--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Francesco Brighenti" <frabrig@...>
wrote:
> Mayrhofer and de Jong are here discussing (or criticizing)
> the Indo-Aryan etymologies of Kassite theonyms provided by Balkan.
> I will see to procure myself their review article at the library
> to check if they agree with or reject the derivation of Kassite
> S^umaliya from Old Indo-Aryan *suma:la. The Kassite goddess in
> question was worshipped as the mistress of snow-capped mountains
> (the Zagros, the homeland of the Kassites), on whose summits she
> was said to dwell. Were those mountains conceived as
> her "beautiful wreath" (Old Indo-Aryan *su-ma:la), as the
> proposed etymology suggests?
However, I forgot to mention that Sanskrit mAla (substituting for
mAlA 'wreath, garland' in some compounds) is only attested starting
from the Sutra period and the Mahabharata (*not* in the Vedas).
It actually appears that the meaning '(flower-)garland' is, also
chronologically, the primary one inasmuch as the term is most likely
a Dravidian loan word originally related to another word
meaning 'flower'.
In CDIAL 10092 Turner considers Skt. mAlA a loan from Dravidian (cf.
Tamil mAlai 'wreath').
Emeneau states that "the Sanskrit word mAlA `garland, wreath,' ...can
be provided with an Indo-Aryan etymology only with the utmost
ingenuity" (see his paper at <
http://tinyurl.com/2r864l>). The
reference here is to a paper (available at
<
http://tinyurl.com/2p3w6w>) in which P. Tedesco had tried to derive
Skt. mAlA from the root vRt- 'to turn' via an unattested form *vRtman
(Turner's comment: "phonetically unacceptable").
Here is the etymology proposed by Burrow in a paper of his available
at <
http://tinyurl.com/37pde6>:
"260. mAlA 'wreath, garland', GrSrS., MBh., etc. [also mAlya n. id.,
GrSrS., etc.; 'a flower', L.; Hi. mAl 'garland, etc.', Sgh.
mAla 'flower']. Ta. mAlai 'garland', Ma. Te. mAla, Ka. mAle id. Ta.
mAlai occurs in the earliest literature (PuN. 60, 76) and Ka. mAle is
given as one of the tatsamas (Kitt. s.v.), both of which facts speak
in favour of Drav. origin. This is further supported by the Ta.
verbal form malai 'to wear as a garland', PuN. 12., etc. (also milai
id., AN. 182, etc.). The word is further connected with Ta. Ma. Ka.
malar 'flower'."
Therefore, it is unlikely that the Kassites may have used a term
cognate to the later attested Sanskrit word mAla 'wreath, garland
(in compounds)' to form the name of their paramount goddess
S^umaliya.
Regards,
Francesco