Simon, Walter

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Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studieshttp://journals.cambridge.org/BSOAdditional services for Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies:Email alerts: Click hereSubscriptions: Click hereCommercial reprints: Click hereTerms of use : Click hereSome Tibetan Etymologies of Semantic InterestWalter SimonBulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies / Volume 43 / Issue 01 / February 1980, pp 132 ­ 136DOI: 10.1017/S0041977X00110596, Published online: 24 December 2009Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0041977X00110596How to cite this article:Walter Simon (1980). Some Tibetan Etymologies of Semantic Interest. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 43, pp 132­136 doi:10.1017/S0041977X00110596Request Permissions : Click hereDownloaded from http://journals.cambridge.org/BSO, IP address: 212.219.238.14 on 16 Oct 2012NOTES AND COMMUNICATIONSSOME TIBETAN ETYMOLOGIES OF SEMANTIC INTERESTThe Tibetan etymologies that are to be adduced below have been dividedinto four groups, according to the nature of the particular semantic or phono-logical considerations that can be invoked in support of them. They all containfeatures of semantic interest which will readily be recognized as having parallelselsewhere, notably in the Indian and European languages.In group I, the probability that two words are connected is strengthenedby the observation that their antonyms are to be derived in similar fashionfrom a common root.Group II is directly concerned with parallels in other languages. Here anumber of etymological connexions derive their main support from theobservation that identical categories of derivative may be adduced from otherunrelated languages.The next group, III, comprises examples where iotization and palatalizationare postulated, and group IV is characterized by vowel alternation, which hasbeen studied in a previous article.1 Support is drawn from the fact that thewords concerned exemplify regular patterns of alternation. In the case ofgroup IV, the vowel alternation is often combined with other features, such asiotization and palatalization (as exemplified in group III), prefixation andaffixation, alternation of voiced and voiceless initials, or alternation of finalvowels with consonantal finals. These additional changes have, however, beenignored in the presentation below.I. OppositesThis first group is dealing with support to be gained from opposites. In theexamples listed below, particles such as pa, ba, ma, po, mo have not beenincluded.1. mt'o ' to be high ' ^ stod ' (to raise =) to praise '. This should be comparedwith ma ' below ' ~ smad (or smod) ' to blame '. The second example is lessobvious and brings in Chinese as well:2. mt'oh ' to see' ~ Chin, ting S§ (archaic t'ieng, GSR,2 835 d') ' to hear'.From the phonological point of view, cf. sdoh ' stalk of a plant' ~ Chin.ting ;ji? (archaic d'ieng). The ' inability to see ' is in Tibetan Ion or Idon ' blind ',and support for equation 2 may be gained from the fact that in Chinese wefind ' inability to hear ' expressed by long ' deaf'.II. Analogies in other languagesA. Latin3. rgal ' to step or pass over, to ford, cross ' ~ rgyal ' to be victorious ' (andbrgyal' to faint'), cf. Latin swperare ' id.' (and German Mnuber sein).4. hhran ' to follow ' ~ hbrin ' middle, middling, moderate ', cf. Latin secundus' second ' from sequi ' to follow '.5. rdza ' clay ' ~ rdzi' to press, knead ', rdzu ' to give a deceptive appearance '.1 See Asia Major, xix, 1974, 86-99.2 GSR B. Karlgren, Grammata Serica Recensa, Stockholm, 1957. Museum of Far EasternAntiquities. (Bulletin No. 29.)NOTES AND COMMUNICATIONS 133The Latin parallel is : jingo ' to knead, mould, shape ' and ' to devise, contrive,invent, feign ',figulus ' potter ',fictilis ' made of clay '.6. sra ' hard ' ~ sran ' to endure, suffer '. Cf. durus ' hard', wherefrom1 English ' to endure, suffer '.B. GreekN7. rna ' ear ' ~ mo, rnon ' sharp '. Cf. Greek akouo and akrodomai ' I hear ' :Schwyzer has ah-ous ' sharp ear ',3 and Kretschmer compares akrodomai withdkros ' sharp '.C. German8. srel ' to bring up, rear, nurse, train ' ~ srol ' usage, custom, habit'. Wefind in German pflegen ' to nurse ' and the noun Gepflogenheit' habit, custom '.(See also no. 3 above: brgyal ~ hinuber sein.)D. French9. rko (dial, rlcod) ' to dig, dig out' ~ rked ' (dug out part of the body =)waist'. We have a parallel in French la taille ' waist' and tailler ' to cut,cut out'.E. Chinese10. do '(two equivalents =) two, a pair, couple' ~ don ' (equivalent =)sense, meaning, signification', dod ' equivalent'. But for the latter twoobviously related words, which fit in well with a number of other Tibetanwords 4 showing alternation of final vowel with dental nasal or plosive, onemight be tempted to compare Latin duo, or rather related Indian words likeSkt. dva-, old dual dvd, and try to make out a case for Tibetan borrowing ofthe numeral ' two ' from neighbouring India, much as we find in Romanianthe numeral ' one hundred' being borrowed from neighbouring Russian sto.But apart from don and dod, we find a counterpart for do in Chinese, viz. duxU, according to Karlgren (GSR, 511) archaic (tweb >) twdd ' to correspond to,a counterpart', with the meaning ' pair, couple' still common in modernChinese. (Incidentally the relation with Tibetan do, dod shows that the surmiseof an earlier *twdb from which timd would have developed by dissimilation, asproposed by Karlgren, is unlikely.)F. Sanskrit11. rgyu ' to go, move, wander ' ~ rgyun ' flow, current, stream ', rgyun-du' continually ', rgyud ' string, cord, chain of mountain, thread of tradition '.We observe the alternation between final vowel and words ending in n and das just seen in the case of do, don, and dod. From the semantic point of view,the idea of a continuous movement or, in the case of rgyud, that of an extendedline is evident. For the meaning of an extended line, Skt. tantu ' thread, string,line, warp ', belonging with tan- ' to extend, spread, stretch ', was the obviousSanskrit translation, and tantra ' loom, warp, string of a lute' another3 See W. B. Henning memorial volume, ed. I. Gershevitch and M. Boyce, London, 1970,406-8.4 See 'Alternation of final vowel with final dental nasal or plosive in Tibetan', BSOAS,XL, 1, 1977, 52, no. 23.1 3 4 NOTES AND COMMUNICATIONSpossibility; when the Tibetans proceeded to translate Tantric works, it wastherefore only natural that they assigned to rgyud this latter meaning oftantra. It is interesting to note that Jaschke in the German version of hisdictionary attempted to explain the meaning tantra of rgyud, as ' perhapsproperly a series of points ' (p. 113b : ' Abhandlung—wohl eigentlich als eineReihe abgehandelter Puncte '), but left out this explanation in his Englishversion.12. rail 'own, self' <~rahs 'entire, complete, unimpaired'. The meaning' own' would not be found under ran in Jaschke, nor, for that matter, inSarat Chandra Das who in so many cases depends on him; and rahs-pa inthe meaning ' entire, complete, unimpaired ' does not occur either in the twodictionaries, though Das has preserved the gloss raiis-po = ts'ah-ma ' all,whole, entire', without, however, revealing its source. It is remarkable thatrans-pa in the meaning of ' unimpaired' occurs in the lost chapter of themDzans-blun which was published by G. Baruch in the Journal Asiatique(CCLVIII, 1955), and one may well speculate whether the temporary loss ofthis chapter may be blamed for the word being missed out by Jaschke who inhis dictionary gives so many examples from this text. In any case it is themeaning ' complete, entire, unimpaired ' which establishes the semantic linkbetween the meaning of ' own ' and ' complete '. As Sanskrit kevala confirms,among the meanings of ' own' is that of being ' exclusively one's own, notcommon to others or shared by others ', kevala being denned by Monier-Williams in his Sanskrit-English Dictionary (p. 309), as ' exclusively one's own(not common to others), alone, merely, sole ' and also ' entire, whole, all'.It may be added that there are similar examples in other Indo-Europeanlanguages, including English whole, German heil, Icelandic helga, so that itmay be justifiable to add the meaning of ' own ' to Tibetan rah.5 Furthermembers of the word family are gran ' number (= the total)', bgran-ba ' tocount', hgrah-ba ' to satiate ', hgrans-pa ' satiated, replete, full'.G. English13. gsob (< *gtsob) ' to fill out, repay' ~ ts'ab 'representative, substitute',cf. English ' to fill in ' ~ ' stop-gap '.14. mdzod ' (holder =) store-house ' ~hdzed ' to hold out or forth ', and mjed' enduring '. Cf. English ' to hold, hold out' and ' to endure ', which latterword was mentioned also in relation to sra ' hard ' and sran ' to suffer ' (seeno. 6 above).III. lotization and palatalization 615. gos ' garment, dress ', gon ' to put on (clothes, etc.)' ~ gyon ' id.', skyon' to put astride ', gson ' id.', ion ' to mount', bzon ' riding beast, carriage '.16. rkan ' (stretcher =) leg, foot' — rkyah ' to stretch, extend, stretch forth ',rgya ' extent, size, width ', rgyah ' distance '.17. sman 'medicinal herb, drug, medicine ' ~smyon ' (drugged =) insane,frantic, mad ', smyo ' to be insane, mad '.5 See 'Cognates of Tibetan rahs-pa "entire, complete" with guttural stem initial', inBulletin of the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, xxxix,1969, 287-9.6 See BSOAS. xxxvm, 3. 1975, 611-14. For no. 15, of. I A 6 and note 7 ; for no. 16, cf. I A 2 ;for no. 17, cf. I B 3.llNOTES AND COMMUNICATIONS 1 3 5IV. Vowel alternation'A. a ~ e or e ~ a18. (I B 2) nyal' to sleep ' ~ bsnyel' to forget'.19. (I A 4) gre ' throat' ~ hgrags ' to utter a sound '.20. (I B 1) Ijags ' tongue ' (elegant word) ~ Ice ' id.' (the elegant and ordinaryword for ' tongue ', belonging to Mag ' to lick ', lit. ' the licker ').21. (I C 6) sna ' nose ' ~ sne ' extremity '.22. (ID 5) sbed ' to hide ' ~ sba ' privy parts '.B. a ~ i or i ~ a(II B 2 hbrah ~ hbrin : see no. 4 above.)(II A 7 rdza ~ rdzi : see no. 5 above.)23. hbyin ' to sink ' ~ byaii ' north '. This etymology was recently 8 proposedby Michael Hahn. It goes together with the words for the other three cardinalpoints, viz. sar ' east' (lit. ' rise '), nub ' west' (its verbal meaning being ' tosink gradually '), and Iho ' south ' which belongs with lha ' (the one on top = )god ', lhag ' more, beyond ', lhag-pa ' surpassing ' and lhag-ma ' remains,scraps '. It remains to be seen if the details of the sinking period of the suncan be discovered in Tibetan folklore, so that we learn more about the sinkingof the sun inside the earth.C. ( i ~ o o r o ~ a(III C 10 ma ~ mo, rnon : see no. 7 above.)(Ill D 7 sman <~ smyo, smyon : see no. 17 above.)24. (Ill A 8) gar ' dance ' ~ gor ' round, circular ', cf. French une ronde.25. (Ill A 12) hgro, bgrod ' to walk ', hgrod ' gait', hgron ' traveller, guest,foreigner ' ~ b(s)grad ' to open wide (with as object rkah " leg "), to part thelegs wide, to straddle '.26. (Ill C 13) mts'an ' sign, mark, token ' <~ mts'on ' (marker, pointer = ) fore-finger, pointed instrument, weapon'. Cf. Chin, ciin ~*f (archaic ts'itmi, GSR,43) ' thumb '.27. (Ill E 3) rlabs ' (swell = ) flood ' ~ rlom ' have a swelled head = ) to beproud'.28. (Ill B 8) sam (in sam-du ' below ') ~ hjoms ' (to lay low = ) to conquer,subdue '.D. e ~ i or »' ~ e29. (V A 4) rtse ' point, top, peak, summit', rtseg ' (to top = ) to lay one thingon or over another ' ~ rtsi ' (to add one thing to another = ) to count', rtsig' (to put one piece of earth or one stone or brick on top of another = ) to build ',and (with voiced initial aspirate, belonging with rtsi ' to count'), rdzi ' (thecounter of sheep = ) the shepherd '.E. e ~ o oi o ~ e(VIA 1 rko(d) ̂  rke : see no. 9 above.)(VI C 12 srel ~ srol: see no. 8 above.)(VI C 8 rndzod ~ hdzed : see no. 14 above.)7 Hee the article quoted in note 1. Detailed references to nos. 18-34 have been given inbrackets after each number.8 Zentralasiatische Studien, vn, 1973, 437.1 3 6 NOTES AND COMMUNICATIONS30. (VI C 2) hded ' to walk behind, pursue, run after ' ~hdod ' to desire '.31. (VI D 4) hbreg ' t o cut off' ~hbrog 'solitude, wilderness, uncultivatedland ', hp'rog ' to rob, take away, deprive '.32. (VI C 6) ts'e ' time ' ~ ts'o ' to live, life ', gson ( < *gtson) ' to live ', so( < *stso) in so-si ' life and death ' (Siddhasdra). For gson, cf. Chin, cun, archaicdz'wm ^ ' to exist, remain, survive ' (GSR, 432a).33. (VI E 1) reh ( < *nreh) ' to be stiff, hard, rigid ', hgren ' to stand', sgren' to raise, erect' ~ro < *nro ' (a stiff = ) dead body ', hgron ' to die, be killed '.For ren, cf. Chin, ning ^ | , archaic ngisng ' to freeze, coagulate' (GSR, 956h).34. (VI C 11) sro (<*snro) ' t o be warm' ~ sred (<*snred) ' t o desire'.For sro, cf. Chin, re j|ft, archaic mat (for which I would prefer sniat), GSR. 330j.WALTER SIMONCORRIGENDUMOwing to inadvertence on the part of the author in cutting the photographreproduced facing page 463, BSOAS XLII, 3, 1979, a small section of therelevant text was omitted. It is hoped to publish the complete version, togetherwith a slightly revised translation, at an early date.

Notes and Communications: Some Tibetan Etymologies of Semantic Interest

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Notes and Communications: Some Tibetan Etymologies of Semantic Interest

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