Problems of the Augment in Vedic

The paper deals with two questions of the Vedic augment. Firstly, the Vedic forms with an apparently long syllabic augment are re-examined and the conclusion is drawn that these forms are due to phonological and analogical processes and do not form evidence in favour of an original long variant of the syllabic augment. Secondly, the temporal augment of vowel-initial roots is considered, which consists of the vrddhi of the initial vowel. An important analogical support for this general Old Indian rule is pointed out, namely the influence of those verbal stems that began with *Hei-, *Heu- or *Her- and had full or lengthened grade roots in the preterit tenses and therefore had phonetically regular vrddhi vowels in their augmented forms