On the Verbs hīya-ti and hāya-ti in Pāli

Abstract

In Sanskrit, the reduplicated present of the root hā- is jáhā-/jáh- “to leave, abandon,” the -ya-present hīyá-/hī́ya-te “to fall, fall behind, be lost,” and the causative hāpaya-ti “to cause to leave, give up.” In Pāli, the reduplicated present becomes jahā̆-ti, and a new -‍ya-present hāya-ti made to the full grade root is frequently used, although the form hīya-ti which corresponds to hīyá-/hī́ya-te also exists. How is this new -ya-present formation to be understood, and how are the two -ya-presents in Pāli distinguished? So far hāya-ti has been explained as analogous to other -ya-present forms—jñāya-te, khyāya-te, and so on—or as a remodeling based on the present jahā̆-ti. In this paper, I suggest that hīya-ti and hāya-ti have an oppositional relation with the present jahā̆-ti and the causative hāpe-ti, respectively. That is, jahā̆-ti (vt.) : hīya-ti (vi.) and hāpe-ti (vt.) : hāya-ti (vi.) each form a coherent pair morphologically and semantically.