[INDOLOGY] the medical term jagrī?

[Madhav Deshpande]

Here is a last ditch suggestion. Could the Sanskrit word *yakr̥t *for liver
have been turned into *jagrī *in the local vernacular and then used again
in a Sanskrit text. The Hindi word for liver is *jigar*, yes. In any case,
the phonetic connection between these two words seems inescapable to me.
Best,

Madhav M. Deshpande
Professor Emeritus, Sanskrit and Linguistics
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Senior Fellow, Oxford Center for Hindu Studies
Adjunct Professor, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore, India

[Residence: Campbell, California, USA]


On Fri, Aug 8, 2025 at 1:16 AM Matthew Kapstein via INDOLOGY <
indology at list.indology.info> wrote:

> Dear David and all,
>
> I rather doubt that searching for a Persian medical text will be very
> useful. As Aleksandar and Agnes point out, the word was very widely
> borrowed, so it may not have come directly from a Persian source. An even
> in Persian, it seems to have been in use from at least Middle Persian on.
> The form you find in the KCT, jagrI, moreover, suggests that it was likely
> not a literary transliteration in this case.
>
> So the question to ask is why, of all the Persian words there are, was the
> word for liver, it seems, particularly widely diffused? I have no idea, but
> if you search "Iranian street food" you will find that liver dishes are
> quite prominent, so I suppose that culinary culture is as good a bet as any.
>
> happy hunting,
> Matthew
>
>
> Matthew T. Kapstein
> Professor emeritus
> Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, PSL Research University, Paris
>
> Associate
> The University of Chicago Divinity School
>
> Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
>
> https://ephe.academia.edu/MatthewKapstein
>
> https://vajrabookshop.com/product/the-life-and-work-of-auleshi/
>
>
> https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501716218/tibetan-manuscripts-and-early-printed-books-volume-i/#bookTabs=1
>
>
> https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501771255/tibetan-manuscripts-and-early-printed-books-volume-ii/#bookTabs=1
>
> https://brill.com/edcollbook/title/60949
>
> Sent with Proton Mail <https://proton.me/mail/home> secure email.
>
> On Friday, August 8th, 2025 at 5:49 AM, David and Nancy Reigle <
> dnreigle at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> A big thank you to all who have replied to my question, all helpful. Since
> Dominik has kindly verified that the term jagrī does not occur in the
> etext versions of *any* classical Āyurvedic text, and that it does not
> occur in the ninth century MS of the *Suśrutasaṃhitā*, we may accept
> Matthew's good suggestion that it comes from the Farsi word jigar. Now the
> question is: What Persian medical text would have been available in India
> in the 10th-11th century?
>
> Thank you,
>
> David Reigle
> Colorado, U.S.A.
>
>
> On Thu, Aug 7, 2025 at 9:58 AM Dominik Wujastyk <wujastyk at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> This strikes me as certainly the right answer, Matthew; thank you for
>> finding it! It's really interesting to see a Farsi medical loanword in the
>> tenth-eleventh century KCT. Just to confirm, the term jagrī does not appear
>> in the ninth century MS of the *Suśrutasaṃhitā* (or in later versions of
>> the text available to me). Nor do I find it in the etext versions of
>> *any* classical Āyurvedic text.
>> Best,
>> Dominik
>>
>>
>
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