saMvatsara संवत्सर etymology

[Rajendra Gupta]

Hon'ble Vidvans

I shall be grateful for exact etymology of the word 'saMvatsara संवत्सर'.  I shall greatly appreciate your answers in English or Hindi because my present level of learning Sanskrit is not sufficient to fully understand 'Sanskrit only'  text. 

Kindly also give reference of book(s) in English or Hindi for etymology of Sanskrit words. 

Best regards

Rajendra Gupta   

[CG Krishnamurthi]

Sri. Rajendra Gupta ji

संवत्सरः = संवसन्ति सरन्ति च यत्र ऋतवः  

Where the 6 seasons (ऋतु) reside and progress one after the other is Samvatsara

Regards

Krishnamurthi

[Nityanand Misra]

On Wednesday, 29 March 2017 02:34:08 UTC+8, Rajendra Gupta wrote:

Hon'ble Vidvans

I shall be grateful for exact etymology of the word 'saMvatsara संवत्सर'.  I shall greatly appreciate your answers in English or Hindi because my present level of learning Sanskrit is not sufficient to fully understand 'Sanskrit only'  text. 

‘वत्सर’ और ‘संवत्सर’ दोनों शब्द ‘वस्’ धातु और ‘सरन्’ उणदि प्रत्यय से निष्पन्न हैं। दोनों में केवल स्वर का भेद है। ‘वस्’ धातु (वसँ निवासे) का अर्थ है ‘रहना’। ‘सरन्’ प्रत्यय यहाँ अधिकरण अर्थ को कहता है।

सूत्र हैं—

वसेश्च (उ.सू ३.७१) ⇒ वस् + सरन्

संपूर्वाच्चित् (उ.सू ३.७२) ⇒ सम् + वस् + सरन्

‘सरन्’ प्रत्यय के अन्त्य नकार का लोप होता है।

वस् + सर

सम् + वस् + सर

क्योंकि ‘वस्’ इस अङ्ग के अन्त में सकार है और ‘सर’ प्रत्यय आर्धधातुक है तथा इसके आदि में भी सकार है, “सः स्यार्धधातुके” (पा.सू. ७.४.४९) इस सूत्र से ‘वस्’ के सकार को तकार आदेश होता है।

वत् + सर

सम् + वत् + सर

“मोऽनुस्वारः” (पा.सू. ८.३.२३) से मकार को अनुस्वार आदेश होने पर

वत् + सर = वत्सर

सं + वत् + सर = संवत्सर

 

यह थी व्युत्पत्ति। ‘वत्सर’ और ‘संवत्सर’ दोनों का यौगिक अर्थ है “रहने का आधार”। क्योंकि दोनों शब्द “वर्ष” के अर्थ में रूढि हैं, अतः इन्हे द्वादश मासों अथवा छः ऋतुओं के रहने का आधार समझना चाहिये।

 

Kindly also give reference of book(s) in English or Hindi for etymology of Sanskrit words. 

आप्टे संस्कृत-हिन्दी कोश में अधिकांश शब्दों के व्युत्पत्ति सहित अर्थ दिये गए हैं।

[Nagaraj Paturi]

In the book 

The Brihadaranyaka Upanisad (vols.2 Set)

By B.D. Basu; S. C. Vasu

here

 a different etymology is quoted while dealing with Brihadaranyaka mantra 1.2.4

सम् =wholly or thoroughly  वत्स = calves and रमि = to please, to feed

Sharing snapshots  

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Nagaraj Paturi

 

Hyderabad, Telangana, INDIA.

 

Former Senior Professor of Cultural Studies

 

FLAME School of Communication and FLAME School of  Liberal Education,

 

(Pune, Maharashtra, INDIA )

 

 

 

[Nagaraj Paturi]

Reflections on Resemblance, Ritual, and Religion

By Brian K. Smith

here

mentions in a footnote , a S'B mantra 11.1.6.12 which gives an etymology from 'sarva'

[Nagaraj Paturi]

"Prajapati and the Year " by J. Gonda is available for download at

 http://www.dwc.knaw.nl/DL/publications/PU00010244.pdf

[Nagaraj Paturi]

Though J Gonda does not derive it that way, his detailed and analysis of the idea of samvatsara in the Vedic texts helped me to confirm what was my hunch earlier: sar = to flow /to progress refers to the flow of  time (of year) itself and vas = to stay refers to its steadiness (7th chapter of Gonda's book.) saratyapivasateeti / vasan sarateeti . That matches with the cyclic nature that Gonda shows in the first chapter as 'known' to the Vedic texts. 

It is this cyclic nature of time that is such a crucial characteristic of Indian view of time contrasting with linear view of time found elsewhere. Mircea Eliade focuses on this characteristic of Indian worldview and shows that linear time is imbibed by modernity and its constituent philosophies such as Marxism from semitic religions. 

The centrality of the cyclic nature (of year and of time) embedded (in my view) in the etymology of the word, probably explains the significance, as substantiated by Gonda's book, accorded to the concept of samvtsara in the Vedic texts.       

[Nagaraj Paturi]

missing word:

his detailed and meticulous analysis

not 

his detailed and analysis

[Dipak Bhattacharya]

30.3.17

Etymologically vatsara should mean (the period) which brings the calf into being. But Burrow The Sanskrit Language,1955: 149 relates it to the verb √sar. I am not convinced of the correctness of Burrow’s view.

DB

[Nagaraj Paturi]

The book "Cosmos and History, Myth of the Eternal Return" by Prof. Mircea Eliade is here and at

https://archive.org/download/CosmosAndHistorytheMythOfEternalReturn/EliadeMircea-CosmosAndHistorytheMythOfEternalReturn.pdf

[Jsr Prasad]

What could be the impression of Sayana Madhava like Veda-bhaashyakaaras, in this context?

Sent from my Motorola phone

[Nagaraj Paturi]

‘संवसन्ति ऋतवः अस्मिन् इति संवत्सरः' is by Ksheeraswami 

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[Nityanand Misra]

On Thursday, 30 March 2017 14:01:15 UTC+8, Jsr Prasad wrote:

What could be the impression of Sayana Madhava like Veda-bhaashyakaaras, in this context?

Sent from my Motorola phone

Before anybody derives saṃvatsara from vatsa, the derivation of vatsa itself has to be settled. Any etymology of saṃvatsara involving vatsa but not deriving vatsa independently of Unadi Sutra-s is conceptually flawed, because it amounts to both accepting and rejecting Unadi Sutra-s at the same time. 

The word vatsa itself is derived from the Unadi Sutra वृतॄवदिहनिकमिकषिभ्यः सः (US 3.62). So if one takes Unadi Sutra 3.62 as authority, why not take US 3.72 in the same chapter which derives saṃvatsara also as authority? One cannot accept Unadi Sutra derivation for vatsa and at the same time reject the Unadi Sutra derivation for saṃvatsara.

As for Gonda, does he give a complete derivation? Or is it just conjecture? If the latter, why should Gonda's view carry any weight at all? We do not have any reason to believe Gonda had better insight than the author of Unadi Sutra-s, or do we? 

[Nagaraj Paturi]

 Etymology in my post is not from Gonda. 

Gonda's book is useful for studying the use of the word samvatsara in the Vedic texts. 

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[Nityanand Misra]

On Thursday, 30 March 2017 14:42:12 UTC+8, Nagaraj Paturi wrote:

 Etymology in my post is not from Gonda. 

Gonda's book is useful for studying the use of the word samvatsara in the Vedic texts. 

Thanks for confirming. So does he offer no etymology at all? 

Looking at the conjectures, a parallel comes to my mind: the etymology of Kashmir. Babur made the wild guess that the name Kashmir derived from a race of men called Kas, Wilson (yes, the legendary H H Wilson) made a not-so wild guess (still a guess) that it from Kashyapa-mira (which he said became Kashuf-mir and then Kashmir), and the cricketer-traveller Vigne derived it from Kashyapa-pura (even saying that m and p are commutable) and more ridiculously, from the biblical figure Cush. None of these authors could give a complete or convincing derivation, while the Unadi Sutra 4.32 कशेर्मुट् च gives a complete derivation. [I am writing an article on this as of now].

If we consider a Sanskrit word to be ‘avyutpanna’, there is no point looking for an etymology and the question has no answer. If we consider it to be ‘vyutpanna’, any etymology has to be complete and in accordance with Sanskrit etymological and grammatical sources like Ashtadhyayi and Unadi Sutra-s. 

 

[Nityanand Misra]

On Thursday, 30 March 2017 14:34:12 UTC+8, Nagaraj Paturi wrote:

‘संवसन्ति ऋतवः अस्मिन् इति संवत्सरः' is by Ksheeraswami 

This is as per the Unadi Sutra.  

[Nagaraj Paturi]

Vatsa etymology is the conviction of Prof. Dipak Bhattacharya. 

The Brihadaranyaka Upanisad (vols.2 Set)

By B.D. Basu; S. C. Vasu

here

quotes the same while dealing with Brihadaranyaka mantra 1.2.4

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[Nagaraj Paturi]

Gonda does not give his etymology. But as one of the references, he does mention  S'B mantra 11.1.6.12 which gives an etymology from 'sarva'

[Dipak Bhattacharya]

30/3/17

Dear Colleagues,

I apologise for the following intrusion. My comments may be taken for what they are worth.

T. Burrow The Sanskrit Language (1955):161; 118 derives vatsa ‘calf’ from the stem ut/vat followed by the suffix sa. According to him (118) vat is from <PIE *wet that meant ‘year’.  His ground for holding it to be an inherited PIE word is the existence of its Greek cognate fétos ‘year’.  A connection of vatsa to year is perceptible. Burrow’s view is not implausible, according to me.  But one can never be absolutely certain.

Best wishes

DB

On Thu, Mar 30, 2017 at 10:10 AM, Nagaraj Paturi <nagara...@gmail.com> wrote:

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"Prajapati and the Year " by J. Gonda is available for download at

 http://www.dwc.knaw.nl/DL/publications/PU00010244.pdf

[Nagaraj Paturi]

There are usages such as parivatsara and 'vatsara' as an independent word also. 

So interpretations such as deriving it from sarva etc. can be taken as ideas expressed for some other good purpose but not tenable linguistically /grammatically. 

Vatsa -year connection is not as compelling as vatsara -seasonal cycle connection. 

Still, vas + sar by themselves do not have components meaning seasons or seasonal cycles. 

Thus 

‘संवसन्ति ऋतवः अस्मिन् इति संवत्सरः'

should be the 'best so far' but not the most convincing. 

[S. L. Abhyankar]

प्रायः संवत्सरः इति सामासिकं नाम | संवत्-इति पूर्वपदम् | सरः इति उत्तरपदम् | 

• आपटे-महाभागानां शब्दकोशे संवत् ind. 1 A year. -2 Especially a year of the Vikramāditya era (commencing 56 years before the Christian era).
• यतः संवत् ind. अव्ययम्, संवत् = वर्षमात्रम् 
• सरः इति सृ-धातुतः उपपदम् (यथा खगः इत्यत्र गः इति उपपदं गम्-धातुतः) |
• संवत् (=वर्षमात्रम्) सरति इति संवत्सरः |

[an.nar...@yahoo.co.in]

namo vidvadbhya:

In taittiriya aranyaka, Bhatta Bhashkara bhashya क्वायं संवत्सरो मिथ: (tai.aa.1-26) - भा. सङ्गम्य वसन्त्यस्मिन् कालविशेषा इति संवत्सर:

Rgds-Narasimhan