Oak and the Tribe of the Buddha

[jkirk]

In addition, this reply was posted on the Buddha-L list:

"...it seems to me that Logan has landed in a muddle by
assuming that s"aakya is derived from s"aaka, and then assuming that
s"aaka is a terms that refers to oak.

There's no evidence that I know of for such a use. S"aaka is a word
that can be used to refer to vegetables, fruits, greens, and teak
(according to Apte, it's also used to refer to the S"iri.sa tree--a
kind of acacia). The term s"aaka can also be used as an alternative to
s"aka, the word from which the s"aakya in S"aakyamuni is held to
derive. But the fact that the same word can be used to denote two
different things -- here a plant, there a group of people -- doesn't
entail that one of these things is named after the other. And this is
a good thing, given that the word s"aka is used in the Atharvaveda to
refer to dung."

Joanna
============================================



> As is well known, 'Shaakya' is a patronymic, meaning 'descendent of 
> Shaka'.  The word 'Shaka' is a proper name, referring to the tribe, and 
> may not have a Sanskrit etymology. Nothing points to an oak tree.  Since 
> 'shaka' also means the same as 'shak.rt', one probably doesn't want to go 
> further into etymologizing the Buddha's title.
>
> DW
>
>
>
>
> On Wed, 28 Sep 2005, jkirk wrote:
>
>> Hello Indologers,
>>
>> This is a query that came to the Buddha-L list, and as I too am wondering
>> about this translation of shakya--any comment, anyone?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Joanna Kirkpatrick
>> ==================================
>>
>>
>>
>>> Dear list members,
>>>
>>> Here's a quotation from the new book _Oak:  The Frame
>>> of Civilization_, by William Bryant Logan, Norton, 2005,
>>> page 24:
>>>
>>> 'The name of the historic Buddha, Shakyamuni, means
>>> "the sage of the oak tree people".'
>>>
>>> This surprised me, and I haven't been able to find any
>>> corroboration on the internet or in my library.  I'm not
>>> an expert on Pali or Sanskrit, so I can't judge the
>>> accuracy of this statement.  The book is not a scholarly
>>> volume, so there aren't footnotes  -- otherwise I'd just
>>> look at his references and I might have my answer already.
>>>
>>> Was the Shakya tribe/clan really named after oak trees?
>>>
>>> Sincerely,
>>>
>>> Greg Bungo
>>