Re: Rice

I don't really get your point.
Are you saying "warizi" derived from something like "aric" rather
than from something like "vrihi"? I have no idea of the sound
correspondences in the languages involved, but it's certainly not
obvious. Can you elaborate?
The other Daniel
*******

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Daniel Koechlin <d.koechlin@...> wrote:
>
> Well, I've finally looked up the word rice and I found something
> interesting.
>
> The sanskrit word "vrihi" may or may not be of dravidian origin. The Old
> Tamil word for rice is "aric", the modern malayam word is "ari" (or
> "vari").
> But the Iranian word "warizi" (Poshto), hence the greek "oryza" (> riz,
> rice, etc. in modern European languages) seems to be straight from a
> Dravidian source.
> The classical world seems to have picked up the word from a Dravidian
> language directly, bypassing (perhaps) the sanskrit "vrihi".
> Did the word come to Persia from the sea (traders) ? Was it a common
> term in Northen India before being displaced by sanskrit "vrihi" ?
>
> Back to the sanskrit word "vrihi" : could very well be of IE origin, or,
> on the other hand, could be a very deformed loanword from a Dravidian
> language. No way of telling.
>