OF LANGUAGES. 



89 



Greek word meirakion " boy, " as well as the German noun 

 Mddchen " girl, " are of neuter gender, as both are diminutives 

 of meirax and magd, respectively. Here the gender clings 

 to the diminutive termination in spite of the meaning of the 

 noun. 



The thoroughness of the Sanskrit grammarians is again per- 

 spicuous in the manner, in which they discuss this singularly 

 intricate question. They clearly distinguish between the 

 word itself and the meaning it expresses. When the word 

 coincides with its meaning, which is generally the case, no 

 difficulty arises, but if the word and its meaning do not 

 coincide, then gender, which is a quality of the noun, goes 

 with the word and not with its meaning. 139 In case that 

 a word has different genders, the grammarians do not 

 consider it to be one and the same word, but state that there 

 are as many different words, as there are different genders. 

 The distinction of gender is attributed to the difference in 

 the constituents (guna) of the nominal matter, which difference 

 of constituents constitutes also difference of gender. 140 



house: " Grihnati dhanyadikam iti griham, tatsthyat grihah darah." In 

 the Tikasarvasvam, a commentary to the Amarakosha, a similar explanation is 

 given. The wife is called grihah because she receives what is given by 

 her husband and others. " Bhartradidattam grihnantlti grihah. Puriilingo 

 bahuvacanantasca ayam grihah sabdah ; ca sabdadveshmani. G-ehe kah (see 

 Panini, III, 1,144), ityatra sutre geha sabdasya vesmaruparthatvat tadvartit- 

 vena patnyasca lakshyarthatvat arthadvayepyabhidheye kartari graher 

 dhatoh kapratyaye grahijyetyadina samprasarane grihah." 



(139) Compare the sloka of the Vakyapadiya : 



Na so-sti pratyayo loke yah sabdanugamadrite 

 Sabdo-pi yadi bhedena vivaksha syat tada tatha. 

 Panini' s sutra (VII, 1.23) " Svamornapumsakat " attributes also the 

 neuter gender to the word and not to its meaning. Concerning the word 

 " darah" the Sabdartharatnam, page 119, says that, as there is inconsistency 

 in ascribing a masculine gender to the meaning of a word like "darah" 

 it is clear, that gender is a quality of the noun : " Paranityadau pumstvanva- 

 yabadhacca lingasya sabdadharmatvam." 



(140) Compare the maxim contained in the Mahabhashya : " Ekarthe 

 sabdanyatvaddrishtam linganyatvam iti." 



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