Rig Veda, ta'ntra, nUl, and sUtra

[Palaniappa at aol.com]

In a message dated 97-04-10 22:09:06 EDT, you write:

<< What
 such collocations show, it seems to me, is that ta'ntu as string or thread
 refers to thread *stretched taut* [tata'], precisely like the threads of a
 warp.   >>

This is precisely the meaning of Dravidian root 'pA' meaning 'to stretch, to
spread' as I discussed.

As for the name for 'loom', please check AV 10.8.42. 

Whitney's translation of 10. 8.42 reads, " A certain pair of maidens, of
diverse form, weave, betaking themselves to it, the six-pegged web; the one
draws forth the threads (ta'ntu), the other sets [them]; they wrest not off
(apa-vRj), they go not to an end."

I do not know the Sanskrit text. (What I have access to is just the
translation.) The pegs seem to imply some structure.

In his notes Whitney says, "A nearly related verse is found in T.B.
(ii.5.53): dve' sva'sArAu vayatas ta'ntram etat sanAta'nam vi'tatam
Sa'NmayUkham: a'va 'nyA'Gs ta'ntun kira'to dhatto' anyA'n nA' 'pa vRjyA'te (?
both text and comm. have in the Calc. ed. nA'SapRjyA'Ate [and in the Poona
ed. nA'vapRjyA'te]) na' gamAte a'ntam; this is a preferable version
especially of c. We have to resolve tan-tR-am in order to make a full
triSTubh. [The TB. comment makes the verse refer to day and night: cf.
RV.i.113.3.]

<<By the way, the IE vocabulary for weaving [cf. IE cognates of ve-] is
discussed at length in Ruediger Schmitt's thorough *Dichtung und
Dichtersprache in Indogermanischer Zeit*, as well as the anthology edited
by him, *Indogermanische Dichtersprache*. >>

I would very much appreciate if you could let me know if  these texts refer
to any word for 'warp' derived from 'ta'n' or other words meaning 'to
stretch'? 

Thanks in advance.


Regards


S. Palaniappan