Re: the all-from-sanskritists

From: richardwordingham
Message: 14014
Date: 2002-07-15

It seems that we have been ambiguous in our discussion, so
I am attempting to clarify my meaning below.

--- In cybalist@..., "Ash" <equinus100@...> wrote:
>
______________________________________________________________________
__
>
> From: "richardwordingham" <richard.wordingham@...>
> Subject: Re: the all-from-sanskritists
>
>
> I think the posting
> (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vediculture/message/3170) is a very
> clever joke. The statements are not actually as outrageous as they
> seem at first reading! Can any one tell whether the errors in the
> English are typically Indian? This name's got me puzzled. I
suppose
> it could be genuine. However, the posting
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vediculture/message/750 , which is
> signed by 'Neil Kalia', is in much better English. The errors
there
> are typical native errors of punctuation.
>
> Do you specialize in indoerrology, Richard? ;-)

No, which is why I asked the question. I hoped an Indian member of
the list would answer. 'Neil Kalia' appears to be a _native_ speaker
of *English*.

> -> So far so true. Modern Indian languages are normally cited as
the
> source for Indian loans from the days of British India.
>
> Sure! And they try hard and in vain to officially avoid English
words in these languages.

I was talking of Indian words borrowed by English.

> > Even though there are no lions in England the Kings where
> > still known as lion hearted. Coats of arms often
> portrayed
> > Lions
> > attributing the qualities of the lions to the kings such as
> > courage, strength, chivalry, genorosity and resourcefulness.
> >
> > The old English spelling of King is "Cing" As in ancient
> > Sanskrit
> > apellation King, Cing, Singh, Simha or Simbha(swahili )
> > for lion meaning Powerful Chief or leader.
>
> -> Possibly two slip-ups here, as OE is <cyning>. Mind you, I
wouldn't
> be surprised at very late OE or early Middle English
> spelling 'cing'. Has 'old English' cleverly been written instead
> of 'Old English'? Also there is no 'h' in 'simba'.
>
> Kome on! The 'c' in cing/cyning was a guttural nevertheless.

Aha! A hypercorrect desatemisation! (I jest.)

Late OE had both 'cing' and 'cyng', so only the one slip-up. Again,
note that there is no explicit claim that the 'c' is softened, let
alone to a hiss.

> [You would know, of course, that "cyning/king" is a cognate
of "jana/gent-"]

I can't see how the etymology of 'c[yn]ing' is relevant here. And
the semantics are debated by those who accept it.

> -> Could there be a very subtle pun on the brand of Thai beer
> called 'Singha' in English?
>
> Quite possibly, "singha" in Thai refers to king, just as in the
name "singapore."

I was just thinking of the immediate effect of drinking a few bottles
of 'lion beer'. Obviously too subtle, so probably not intended.

> -> The 'Buddh' of 'Buddha' is a root in English. It's very
interesting
> that the author's presumed other posting also refers to Mueller.
>
> > Certainly, Max Müller is the Moksha-giver.
>
> But, the budh-equivalent root has historically come in to (Old)
English as "bid."

'Buddha' is the past participle in '-ta' from the Sanskrit root
derived from PIE *bheudh. I was thinking of 'Buddh-' as a now
English root for certain matters spiritual,
yielding 'Buddha', 'Buddhism' and 'Buddhist'.

> -> P.S. Should we tell the author where to find our comments?
>
> You think you will convince them? Even try!

I was thinking more as a matter of courtesy.

Richard.