Front 1

This document is the preface and table of contents for a book titled "Aryans in the Rig Veda" by F.B.J. Kuiper. The preface outlines that the book will investigate aspects of Aryan culture in the Rigvedic period through a study of language, particularly foreign words found in the Rigveda. It acknowledges reliance on previous works in comparative Indo-Aryan and Dravidian linguistics. The table of contents provides an overview of the chapters to come, which will examine linguistic and cultural evidence for foreign influence and traces of foreign linguistic systems in areas like phonology, morphology, and the perception of foreign sounds.

Uploaded by

Arnab

We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.

Available Formats

Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

0% found this document useful (0 votes)

36 views7 pages

Front 1

Uploaded by

Arnab

We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.

Available Formats

Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

You are on page 1/ 7

LEIDEN STUDIES IN INDO-EUROPEAN 1

Series edited by

R.S.P. Beekes
A. Lubotsky
J.S.S. Weitenberg

F.B.J. Kuiper - 9789401200226

Downloaded from Brill.com 02/09/2024 01:17:10AM
via free access
F .B.J. KUIPER

ARYANS
IN THE
RIG VEDA

Amsterdam - Atlanta, GA 1991

F.B.J. Kuiper - 9789401200226

Downloaded from Brill.com 02/09/2024 01:17:10AM
via free access
Transferred to digital printing 2011
ISBN: 978-90-5183-307-2
E-Book ISBN: 978-94-012-0022-6
©Editions Rodopi B.V., Amsterdam -Atlanta, GA 1991
Printed in The Netherlands

F.B.J. Kuiper - 9789401200226

Downloaded from Brill.com 02/09/2024 01:17:10AM
via free access
PREFACE
This small study, originally conceived as a contribution to
the 1989 Vedic Conference at Harvard, is about an aspect of
Aryan culture in the Rigvedic period. The main means to inves-
tigate that aspect is a study of the language, and particularly of
the foreign words in the Rigveda. Common objections are that
we cannot even identify most of those foreign languages, now
died out, or that we have no Dravidian or Munda documents
from that time. For that very reason a different strategy, more
adapted to that situation, is called for.
Foreign words are traditionally the step-children of linguistic
research, as far as it deals with etymologies. Yet, if it is
realized that in many cases an etymology is a cura posterior,
these wallflowers, when treated with some loving care, can
provide a lot of information and insight for anyone who starts
on etymological explorations.
This study draws to a large extent conclusions from Indo-
Aryan material discussed over the past fifty years in publications
that may no longer be easily accessible. Some sparse references
have sometimes been added when a word has previously been
treated at greater length or in a wider context. It must be
stressed that the examples quoted are purely illustrative and that
this study does not claim to be more than a first sketchy
programme for future research.
Two monumental works nowadays prepare the way for
anyone who has to work with New Indo-Aryan and Dravidian
material, viz. Turner's Comparative Dictionary of Indo-Aryan
Languages (with a consistent Pan-Indic approach) and Burrow
and Emeneau's Dravidian Etymological Dictionary. How much I
am indebted to these works will be apparent from every page.
This study was prompted by the steadily deepening gulf
between Indologists and Indo-Europeanists, as a result of devel-
opments in Indian linguistics in the latter half of this century. It
should be realized that Wackernagel's admirable Altindische
Grammatik I (1896) is now almost a century old and that some
parts in it are urgently in need of a thorough revision. It is
hoped that this small study may contribute to bridging the gulf
and that it may lead to the recognition that studies which, on
the threshold of the 21st century, ignore the methods and results
of a Pan-Indic approach and continue to operate with essentially

F.B.J. Kuiper - 9789401200226

Downloaded from Brill.com 02/09/2024 01:17:10AM
via free access
ii

19th century theories inevitably will appear unrealistic and dated.

This booklet is not only intended for the specialist who is
(more or less) at home in Indo-European, Dravidian, Munda and
the Vedic sakhis. Although I could not always avoid discussions
of a more technical character, I have striven to write also for
the half-way initiated reader. The usual abbreviations, therefore,
have in general been avoided and the use made of them is deli-
berately inconsistent.
For the purpose of this study it did not seem necessary to
indicate the gender of the stems in -a and -1. Those in -a are
masculine (or unknown), unless marked as neuter.
I am fully aware of the inconsistencies and technical imper-
fections of this study, which I was, aetatis causa, unable to
remedy. I only hope that readers will not over these deficiencies
lose sight of the basic problems.
My sincere thanks are due to Dr. A. Lubotsky, without
whose help and initiative this study would never have appeared
in this form 1 •

1 In view of the general character of this study I here follow

for Tamil the transcription of the Tamil Lexicon and write
accordingly l for r (but r in Proto-Dravidian reconstructions)
and for Santali the spelling of Bodding's Santai Dictionary
instead of Pinnow's.

F.B.J. Kuiper - 9789401200226

Downloaded from Brill.com 02/09/2024 01:17:10AM
via free access
iii

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 1
II LINGUISTIC AND CULTURAL EVIDENCE
1. LINGUISTIC SUBSTRATUM..................... 9
2. FOREIGN CULTURAL INFLUENCE ................ 14
a) Names of Agricultural Implements, Cultiva-
tion of the Soil, Food, Ornaments, etc. 14
b) Traces of Foreign Elements
in the Field of Re 1 i g ion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
c) Music, Dancing, etc .................... 19
3. SOCIOLOGICAL EVIDENCE ..................... 20
Ill TRACES OF FOREIGN LINGUISTIC SYSTEMS
1. PHONOLOGY I: ACCENT ....................... 22
2. PHONOLOGY II: VOWELS ...................... 22
3. PHONOLOGY Ill: CONSONANTS ................. 24
a) s: 0 .................................. 24
b) sand the 'ruki' Law ................... 25
c) ~ after a . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
d) The Retroflexes f (h), q(h) and Q ....... 27
e) q > r . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
f) 4 : d . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
g) v : b . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
h) Surds and Sonants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
i) Nasalization of (Initial) Consonants ... 36
j) Interchange of Initial k and 0 ......... 38
4. MORPHOLOGY I: PREFIXES .................... 39
5 . MORPHOLOGY I I : I NF I XES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
6. MORPHOLOGY III: SUFFIXES .................. 45
7. MORPHOLOGY IV: GERUNDS .................... 47
8 . SYNTAX: it i . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
IV PERCEPTION AND ADAPTATION
OF FOREIGN PHONEMES AND CLUSTERS
1. VOWELS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
2. Q > r AND Q : d . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
3. SURDS, SONANTS AND ASPIRATES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
4. GEMINATES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
a) General Remarks ........................ 51
b) kk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
c) cc, jj . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
d) tt' dd, q .. .. .. . . . . . . . . . . .. . .. . . .. . . . . 59

F.B.J. Kuiper - 9789401200226

Downloaded from Brill.com 02/09/2024 01:17:10AM
via free access
iv

e) pp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
f) mm • • . . • • • . • • . . . . • . • • . . . • . . . . . • • • • . . • • • . 62
g) l l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
h) The Vedic Evidence ..................... 67
i) Excursus: post-Rigvedic 1)k and ~p ...... 69
5. THE 'INTRUSIVE' r (r) ..................... 70
a) Genera 1 remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
b) r~ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
c) dr for q, etc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
d) rd/rd and rt for 4, ~ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
e) CVrCV~, CVrCVQ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
f) CrV(CV)q, CrV(CV)Q ... .................. 74
6. BQ AND r1:1 AND 'INTRUSIVE' r BEFORE 1:1 ...... 79
a) -aQ-/-rQ- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
b) Intrusive' r . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
I 82
7. DISSIMILATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
V THE FOREIGN ELEMENTS
IN THE RIGVEDIC VOCABULARY .............. 89
VI EPILOGUE AND CONCLUSION ...................... 94
VI I REFERENCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
VIII INDEX OF SANSKRIT WORDS ..................... 106
IX ABBREVIATED TITLES OF SANSKRIT WORKS ......... 115