Re: snake, naga

From: S.Kalyanaraman
Message: 17478
Date: 2003-01-09

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tgpedersen <tgpedersen@...>"
<tgpedersen@...> wrote:>
http://www.angelfire.com/rant/tgpedersen/Hng.html

Thanks a lot Piotr, Torsten and Richard for the leads.

Amazing how sounds and semantics travel (crawl?) -- from Khmer to
Hebrew.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cybalist/message/7874
I note from this message that Piotr feels that Gk. enkhos 'spear'
may not belong here but if it does, it may contain a secondary full
grade of a root reconstructible as *h1neg^H-. In either case the
verbal meaning "stab, wound" is primary, the meaning "knife" is
derived from it.

And again at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cybalist/message/7876
Skt. na:gá- refers to elephants as well as snakes and is supposed to
be a vriddhied derivative of *nogW-o- 'naked (here: hairless)'.

Thanks, Torsten, http://www.angelfire.com/rant/tgpedersen/Hng.html
is a veritable treasure-house, e.g.,
na:ha:sh "snake" Hebrew
neak "snake" Khmer
ngata- "snake, worm" Indonesia
nguak- "dragon, crocodile" Thai

I found another Austric root: *s-r- "flow, stream"; "arrow,
spear" Skt. Sara `arrow', `liquid, water'

Could this be the Skt. Sarpa `serpent'; sr.ka `dart, spear'
sharu `arrow, spear'; sari- "spear" Lolsiwoi, Morouas,
Batunlamak, Penantsiro, Narango,Mafea, Tutuba, Aore, Malo?

Snake symbolism is very vivid on many glyphs of the Sarasvati-Sindhu
civilization (so-called Indus script seals and tablets). Maybe,
*sara was a rhebus for a chalcolithic 'arrow'.