[INDOLOGY] The term vakharī

[Rolf Heinrich Koch]

Just to make it clear, it is not Mayrhofer but Wright who refers to a 
hypothetical Middle Indic form.

Why not contact Prof. Wright (via BSOAS London) and ask him.

Heiner


Am 26.10.2021 um 19:54 schrieb Jim Ryan:
> Hi,
>
> I wrote to Andrew Ollett (U. Of Chicago) regarding  “vaikharī” in 
> Prakrit. He replied as below. I got his permission to post his reply 
> as it adds to the discussion (and may in fact show that we might not 
> be able to track the proper history of this word with current knowledge.)
>
> Jim
>
>
> Dear Jim (if I may),
>
> I saw the discussion on INDOLOGY but didn't have too much to add. 
> Mayrhofer interprets it, sensibly, as if it had come from a 
> hypothetical Middle Indic form (I don't say "Prakrit" for reasons that 
> will become clear) *vi-kṣarati, which is also the etymology of the 
> Hindi word bikharnā "scatter." The Pāiyasaddamahaṇṇava 
> <https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdsal.uchicago.edu%2Fdictionaries%2Fsheth%2F&data=04%7C01%7Cjryan%40ciis.edu%7Ca5bf7e180e1048c9f82308d998a58739%7C34d667e31c5d4101b901e5d9fd8d69d9%7C0%7C0%7C637708658969521889%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=uMi946zgBY9cYLnoHkGauScJiAFFrP%2FU17lVDxs0DJo%3D&reserved=0>, 
> an early dictionary of Prakrit, does give vikkhara- as a verbal stem, 
> meaning to "scatter" or "spread," attested apparently in the 
> Uvāṅgadasāo, an early Jain text. But in fact the usual "Prakrit" form 
> of the root that appears in Sanskrit as *kṣar is jhar-. In fact, in 
> the Prakrit texts I have (i.e., literary Prakrit, produced between the 
> second and the twelfth centuries), I find neither vikkhara- or 
> vijjhara-. While we're at it, an origin from *vikr̥ta- might be 
> entertained as well.
>
> None of this, in any case, would explain why Bhartr̥hari should have 
> chosen to use a Middle Indic form, or a form derived from Middle 
> Indic, for a major element of his theory, especially when there was a 
> Sanskrit term easily to hand. I know of no citations of vaikharī or 
> similar words (*vēkharī, *vekkharī, *vaïkharī, *veharī, *vikkharī*, 
> etc.) in Prakrit.
>
> I hope this helps, although I suspect it won't!
>
> Andrew
>
>
>> On Oct 24, 2021, at 6:38 AM, Rolf Heinrich Koch via INDOLOGY 
>> <indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>>
>> Yes, it has a Prakrit origin as Madhev suspects. See
>>
>> Mayrhofer, A Concise Etymological Sanskrit Dictionary, vol 3,p. 267
>>
>> "vaikharī f. Name eines best. Lautes / name of a particular sound 
>> (Up., u.a.): nach Wright, NCSL 24 falsch sanskritisiertes Patronym. 
>> von mi. *vikkhara- < ai. viksarä- m. „Abfluß44 (AV), „Beiname 
>> Visnus44 (ep.,u.a.)".
>>
>> Heiner
>>
>>
>>
>> Am 24.10.2021 um 02:11 schrieb Jim Ryan via INDOLOGY:
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> I’m curious about the term Vaikharī for articulated speech. In the 
>>> /Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies /volume on the Grammarians, 
>>> judging from the index, it seems this term was first used  by 
>>> Bhartṛhari (at least in a grammatical context.) V. S. Apte cites the 
>>> Mallinatha commentary on /Kumārasaṃbhava /for an authoritative 
>>> reference of the word, but that is quite late (15th century.) 
>>> Firstly, are there instances of this word used with any frequency 
>>> before Bhartṛhari? Secondly, the lexicons give no good verbal root 
>>> or root word for it. I note that the word /vaikṛtī /as “alteration” 
>>> has a similar shape (and wouldn’t fit badly in the “articulated 
>>> speech” category of Vāc), but I’m presuming that the word  vaikharī 
>>> is not a Prakrit-derived form.  So… where and how do we get to this 
>>> important term in language theory in India, which seems unrelated to 
>>> any other common root or word?
>>>
>>> Jim Ryan
>>> Asian Philosophies and Cultures (Emeritus)
>>> California Institute of Integral Studies
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> INDOLOGY mailing list
>>> INDOLOGY at list.indology.info
>>> https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology
>> -- 
>> Dr. Rolf Heinrich Koch
>> www.rolfheinrichkoch.wordpress.com
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>
-- 
Dr. Rolf Heinrich Koch
www.rolfheinrichkoch.wordpress.com
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