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Help[Facts] Re: Indian, Sanskrit, and Hinduism names.
in reply to a message by Sehentsin
I believe this sound loss mainly affected names/words that ended with short vowels, notably the short A (the inherent or default vowel that is generally unwritten). In Hindi and other modern descendants it is now often realized as a schwa when in the middle of words, but as far as I understand, it is also often dropped mid-word. Transcriptions into Latin text might still show it medially as an "a" even when it is not pronounced.
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That explains a lot about the last A in Hinduism and Sanskrit names. Sorry that I did not reply sooner. I did not know that you and Sehentsin messaged me until now.
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Mainly correct, but many long vowels were also lost (such as आशा 'āśā' > आस 'ās' or अवरा 'avarā' > आँवल 'āmval') as well as entire final syllables (अन्त्र 'antra' > आँत 'ānt' or अग्नि 'agni' > आग 'āg'). Some words also underwent radical transformation (ऊनविंशति 'ūnaviṃśati' > उन्नीस 'unnīs' or अक्षयतृतीया 'akṣayatṛtīyā' > आखातीज 'ākhātīj').
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