On Terminations in NI, and NU.
The letter N (either NI or NU) is added to a variety of words as a sign of the accusative (singular and plural:) as an affix to the first and third persons of verbs, &c. And as this is monotonous there is a liberty of dropping such a termination. Thus the full shapes are పోతిని I went, పోయెను r he went: but in poetry these often drop the final vowel, becoming పోతిన్, పోయెన్* and in common life the syllable is altogether dropped, and we may at pleasure say పోతిని, పోయెను, or else పోతి, పోయె. And the principle applies equally to the accusative, the locative and instrumental cases: to the tenses and to the infinitive or root. In the following instances the sign -fdenotes that the N is used or dropped at pleasure. Accu గుర్రము + ను a horse.
కాకి + ని a crow
Loc ................... ఇంట + ను ........ in a house Inst .................... ఆతని చేత+ ను by him, by his hand Accu. plu .............. ఇండ్ల+ను houses. Past Tensde ..........వుంటి+ని .............I was.
వుండె+ను........... he was
A or ........................ పడు+ను............. he may fall.
అవు+ను ............ It may be.
The same principle applies to the words లో + ను or lO inside and to the infinitive Aorist, as వుండగా+ను or వుండగన్ or వుండగ while there.
The principle of the mutable N, like siaiv for eiui, (piKoiaiv for <p<Xois; and Sitiev for Emts in Greek: or " an" for " A" in English, is a mere matter of spelling and will easily be understood. But the ancient grammarians have treated it in a manner so obscure that it is hardly possible to comprehend their meaning. They seem to have intentionally surrounded grammar with all that mystery which might produce veneration: and never have attempted to remove those difficulties which the reader, after every explanation, will feel to be great.
- This frequently occurs at the close of those stanzas which require a long final syllable; for every silent consonant as ల్ or న్ makes the preceding short syllabic long.
