Re: [tied] Hydronyms and toponyms of Vedic area

----- Original Message -----
From: "george knysh" <gknysh@...>
To: <cybalist@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, February 05, 2003 7:54 PM
Subject: Re: [tied] Hydronyms and toponyms of Vedic area



> *****GK: So much for "Anu" as a pre-Aryan entity here...(:=))
> But a couple of follow-ups: (1) Since you seem to be using "ancient" in the sense of "former", would you say that this verse implies remembrance of a pre-NW India homeland?

The adjective <pratná-> is translated as 'former, previous, ancient, traditional'. IMO, <pratna- okas-> makes more sense as 'former homeland' than 'this ancient homeland of ours'.

> And (2) something completely different: "Anu" exists in Ukrainian as an expression encouraging action, deed, movement. Also as "anumo". I'm not sure about other Sl. languages (my dictionaries aren't all that
comnplete). Is this related to the Vedic adverb?*****

The Ukrainian particle is a combination of <a> and <nu>, pieced together in Slavic. There are similar complex particles elsewhere in Slavic as well. If Skt. anu had an exact cognate in Slavic, it would be *onU. But it belongs to a cluster of IE adverbs/prepositions that you can find in etymological dictionaries under *an-/*an-u/*(a)no: (*h2an-/*h2n-). It's supposed to be genetically related to Slav. *na (< *no:), Gmc. *ana- (Eng. on), Gk. ana.

Piotr