On 2008-11-13 09:38, Jack Angstreich wrote:
> I thought the link between Indo-Aryan "raj" and Latin "rex" had been
> debunked by Scharfe but the new Leiden "Etymological Dictionary of
> Latin" lists these as cognates; am I mistaken about the scholarly
> consensus on this?
Scharfe nowhere denies this cognacy. To quote him,
By far the most common Indian word for "king" is <rá:jan> ... It is
related to Latin re:x "king", but the traditional view of this
relationship is subject to revision. [The State in Indian Tradition,
1989, p. 74]
They no doubt derive from the same verb root, which doesn't mean that
the connection is straightforward, or that the institution of kingship
was necessarily known to the PIE-speakers.
Piotr