Śākaṭāyana

Śākaṭāyana (814–867) was the name of two Sanskrit grammarians, one who was a predecessor of Yaska and Panini in Iron Age India, and onewho was a Sanskrit grammarian (fl. c. 9th century, during the reign of Amoghavarsha).

Śākaṭāyana was an early "etymologist" or nairukta. He is the oldest grammarian known by name, even thoughhis work is only known indirectly, via references by Yaska and Panini.

Śākaṭāyana apparently claimed that all nouns are ultimately derived from verbal roots.This process is reflected in the Sanskrit grammar as the system of krit-pratyayas or verbal affixes.

Bimal Krishna Matilal in his The word and the worldrefers to the debate of nirkuta vs. vyakarana as an

interesting philosophical discussion between the nairuktas or etymologists and the pāṇinīyas or grammarians.According to theetymologists, all nouns (substantives) are derived from some verbal root or the other.Yāska in his Nirukta refers to this view (infact defends it) and ascribes it to an earlier scholar Śākaṭāyana.This would require that all words are to be analysable into atomicelements, 'roots' or 'bases' and 'affixes' or 'inflections' —better known in Sanskrit as dhātu and pratyaya [...] Yāska reported the view of Gārgya who opposed Śākaṭāyana (both preceded Pāṇini whomentions them by name) and held that not all substantival words ornouns (nāma) were to be derived from roots, for certain nominal stems were 'atomic'.

Sakatayana also proposed that functional morphemes such as prepositions do not have any meaning by themselves, but contribute to meaning only when attached to nouns or other content words:

(The ancient grammarian) Sakatayana says that prepositions when not attached (to nouns or verbs) do not express meanings ; but Gargya saysthat they illustrate (or modify) the action which is expressed by a nounor verb, and that their senses are various (even when detached).This view was challenged by Gargya.This debate goes to the heart of the compositionality debate among ancient Indian Mimamsakas and Vyakaran/grammarians.

His work might have been called the Lakṣaṇa Śāstra, in which he also describes the process of determining gender in animate and inanimate creation.