1. Suresh, why do you consider DEDR's including star as a meaning in the entry for cukka wrong? Do you think, cukka=star is a tadbhava coming from s'ukla=white, ( also?bright?) and not a dEs'ya. Is cukka=star as a laakshaNika (metaphorical) extension from cukka=dot not convincing?
 
2. There are other uses of chukka covered in Gwynn's dictionary :
 
cukka

cukka n. 1 point, dot, spot. 2 drop. 3 star; eemiTi ~ uuDipaDDaTTu waccEEwu? why have you come like a star falling? i.e., why have you come unexpectedly out of the blue? 4 the planet Venus, whose appearance in front of a traveller starting on a journey is considered unlucky; ~ tirigindi lit. the star has turned, i.e., Venus is no longer in front and the auspicious time has begun; cf. cukkeduru. 5 beautiful woman. 6 alcohol, liquor. (underlining mine)

DEDR does not cover these meanings. Are these cukka=beautiful woman and cukka= alcohol, liquor dEs'ya are not?

 Is cukka = beautiful woman a laakshaNika (metaphorical) extension from cukka=star?

s'ukra in astrology considered to be a planet affecting arts, beauty and aesthetics; Is it related to that? 

Is cukka =liquor a laakshaNika (metaphorical) extension from cukka= drop? or is it related to the milky white colour (s'ukla) of  country liquor?

3. If cukka=star is accepted as a dEs'ya, cukka=planet venus can be linked to that as a coincidental cultural similarity to expressions such as morning star.

These are some aspects to ponder over in this connection.

 

 

 


On Mon, Apr 6, 2015 at 9:12 PM, Sudalaimuthu Palaniappan <Palaniappa@aol.com> wrote:
Suresh,

I agree. 

This is the beauty of the Indology list. Because of a query related to a Marathi name and input from our Maharashtrian colleagues, we have identified a correction in DEDR! Wonderful!

Regards,
Palaniappan


On Apr 6, 2015, at 10:08 AM, Suresh Kolichala <suresh.kolichala@gmail.com> wrote:

Thanks for your replies Nagaraj and Palaniappan!

Since Venus (śukra) can be seen just before sunrise or just after sunset as a bright morning or evening star, it is possible that a specific term for Venus has merged with the generic term for star. At twilight, it seems Venus is up to 15 times brighter than the brightest star, Sirius. 

Based on the semantics of śukla/śukra 'bright', 'white', 'bright star', and the Tamil semantics as pointed out by Palaniappan, I now believe that DEDR was wrong to include the meanings of star in the same entry [DEDR 2646 ], along with the meanings of spot, speck, dot, water-drop.

Does Sanskrit śukla/śukra 'bright' have any Indo-European (or Indo-Iranian) cognates?

Thanks,
Suresh.
Atlanta, GA.




--
Prof.Nagaraj Paturi
Hyderabad-500044