/*dhey6-/ in the AHD

Michael McLafferty michael at mclafferty.com
Wed Dec 22 07:15:45 UTC 1999


Standard Disclaimer: New to list, strictly an amateur, first posting,
yadda-yadda-yadda...

So, after visiting his website, I asked for Patrick Ryan's help
as follows:

>Found your site...during a search for a resource to
>track down the IE root of Sanskrit /dhyaana(m)/ or /dhyAna(m)/
>"meditation, thought, reflection" (whence /zen/).

>The online Sanskrit dictionaries I've found don't seem to give
>IE roots.

Mr Ryan responded helpfully:

>Sanskrit /dhyaana(m)/...is traditionally derived from an IE root
>*dheyH-, 'sehen, schauen' (Pokorny 1959:I,243).

>Actually, this is also listed in the AHD under *dhey6-, to see, look.
>(1976:1513).

Eventually I replied to Mr Ryan:

>...I looked in my AHD 3rd ed. and failed to see an entry for /*dhey6-/.
>For some reason the editors dropped it, jumping from /*dheugh-/ to
>/*dhghem-/. Eventually I dug out my 1st AHD and found the root you
>cite, right between the two above. Did they discredit it?

For those who haven't nodded off yet, he answered:

>I am not really sure why there is this discrepancy.
>So far as I know, the root is still recognized.
>Why not propose the question to the list?

So I have.

Michael McLafferty [mac fhlaithbheartaigh]
Portland, Oregon

[Btw, I've been looking for a used copy of "Pokorny 1959" to own --
a bookseller has a volume called "POKORNY, JULIUS. INDOGERMANISCHES
ETYMOLOGISCHES WORTERBUCH. Bern,: Franke, Funfzehnte Lieferung.
250 x 175 mm. 96pp." This can't be the whole thing, can it? Do they
come up for sale very often?]



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