--- In cybalist@..., x99lynx@... wrote:
> An equally untantalizing to the media position is that IE languages
spread by > way of one of the most singular events in Eurasian
history and that is the > spread of "agriculture" - plant and animal
domestication - AND the > substantial cultural and economic
transformation that can be PROVEN to have > accompanied it.
http://www.mssrf.org/fris9809/Rice.html
"The linguistic history of the word for rice also indicates the
antiquity of its cultivation. The words for rice - Oriza in Greek and
Oryza in Latin are believed to have been derived from Arisi the Tamil
word for rice. The word seems to have been adopted into their local
language by the sea-faring traders along with rice-culture. Thus
Arisi became, Erus in Malay and Al-ruz or Arruz in Arabic. When the
Arabic traders carried it to Europe, it became Arroz in Spanish, Riso
in Italian, Riz in French, Reis in German, and rice in modern
English. Sanskrit has many words for the various forms of rice -
tandul for parched or popped rice, akshat for unbroken rice, nivar,
namba and vrihi for the transplanted rice. Each of the seasonal rice
crops also had a special name - the summer rice crop was graishmic,
the rainy season crop was varshic, hemanti the autumn crop and
sharada the winter crop. The late maturing rices were called ptasuka
vrihi and the early maturing ones were called asu vrihi. In his
treatise Arthashastra, Chanakya mentioned a rice variety called
shastic which took only 60 days from sowing to maturity."
Yes, Vedic is Masica's Language X.
Tamil arisi; cognate Vedic: vri_hi_ m. in R.gveda named together with
{yava} , {mAtha} , and {tila} ; eight principal sorts are enumerated
by native authorities); a field of rice Ka_tyS'r.
There are also Munda etyma for rice. cf. Norman Zide.