Non-Indic sustrate vocabulary

[Rick Mc Callister]

>A quick query...  does anyone know whether anyone has ever compiled a
>database,
>or even just a plain old list, of possible NON Indo-European lexical items in
>Sanskrit?  My thought was that they could be examined with an eye to their
>possible value to efforts to decode the Indus Valley script.  Does anyone know
>of anything like what I'm describing?

>--Ed Sugrue

	If there's nothing else out there and you're VERY patient, you can
go through Buck and find quite a few. I'm sure there are etymological
dictionaries for Sanskrit that you can comb through.
	I'd guess that Sanskrit has a sizable portion of Dravidian etyma as
well as some words of Mon-Khmer origin. Keep in mind that Sanskrit was
spoken beyond the Indus Valley and that substrate may be of non-Indus
Valley origin.
	Whether either of these would help you in deciphering the Indus
Valley script is a good question.
	Keep in mind that some other language may have replaced the Indus
Valley language before IE-speakers arrived.
	On the other hand, there have been attempts based on reviewing
homophones in Dravidian as possible rebus words. What I've seen looks
ingenious but I seem to remember that it amounted to a very miniscule
number of possible matches.
	Dravidian has also been linked to Elamite by some linguists,
although this is strongly contested. Given that the Indus Valley lies
between Elam and present Dravidian-speaking areas, it would be tempting to
see Indus Valley language as Dravidian --adding a second floor to a
possible house of cards.
	Perhaps you could also check some of the languages spoken between
Elam and Dravidian-speaking areas for possible Dravidian substrate. These
would include Farsi, Baluchi, Sindhi, Rajasthani, Khuzestani Arabic, [and
maybe] Pashto and Punjabi. Remember to filter out anything from Brahui,
however.
	I also remember seeing a webpage that claims to link Indus Valley
script to Mon-Khmer but I haven't seen any linguists come forth to champion
these claims. If Dravidian doesn't pan out, then you could look at
Mon-Khmer.
	You definitely have your work cut out for you.

Rick Mc Callister
W-1634
Mississippi University for Women
Columbus MS 39701