Etymology of some Konkani words

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Please respond directly to Agnelo Mascarenhas at 
agnelomas-/E1597aS9LQAvxtiuMwx3w@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx with suggestions and
corrections.  George

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A brief look at the origins of some Konkani words. I don't believe that this 
writeup is error
free, but I'm in a hurry to get it out before the year 2002 ends! please report 
any errors to 
agnelomas-/E1597aS9LQAvxtiuMwx3w@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Conventions:
 a <= b;   a follows from b, a one way relationship strictly.
 a == b;   the two terms are equivalent, a two way relation.
 a, u: short vowels
 A, U: long vowels
 e, o, ai, au: dipthongs i.e. compound vowels hence always long
 R:    retroflex vowel r

spellings are in conventional english transliterations. 

Skt. Sanskrit, Per. Persian, Aves. Avestan, Pkt. Prakrit, Mar. Marathi, Hin. 
Hindi, Guj. Gujrati,
Kon. Konkani, Ka. Kannada, Dra. Dravidian, Port. Portuguese.



family: pai, mai, poot, dhu, burgo, bhau, bhoin, vonni, chedo.

pai, mai, poot, dhu are from Skt. PitR, matR, putra, duhitR. 

The Mar. equivalent for burgo is porga. That makes it clear that putra is one 
root. The second
root is not very clear, it could be jana (people) or more likely ja(born) or 
something else
altogether. So tentatively, I assign burgo <= porga <= putra + ja  == born 
child. such forms with
repeated meanings are a way of marking emphasis.

bhav, bhoin are from Skt. BhratR, bhAgini. The later word incidentally means 
`lucky'. 

A vhonni is a sister-in-law, Mar. vahini, vhonni is traceable to bahini i.e. 
Skt. bhagini. A
vhonni is sort of - a sister. 

The word for a boy ( or girl ) has many forms in Konkani - chedo, cheddo, 
cherdo, chello. This
word is derived from Skt. char == to walk. A chela or chera is a disciple of a 
guru, A guru
conducts his class while wandering from camp to camp. The Kon. chor == thief is 
from the same
root, a chor is one who walks away with your material.

religion: deunsar.

This was a tough one to crack. It is actually of persian origin, Per. dev-sar. 
It means "like a
devil". The root dev is an IndoEuropean root meaning god or light. The Iranians 
under Zaraustra
made the asuras their gods, led by Avest. Ahura Mazda (Skt. Surya). The devas 
were turned into
evil spirits led by Angra Mainyu (Skt. Indra). Later when the Persians 
converted to Islam, they
still retained the word dev for devil. 

matrimony: kaazaar, lagin, vhardik, nauro, aankvaar, dedho, soiro

I guess kaazaar <= kara + graha; kara is the verb - to do. graha is home. 
karagraha means to take
home. 

lagin simply means to stick or adhere. As any annoyed mother says to her 
insecure child ? mojya
pati lagu naka. Don't stick to me! 

Vhardik is very clearly from Skt. varadakshina, the marriage ceremony of 
gifting of a daughter to
the groom. Skt. vara means to select (a groom). 

A nauro is a groom, this comes from Skt. nivara == protector. In the Konkani 
version of the `Our
Father', the last line is "ponn vaittantlim amkam nivar", which is "but deliver 
us from evil". the

Sanskrit meaning of nivara is protect, and that is the source for nauro. 
Today's Konkani uses
nivad, to mean select. 

Aankvaar is unmarried, the vaar is the same groom or marriage again. I think 
the initial part
comes from Skt. kanya == virgin. 

A dhedo is a bridesman, it derives from the root da - to give, by reduplication 
it forms dadha.
Kon. dadhata == send, again from the same reduplicated root. 

A father-in-law is a sasro, from Skt. shvashura. This is again the source for 
the Kon. soiro == a
relative. the Skt. sense being specifically in-law.


home: ghor, daarvanto, zonel, banshirem, bonder, van, raggado

ghor is from Skt. graha, a dwelling. 

Skt. vant is divide, partition, share etc. so a daarvanto is the doorstep, 
dividing interior from
the exterior. Kon. daar is from Skt. dvara == door. Skt. vant is also the 
source for Kon. vanto ==
a share, part, fraction. Also Kon. vant == to grind. 

Kon. zonel is a borrowed Port. Janela. 

Both Kon. banshirem and bonder are rags, banshirem being a kitchen rag. They 
derive from Skt.
bhanda == vessel and Skt. chira == strip. The latter root also giving Kon. 
cheer == to cut, suri
== a knife, cheed,tidok = annoy/irritate, possibly Kon. khodi == make fun of. 
So cheer is a very
biting, cutting, sarcastic root. 

No home is complete without a Kon. vaan and it's associated Kon. raggado. Kon. 
van == granite
mortar of gigantic size, about 2ft dia. It is derivable from Skt. vahana == 
chariot. Probably due
to it's resemblance to the solid wheel of the temple chariot. We also get Kon. 
vahano == slippers
from the same root. The Kon. raggado == pestle paired with the vaan, derives 
from Skt. raghu-dru
which means running like a race horse. raghu or laghu meaning swift. The  Skt. 
root dru gives us
Kon. dhavta == running. 


Animals: bhoil, paado, bokaro, bokkulo

Kon. bhoil == bull derives from Skt. bali == strong. A bull is not only strong, 
it can  also be
destructive. Kon. paaDo == bull is from Skt. pradah = destroy. Kon. PaaD 
incidentally means
destruction. Kon. reDo == bull is also from pradah. Bombay street's wars are 
called raDa. And
that's no BS!

The Skt. bokkara is a ( an onomatopoeic i.e. mimicking ) cry of an animal. From 
Skt. bokkara we
have Kon. bokaro == goat. So is Kon. bokkulo == tomcat. The bark of a dog is 
Kon. bhonk, again
from the same source. 


Fish: sangter, sungata, bangado, mori, nistem

Skt. Sringa == horn. Catfish have whisker like feelers, hence Kon. sangter == 
horned. Kon. sungata
== prawns also comes from the same root. Oops horn!

Kon. bangado == mackeral appears a bit golden, I believe it gets it's name from 
Dra./Kan. Bangaru
== gold. The Skt. suvarna == beautiful color, gives the Kon. sone == gold. 

The Kon. mori == shark is from the Skt. makara, which is a mythical being often 
confused with
crocodiles, sharks, dolphins etc. Hin. maggar == crocodile.

The Kon. nistem is from Skt. nidusha.  


food items: feni, sanna, sangho, narl, kodi, sheeth

cashew was introduced by the portuguese in the 16th century. because the leaf 
of the cashew
resembles the hood of a cobra, Skt. phani == snake's hood got transferred to 
the equally menacing
venom of the fermented cashew apple. feni huh?

Kon. sanna is a steamed rice cake, one part is Skt. anna == boiled rice. the 
prefix is probably
Skt. sadharana == common or general. In some dialects of konkani, cochin in 
particular it is
pronounced as sadhanna. So that should clear up things.

Kon. sangho == pods, Kon. shengo == groundnuts, Kon. vosandhe == string beans, 
Kon. mirisangho ==
chilis all derive from Skt. Shringa == horn in that they refer to pods or 
beans. A particular
species of shell fish is called shimpi from Skt. shimba == pods which in turn 
is from  Skt.
Shringa. Kon. vosandhe is harive sangho i.e. green beans. 

Skt. madhu-narlikera == coconut, give us Kon. maDh == coconut palm and Kon. 
narl == the coconut
fruit. 

Dra. koRi == bird or fowl, I believe is the souce of the Kon. kodi == curry. 
Again the same root
gives us Kon. kombi == hen. The Skt. kukutah == hen gives us the alternative 
Kon. kunkad == hen. 

Kon. sheeth == cooked rice, is from Skt. sItA == a furrow, A opening in the 
soil caused by a
plough. I think it is so because of the peculiar requirements of rice 
cultivation i.e. the plants
need to be submerged under water. 

Quote from the MW dictionary: "In epic poetry Sita is the wife of Ramacandra 
and daughter of
Janaka, king of Mithila, capital of Videha, who was otherwise called 
Siradhvaja; she was named
Sita because fabled to have sprung from a furrow made by Janaka while ploughing 
the ground to
prepare it for a sacrifice instituted by him to obtain progeny"


The bulk of Konkani words are of Skt. origin. some are direct imports from 
Sanskrit. others have
come indirectly through some prakrit. The richest borrowing is of words 
expressing abstract,
mental, emotional states. 

Words of Persian origin are mainly found as administrative words. Some 
examples: Kon. zomin ==
land, khobor == news, inam == reward, riyasat == an edict, kaido == law, hushar 
== clever,
zobordost == strongly, khobordar == forbid, soitan == satan, khomiz == shirt.

Dravidian or Kannada words are found, but the frequency is low considering the 
fact that Kadambas
ruled for a long period of time. I expect toponyms (place names) to have a 
significant dravidian 
content. some words of dravidian origin are Kon. mog == love, duddu == money, 
kule == buttocks.

Words of portuguese origin. Kon. chapati == bread, moder == timber, igroz == 
church, boshi ==
plate, balcao == patio, kalsanv == pant, S. American imports botato == potato, 
tomat = tomato,
kazu == cashew.



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