On Sat, May 4, 2013 at 2:04 PM, Martin Gansten <span dir="ltr">&lt;<a href="mailto:martin.gansten@pbhome.se" target="_blank">martin.gansten@pbhome.se</a>&gt;</span> wrote:<br><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">

Many thanks to all who replied on or off the list to my query on mudda/muddā. It seems fairly clear that the word as used in an astrological context is indeed an Arabic borrowing, although the compound mudda- or muddā-daśā looks a bit tautological (&#39;period-period&#39;). A meaning along the lines of &#39;modified, adapted&#39; would have been more satisfying, as a muddā-daśā is in fact a modified sort of daśā; but usage isn&#39;t always as logical as one might like...</blockquote>

<div><br></div><div>It is not uncommon to find redundant compounds in the Indian languages. In Hindi, pleonastic compounds such as <i>tan</i>-<i>badan </i>(body-body), <i>dhan</i>-<i>daulat </i>(wealth-wealth) and <i>nātā</i>-<i>riṣta </i>(relationship-relationship) are very commonly used. What is interesting about these compounds is that while one of the words in the compound is native, the other word is usually foreign (Perso-Arabic). </div>
<div><br></div><div>For a discussion on pleonastic compounds in Dravidian, you may refer to: Chandrasekaran, Periannan 2011  Pleonastic Compounding: An Ancient Dravidian Word Structure. <i>Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies</i> 5: 1-57. (<a href="http://www.laurasianacademy.com/pleonastic.pdf">http://www.laurasianacademy.com/pleonastic.pdf</a>‎)</div>
<div><br></div><div>Given the abundant evidence of redundant compounds in India, I don&#39;t see anything unusual about the use of the compound <i>muddā</i>-<i>daśā.</i></div>
<div><br></div><div>Regards,</div><div>Suresh.</div><div>Atlanta, GA.</div></div>