On Fri, Sep 7, 2012 at 9:36 AM, Madhav Deshpande <mmdesh@umich.edu> wrote:

Dear Jonathan,

While the word dalita as a past participle of the verb dalati is widely used in the classical literature, the use of this term to refer to "down-trodden" or lower-caste people is entirely new, no more than 20 or 30 years old, but indeed very widespread today in India.

Madhav Deshpande

On Fri, Sep 7, 2012 at 5:46 AM, Jonathan Silk <kauzeya@gmail.com> wrote:

dear Friends,
I was sent the following with a question whether it made any sense. I am, let us say, suspicious, but since I can't categorically say it's rubbish...

"According to James Massey, the term "Dalit" is perhaps, one of the most ancient terms which has not only survived till date, but is also shared by a few of world's oldest languages, namely, Hebrew and Sanskrit. Though they differ in their grammatical and lexicographical connotations, both these languages share the term "Dalit" with the same root and sense. It has been said that the root word 'dal' in dalit has been borrowed into Sanskrit from Hebrew." (www.csichurch.com/article/dalit.htm and see www.dalitsolidarity.org/meaning.htm)

--
J. Silk
Instituut Kern / Universiteit Leiden
Leiden University Institute for Area Studies, LIAS

Johan Huizinga Building, Room 1.37

Doelensteeg 16

2311 VL Leiden

The Netherlands

--
Madhav M. Deshpande
Professor of Sanskrit and Linguistics
Department of Asian Languages and Cultures
202 South Thayer Street, Suite 6111
The University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI 48104-1608, USA