Navy and Navigation

[Venkatraman Iyer]

                    Cologne Digital Sanskrit Lexicon
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  Entry   nau
  Meaning 2 f. a ship , boat , vessel RV. &c. &c. ; (in astrol.) N.
  of a partic. appearance of the moon or of a constellation Var. ; =
  %{vAc} Nir. i , 11 (either because prayer is a vessel leading to
  heaven or ft. 4. %{nu} , `" to praise "'). [Cf. 2. %{nAva} and 7.
  %{nu} ; Gk. $ , &175727[571 ,2] $ , &c. ; Lat. {na1vis} ,
  {nau-ta} , {nau-fragus} &c. ; Icel. {no4r} ; (?) Germ. {Nachen}.]
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  Sankrit "nau" is considered "vaac"; The reason given is
"prayer is a vessel" or "to praise".

Does Skt. 'nau' relate to Ta. nAvu (tongue, to move the tongue)?;
Also, ta. 1) 'nAvAy' - ship, vessel, 2) 'nAvikan2' - mariner.

May be because of  ta. nAvu/nAvAy (tongue, ship),
Goddess Sarasvati is said to reside in the "tongue" of Brahma.
Is the River Sarasvati so named because of this "tongue/ship"
semantic field?

Regards,
V. Iyer




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