Re: Mitanni and Matsya

----- Original Message -----
From: "Francesco Brighenti" <frabrig@...>
To: <cybalist@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, April 04, 2008 3:16 AM
Subject: [tied] Re: Mitanni and Matsya






--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Patrick Ryan" <proto-language@...>
wrote:

> [David had asked:]
>
> > To what degree is Varuna associated with the sea in the
> > Rig Veda? His primary and original functions are quite
> > different, and it is to the latter we must look in order
> > to understand his name.
>
> ***
>
> APAM PATIH

It is, in case, 'apam patih' (Master of Waters). The term apam does
not denote the sea or ocean in Vedic Sanskrit. I am personally among
those who think that the Rigvedic Aryans were not familiar with the
ocean because their settlement areas (the Greater Panjab, including
parts of Afghanistan) were very far from the nearest seashore.

***

A legitimate consideration.

But do you believe PIE originated in Turkey?

If it did, oceans would have been familiar from the earliest times.


Patrick

***