SV: avestan and vedic

> From: John Croft <jdcroft@...>
>
> One of the chief differences between the two is the h-s shift. Thus
> soma in Sanscrit is haoma in Avestan, Asura in Sanscrit is Ahura in
> Avestan (As in Ahura Mazda). This shift did not just go one way.
> Zarathushtra is described as a zaotar of the old Aryan religion, in
> the Gathas (Yasna 33-6). In Sanscrit the corresponding term was
> hotar. Nevertheless there is much in common. The old poetic form,
> and the meter of the Gathas is similar to the Vedas.

Just for the record/sake of clarity: the h vs. s and z vs. h are two quite different things. In Av. *s changed into h as in haoma, ahura, and many other words. But there was no shift between z and h in any direction; both Ved. (voiced) h and Av. z in this case derive from a voiced palatal: *g^heu-tor-.

> It seems that he
> also made use of many of the similar concepts. Thus the rta (truth)
> used by Zarathushtra is the asha of the Sanscrit Vedas.

Avestan aš.a, Vedic r.ta (dots under s and r respectively).

Urban