--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Brian M. Scott" <BMScott@...> wrote:
>
> I don't pretend to know much of anything about Sanskrit;
> does it have any identifiable semantic content?
I can't tell you more about that than my own sources,
I'm afraid.
Here is all that I could find on the suffix in T.
Burrow's 'The Sanskrit Language', under 'The Formation
of Nouns':
(viii) Corresponding to -vará and -urá thematic adjectival
stems are made on the basis of the neuter van- suffix, with
two gradations, -vana and -una.
(a) vagvaná- 'talkative', s^us^ukvaná- 'shining', satvaná-
'warrior'; from prepositional bases pra-vaná- 'sloping
forward, inclined', udvana- 'elevated'.
(b) mithuná- 'paired' (Av. mi0wara- from alternating r-stem),
s^akuná- 'bird' (s^ak, as prophesying the future), aruná-
'red', da:runá- "terrible'; with radical accent árjuna-
'white' (Gk. árguros 'silver' from r-stem; cf. also Skt.
rjrá- from uncompounded r-stem), pís^una- 'slanderous,
treacherous' (cf. Gk. pikrós 'bitter, inimical', from simple
r-stem), táruna- 'tender' (cf. Gk. teré:n with uncompounded
n-stem, térus, uncompounded u-stem), vísuna- 'various'; with
penultimate accent, dharúna- 'holding', yatúna- 'energetic'.
Fuller types of gradation are found in occasional forms:
-avana in s^ávana- 'lame' (Lat. cl-au-dus), lavaná- 'salty';
nt. salt (*slavana-: Lat. sal); -ona in s^roná-, s^loná-
'lame', syoná- 'soft, agreeable', duroná- 'house'.
- end quote -
By the way last night I came across another etymology for
Varuna, from 'The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-
European Roots':
wel-¹. To see. 1. Suffixed zero-grade form *wl-id-
in Germanic *wlituz, appearance, in Old Norse litr,
appearance, color, dye, akin to the source of LITMUS.
2. Suffixed form *wel-uno- perhaps in Sanskrit Varuna,
"seer, wise one", sovereign god: VARUNA.
[Pok. 1. uel- 1136.]
I think I may favor this one, considering Varuna's role
in the Rig Veda, described by Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty
as:
"a god whose primary role was watching over the deeds
of men (as a sky god is well placed to do) and punishing
those who violated the sacred law (rta) of which Varuna
was the most important custodian."
David