Skt. sūpa : Engl. soup must be a chance similarity. The English word either directly, or through reborrowing from French (which got it from some other Germanic dialect), goes back to Germanic sources. Its relatives are said to include Engl. (to) sup and Germ. saufen 'drink (of/like an animal)'. If there were a direct relationship, either English would have to have souf, or the Sanskrit word would have to be sūba (that's because of the changes accounted for by Grimm's Law, which separate Germanic from the other Indo-European languages).

On 17 Aug 2011, at 19:04, Jo wrote:

Dear Patrick—

Thanks! Does this word relate to our term ‘soup’? I would agree with a suggestion that this covers a broad selection of dishes—sort of like what we find in recipe books today: i.e., from a simple broth to stews or ragouts, wet or dry. It would be most informative if the pākaśāstra literaturesays more.

Cheers,
Joanna

From: Patrick Olivelle [mailto:jpo@uts.cc.utexas.edu]
Sent: Wednesday, August 17, 2011 2:53 PM
To: Jo
Cc: INDOLOGY@liverpool.ac.uk
Subject: Re: [INDOLOGY] Asoka: Roads and Animals

The term is sūpa -- the expression sūpātthāya (Sk. sūpārthāya) -- for the sake of sūpa (probably more like stew, broth).

PO

On Aug 17, 2011, at 2:34 PM, Jo wrote:

Dear List,

Since I’m dying of curiosity, if I may ask, can someone tell me what is the edict’s term for ‘curry’?

Anthropologists are also skeptical of such number codes and have published about them-- but sorry, no references come to mind.

Thanks
Joanna

" Obliquely, the Ist Rock Edict: "Formerly in the kitchen of king Devanampriya Priyadarśin many hundred thousands of animals (bahūni
prāṇasatasahāsrani) were killed daily for the sake of curry"
[Hultzsch, 1925, p. 2]."

Sounds to me that one ought to apply the rule David Henige gives for premodern figures above ten thousand in his Numbers from Nowhere: The American Indian Contact Population Debate: just as a beginning, knock off the last digit. Henige deals with evidence from a lot of other places besides the Americas, though as best I recall not South Asia.

Allen

Allen W. Thrasher, Ph.D.
Asian Division, Library of Congress
Washington, DC 20540-4810
The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the Library of Congress.

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