| Masculine. | Feminine. | Neuter. | ||||||
| Nom. Sing. | Nom. Plur. | Nom. Sing. | Nom. Plur. | Nom. Sing. | Nom. Plur. | Nom. Sing. | Nom. Plur. | |
| Weak form. | ||||||||
| Prakrit | kannō, an ear. |
kannā | khaṭṭā, a bed. |
khaṭṭāō | cullī, a fireplace. |
cullīō | gharaṁ, a house. |
gharāiṁ |
| Marathi | kān | kān | khāṭ | khāṭā | cūl | cūlī | ghar | gharē̃ |
| Strong form. | ||||||||
| Prakrit | ghōḍaō, a horse. |
ghōḍayā | ghōḍiā, a mare. |
ghōḍiāō | — | — | *ghōḍayaṁ, a horse. |
*ghōḍayāiṁ |
| Marathi | ghōḍā | ghōḍē | ghōḍī | ghōḍyā | — | — | ghōḍē̃ | ghōḍī |
Several of the old synthetic cases have survived in Marathi, especially in the antique form of the language preserved in poetry. Most of them have fallen into disuse in the modern prose language. We may note the following, some of which have preserved the Māhārāṣṭrī forms, while others are directly derived from the Apabhraṁśa stage of the language. We content ourselves with giving some of the synthetic cases of one noun, a weak neuter a-base, ghar, a house.
| Māhārāṣṭrī Prakrit. | Apabhraṁśa. | Marathi. | |
| Sing. | |||
| Nominative | gharaṁ | gharu | ghar |
| Dative | gharassa (genitive) | gharaho (genitive) | gharās (dative) |
| Locative | gharē | gharahi (-hī) | gharī̃, gharā |
| General oblique | gharassa (genitive) | gharaho (genitive) | gharās, gharā |
| Plur. | |||
| Nominative | gharāiṁ | gharaī̃ | gharē̃ |
| Locative | gharēsu | gharahi (-hī) | gharī̃ |
| General oblique | gharāṇa (genitive) | gharahā (genitive) | gharā̃ |
As already stated, in Prakrit the genitive is employed instead of the dative, and thus forms the basis of the Marathi dative singular. The genitive plural is not used as a dative plural in Marathi, but it is the basis of the plural general oblique case. The Marathi singular general oblique case is really the same as the Marathi dative singular, but in the standard form of speech when so used the final s is dropped, gharās, as a general oblique case, being only found in dialects. This general oblique case is the result of the confusion of the various oblique cases originally distinguished in Sanskrit and in literary Prakrit. In Apabhraṁśa the genitive began to usurp the function of all the other cases. It is obvious that if it were regularly employed in so indeterminate a sense, it would give rise to great confusion. Hence when it was intended to show clearly what particular case was meant, it became usual to add, to this indeterminate genitive, defining particles corresponding to the English “of,” “to,” “from,” “by,” &c., which, as in all Indo-Aryan languages they follow the main word, are called “postpositions.” Before dealing with these, it will be convenient to give the modern Marathi synthetic declension of the commoner forms of nouns. The only synthetic case which is now employed in prose is the dative, and this can always be formed from the general oblique case by adding an s to the end of the word. It is therefore not given in the following table.
| Masculine. | Feminine. | Neuter. | |||||||
| Meaning. | Ear. | Horse. | Gardener. | Bed. | Fireplace. | Mare. | House. | Horse. | Pearl. |
| Sing. | |||||||||
| Nom. | kān | ghōḍā | māḷī | khāṭ | cūl | ghōḍī | ghar | ghōḍē̃ | motī |
| Gen. obl. | kānā | ghōḍyā | māḷyā | khāṭē | cūlī | ghōḍī | gharā | ghōḍyā | mōtyā |
| Plur. | |||||||||
| Nom. | kān | ghōḍē̃ | māḷī | khāṭā | cūlī | ghōḍyā | gharē̃ | ghōḍī̃ | mōtyē̃ |
| Gen. obl. | kānā̃ | ghōḍyā̃ | māḷyā̃ | khāṭā̃ | cūlī | ghōḍyā̃ | gharā̃ | ghōḍyā̃ | mōtyā̃ |
The usual postpositions are:—
Instrumental: nē̃, plural nī̃, by. Dative: lā, plural also nā, to or for. Ablative: hūn, ūn, from. Genitive: tsā, of. Locative: ~t, in. We thus get the following complete modern declension of ghar, a house (neut.):—
| Sing. | Plur. | |
| Nom. | ghar | gharē̃ |
| Acc. | ghar | gharē̃ |
| Instr. | gharānē̃ | gharā̃nī̃ |
| Dat. | gharās, gharālā | gharā̃s, gharā̃lā, gharā̃nā |
| Abl. | gharāhūn, gharūn | gharā̃hūn |
| Gen. | gharātsā | gharā̃tsa |
| Loc. | gharā̃t | gharā̃t |
The accusative is usually the same as the nominative, but when definiteness is required the dative is employed instead. The termination nē̃, with its plural nī̃, is, as explained in the article Gujarati, really the oblique form, by origin a locative, of the nā or nō, employed in Gujarati to form the genitive. The suffix nā of the dative plural is derived from the same word. Here it is probably a corruption of the Apabhraṁśa nāu or naho. The postposition lā is probably a corruption of the Sanskrit lābhē, Apabhraṁśa lahi, for the benefit (of). As regards the ablative, we have in old Marathi poetry a form corresponding to gharāhu-niyā̃, which explains the derivation. Gharāhu is a by-form of the Prakrit synthetic ablative gharāu, to which niyā, another oblique form of nā, is added to define the meaning. The locative termination ~t is a contraction of the Pr. antō, Skr. antar, within.
The genitive gharātsā is really an adjective meaning “belonging to the house,” and agrees in gender, number and case with the noun which is possessed. Thus:
māḷyātsā ghōḍā, the gardener’s horse. māḷyācē ghōḍē, the gardener’s horses.
māḷyācī ghōḍī, the gardener’s mare. māḷyācyā ghōḍyā, the gardener’s mares.
māḷyācē̃ ghōḍē̃, the gardener’s horse (neut.). māḷyācī̃ ghōḍī, the gardener’s horses (neut.).
The suffix tsā, cī, cē̃, is derived from the Sanskrit suffix tyakas, Pr. caō, which is used in much the same sense. In Sanskrit it may be added either to the locative or to the unmodified base of the word to which it is attached, thus, ghōṭakē-tyakas or ghōṭaka-tyakas. Similarly in Marathi, while it is usually added to the general oblique base, it may also be added to the unmodified noun, in which case it has a more distinctly adjectival force. The use of tsā has been influenced by the fact that the Sanskrit word kṛtyas, Pr. kiccaō, also takes the same form in Marathi. As explained in the article Hindostani, synonyms of this word are used in other Indo-Aryan languages to form suffixes of the genitive.[1]
Strong adjectives, including genitives, can be declined like substantives, and agree with the qualified noun in gender, number and case. When the substantive is in an oblique case, the adjective is put into the general oblique form without any defining postposition, which is added to the substantive alone. Weak adjectives are not inflected in modern prose, but are inflected in poetry. As in other Indo-Aryan languages, comparison is effected by putting the noun with which comparison is made in the ablative case.
The pronouns closely follow the Prakrit originals. The origin of all these is discussed in the article Hindostani, and the account need not be repeated here. As usual in these languages, there is no pronoun of the third person, its place being supplied by the demonstratives. The following are the principal pronominal forms:—
- ↑ Fuller information regarding all the above postpositions will be found in G. A. Grierson’s article “On Certain Suffixes in the Modern Indo-Aryan Vernaculars,” on pp. 473 seq. of the Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung for 1903.
