ziva

[N. Ganesan]

GT>In the RV the word *ziva'* occurs about fifty times, primarily as
GT>an adjective, occasionally as a substantive. As an adjective it is
GT>applied to many gods: not only to Rudra, but also to Agni, Indra,
GT>Mitra, VAyu and PUSan. It appears in the dual modifying
GT>DyAvApRthivI. In the feminine plural it modifies unnamed goddesses
GT>of the rivers. Not just gods but friends in general are said to be
GT>*ziva*, as are helpers, guests, messengers and protectors also.
GT>There is no instance of *ziva'* as a proper name 'Shiva'.

In Tamil, kem-/cem- occurs as an adjective and other forms
with meanings a) good, majestic, great, excellent or b) red.
Examples:
1) cem-mozi = good, spotless words
2) cem-marutar = good farmers
3) cemmAppu = exultation, majestic manner
a) cempu = copper
b) cem-malar = red flower
c) kempu = ruby
d) kempaTTikai = ruby necklace
(Dravidian alternates k- and c-: kannada kivi=tamil cevi = ear, etc.,)

Cologne Online Tamil Lexicon
  ----------------------------------------------------------------
cemmai 1. redness, reddiness; 2. goodness, soundness, good
condition; 3. spotlessnes, uprightness, directness, rectitude;
4. fairness, impartiality; 5. unity, concord, agreement;
6. excellence, eminence, greatness; 7. fineness; neatness,
cleanliness; 8. beauty, grace, elegance; [...]
  ---------------------------------------------------------------

The root "cemmai" meaning 1) good or 2) red is used
in "cemmal" = 1) good, great, Shiva or 2) fading flower.

Substrates in OIA, Sep. '99 EJVS paper has pointed out several
k and z word-initial variants in foreign loan words:
eg., kambala/zambara, kabara/zabara, kIsta/zISTa, kimIdin/zimIdaa,
kambu/zambu, kirAta/cilAta, etc.

VmV -> VvV example: tamizh > skt. dramiDa > skt. draviDa (Zvelebil).
Similarly, a formation:
drav. kema(good, red) > *kiva > skt. ziva.

Comments are welcome,
N. Ganesan

PS: Parallelly, 1) karko.taka/zarko.taka as 'gem-giver':
#43 karko.taka 25-nov-99 Indology post,
and 2) (ta.)kATikam/(skt.)zATI, see sAri, the Indian dress (19-dec-99).


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