5.4.14
णचः स्त्रियामञ्
Operational rule vidhi
The affix अण् (अ) comes without changing the sense, after a word ending in the affix णच् (अ) when the word is feminine.
Word by word (padaccheda)
Left context णचः pañcamī · ekavacanaRight context स्त्रियाम् saptamī · ekavacanaSubstitute / term अ prathamā · ekavacana
- Left context Pañcamī (5th case): "after X", the operation applies to what follows (1.1.67 तस्मादित्युत्तरस्य). Also used for limits and sources.
- Right context Saptamī (7th case): "when X follows", the operation applies to what precedes (1.1.66 तस्मिन्निति निर्दिष्टे पूर्वस्य). Also a condition or domain ("in the sense of").
- Substitute / term Prathamā (1st case): in operational rules, the substitute or the thing introduced; in definitions, the term or its referent.
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Pink letters are it-markers (anubandhas), tags dropped by 1.3.9. Hover or tap one for the rule that marks it, or try the it-letter finder.
Full reading
णचः स्त्रियाम् अञ्
Pāṇini leaves out words that carry over from earlier sūtras. Expand to see the rule as a reader actually understands it.
Commentary
The affix अण् (अ) comes without changing the sense, after a word ending in the affix णच् (अ) when the word is feminine.
By 3.3.43 the affix णच् is ordained after feminine words denoting reciprocity of action. The affix अञ् comes after such a word without changing the sense, when the thing denoted is feminine Thus व्यावक्रोशी, व्यावहासी वर्त्तते ॥
Q.-Why the word स्त्री "feminine" is repeated in this sutra, when we already know from 3.3.43 that णच् comes only after feminine words; and a svarthika affix like अञ् coming after a feminine word will keep the word feminine?.
Ans.- The repetition of the word स्त्री in this sutra, teaches by implication (jnapaka) the following "स्वार्थिकाः प्रत्ययाः प्रकृतितो लिंगवचनान्यतिवर्त्तन्तेऽपि" :- "Sometimes it happens that bases which are derived by means of affixes that do not convey any particular meaning of their own, but leave the meaning which is conveyed by the original to which they are added, unchanged, do not take their gender and number from those original bases from which they are derived". Thus गुडकल्पा द्राक्षा, तैलकल्पा प्रसन्ना (सुरा विशेषः) formed by adding the swartha affix कल्प 5.3.67 to गुड and तैल, the resultant words being in the feminine gender. Similarly from देव-देवता is derived without change of meaning, but change of gender.
Śrīśa Chandra Vasu, The Ashtadhyayi of Panini (1897), via ashtadhyayi.com.