सस्ता

सस्ता

See also: सुस्त and सुस्ती

Hindi

Etymology

Unclear.[1] Cognate to Punjabi ਸਸਤਾ (sastā), Nepali सस्तो (sasto), Gujarati સસ્તું (sastũ), Sindhi سَستو‎ (sasto), Bengali সস্তা (sôsta), Oriya ଶସ୍ତା (śôsta), Assamese সস্তা (xosta), Sylheti ꠢꠍꠔꠣ (hosta), and the hypercorrected Marathi स्वस्त (svasta) (earlier सस्त (sasta)).

The preservation of the cluster -st- universally rules out Sanskrit inheritance; most Indo-Aryan languages would have assimilated that to -tt-. Given the widespread distribution of the term, it would have been an early borrowing.

Several theories have been put forward:

1. An assimilation of Persian سست‎ (sost, “languid, lazy; loose”), making it a doublet of सुस्त (sust).
2. Inherited from Sanskrit स्वस्थ (svastha, “healthy”).[2][3] This is unlikely due to the regular simplification of consonant clusters in Middle Indo-Aryan; compare Sauraseni Prakrit 𑀲𑀢𑁆𑀣 (sattha), which would theoretically yield Hindi *साथा (sāthā) or *सत्था (satthā).
3. The likely wrong suggestion of inheritance from Sanskrit समर्घ (samargha, “having a low price”).[4] This already yielded Hindi सहँगा (sahaṅgā, “cheap”), which is not very common now. The only redeeming quality of this suggestion is that offers a direct contrast to Hindi महंगा (mahaṅgā, “expensive”), from Sanskrit महार्घ (mahārgha, “having a high price”). Compare Old Marathi सवंग (savaṃga), Gujarati સોંઘું (soṅghũ).[5]

Pronunciation

• (Delhi Hindi) IPA^(key): /səs.t̪ɑː/, [s̪əs̪.t̪äː]

Adjective

सस्ता • (sastā) (Urdu spelling سستا‎)

1. cheap, inexpensive

   स्थानीय प्रकाशक की छपी हुई पुस्तकेंसस्ती होतीं हैं।

   sthānīya prakāśak kī chapī huī pustakẽ sastī hotī̃ ha͠i.

   The books printed by the local publisher are inexpensive.

   • 1882, Lālā Śrīnivāsdās, Parīkṣā Guru :

     उन्हें लिखा था कि मैंने बहुतसस्ता समझ कर इस्समय एक गांव साठ हज़ार रुपे में खरीद लिया है […]

     unhẽ likhā thā ki mainne bahut sastā samajh kar issamay ek gāmv sāṭh hazār rupe mẽ kharīd liyā hai […]

     They wrote to them saying that at this time I had bought a town for seven thousand rupees thinking it to be very cheap.

   Antonym: महंगा (mahaṅgā)

Declension

Declension of सस्ता (ā-stem)

	masculine		feminine
	singular	plural	singular	plural
direct	सस्ता sastā	सस्ते saste	सस्ती sastī	सस्ती sastī
oblique	सस्ते saste	सस्ते saste	सस्ती sastī	सस्ती sastī
vocative	सस्ते saste	सस्ते saste	सस्ती sastī	सस्ती sastī

See also

• मुफ़्त (muft), निःशुल्क (niḥśulk, “free”)

References

1. McGregor, Ronald Stuart (1993), “सस्ता”, in The Oxford Hindi-English Dictionary, London: Oxford University Press
2. Dāsa, Śyāmasundara (1965–1975), “सस्ता”, in Hindī Śabdasāgara [lit. Sea of Hindi words] (in Hindi), Kashi [Varanasi]: Nagari Pracarini Sabha
3. Platts, John T. (1884), “सस्ता”, in A dictionary of Urdu, classical Hindi, and English, London: W. H. Allen & Co.
4. S. W. Fallon (1879), “सस्ता”, in A New Hindustani-English Dictionary, Banaras, London: Trubner and Co.
5. Tulpule, Shankar Gopal; Feldhaus, Anne, “सवंग”, in A Dictionary of Old Marathi, Mumbai: Popular Prakashan, 1999.

Further reading

• Bahri, Hardev (1989), “सस्ता”, in Siksarthi Hindi-Angrejhi Sabdakosa [Learners' Hindi-English Dictionary], Delhi: Rajpal & Sons.
• John Shakespear (1834), “سستا”, in A dictionary, Hindustani and English: with a copious index, fitting the work to serve, also, as a dictionary of English and Hindustani, 3^rd edition, London: J.L. Cox and Son, OCLC 875051092