Apologies to list members for my confused second paragraph. To clarify my questions --

1. Is there a Pāṇinian way to derive vidūṣaka from vidvāṁs, given that samprasāraṇa gives a short u where we want a long one? I don't think so, but ...

2. Is there any other way to derive vidūṣaka from vidvāṁs -- perhaps involving some speculative etymologizing?

Many thanks to Professor Cardona for filling out the derivation of vidūṣaka from the causative of √duṣ. In this prakriyā, the required long ū comes nicely from 6.4.90, doṣo ṇau.

Thank you again,

Jo

On Wed, Oct 5, 2016 at 5:31 AM, Jo Brill <josephine.brill@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear friends,

I have been asked whether vidūṣaka could be derived from the vidvāṁs, the perfect participle made with kvasu – to mean something like ‘little genius’ or ‘wiseacre’ or ‘smart alec.’

It is a fun idea, and in a way more appealing than the dictionary definition of ‘wicked person,’ ‘corrupter’ (from vi-√duṣ+ṇic+ṇvul). But, I don’t see any Pāṇinian way, at least, to lengthen the ū in the course of such a derivation; samprasāraṇa via 6.4.131 instead yields short u.

Can anyone shed light? Perhaps some writers or commentators in the dramaturgical literature offer etymologies for technical terms?

Many thanks, and apologies for the naive errors I have likely made.

Jo

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