Re: [tied] Azerbaijan

Different roots again. Skt s' < PIE *k^, so <aMs'u-> cannot go back to *ansu-. I am not sure what it's accepted etymology is, but I suspect it belongs together with <aMs'a-> 'part, portion' in the root *h1nek^-/*h1nk^-. Etymologically, Av. ahura- = Skt. asura-. The putative Germanic cognate is *ans- 'god (of one of the divine clans, the Aesir of Asgard in Scandinavian mythology)'; from PGmc. *ansuz we have ON a:ss (pl. aesir), OE o:s.

Piotr

----- Original Message -----
From: kalyan97

To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Sunday, February 24, 2002 4:15 AM

Subject: Re: [tied] Azerbaijan

--- In cybalist@......, "Piotr Gasiorowski" <gpiotr@......> wrote: > <ahura-> is thought to be related to Germanic *ans-u-z, with *ns-u- > *IIr. asu- > Iranian *ahu-. This is fascinating, Piotr. What would be the semantics of Germanic *ans-u-z? I request help on this because, there is another tough word in Vedic which has been variously interpreted while attempts (about 43 so far) have been made to interpret, another tough word,'soma', sometimes as a plant, say, ephedra. Soma is described in Vedic texts, for e.g. as am.s'u-mant. Would am.s'u mean, 'a beam (tongue) of fire'? If so, the description of soma with the epithet, am.s'su may refer to the streaks of minerals embedded in, say, a rock of quartz... The word, am.s'u is explained as follows in the Sanskrit lexicon: aMzu = m. a filament (especially of the Soma plant) ; a kind of Soma libation S3Br. ; thread ; end of a thread , a minute particle [1,2] ; a point , end ; array , sunbeam ; cloth L. ; N. of a R2ishi RV. viii , 5 , 26 ; of an ancient Vedic teacher , son of a Dhanam2jaya VBr. ; of a prince.