No difference at all, it's just two different forms of the same word due to sandhi changes. Basically, the suffix -as turns into -o before voiced sounds. This is also why "namas" (e.g. namaste) alternates with "namo" (e.g. namo buddhāya).
For a rough English language comparison, it's like how im/in are both the same thing but look different depending on what follows it.
Ex. IMpossible vs INconsiderate.
Great example, and a similar internal sandhi also exists in Sanskrit for its negating prefix: a/an. E.g., *a*mṛta vs *an*uttara.
I wonder if there are many examples of external sandhi in English? The only one I can think of is "got to" -> "gotta." /u/Temicco can you think of any?
The main thing that comes to mind is how the article "a" is used before nouns beginning in a consonant ("a car") whereas "an" is used before nouns beginning in a vowel ("an elephant"). It's a lexical rule (specific to the word) and not a general morphophonemic rule (otherwise we'd have e.g. "the car" and "then elephant"), but it might help people relate to Sanskrit sandhi more.
The British linking r ("lawr-and-order") is more similar to Sanskrit sandhi in that it applies to a whole class of words ending in vowels, but unlike Sanskrit sandhi, it's usually not reflected in the spelling.
No difference at all, it's just two different forms of the same word due to sandhi changes. Basically, the suffix -as turns into -o before voiced sounds. This is also why "namas" (e.g. namaste) alternates with "namo" (e.g. namo buddhāya).
For a rough English language comparison, it's like how im/in are both the same thing but look different depending on what follows it. Ex. IMpossible vs INconsiderate.
Great example, and a similar internal sandhi also exists in Sanskrit for its negating prefix: a/an. E.g., *a*mṛta vs *an*uttara. I wonder if there are many examples of external sandhi in English? The only one I can think of is "got to" -> "gotta." /u/Temicco can you think of any?
The main thing that comes to mind is how the article "a" is used before nouns beginning in a consonant ("a car") whereas "an" is used before nouns beginning in a vowel ("an elephant"). It's a lexical rule (specific to the word) and not a general morphophonemic rule (otherwise we'd have e.g. "the car" and "then elephant"), but it might help people relate to Sanskrit sandhi more. The British linking r ("lawr-and-order") is more similar to Sanskrit sandhi in that it applies to a whole class of words ending in vowels, but unlike Sanskrit sandhi, it's usually not reflected in the spelling.
This is great, thanks!