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Please respond directly to Agnelo Mascarenhas at [EMAIL PROTECTED] with suggestions and corrections. George ************************ A brief look at the origins of some Konkani words. I don't believe that this writeup is error free, but I'm in a hurry to get it out before the year 2002 ends! please report any errors to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Conventions: a <= b; a follows from b, a one way relationship strictly. a == b; the two terms are equivalent, a two way relation. a, u: short vowels A, U: long vowels e, o, ai, au: dipthongs i.e. compound vowels hence always long R: retroflex vowel r spellings are in conventional english transliterations. Skt. Sanskrit, Per. Persian, Aves. Avestan, Pkt. Prakrit, Mar. Marathi, Hin. Hindi, Guj. Gujrati, Kon. Konkani, Ka. Kannada, Dra. Dravidian, Port. Portuguese. family: pai, mai, poot, dhu, burgo, bhau, bhoin, vonni, chedo. pai, mai, poot, dhu are from Skt. PitR, matR, putra, duhitR. The Mar. equivalent for burgo is porga. That makes it clear that putra is one root. The second root is not very clear, it could be jana (people) or more likely ja(born) or something else altogether. So tentatively, I assign burgo <= porga <= putra + ja == born child. such forms with repeated meanings are a way of marking emphasis. bhav, bhoin are from Skt. BhratR, bhAgini. The later word incidentally means `lucky'. A vhonni is a sister-in-law, Mar. vahini, vhonni is traceable to bahini i.e. Skt. bhagini. A vhonni is sort of - a sister. The word for a boy ( or girl ) has many forms in Konkani - chedo, cheddo, cherdo, chello. This word is derived from Skt. char == to walk. A chela or chera is a disciple of a guru, A guru conducts his class while wandering from camp to camp. The Kon. chor == thief is from the same root, a chor is one who walks away with your material. religion: deunsar. This was a tough one to crack. It is actually of persian origin, Per. dev-sar. It means "like a devil". The root dev is an IndoEuropean root meaning god or light. The Iranians under Zaraustra made the asuras their gods, led by Avest. Ahura Mazda (Skt. Surya). The devas were turned into evil spirits led by Angra Mainyu (Skt. Indra). Later when the Persians converted to Islam, they still retained the word dev for devil. matrimony: kaazaar, lagin, vhardik, nauro, aankvaar, dedho, soiro I guess kaazaar <= kara + graha; kara is the verb - to do. graha is home. karagraha means to take home. lagin simply means to stick or adhere. As any annoyed mother says to her insecure child – mojya pati lagu naka. Don't stick to me! Vhardik is very clearly from Skt. varadakshina, the marriage ceremony of gifting of a daughter to the groom. Skt. vara means to select (a groom). A nauro is a groom, this comes from Skt. nivara == protector. In the Konkani version of the `Our Father', the last line is "ponn vaittantlim amkam nivar", which is "but deliver us from evil". the Sanskrit meaning of nivara is protect, and that is the source for nauro. Today's Konkani uses nivad, to mean select. Aankvaar is unmarried, the vaar is the same groom or marriage again. I think the initial part comes from Skt. kanya == virgin. A dhedo is a bridesman, it derives from the root da - to give, by reduplication it forms dadha. Kon. dadhata == send, again from the same reduplicated root. A father-in-law is a sasro, from Skt. shvashura. This is again the source for the Kon. soiro == a relative. the Skt. sense being specifically in-law. home: ghor, daarvanto, zonel, banshirem, bonder, van, raggado ghor is from Skt. graha, a dwelling. Skt. vant is divide, partition, share etc. so a daarvanto is the doorstep, dividing interior from the exterior. Kon. daar is from Skt. dvara == door. Skt. vant is also the source for Kon. vanto == a share, part, fraction. Also Kon. vant == to grind. Kon. zonel is a borrowed Port. Janela. Both Kon. banshirem and bonder are rags, banshirem being a kitchen rag. They derive from Skt. bhanda == vessel and Skt. chira == strip. The latter root also giving Kon. cheer == to cut, suri == a knife, cheed,tidok = annoy/irritate, possibly Kon. khodi == make fun of. So cheer is a very biting, cutting, sarcastic root. No home is complete without a Kon. vaan and it's associated Kon. raggado. Kon. van == granite mortar of gigantic size, about 2ft dia. It is derivable from Skt. vahana == chariot. Probably due to it's resemblance to the solid wheel of the temple chariot. We also get Kon. vahano == slippers from the same root. The Kon. raggado == pestle paired with the vaan, derives from Skt. raghu-dru which means running like a race horse. raghu or laghu meaning swift. The Skt. root dru gives us Kon. dhavta == running. Animals: bhoil, paado, bokaro, bokkulo Kon. bhoil == bull derives from Skt. bali == strong. A bull is not only strong, it can also be destructive. Kon. paaDo == bull is from Skt. pradah = destroy. Kon. PaaD incidentally means destruction. Kon. reDo == bull is also from pradah. Bombay street's wars are called raDa. And that's no BS! The Skt. bokkara is a ( an onomatopoeic i.e. mimicking ) cry of an animal. From Skt. bokkara we have Kon. bokaro == goat. So is Kon. bokkulo == tomcat. The bark of a dog is Kon. bhonk, again from the same source. Fish: sangter, sungata, bangado, mori, nistem Skt. Sringa == horn. Catfish have whisker like feelers, hence Kon. sangter == horned. Kon. sungata == prawns also comes from the same root. Oops horn! Kon. bangado == mackeral appears a bit golden, I believe it gets it's name from Dra./Kan. Bangaru == gold. The Skt. suvarna == beautiful color, gives the Kon. sone == gold. The Kon. mori == shark is from the Skt. makara, which is a mythical being often confused with crocodiles, sharks, dolphins etc. Hin. maggar == crocodile. The Kon. nistem is from Skt. nidusha. food items: feni, sanna, sangho, narl, kodi, sheeth cashew was introduced by the portuguese in the 16th century. because the leaf of the cashew resembles the hood of a cobra, Skt. phani == snake's hood got transferred to the equally menacing venom of the fermented cashew apple. feni huh? Kon. sanna is a steamed rice cake, one part is Skt. anna == boiled rice. the prefix is probably Skt. sadharana == common or general. In some dialects of konkani, cochin in particular it is pronounced as sadhanna. So that should clear up things. Kon. sangho == pods, Kon. shengo == groundnuts, Kon. vosandhe == string beans, Kon. mirisangho == chilis all derive from Skt. Shringa == horn in that they refer to pods or beans. A particular species of shell fish is called shimpi from Skt. shimba == pods which in turn is from Skt. Shringa. Kon. vosandhe is harive sangho i.e. green beans. Skt. madhu-narlikera == coconut, give us Kon. maDh == coconut palm and Kon. narl == the coconut fruit. Dra. koRi == bird or fowl, I believe is the souce of the Kon. kodi == curry. Again the same root gives us Kon. kombi == hen. The Skt. kukutah == hen gives us the alternative Kon. kunkad == hen. Kon. sheeth == cooked rice, is from Skt. sItA == a furrow, A opening in the soil caused by a plough. I think it is so because of the peculiar requirements of rice cultivation i.e. the plants need to be submerged under water. Quote from the MW dictionary: "In epic poetry Sita is the wife of Ramacandra and daughter of Janaka, king of Mithila, capital of Videha, who was otherwise called Siradhvaja; she was named Sita because fabled to have sprung from a furrow made by Janaka while ploughing the ground to prepare it for a sacrifice instituted by him to obtain progeny" The bulk of Konkani words are of Skt. origin. some are direct imports from Sanskrit. others have come indirectly through some prakrit. The richest borrowing is of words expressing abstract, mental, emotional states. Words of Persian origin are mainly found as administrative words. Some examples: Kon. zomin == land, khobor == news, inam == reward, riyasat == an edict, kaido == law, hushar == clever, zobordost == strongly, khobordar == forbid, soitan == satan, khomiz == shirt. Dravidian or Kannada words are found, but the frequency is low considering the fact that Kadambas ruled for a long period of time. I expect toponyms (place names) to have a significant dravidian content. some words of dravidian origin are Kon. mog == love, duddu == money, kule == buttocks. Words of portuguese origin. Kon. chapati == bread, moder == timber, igroz == church, boshi == plate, balcao == patio, kalsanv == pant, S. American imports botato == potato, tomat = tomato, kazu == cashew. __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com WANT TO check out which mailing lists you could subscribe to? Send a blank email message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ======================================================================== Ongoing: Exhibition of paintings, Art Chamber, Calangute www.goa-art.com Dec 23-Jan 7: Dayanita Singh's photo exhibition, Art House Tel 2276123 Jan 18-19: International kite carnival at Morgim beach, Pernem ========================================================================
