[INDOLOGY] Etymology of vetana 'wages'

Wed Aug 10 14:43:36 UTC 2016

Thanks to everyone on and off list for assistance with this etymology.

Best, Don Davis

From: INDOLOGY <indology-bounces at list.indology.info<mailto:indology-bounces at list.indology.info>> on behalf of Nagaraj Paturi <nagarajpaturi at gmail.com<mailto:nagarajpaturi at gmail.com>>
Date: Wednesday, August 10, 2016 at 9:18 AM
To: "indology at list.indology.info<mailto:indology at list.indology.info>" <indology at list.indology.info<mailto:indology at list.indology.info>>
Subject: Re: [INDOLOGY] Etymology of vetana 'wages'

Dear Suresh garu,

vEtanam is paid in return to a service.

vartanam /vritti (as in the Telugu munuvritti paid during divorce) is paid for the purpose of subsistence , not (necessarily) in return to a service.

On Wed, Aug 10, 2016 at 7:10 PM, Georges PINAULT <georges.pinault at wanadoo.fr<mailto:georges.pinault at wanadoo.fr>> wrote:

Dear All,   Actually, the book of Jeong-Soo Kim (2010) does not treat anywhere the issue of Skt. vetana-, since he does not go beyond the material from RV and AV. I may mention that in his second etymological dictionary Mayrhofer quotes vetana- under vedana- (II, p. 580) with question mark, and only refers to his previous dictionary (III, p. 254). I have nothing new to offer, but I would assume that the very specific meaning of vetana- does not favor any identification with védana- (RV+), which does not mean 'wages, hire, salary', etc.

Best regards,    Georges-Jean Pinault

> Message du 10/08/16 13:07
> De : "Dieter Gunkel" <dcgunkel at gmail.com<mailto:dcgunkel at gmail.com>>
> A : "Olivelle, J P" <jpo at austin.utexas.edu<mailto:jpo at austin.utexas.edu>>
> Copie à : "indology at list.indology.info<mailto:indology at list.indology.info>" <indology at list.indology.info<mailto:indology at list.indology.info>>
> Objet : Re: [INDOLOGY] Etymology of vetana 'wages'

>
>
You might also check

>
Kim, Jeong-Soo. 2010. Untersuchungen zu altindischen Abstrakta und Adjektiven im Rigveda und Atharvaveda. Die primären a-Stämme und die ana-Bildungen. Bremen: Hempen,
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which is partly dedicated to nouns suffixed with -ana-. If the author treats vetana- in the book, there should be some discussion of its morphological composition.

>
Best wishes,

>
Dieter

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On Sat, Aug 6, 2016 at 11:03 PM, Olivelle, J P <jpo at austin.utexas.edu<mailto:jpo at austin.utexas.edu>> wrote:
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Actually, Mayrhofer (3: 254) says “Vielleicht doch mit Mehendale” — and given the vid etymology. The change from -d- to -t- is viewed as a NW dialectical variation. He also refers to Kuiper (ZII 8, 263f) who appears to derive it from veto with the suffix -tana, as Mr. Misra states. There appears to be no consensus among historical linguists.

>
Patrick

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On Aug 6, 2016, at 3:29 PM, Nityanand Misra <nmisra at gmail.com<mailto:nmisra at gmail.com>> wrote:

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On 6 August 2016 at 23:56, Donald R Davis <drdj at austin.utexas.edu<mailto:drdj at austin.utexas.edu>> wrote:
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Dear Colleagues,

>
M.A. Mehendale, “Some Remarks of the Language of the Original Buddhist Canon,” Bulletin of the Deccan College Research Institute, Vol. 17, No. 3 (December 1955) suggests that the etymology of Skt. vetana ‘wages’ is "vedana ‘wealth, possessions’ from /vid ‘to find, to obtain, to give, etc.’ which is known since the Rgveda” (p167).

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Would those of you with IE expertise kindly confirm this etymology, point me elsewhere, or share your thoughts on alternative etymologies?  I have not yet been able to check Mayrhofer.

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Sounds dubious, for how the d of vid would change to t when followed by a vowel is beyond me. Here is the authentic traditional etymology:

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vī gativyāptiprajanakāntyasanakhādaneṣu (DP 1048) → vīpatibhyāṃ tanan (US 3.150) → vī + tanan → halantyam (A 1.3.3), tasya lopaḥ (A 1.3.9) → vī + tana → sārvadhātukārdhadhātukayoḥ (A 7.3.84) → ve tana → vetana.

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The Uṇādisūtra vīpatibhyāṃ tanan (US 3.150) ordains the suffix tanan (of which only tana remains) from the root vī gativyāptiprajanakāntyasanakhādaneṣu’ which is used in the meanings of gati (movement), vyāpti (pervading), prajana (conception), kānti (desire), asana (throwing), and khādana (eating). The rule sārvadhātukārdhadhātukayoḥ (A 7.3.84) results in the ‘vī’ → ve transformation to get ‘vetana’.

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The word occurs in Amarakoṣa 2.10.38, and the various commentaries on it may be consulted. Both the Udghāṭana and Vyākhyāsudhā commentaries cite US 3.150 and explain the word as vīyate anena iti vetanam. The form vīyate is the passive (yaki, or karmaṇi) form of the root vī whose active (karttari) form is veti. The meaning of vīyate anena iti vetanam, consequently, is ‘that with which [something] is obtained is vetana’. Roots with the meaning ‘to go’ also have the meaning ‘to obtain’ as per the maxim ye gatyarthāste prāptyarthāḥ.

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--
Nagaraj Paturi

Hyderabad, Telangana, INDIA.

Former Senior Professor of Cultural Studies

FLAME School of Communication and FLAME School of  Liberal Education,

(Pune, Maharashtra, INDIA )

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