Vedic Svá- as an intensifier

Abstract

This paper examines the use of Vedic svá- in the hymns of the Ṛgveda and the Atharvaveda. The aim is to show that one of its main values, together with possession, is intensification. The supporting arguments for this statement are: (a) its high frequency in discursively prom-inent positions of the stanza, (b) its presence in non-reflexive and non-possessive clauses, (c) its special referentiality in cases of substantivization, (d) the kind of non-reflexive nominal compounds that allows and (e) its presence in pseudo-relative clauses. This work, framed on a typological-functional theoretical approach, helps us to understand comprehensively how the diverse uses of this word are connected along the analysed corpus.