Jamshid

[Lars Martin Fosse]

> > >
> > > -tra means "to release" as in the word "mantra" being something
> > > that "sets free the mind (mana)."  Also this is found in the word
> > > ksatriya.  Does the word "astra" (weapon) coming from "throw,
> > > release" refer to the releasing of a mantra?
> > >
> >
> > Nope. -tra is a fairly normal Indo-European suffix also found
> > in Greek and Latin
> > (-tro-). It is the zero stage of the suffix -ter/-tor + the
> > thematic vowel if I
> > remember correctly.

"Chandrasekaran, Periannan" wrote:

>
> Could you give some examples of such  Latin/Greek please?

OK. But let me start with Hittite. Hittite has the action noun suffix
-tar. Traces of this suffix is found in Vedic (see Burrows, p. 118ff).
The suffix is then given the thematic vowel while loosing its guna vowel,
producing -tra-. In skt. you will find the suffix in nouns like: atra
(food), kartra (spell), vastra (garment), shrotra (hearing), suutra
(tread) and mantra (which has been discussed recently on this list). In
Latin you have aratrum (plow) and feretrum (?). I can only give one Greek
word: metron (me = skt. maa = measure). I am quite certain that there are
more words in Greek and Latin with the suffix, but I haven't got the
dictionaries I need to check this. However, if you look up a reverse
Latin or Greek dictionary (I believe they exist) you should be able to
find the relevant words quite quickly (look for words ending in -tron or
-trum). Sorry I haven't got more to offer.

Lars Martin