The book starts with a rundown on Rigvedic meter including a discussion of irregularities and the importance of word-boundary patterns, with a brief digression on clitics. This is followed by a discussion of formulas, formulaic diction and various definitions of the concept of formula in oral-poetic traditions, resulting in the relativistic but more realistic definition ”a formula is a slice of a formulaic continuum”, i.e. a razor-sharp definition is in conflict with the material it is supposed to define. The metrical facts show that irregular dimeters in the Rigveda are more closely related to regular trimeters than to regular dimeters. Still, Bloomfield’s extraction hypothesis does not provide a sufficient methodological basis for explaining the irregular dimeters, nor does the laryngealist approch. A selection of irregular dimeter lines are examined with reference to the formulaic continua and associative networks surrounding them, and an attempt is made to show how these continua helped trigger the use of certain words in certain metrical positions.

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From the contents: Old Frisian 'fendsen' and 'hwendsen' (Alfred Bammesberger).- Puzzling datives in Old Frisian (Dirk Boutkan).- Vowel raising in the anonymous Lithuanian catechism of 1605 (Rick Derksen).- Laryngeals and Vedic metre (Jost Gippert).- Indo-European initial yod in Greek (Eric P. Hamp).- Vedic denominatives to thematic a-stems (Stanley Insler).- Syncope and anaptyxis in Hittite (H. Craig Melchert).

Oldenberg made a distinction between the original text of the Rgveda the form in which the rsis composed and recited their hymns and the `traditional text` which in a fixed form, has been handed down to us by the oral tradition. Oldenberg made a thorough critical study of all aspects of the traditional text in order to present to the world of scholars the original text in the form and arrangement discovered by him. The materials that are now being published in this volume were intended by Oldenberg to serve as a Preface to his proposed edition of the Rgveda.

Pali Metre: A Contribution to the History of Indian Literature. The present work is a study of the problems presented by the metres in the Pali Canon, seen in their historical setting as representing the Early Middle Indian phase in the development of Indian metrics. During this phase, which is regarded as corresponding to a turning point in the linguistic transition from Old Indian (Vedic) to Late Middle Indian (Apabhramsa), a number of new metres appeared and an entirely new technique of versification was developed, differing in principle from the old Vedic technique. The new technique was adopted alike for the Sanskrit and Prakrit literature of the following centuries and its understanding should lead to a better appreciation of that phase of Indian poetry too. The attempt is made to collect and assess all previous contributions to the study of the ancient Indian metres and closely related subjects. The interrelations between these connected fields have been sought, leading to mutual elucidation of problems. The language of the Pali Canon presents many difficulties which have to be investigated before we can tackle the problems of scansion, whilst the linguistic and metrical trends constantly interacted. The most significant feature of the new metres was their close connection with music, the study of which has proved to be indispensable in our research on the history of Indian literature. Pali Text Society, Ancillary Works