Three couples of vedic compounds

Abstract

Three couples of Vedic compounds The paper discusses three couples of compounds occurring in the Rg Veda and made of the same verbal root as a second member, and the same nominal element, either inflected or not, as a first member. The analysis allows an interesting conclusion. When added to the nominal first member of one of the two compounds in each of the couples here at issue, the case ending may be tentatively assumed to determine the meaning of the compound itself in proportion to both the space-time-variables and the different circumstances in which the content conveyed by the lines of verse is to be considered. Instead, the absence of the case mark in the first member of the compounds entering into the three couples at issue excludes any further nuances of meaning of the type conveyed by the compounds with the first member inflected. The compounds with the first member non-inflected referred to an absolute quality that could not be related to situations different each time but proved fully effective independently of time anyhow, and had therefore to be contemplated irrespective of these situations themselves. In other words, when formed with the first member non-inflected, the compounds of the three couples here examined served the purpose of identifying the referent. It is worth noting that the difference between the three couples of compounds taken into consideration receives independent confirmation from other aspects of the Vedic language explored in unrelated research.