It's wonderful to see Gulpa being able to share the blogging space. Satsangham ( Sat : pure, sangham company) is truly under way. Long live Jignyasaa. Before I proceed with my piece, a very flippantly brief aside; the word Aarambham ( As opposed to samaptham) does it mean Aa + Rambham akin to "come and (saw) bore me"?
We have talked earlier about Krishna, and Adrishtam ( a + drishtam = one which is not seen). Similarly Latin is a language, which is very similar in providing scintilating etymological roots to words. I believe that the word "disaster" is derived from this language, (from astrum) which means miseries invited by one on himself , without seeing the stars. !!
Incidentally the word "jyotish" for astrology, is derived from jyoti meanining "the light that spreads" or one "which illuminates items in dark".
Will the next-gen join in with their pieces.......
Love
Vichu
Your opening lines remind me of Anand's round of questions as a quizmaster in college years ago.
ReplyDeleteHis round on Etymology had the following -
1. Rishikesh - which many mistaken understood to be Rishi's (holy man's) Kesh (hair), while it actually stood for Hrishik(senses) + Eesh (Lord) = Lord of the senses , namely Lord Maheshwara.
2. Damodar - Daam (threads) + Udar (Stomach) , the meaning for Balakrishna , who was restained at the waist with ropes by his mother.
I gues Anand would remember a lot more as he used to hold this round quite often.
The interesting break up of a common word comes from a passage in Kalidasa's Abhigynana Shakuntala. The word is "Saamanya" in the statement where Kanva Maharishi dictates a message to the messenger who is accompanying Shakuntala to the court of Dushyanta Raja for the first time.
Kanva Maharishi asks the King to treat Shankuntala as a "Saamanya" queen and entreating that the king may treat her as he interprets the word.
The three forms of the word and teh implication were explained by Appa to us as under -
1. Saamanya - common, if the king were of ordinary intelligence this would be interpreted as heis requiring to shakuntala as an ordinary queen amongst his other queens for the king was known to have many queens.
2. Saa+ Maanya - The respected one, the king is asked to treat shakuntala with respect.
3. Saa + Maa+ Anya - Like No Other, the message is conveyed that Shankuntala is special and should not be treated like another ordinary queen.
Sanskrit is indeed a wonderful language.