142

BRIEF COMMUNICATIONS

Nun aber, nach Baileys Darlegungen, ordnet sich uns das Material in einer modernen etymologischen Erfahrungen gem/isseren Weise: wir k6nnen als arisch-baltische Isoglosse 7 ein Verbum lit. k6pti lett. kapt "steigen, klettern", mittelparth, kf-usw. "'fallen", altindisch (vorliterarisch) *kap-, mit der prim~iren Bedeutung (wie im Baltischen) "steigen, klettern", annehmen; innersprachlich, und sicher ohne alten Zusammenhang, bildete dazu das Lettische Substantiva fiJr "Raupe" (kape, kdpurs, usw.), wie das vorvedische Indisch aus *kap- "klettern" ein Nomen agentis kap-and- "Kletternde, Raupe ''s ableitete - das, archaischem Sprachgut zugeh6rig, wohl nicht tiber den .Rgveda hinaus lebendig 9 blieb. Wiirzburg Manfred Mayrhofer

TWO SOGDIAN ETYMOLOGIES

(1) The word for "astrologer" occurs in Buddh. Sogdian as snptsr and in Man. Sogdian as smbt_sr (cf. W. B. Henning, Sogdica, p. 21, 22). Benveniste in his edition of the Vessantara J~taka apparently divides the word into two parts, snpt and sr, and suggests to compare the first part of the word with Persian sambat, samb~t "vision, fant6me" (p. 90.22). It may, however, be suggested that it would be better to connect this word with Skt. s~.mvatsara "astrologer" and regard it as a loan in Sogdian. Skt. sa.mvatsara is attested since the epics. The Sogdian form points to a pronunciation sambatsar with the shortening of the v.rddhi vowel and the change of .mr to mb. The fact that both these types of changes are found in the Buddhist Sanskrit and further that the cluster ts is preserved in this language would suggest that the speakers of Sogdian took sambatsar as a loan from Buddhist Sanskrit. Pokorny, Vgl. Wilrterb.,I, S. 346, mit Lit.; mein etym. Wb., I, 154, beschr'~akt sich fiir das lett. Wort auf die Nennung yon Walde-Pokorny. 7 Ob gr. :~&t~wO"Raupe" (seit Hippokrates) hierhergeht~rt (*kap-na?) m6chte ich offenlassen. Doch kann dieses Wort gut zu der im Griechischen ja lebendigen Wz. *kamp- "kriimmen" geh6ren. - [Korr.-Note. An einen "indo-mediterranen" Zusammenhang yon kapand und gr. denkt Laura Lombardo, Rendiconti d. Instituto Lombardo di Scienze e Lettere, 91 (1957) S. 240. Das indische Wort gibt sic iibrigens unrichtig als kapatt~(mit -it-) wieder, was sic auch fiber den Zusammenhang nfit ai. krpa~ zu zuversichtlichdenken l~isst.] 8 Regelrechte Bildung nach Wackernagel-Debrunner Altindische Grammatik, II, 2 (1954), S. 184 f., w81d. ' Hindi kaml~ "Raupe" bleibt weiterhin Problem; s. mein etym. Wb., a.a.O.

BRIEF COMMUNICATIONS

143

For the shortening of the vrddhi vowel 1 we may compare abhinadita for -nddita "caused to sound", anantar[ya for anantariya "crime bearing immediate fruition, deadly sin", karaka for karaka "doer, maker", etc. (F. Edgerton, Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit, Grammar, 3.31). For the change of .my to mb we may note that Edgerton in his Dictionary of BHS notes both forms sam.vara and sambara for sa.mvara "restraint, control". We may also note the following instances of this kind of change from the other north-western Indian and Central Asian material. Thus the shortening of the vrddhi vowel is seen in Khotanese in valm?ki for valm[ki (Ernst and Manu Leumann, AKM, XX, p. 497; also of. H. W. Bailey, BSOAS, 10.917 ft., where he gives such instances as nivaysva Ova < -ika) < naivasika etc.). For the second, we find such cases as sa~batgara (also sa.mvatgara) in the North-western Indian Kharo.s.thi inscriptions (of. Sten Konow, Kharosht.h~Inscriptions, CII, Vol. II, part I, pp. cv and 158, 165 and 62). Similarly we get svayambar as a loan from Skt. svaya.mvara in Uigur (cf. F. W. K. Miiller, Uigurica, II, APAW 1910, p. 21 lines 19 and 7) and svayampdr in Tokharian (ef. E. Sieg and W. Siegling, Tocharische Grammatik, p. 517). (2) In Buddhist Sogdian we get 'pk~- (apkag-) "side" (Vessantara J~taka 8). At one time it was thought that the word was a borrowing from Skt. pak.sa-. But this view is now given up since Benveniste (his edition of the Vess. Jilt. p. 90) made the good suggestion toderive it from *upa-ka~a, av. kaYa-. However, an alternative suggestion may be made to derive the Sogdian form from *apkaga- going back to Old Ir. *api-kaga-, which would correspond to Skt. api-kak.s& "region of the arm-pits" (Rv. 4.40.4, 10.134.7). Deccan College, Poona M. A. Mehendale

x I am greatly indebted to Prof. H. W. Baileyfor most of the referencesin this note.