Adverbs in -tardm, -tarim

Summary

The linguistic study Adverbs in -tardm -tarim investigates a particular morphological formation in Sanskrit. Sanskrit grammar recognises a variety of suffixes that create adverbial forms from nominal or verbal bases. The paper focuses on two relatively rare suffixes -tardam and -tarim which appear in Vedic and classical Sanskrit to express manner comparison or direction. The author compiles occurrences of these adverbs from texts such as the Rigveda Atharvaveda Brāhmanas Kātyayana’s Śrautasūtra and later kāvya literature. Examples include words like dharmatardam righteously krūratardam cruelly and itaretaram mutually along with their contextual meanings. The paper analyses the phonological conditions under which these suffixes attach to stems noting that -tarim often alternates with -tardm. It discusses whether the final nasal in -tarim is etymological or analogical. The author compares the formation to similar Indo European adverbial suffixes and considers the possibility of an origin in the locative or instrumental case. By examining Panini’s sūtras and later grammatical commentaries the article clarifies how ancient grammarians understood these forms and which rules they used to derive them. The study also notes that the suffixes often carry the sense of toward or in the direction of and can appear in compositional adverbs that convey reciprocity or distributive meaning. Through systematic presentation of data the article demonstrates that these suffixes were productive in early Sanskrit but declined in later usage. It suggests that a better understanding of their function can illuminate nuances of Vedic ritual language and poetry. Moreover by highlighting irregular or isolated forms the study contributes to historical linguistics and helps refine the reconstruction of Proto Indo European adverbial morphology.