kuyava in RV

[Jan E.M. Houben]

Am I right that so far no-one has reacted to:

Date:    Sun, 4 Jan 1998 15:57:33 EST
From:    Palaniappa <Palaniappa at AOL.COM>
Subject: kuyava in RV

I am intrigued by the following RV lines (Source: the Vedavid Web site), in
which an enemy of Vedic Aryans is called "kuyava". . . . (ref. to RV 1.103.8,
1.104.3 etc.) . . . Does anybody know of any
discussions related to "kuyava" in RV? This is interesting because "kuyavan" in
Tamil means "potter".

Some basic discussions can be found in Grassmann's Dict. and in Geldner's
transl. Ku'yava occurs in VaajSamhitaa 18.10 where it must mean something
related to food, acc. to Grassmann "bad harvest" [one would like to read a-ku-
yavam in the series of desirable things enumerated at this place]. In the RV
Grassm considers the word to be either an epitheton or a name of a demon
bringing bad harvest. Geldner on 1.103.8 suggests the word is an abbreviation
of ku'ya-vaac (which occurs RV 1.174.4), hence meaning "speaking
unintelligbly". So far no reason to assume the meaning "potter" for this word
in the RV (and VS), which does not resist an "intra-Vedic" etymology. Nor do I
see a contextual justification for the assumption that the meaning "potter"
played a (secondary) role in the language of the Vedic authors.

Best wishes, JH