Re: [INDOLOGY] Symbols in Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa text

Wed Oct 7 06:41:05 UTC 2020

„*gum*“ is an onomatopoeic expression for "humming", an „imitation of the
humming of bees“ (MW, s.v.), so *guṃ-kāra* has a meaning, which is: „the
sound of humming“.

Replacing an Anusvāra with the prompt (as I understand it) "*guṃkāra*"
should therefore mean that at this point the pronunciation of a
(particular) nasal humming/buzzing sound is appropriate: "[Make] the
buzzing sound".

Regards,

WS

Am Mi., 7. Okt. 2020 um 08:14 Uhr schrieb Dominik A. Haas via INDOLOGY <
indology at list.indology.info>:

> Not being an expert (especially not with scripts) I have often wondered
> about the same questions, and my tentative answers are similar to that of
> Richard. Especially in the case of the *anunāsika*, however, I think a
> certain “conflict” may have been involved: some reciters (of some
> traditions) continued to nasalize the end of the vowel or to pronounce a
> uvular nasal [ɴ] (as in Japanese), while others began to speak that sound
> as a *ṅ*, which then became *ṅg* or *ṅk*.
>
> In order to avoid a cluster like *śataṅg śṛṇuyāma, *they then added a
> vowel, perhaps it even was a *u* (which to my knowledge was the successor
> of final *a* some Prakrit dialects?). Possibly due to the influence of
> another tradition, an attempt was made to reconcile this “*a**ṅgu*” with
> the pronunciation of a simple nasalized *a*, and the result was this odd *g(u)ṁ
> *sound – the logic being that one didn't dare to simply drop the velar
> sound, because this is the way one had learned it.
>
> ... So much for my early morning speculations, now I'm looking forward to
> hearing more from others!
>
> Best,
>
> Dominik
>
>
> __________________
> *Dominik A. Haas, BA MA*
> DOC Fellow, Austrian Academy of Sciences | PhD Candidate, University of
> Vienna
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> Am 06.10.2020 um 23:32 schrieb Richard G. Salomon via INDOLOGY:
>
> I have occasionally wondered whether the rendering in Vedic recitation of
> anusvāra with an additional syllable *guṃ *is a mnemonic device to
> discourage a weak pronunciation or elision entirely of the anusvāra. In
> fact I even wonder whether the standard modern rendering of anusvāra with
> an echo vowel serves the same purpose. Neither of these renditions of
> anusvāra seem to be phonetically motivated; the normal development of final
> sibilants would I think be > spirantization > elision (as in Prakrit,
> etc.).
>
> I would be interested in hearing the experts' opinion on this.
>
> Rich Salomon
>
> On Tue, Oct 6, 2020 at 12:15 AM Walter Slaje via INDOLOGY <
> indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>
>> Dear Harry Spier,
>>
>> according to my limited knowledge, Vājasaneyins pronounce(d) Anunāsika
>> before semi-vowels, sibilants and h as "*ṅg*", represented in writing by
>> a special sign (as in your edition): śata*ṃ* śṛṇuyāma → "śata*ṅg*
>> śṛṇuyāma".
>> Quite similar to how Germans - in the majority of cases - pronounce
>> French nasalizations, e.g. "Karto*ng*" for "carto*n*"
>>
>> However, the pronunciation when reciting Saṃhitā texts replaces the
>> articulation of Anusvāra with a spoken "guṃ". So "tā *guṃ *haitām ..."
>> for tā*ṃ* haitām ..."
>>
>> Your symbol represents an Anusvāra sign in a particular phonetic
>> environment.
>>
>> Vedicists will know better.
>>
>> Best,
>> WS
>>
>>
>> Am Di., 6. Okt. 2020 um 04:02 Uhr schrieb Harry Spier via INDOLOGY <
>> indology at list.indology.info>:
>>
>>> I pasted an image of a page in the text with the symbols but I've been
>>> informed off-list that it didn't showup so I'm attaching it.
>>> Thanks,
>>> Harry Spier
>>>
>>>
>>> On Mon, Oct 5, 2020 at 5:39 PM Harry Spier <vasishtha.spier at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> First thank you to Lauren Bausch, Steven Lindquest for the information
>>>> about the editions and Caley Smith who pointed me to Weber's edition on
>>>> archive.org.
>>>>
>>>> I've just looked at the Weber's printed text .  In the first line  of
>>>> the image from the text I've pasted below there are two symbols I don't
>>>> understand and have highlighted in red.  I've never seen the first.  The
>>>> second looks like avagraha but I'm not clear why it is where it is between
>>>> long a and a.
>>>>
>>>> [image: image.png]
>>>> Harry Spier
>>>>
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