The Cambridge Introduction to Sanskrit

DESIDERATIVES

Sanskrit has desiderative verbs, adjectives and nouns. Just as a causative verb denotes ‘to cause

(someone) to do something’, a desiderative verb expresses ‘to desire/want to do something’.

Desiderative verbs are formed by:

• – reduplicating the verbal root

• – adding -sa- to it (sometimes -iṣa-, with -ṣ- due to ruki).

• – adding an ending – if the basic verb is typically middle, the desiderative is likely to be middle, too.

Consonants reduplicate according to the rules already known from perfects and Class III verbs (–› Chapter 18, and the Reference Grammar in Appendix III). Vowels reduplicate as follows:

If the root contains u/ū, the reduplicative vowel is -u-:

If the root contains any other vowel, the reduplicative vowel is -i-:

Roots usually, but not always, appear in zero grade before -sa- and often in guṇa before -iṣa-; yet vṛddhi may also be found (–› e.g. जिघांसति ‘wants to kill’ from √हन् ‘to kill’; note that the h- in this root appears as the underlying gh (–› Chapter 19) throughout the desiderative). Roots ending in a short vowel may lengthen this final vowel (as in √श्रु ‘to listen, hear’ –› शुश्रूषति ‘he wants to hear’); before -sa-, root-final ṛ turns into īr (as in √कृ ‘to do’ –› चिकीर्षति ‘he wants to do’).

Three relatively frequent forms whose verbal base cannot easily be inferred are:

• - ईप्सति ‘wants to get’ or simply ‘wants’ from √आप् ‘to reach, obtain, get’

• - दित्सति ‘wants to give’ from √दा ‘to give’

• - धित्सति ‘wants to put’ from √धा ‘to put’