Rig Veda, ta'ntra, nUl, and sUtra

[Roland Steiner]

>By the way, would anyone care to contest Monier-Williams's analysis of
>UrNavAbhi, wherein -vAbhi is "from an obsolete root vabh- [= Grk. hyphainO,
>Old High Germ. web-an, "to weave"]?  I myself cannot find any discussion of
>this in the literature available to me.  Does anyone with easy access to
>Wackernagel-Debrunner care to look it up?

See, e.g., Manfred Mayrhofer, Etymologisches Woerterbuch des 
Altindoarischen, 1. Band, Heidelberg (Carl Winter Universitaetsverlag) 
1992, p. 243, s.v. 'uur.naavabhi-:
"... primaere Form eines regelrechten Kompositums "Wolle" ('uur.naa-) 
webend (s. VABH)" [vgl. neuhochdeutsch Weber, Web(er)spinne usw. ...]. - 
Durch Angleichung an VAA `weben' ... entstand daraus Maitraaya.nii
Sa.mhitaa 'uur.na-v'aabhi-, weiter ... Kaa.thaka + uur.na-v'aabhi- ... 
Dieses erscheint volksetymologisch umgestaltet in Taittiriiya-Braahma.na + 
uur.na-n'aabhi-, Upani.sad -naabha (~ n'aabhi- `Nabe[l]) ..."

Best wishes,
Roland Steiner