Earliest use Of mIna in Sanskrt.

[Guest guest]

I had always assumed that the word 'mIn' is of a dravidian origin as

evidenced by the works of I.Mahadevan and Parpola and others on the

homophonic usage of this word.The word derivation of the word mIna in

sanskrt from the root mI is very doubtful.The earliest references

that I could come across were in the Mahabharata and Brhatsamhita.

 

Recently someone quoted a work on Popular Hindu Astronomy(Mukherji?)

saying that Rg Veda seems to mention mEsha and its position relative

to mIna rAshi.Also there seems to be a reference to a fish in the

Satapatha Brahmana.

 

Could someone please clarify whether:

this word actually occurs in the text or

is it merely yet another interpretation issue or

What is the word for fish - with or without the rashi connection

that is used in the Vedas , Brahmanas etc.

 

Thanks

 

Vidya

[Guest guest]

I was also wondering about this word `Min' recently –

together with

words, `Phal' (fruit), Mukh (face) etc, which are supposed to

be

Dravidian in origin, in the same context.

 

In Telugu, all these three words are classified

as `Sanskrit/Prakrit' in origin as opposed to `Desi'

(indigenous).

There are equivalent words in Desi. May be these were used only in

some Dravidian languages (e.g. Tamil), went into Sanskrit and then

entered Telugu.

 

How was it determined that they were Dravidian? Are they absent in

RgVeda and Avesta?

 

Thanks.

 

 

INDOLOGY, "Vidya Jayaraman"

<vidyajayaram> wrote:

> I had always assumed that the word 'mIn' is of a dravidian origin

as

> evidenced by the works of I.Mahadevan and Parpola and others on

the

> homophonic usage of this word.The word derivation of the word mIna

in

> sanskrt from the root mI is very doubtful.The earliest references

> that I could come across were in the Mahabharata and Brhatsamhita.

>

>