Thomas Oberlies, A Historical
Grammar of Hindi (2005:29), wisely refrains from giving an
etymological explanation for the Hindi postposition ने. In note 8
he refers to L.A. Schwarzschild, Collected Articles (1991:93), who
"surmises that the Prakrit/Apabhramsha postposition तणय- is
continued by Hindi and Gujarati ने and Marathi नें/निं."
S.H. Kellogg, A Grammar of the Hindi language, repr. 1965,
p. 131-2, shows with a number of arguments - the main of which is
the fact that "ne cannot be traced back further than two or
three hunderd years" - that this postposition cannot be related to
the Sanskrit instrumental -ena. His conclusion: "... we
are thus at once led to connect it, like the nai, nai_n,
and ná, which in some Western Hindi dialects are
substitued for ko, - through the Naipali le, with
the root lag; the order of the derivation being as
follows: Sk. past. part.act. lagya, Pr. laggio, H.
lagi, lai, le , ne."
It seems that the final word on the origin of ne has not
yet been spoken.
Stay safe.
Dick Plukker
Amsterdam
Op 12-4-2020 om 19:15 schreef Madhav Deshpande via INDOLOGY:
To me, it is clear that there is no direct link
between the Sanskrit instrumental -ena and Modern Marathi forms
like देवाने. Old Marathi has देवें, and at some point -ने in
singular and -नी in plural emerge. It is unlikely that Marathi
would be reverting directly to Sanskrit in this late phase. The
old Marathi inscription has चामुंडरायें करवियले, where Modern
Marathi would have चामुंडरायाने करविले. G. V. Tulpule in his
यादवकालीन मराठी भाषा provides many forms that have a similar
ending, i.e गंगराजें, दंडनाकें, सावंतें etc. and the plural
forms like गुरवीं, पंडितीँ, म्हाइंभटीं etc. The endings that
appear in Modern Marathi are not there in the Marathi of the
Yadava period. But ज्ञानेश्वरी has a few forms like तेणे and
जेणे and देवाचेनि, indicating that the endings ने/नि do exist at
least marginally in Old Marathi. Some have connected this to
the influence of Kannada in the neighborhood. However, the
endings -ने/नी are to be seen in the Marathi of the Peshwa
period and then they continue into Modern Marathi.
Madhav M. Deshpande
Professor Emeritus, Sanskrit and Linguistics
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan,
USA
Senior Fellow, Oxford Center for Hindu
Studies
[Residence: Campbell, California, USA]
Dear Indologists,
What is the historical source for the
post-position ने in Hindi and ने/नी in Marathi? I see
some folks connect this directly with the instrumental
ending -एन, as in फलेन. At least in Marathi, I noticed
Jules Bloch saying this this -एन simply becomes एं, as in
देवें केले in Old Marathi. But then what is the source of
देवाने/देवांनी in Modern Marathi and ने in राम ने? Any
suggestions?
Madhav M. Deshpande
Professor Emeritus, Sanskrit and
Linguistics
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor,
Michigan, USA
Senior Fellow, Oxford Center for Hindu
Studies
[Residence: Campbell, California, USA]
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