Irregular variants in the pronouns अस्मद् and युष्मद्

[Arvind_Kolhatkar]

Dear Group,

The two pronounce, अस्मद् and युष्मद्, have the following variants in their द्वितीया,:चतुर्थी and षष्ठी :

अस्मद् 

द्वितीया - माम्/मा आवाम्/नौ अस्मान्/न:

चतुर्थी - मह्यम्/मे आवाभ्याम्/नौ अस्मभ्यम्/न;

षष्ठी - माम/मे आवयो:/नौ अस्माकम् न:

युष्मद्

द्वितीया - त्वाम्/त्वा युवाम्/वाम् युष्मान्/व:

चतुर्थी - तुभ्यम्/ते युवाभ्याम्/वाम् युष्मभ्यम्/व:

षष्ठी - तव/ते युवयो:/वाम् युष्माकम्/व:

What could be the historical or protohistorical reasons for these two pronouns to have such 'out of line' forms, and those too only for these three विभक्तिs?  I would think that their origins go back to the ancient time when the language was being formed and cannot now be discovered with certainty.  Yet, can we make an informed guess at them?

(The same can be said to a lesser extent about the pronoun इदम्.

Arvind Kolhatkar.

[अभ्यंकरकुलोत्पन्नः श्रीपादः | श्रीपतेः पदयुगं स्मरणीयम् ।]

I would call these as OPTIONAL forms than IRREGULAR forms.

Most well known usage of these forms is in ॐ सह नाववतु | सह नौ भुनक्तु .. Also in असतो मा सद्गमय .. तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय |

Since these are Vedic prayers, the forms are very old. 

Certainly they help brevity.