Re: [INDOLOGY] Symbols in Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa text

Wed Oct 7 07:49:29 UTC 2020

See already in much more detail: Harry Falk 1993, *Schrift im alten Indien*,
p. 255, who, however, only speaks of the *gum*-kara, whereas current
recitation traditions have often gone one step further in strengthening
through a kind of samprasarana this syllable which for metrical and other
reasons is evidently an artifact of the tradition of teaching the text: the
so-called* gum*-kara may, accordingly, sound like "gwam".
See in this respect: Chatterji, Suniti Kumar
1960 "The pronunciation of Sanskrit." *Indian Linguistics* 21: 61, p, 70:
"In Vedic chanting, it is customary to pronounce the Anusvāra in a peculiar
manner, as a distinct syllable as /gwum/ or /gwəm/. Thus haṁsa /ɦɑɑ̃s/ɑ, or
/ɦaãsa/ becomes /ɦʌgwəmsə/."
Similarly, the modern so-called bhaa.sika-accent for reciting the
Satapathabrahmana is, at closer study, an artifact, probably dating to the
"middle ages" and  later than Bhartrhari, of the pedagogy of transmitting
the text (see very briefly my new preface to *Ideology and Status of
Sanskrit*, Delhi 2012).
Best to all,
Jan Houben

On Wed, 7 Oct 2020 at 08:42, Walter Slaje via INDOLOGY <
indology at list.indology.info> wrote:

> „*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
>> dominik at haas.asia | ORCID 0000-0002-8505-6112
>> <https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8505-6112>
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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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-- 

*Jan E.M. Houben*

Directeur d'Études, Professor of South Asian History and Philology

*Sources et histoire de la tradition sanskrite*

École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE, Paris Sciences et Lettres)

*Sciences historiques et philologiques *

*johannes.houben [at] ephe.psl.eu <johannes.houben at ephe.psl.eu>*

*https://ephe-sorbonne.academia.edu/JanEMHouben
<https://ephe-sorbonne.academia.edu/JanEMHouben>*

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