The Three Conjugations in Sinhalese

Although Geiger's Grammar of the Sinhalese Language (1938) has cleared up admirably the main line in the historical development of this language, there still remains much to be done. Especially in the morphology of the verb there are many obscure points and in the following lines we shall try to unravel some of them.1 The Sinhalese has three conjugations (paradigms:labanavā "to get", badinavā "to fry", tävenavā "to be heated"). Geiger explains the third conjugation from the MInd, passive: tävenavā e compare elu: name of the old Sinhalese language *pupphīya- (other examples later in this article). Geiger derives vädenavā "to affect, concern, to be struck by an arrow" (Clough's dict.) from Skr. vrajati (Et. Gl.; Geiger gives the meaning "to strike against, to enter, intrude "); I should, if the meaning given by Geiger is correct, prefer the derivation from āpadyate with loss of the initial vowel as in bisev "royal unction " from abhiseka-, etc. (Grammar, § 30, 2); but it must be admitted that all the examples mentioned by Geiger contain short initial vowel

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