etymology of mani

[George Thompson]

I do not have at hand the relevant volume of Mayrhofer's EWA, but do have
KEWA; I do not have DEDR of Burrow-Emeneau, but I have DED here.  Perhaps a
better informed list member will be able to give a sketch of more recent
discussions of the etymology of maNi.

DED numbers 3823 - 3825 suggest, with question marks, that Sanskrit maNi may
be derived from Dravidian words for 'bell, gong, sound of bell, hour' [e.g.,
Tamil and Malayalam maNi, etc.] [3823]; that Skt. maNi-bandha 'wrist' may be
derived from Tamil maNi-kaTTu 'wrist', etc. [bandha translating kaTTu]
[3824]; that Skt. maNi 'jewel of office' may be derived from forms like Tamil
maNiyam 'office of the village headman' [3825].

This is not the whole story, however.  Kuiper ["Rigvedic Loanwords"] called
attention to the late attestations 'amulet' and 'glans penis' and 'fleshy
excrescence on the neck of a goat" -- in order to contest the proposed IE
etymology that linked maNi with  Latin monile, Halsband/necklace, Old Norse
men, Halsgeschmeide/neck-jewelry.

The association of Hurrian maninnu is less problematic when one considers the
Avestan forms zar at nu-mainiS 'having a golden necklace' [cf. hiraNyena
maNinA]. The older view [cf. Wackernagel 1.194] that Skt. maNi is due to
spontaneous retroflexion would make association with Hurrian maninnu
straightforward.  But as Kuiper points out, this Avestan form [maini = mani]
equivalent of maNi, is not well-attested and can be interpreted in other
ways.

However, it seems to me that the Iranian evidence may be stronger than Kuiper
judged it to be. Besides Avestan minu, neck-jewelry, Mayrhofer cites Pahlavi
and Modern Persian derivatives.  Perhaps Hurrian maninnu might best be
considered a borrowing from Iranian rather than from Indic?

Perhaps the list's ziSTas can step in and illuminate this problem for us: Is
a Dravidian etymology the most likely? or is the old IE etymology still
viable?  or should we search with Kuiper for other origins?  Is Hurrian
itself this source?

George Thompson