Re: Prakrit cha 'six'

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "wtsdv" <liberty@...> wrote:

> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Richard Wordingham"
> <richard.wordingham@...> wrote:
> >
> > Where does the Prakrit (incl. Pali) word _cha_ 'six' come from?
> > I don't see how to relate it to Sankrit SaS- beyond a vague
> > similarity.
>
> Isn't it supposed to come from a variant beginning with
> *k or *kW, as seen in Avestan xšvaš or Ossetic æxsæz?
> Although I don't remember if Old Indo-Aryan kS- resulted
> in Prakrit ch- or not. Do you know?
>
> David

Greetings to listmembers.

OIA kS- does result in Prakrit ch- (-cch- in medial positions) .
Indeed, that is the popular pronunciation of /kS/ in Hindi for tatsama
words. There are many examples from Old Bengali: kakSa 'close' >
kaccha ; makSikA 'insect'> macchi-a > ma:chi (modern); lakSmi 'goddess
of wealth' > lachmi (modern dialectal Hindi, Middle Hindi dialects).

Of course, IE *sk- also gives OIA -cch- .

Thanks,
AB