I think aks.ara = a-ks.ara- 'not
melting away, imperishable' (opposite of ks.ara-), hence 'something permanent,
record, writing', a derivative of {ks.ar-}, cf. ks.arati 'flows, melts
away, vanishes'. The latter often regarded as related to Gk. phtheiro: 'destroy,
spoil' (< *phther-jo:), phthora: 'destruction, decay, deterioration', though
the semantic evolution behind these meanings is not quite clear.
The protoform would apparently be something
like *gWHs-er-, maybe ultimately cognate to *gWHs-ei- (with a different "root
extension") as in Skt. ks.in.a:ti/ks.in.oti 'destroys, exhausts' Gk.
phthin(w)o: 'decay, perish; destroy', and in the celebrated adjective (Gk.
aphthito-, Skt. aks.ita-) of the poetic formula *n-gWHsitom k^lewos
'imperishable fame'.
Further cognates, anybody?
Piotr
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, June 19, 2001 11:23 PM
Subject: [tied] aks.ara, Sanskrit; is there an IE
cognate?
aks.ara = unalterable; sacrifice; sword; a letter, a vowel,
a sound,
a word (Skt.)