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[pclaus at s1.csuhayward.edu]

Date: June 22, 1995 
 
Indology List
indology at Liverpool.ac.uk
 
Dear Members,
 
While we are on the subject of etyma purportedly shared by IE and
Dravidian, could someone help me to discern whether there is a
connection between (and trace the technical and earliest uses
of):
 
1) The apparently Dravidian root, paTTi (DED 3199) meaning "town,
hamlet, dwelling place, abode (of animals or humans), animal-
fold, nest, etc. and the apparently IE paTTana, city.
 
2) The apparently IE term amaawaasye meaning 'new moon, sometimes
specifically the new moon falling in July-August' and the Kannada
term ame (DED S25), meaning birth pollution. My reason for
suspecting some sort of connection in this case is that under
some circumstances amaawaasye is regarded as an inauspicious (if
not polluting) time, and some deities in South India are called
amaawaasye devaru and their priests have the authority (power) to
remove the pollution of birth (ame). The connection could, of
course, be purely a folk etymological one. 
 
Peter J. Claus                        
fax: 510-727-2276
Phone: 510-704-9636     
pclaus at csuhayward.edu