R: vezyA 'courtesan'

[Daniela Rossella]

Furthermore, dearest friends, I add that vesha "abode, brothel", from vish
"to go into",  has a curious quasi-synonym vAsa "abode, habitation", from
vas "to abide in"; and the vAsakasajjA is the nAyikA "who is ready in her
bed-chamber", or, in the mind of other alamkArasAstrins, "who has her dress
(vAsa "garment" from vas "to wear") ready". From the first rhetorical
treatises, the vAsakasAjja is openly described as very similar to a veshya,
exactly because she is waiting a lover (not a husband!) in her vAsagrha
("bed chamber"), or has very beautiful clothes (vAsa). As far as we now,
from the antiquity a woman who is waiting in an habitation is suspect to be
a prostitute; it is very different in the western etymology of "prostitute",
which comes from Latin pro-stat, "to put the foot outside (the house)"
so that the customers can see her.  This is only a curiosity!
Yours Daniela

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Ph.D. Dr. Daniela Rossella
Piazza Buzzati, 5
43100 PARMA (Italy)
tel. & fax +39.0521.773854
cell. +39.0338 3198904
ghezziem at tin.it
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>Da: Roland Steiner <steiner at MAILER.UNI-MARBURG.DE>
>A: INDOLOGY at LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK
>Oggetto: Re: vezyA 'courtesan'
>Data: Mer, 7 feb 2001 11:29
>

> On 5 Feb 01, at 18:50, N. Ganesan wrote:
>
>> How is the name, vezyA 'courtesan' explained in terms of origins?
>> It does not appear to be IE since it is attested only from the
>> times of Mahabharata epic onwards.
>
> Skt. ve"syaa ``prostitute, courtesan" has to be connected with
> Skt. ve"sa ``house; brothel; prostitution" which is already attested
> in the Vaajasaneyi-Sa.mhitaa (Kaa.nva recension), in Manu, etc.
> (cf. the noun vi"s ``habitation, settlement" and the root vi"s, or
> ve"s ``enter, settle in", already .Rgvedic and of Indo-European
> origin).
>
> Best regards,
> Roland Steiner