Verse 2.279

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 2.279:

गोयुष्मन्महतां च्व्यर्थे स्वार्थादर्थान्तरे स्थितौ ।
अर्थान्तरस्य तद्भावस्तत्र मुख्योऽपि दृश्यते ॥ २७९ ॥

goyuṣmanmahatāṃ cvyarthe svārthādarthāntare sthitau |
arthāntarasya tadbhāvastatra mukhyo'pi dṛśyate || 279 ||

279. When the words go, Yuṣmad and mahat have the suffix cvi at the end and are used in a meaning other than their own, what was not so becomes so secondarily and sometimes also primarily.

Commentary

[In the expressions: agaur gauḥ sampadyate, go'bhavat, atvaṃ tvaṃ sampadyate, tvad bhavati, the quality of being a cow and of being ‘thou’ is superimposed on what is not a cow and what is not thou. What is not a cow does not really become a cow. It is only a superimposition. In amahān mahān bhūtaḥ, mahadbhūtaś candramāḥ, what was not big does actually become big. This case is therefore different from the two previous cases. The word mahat is used in its primary meaning in mahadbhūtāḥ, but in go'bhavat, go is used in a secondary sense, because it is applied to something which does not really become a cow. Being used in a secondary sense, the o in go is not considered to be pragṛhya. For the same reason, there is no second person suffix in tvadbhavati. There is no real yuṣmad here. It only exists secondarily. In the words of the Vṛtti—agaur gaur abhavat, go'bhavat iti pragṛhyasaṃjñā na bhavati. Atvaṃ tvaṃ sampadyate, tvad bhavati madhyamo na bhavati.]

But, says the objector, this is alright in such expressions as go'bhavat and tvadbhavati. But in mahadbhūtaś candramāḥ, the use cannot be called a secondary one as the moon does really become big (mahat) on full-moon day. That being so, the long ā, taught in P. 6.3.46, at the end of mahat should come in. To show that even in mahadbhūtaś candramāḥ, the use is a secondary one, the author says—

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