--- In cybalist@..., "Piotr Gasiorowski" <gpiotr@...> wrote:> The
only other equid that <as'va-> could conceivably stand for, is _Equus
hemionus_. Unfortunately, a typical hemione has 36 ribs, just like a
typical horse. The prehistoric range of onagers extended from Ukraine
to South Asia. However, <as'va-> derives from PIE *(h1)ek^wos, a word
which stands for domestic horses (and presumably stood for their wild
ancestors, such as steppe and forest tarpans) in all the branches of
IE in which it survives (including Indo-Aryan, of course, but also
Iranian, Baltic, Germanic, Celtic, Italic and Greek). It is not
applied to onagers, kulans, asses, etc. -- not even to mules and
hinnies, and not even among those IEs who must been been familiar
with other equids. Douglas Q. Adams tentatively reconstructs an
IE "ass ~ onager" word based on Skt. gardabHa- and Tocharian B
kercapo- (if real, it might also refer to the now extinct European
wild ass _E. hydruntinus_).
I do not find any rational basis to assume that r.s.i-s of the
R.gveda were aware of the differentiation between species and genus.
We have to go by the texts as they are and reach cosmic conclusions
or mundane conclusions about migrations.
How is as'vatara explained?
m. (Pa1n2. 5-3 , 91) a mule AV. iv , 4 , 8 S3Br. &c. ; (compar. of %
{azva}) a better horse Pat. ; a male calf. L. ; one of the chiefs of
the Na1gas MBh. Hariv. &c. ; N. of a Gandharva L. ; (%{A}) f. a
better mare Pat. ; (%{I4}) f. a she-mule AV. viii , 8 , 22 MBh. &c.
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Is there another name attested for a mule in Vedic or Sanskrit?