Re: [tied] Re: Swat River.

From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 11062
Date: 2001-11-06

There can be little doubt that Hoffmann is right here. The use of archaic <paktHa-> with the meaning "fifth" is documented in the RV itself (x.61.1) in the phrase <paktHe ahan> 'on the fifth day'. The personal name Paktha- mirrors Lat. Quintus, and is actually its cognate. The Indo-Iranian ordinal was *pak-tHa-, with the vocalism of PIE *pnkW-to-; it is also reflected in Avestan puxDa- < Proto-Iranian *paxTa-. Indo-Aryan <pan'ca-tHa-/pan'ca-ma-> are new analogical forms modelled on the full form of the cardinal. Talageri does not analyse the names he is comparing; he merely matches them impressionistically with similar-sounding historical ethnonyms. This is a sure recipe for being wrong most of the time.
 
Regards,
 
Piotr
 
 
----- Original Message -----
From: vishalagarwal@...
To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, November 06, 2001 5:33 AM
Subject: [tied] Re: Swat River.

Note that the RV mentions a 'Paktha' who were defeated in the Dasarajna war and Talageri
equates them to ansectors of Pathans (whereas Hoffman says that the name simply means 'fifth').