re. serpent, yong peng mentioned "sappa" in pali.
and what about "sarpa" in sanskrit...
_______________________________________

On Tue, Mar 24, 2009 at 7:51 AM, Piya Tan <dharmafarer@...> wrote:

> "Curry" according to OED is from Tamil "kari," a sauce.
>
> Piya Tan
>
>
> On Tue, Mar 24, 2009 at 9:46 AM, gdbedell <gdbedell@...<gdbedell%40yahoo.com>>
> wrote:
>
> > Friends,
> >
> > I apologize for the late response, but I have been away (in India) for
> > a week or so.
> >
> > Normally, to say that an English word (like 'curry') has an Indian origin
> > (or has 'roots' in India) would mean that this word was borrowed into
> > English from an Indian language, probably but not necessarily during
> > the colonial period. That is no doubt the case with 'curry' and most
> > of the other words listed by Yong Peng in his original post. (Of course
> > it might sometimes be difficult to identify the source word or language
> > precisely.)
> >
> > As has been pointed out, there are words on the list which do not meet
> > this definition, for example 'father'. This word existed in English (with
> > varying pronunciation) long before English had any contact with Indian
> > languages. It is related to words in many Indian languages due to their
> > common Indo-European origin, but it is simply a mistake to imagine that
> > therefore 'father' has an Indian origin. Using this definition, one could
> > equally well say that the Pali word 'pitu' (and hundreds or thousands of
> > others) has an English origin.
> >
> > The list presented by Yong Peng is a good example of muddled or
> > misinformed thinking about language. Apparently the problem is not
> > so much with Yong Peng himself, as with the uncited sources where
> > he got his list.
> >
> > George Bedell
> >
> > --- In Pali@yahoogroups.com <Pali%40yahoogroups.com> <Pali%
> 40yahoogroups.com>, "Ong Yong Peng"
> > <palismith@...> wrote:
> > >
> > > Dear Gunnar, Jacques and Ardavarz,
> > >
> > > thanks for highlighting the words of contention. This is not exactly my
> > area of interest, and I do recall now that we did discuss about "serpent"
> > and Pali "sappa" many moons ago on this list.
> > >
> > > I believe the sources, which I refer to, include English words which
> have
> > common Indo-European roots or are inherited indirectly from India. Just
> like
> > what you have already discussed.
> > >
> > > metta,
> > > Yong Peng.
> > >
> > >
> > > --- In Pali@yahoogroups.com <Pali%40yahoogroups.com> <Pali%
> 40yahoogroups.com>, Jacques Huynen
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > "serpens" probably comes, in all Indo-european languages, from a root
> SRP
> > meaning "creep".
> > >
> > > > * father
> > > > * mother
> > > > These are common Indo-European stems, perhaps used already in
> Original
> > Indo-European somewhere north of the Black Sea, and found in Teutonic
> > languages long before England had any contact with India; also in Ancient
> > Greek, in Latin (pater, mater) and in the Romance languages. I don't know
> > about the Celtic, Slavic, Baltic, and Iranian languages.
> > > >
> > > > * serpent
> > > > Borrowed from Latin (serpens), probably through French.
> > >
> >
> >
> >
>
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