--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Daniel J. Milton" <dmilt1896@...>
wrote:> > homa bison (Pe.); hama id. (Mand..); soma a wild buffalo =
bison> > (Kui); homma bison (Kuwi); ho_ma sambar (Kuwi)(DEDR 2849).
> > http://www.hindunet.org/saraswati/Indian%20Lexicon/buffalo.htm
> > So, when a bison is shown on seals etc. it connotes
homa 'bison'; > > read rebus with the homonym hom 'gold' which is
cognate with > > soma 'electrum' (Rigveda)
> ***********
> Bison! Bonasus sp.? Unless I'm badly mistaken, there are no
> bison in India. Do you mean buffalo (Bubalus sp.)? The American
> bison is commonly called a buffalo, but I don't believe a true
> buffalo is ever called a bison. Or did the ProtoIndians know the
> European or Northwest Asian bison before they migrated to India?
> Dan Milton
It is a fascinating question, Daniel.
I do not know how the meaning of bison evolved in IE languages.
The bison used by Dravidian lexicographers seem to relate to a bull;
an understanding also repeated by Harvard Project excavators at
Harappa. See the exquisite picture of a seal at:
http://www.harappa.com/indus/28.html titled Bison seal from Mohenjo-
daro.
That homa in the days of Sarasvati Civilization, was understood to
be both a bull and a wild, water buffalo is apparent from two
identical pictorial motifs on two inscribed objects with the only
difference that the bovine on one object is a bull and the bovine on
another object is a water buffalo. The scene is a person kicking the
face of the bovine with his left foot and spearing the animal.
I will be happy to provide the two pictures shown on two objects, if
interested.