Ancient India's Contribtuion to Modern Civilization

[Dominique.Thillaud]

At 6:49 +0200 12/06/97, sudheer birodkar wrote:
>
>- the making of tin (the technical English word for tin
>is Cassiterite which is derived from the Sanskrit term
>"Kasthira" according to the Oxford Dictionary).
>
	That's highly improbable. The Indian word for tin is trapu (AV) and
kastIra, appearing only in lexicography, is borrowed from the Greek
kassiteros (Hom.), perhaps via the Latin cassiterum. According are
Mayrhofer (KEWA) and Chantraine (DELG). (Eurindian common origin is
impossible, the Greek 'k' is palatalized in Sanskrit)

	Regards,
Dominique

Dominique THILLAUD
Universite' de Nice Sophia-Antipolis, France