Between morphology and semantics. Determining the meaning of adverbial compounds ( avyayībhāva ) in the Sanskrit grammatical tradition.

Summary The present article discusses the semantic structure of adverbial compounds ( avyayībhāva ) in Sanskrit as presented in the earliest grammatical sources. On the one hand, it shows the shift in their description from the formal approach presented by Pāṇini to a semantic one found in his commentator’s – Patañjali’s work. On the other hand, it tries to determine whether adverbial compounds are semantically a mere combination of their parts or perhaps other factors, such as context, play a role in their semantics.