Rice

From: Daniel Koechlin
Message: 43627
Date: 2006-03-01

Well, I've finally looked up the word rice and I found something
interesting.

The sanskrit word "vrihi" may or may not be of dravidian origin. The Old
Tamil word for rice is "aric", the modern malayam word is "ari" (or
"vari").
But the Iranian word "warizi" (Poshto), hence the greek "oryza" (> riz,
rice, etc. in modern European languages) seems to be straight from a
Dravidian source.
The classical world seems to have picked up the word from a Dravidian
language directly, bypassing (perhaps) the sanskrit "vrihi".
Did the word come to Persia from the sea (traders) ? Was it a common
term in Northen India before being displaced by sanskrit "vrihi" ?

Back to the sanskrit word "vrihi" : could very well be of IE origin, or,
on the other hand, could be a very deformed loanword from a Dravidian
language. No way of telling.