--- In cybalist@..., "S.Kalyanaraman" <kalyan97@...> wrote:
> What are the IE or PIE cognates? "a god" is ['eloah] in Hebrew and
> ['ilaah] in Arabic.
>
> The first r.ca of R.gveda says:
> agnim i_l.e purohitam
>
> What does i_l.e mean? Kubera is aid.a_vid.a or ailavila; godesses
> names include: il.a_, mahi_, sarasvati_, bha_rati_. What is the
> etymology of il.a_?
There would be no I.E. cognates for 'eloah or 'a l-laah since Hebrew
and Arabic are Semitic. Proto-Indo-Iranian *izhda_ results in Indo-
Aryan i_d.a_ and Av. i_zha_ "sacrificial libation", though I don't
understand why Avestan should have lost the "d" here (note that I'm
using "zh" to represent a post-alveolar voiced fricative). In Vedic
-d.- is replaced with -l.-. I assume that the goddess I_l.a_ is a
personification of the libation. However Sanskrit also has the word
i_d.ya- "to be worshipped". Both are supposed to be from the I.E.
root *eis- which forms words pertaining to the sacred.
-David