
The indefinite particles -ca and -cina (< *-cana) are less common,
e.g., cišca "whoever, everyone" kaeacina "how-ever.'
The
negative indefinite pronouns are identical with the interrogative pronouns
prefixed with the negation,
e.g., naë.ciš "nobody," mäciš "let nobody. "
Paradigms:
|
nom. |
kascit |
käcit |
|
acc. |
kam kamcit |
|
|
|
kahe kahiiäcit (Y .61.4) |
*kaúhĺscit (N.84) |
|
dat. |
kahmäicit |
|
|
loc. |
kahmi kahmicit |
kaÚhe kaÚhe |
PARTICLES
Emphatic particles
Besides forming indefinite pronouns, the enclitic particle -cit is used
in the meaning "even, too." The particle -cina probably has a similar
meaning.
Other
particles include bä of uncertain meaning ("well").
Enclitic
particles include:
-it: cőit, bőit, nöit, *mőit (Yt. 10.69?),
apőit (N.8), frőit, parői!, yaöőit (V .6.27) < -c.a, bä, *na, mä, apa, frä,
parä, yađa + -it;
-öa:
naę&l "nor" < nőit, n•läöa "and (do) not" < rna,
bäöa, bät(?);
-uua:
nauua "and not, or not," nauuät < nauua + ät.
VERBS
Present
stems. The athematic conjugations
In the athematic conjugations the present stems end in a consonant or in
a vowel, short or long (laryngeal stems). All athematic stems show ablaut.
There are the following types.
A.
Root
stems consist of the root itself, modified only by ablaut and internal sandhi
changes, e.g., jan-/ja/yn- "smash," vas-/us-/uš- "wish,"
stao-/stu- "hear," mrao-/mru- "say," näd-/nid- "blame,
revile.'
B.
Reduplicated
stems are identical with the root stems plus reduplication. The reduplications
are of three types: with a short vowel, with a long vowel or a diphthong, or
with a whole syllable:
consonant
+ vowel + consonant. Verbs with a diphthong or long vowel in the reduplicating
syllable are called" intensives.'
l . Reduplicating syllable with short vowel, e.g., dađä-/dađ-
"place, give," diđäi-/- "see,"
hišhak-/hišc"follow," cikaę-/- "pay for."
2
See Jamison, 1997.
2. Reduplicating syllable with long
vowel or diphthong or twö consonants. Few forms are attested,
e.g.,*zaozao-/zaozu-
"constantly call upon," *carakar-/carakara- "constantly sing
st). 's praise," *daradar-/daradara- "tear to pieces," sqsaoh-
"constantly announce."
C. Stems with n-infixes are originally roots of
the type ĹCVC or 4CVCC which formed their present stems by infixing -n(a)-
before the last consonant CV-na-C-/CV-n-C-. The root itself is always in the
zero grade, while the suffix shows ablaut. There are three main types, those
from roots ending in -u, a laryngeal -H, or in another consonant.
1.
Stems
from roots ending in a consonant other than u or H, e.g., cinah-/ciš-
"*indicate,refer" (< *ciš-) [dcaë-s/ci-s, present stem
*ci-na-s-/*ci-n-s-; cf. tkaęša-], *maranak-/maraek- "destroy" [Ĺmark,
present stem 
vinaô-/vind- "find" Nvaë-d/vi-d,
present stem vi-na-d-/vi-n-d-].
2. Stems from roots ending in H were
originally of the type CV-na-H-/CV-n-H-. In Indo-Iranian the laryngeal combined
with the infix -na- to produce the suffix -nä-/-n-, e.g., frinä-/frin-
"invite as guest(?)" (Ĺfraë/fri < *fri-H, present stem 
mi9nä-/- "dwell" (Nmaë9/mi6 <
*mit-H, present stem *mit-na-H-/*mit-n-H-).
3.
Stems
from roots ending in u were originally of the type CV-na-u-/CV-n-u-. The u combined
with the infix -na- to produce the suffix -nau-/-nu-, e.g., surunao-/surunu-
"listen, hear" Nsrao/,sru, present stem
Frequently
this stem is formed from roots that do not end in u, however, so descriptively
we are dealing with a suffix -nao-/-nu-, e.g., karanao-/karanu- "do"
(Nkar) ašnao-/ašnu- "reach" [4Hnas, present stem 
s(i)rinao-/- "lean" [4sraë/sri,
present stem *sri-nau-], *tanao/tanu- "stretch" [4tan, present stem
Notes:
Athematic stems are frequently
thematicized, 
mi9na-.
In the 3rd plural indicative, some verbs have the zero grade (-aiti,
-at), which was probably caused by an original stress on the syllable before
the ending. These endings are rare in Young Avestan, where the (thematic) full
grade is common.
Athematic
verbs. Paradigms
Present
indicative
