re. Soap

[Ven. Tantra]

Soap in Hindi is saabun, in German it's Seife, in Thai saabu, the same
like the French savon, etc. The derivation from fat/grease etc. may well
be right.

Another Sanskrit word for fat/grease may be vasa, which is the base for
Sanskrit vastra, clothes. Vastra would also be related to vest, or German
Weste, or classical/formal Thai vastraporn. This seems to indicate that
some clothes were made of animal skin.

By comparing the Indo-Germanic languages one finds (as seen above) many
amazing connections, esp. betweeen Sanskrit - German/English - Latin -
Thai, et al. Another example is Sanskrit ratha (chariot), which is
apparent in German Rad (wheel) and  Thai rot (vehicle). A rot-yon in Thai
is nothing but a ratha-yantra, a maschine-vehicle, i.e. a �motor car�. The
English word wife, or German Weib (derogatory for woman), is directly
related to Urdu/Persian tawaif, which is s.th. like a concubine, dancing
girl or loose/(limber) woman. English and Persian are especially cloesly
related in the family tree of Indo-Germanic languages. Someone here says
that the name of the South Indian tribe Toda (originally probably from
Persia) is related to the word Deutsch (originally Teutsch) and means just
the same � �the people.� A fascinating subject!

Ven. Tantra (with friends)
Bombay and Singapore


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