Hindu Gods and Goddesses

Monday, November 17, 2008

Mind Your P's and Q's: English-Sanskrit Cognates/Obvious Derivative Words






One of these photos is of an ancient seal found in the Indus Valley depicting Pasupati, "Lord of Beasts," an ancient form of Siva. One of these is from an ancient artifact depicting Cernunnos, the "horned god" of Europe.

Below is a list of words/roots from Sanskrit that are the obvious sources of various English words (many, many other like etymological lineages are extant, if many are not so obvious):

rta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . right (though not "as opposed to left")
hari (as in, "hari krsna") . . . . . . hooray
cut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . cut
aum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . amen
vidya . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . idea
asti . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . is (via the German "ist")
svasar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sister
dva . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . two
trayas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . three
din.gi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . dinghy (small boat)
jangala . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . jungle
naranga . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . orange
sraman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . shaman
sarkara . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sugar
kal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . call
amb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ambient
kakh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . cackle
pard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . fart, "pardon me" (maybe a stretch)
pun.d. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . to pound
badh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . bad
yoga/yuj . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . to yoke
rap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . rap ("talk")
seva . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . service
stha_ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . stand
smi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . smile
lih . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . lick
dam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . dam
sur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sir
sutee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . soot
prati . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pretty (as in "pretty close")
ramb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . rumble
varn.a . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . varnish
vanta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . want
baad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . bath
banda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . bond
carya . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . car
dama . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . domicile
danta . . . . .. . . . . ... . . . . . dental
divya . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . divine
harda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . heart
go (cow) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . god (whew!!!!! Blowing your mind yet?)
jan(to be born) . . . . . . . . . . . . genesis
kri . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . create
nau/navya . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . navy
patha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . path
puuy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pee-yoo-ee (i.e., stinks)
sriiv . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . shrivel
tat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . that


And on and on the obvious connections of India and Europe, Sanskrit, the sacred language of India, and European words. Indeed, the Middle East is only and at best intermediary to the truer source of the cultures and religions of "the West."
It is a given in etymology (even in the "Western" academic tradition) that Sanskrit (or the theorized and rather dubious "Indo-European" language) is a major source of European languages, but I just thought I'd offer a few examples to get you thinking about where your culture comes from . . .

Later and more controversial: Sanskrit-Native American language cognates . . .

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Very cool! Here's another one: Raki. This is a word for moonshine/alcohol we found in our travels from SE Asia (rural Laos to Greece, Turkey and Eastern Europe). Is there any cognate with this one? I figure it was transmitted along trade routes as everyone likes to share a drink as a friendly gesture.

Tanner's Master Blog said...

dvAra is also a cognate for the word "door"