--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Joao S. Lopes" <josimo70@...>
wrote:
> The alternate forms of *Varuna as Aruna/~Uruwana make possible
> that Greek Ouranos had an Hurrian origin too. What was its
> original form? *Warwana, *Arwana, *Urwana, Wr.wana, *Aruna,
> *Warwuna, *Auruna?
None of these (see Thieme's paper whose link is given below).
Attempts to link Ouranos to Varuna etymologically have been
generally abandoned. "The Greek Ouranos is the Sanskrit Varuna"
is no longer as undisputed as it was in Dumézil's time -- compare
Frisk's Greek and Mayrhofer's Sanskrit etymological dictionaries.
From a PIE perspective, Gk. Ouranos may well be related to
*werseti 'rains' (Puhvel, e.g., postulates Ouranos < *worsanos), but
Skt. Varuna probably isn't. As for Varuna, many Vedicists are now
inclined to consider a PIE root *ver- 'to speak, to speak solemnly,
to speak with truth' (< PIE *u_erh1-). The name Varuna would, thus,
be etymologically related to the Vedic term vrata- 'solemn promise,
oath' or also, according to others, 'law, contract' (cf. Avestan
urvata-), as well as to Latin verus 'true', Greek ereo 'I shall
speak' etc. This etymology would make Varuna a god of true-speech,
i.e. of spoken truth, stressing his role as Vedic arbiter of ethical
behavior, namely, as the god of oaths.
***************
As to Arnaud, who asked for references re: the Indo-Aryan theonyms
appearing in Mittani treatises, a good starting point could be Paul
Thieme's old article at
http://tinyurl.com/2qktd5
It may also be noted that the Indo-Aryan theonyms Mitra and Varuna
appear as Midra$$el and Aruna$$el/Uruwana$$el (all plural forms,
formed with the marked with a general pluralisator -l) in Hurrian,
and they are both preceded by the Sumerian determinatives DINGIR.ME$
(= gods). The Hurrian suffix -(a)$$e added to the noun roots denotes
an abstract formation, possiblybecause these were not personal gods
but rather some kind of principles invoked in relations between
Hurrians and Indo-Aryans.
If Hurrian does not have a dual, they may very well have used the
plural in order to link Mitra and Varuna. In Rigvedic Sanskrit, and
even in Classical Sanskrit, the names of Mitra and Varuna are
commonly given in the archaic dual forms (/A/ = long a; /N/ =
retroflex n): mitrA-varuNA(u) 'the two, Mitra and Varuna'. They are
mostly mentioned together, as a compound (-Au is a later dual form).
Therefore, it appears very likely that Old Indo-Aryan mitrA-varuNA
cprresponds to the Hurrianized Old Indo-Aryan forms Midra-$$el,
Uruna-$$el (the names follow each other in Mitanni treatises).
Hurrian would reflect what Rigvedic Sanskrit expresses, the (dual)
compound and the (originally) abstract nature of Mitra and Varuna.
As to the Hurrianized Old Indo-Aryan theonym Indara (also
transliterated as Intara), mentioned by Arnaud in an earlier post:
no problem, Indra/Indara = Rigvedic Sanskrit; the word is
trisyllabic in the Rigveda too.
Hipe this helps to clarify,
Francesco