Dear colleagues,

I would refer you to the most recent etymological handbooks:

Mayrhofer's Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindoarischen, Vol. I (Heidelberg, 1992) pp. 778-780 derives Vedic dhárman- 'Stütze, fester Halt, feststehende Ordnung, Gesetz' and derivatives as nominal derivatives to Vedic √dhar- 'halten, festhalten' and ultimately to PIE *dʰer- 'make firm, fix' (cf. Rix et al. Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben 2e pp.145-146 for further cognates).

As for Proto-Germanic *dōma- 'verdict, evaluation' on the other hand, it is typically derived from PIE *dʰoh₁-mo-, a derivative of PIE *dʰeh₁- 'to put, place', cf. Orel, A Handbook of Germanic Etymology (Leiden, 2003) p.73, Kroonen, Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden, 2013) p.98, and, e.g., Lehmann, A Gothic Etymological Dictionary (Leiden, 1986) p.93.

As such, the similarity between Vedic dhárman- and English doom is a chance resemblance with no common etymology linking the two together, not even as a root etymology.

I hope you find this email is helpful.

Kind regards,

Matthew Scarborough

On 2019-08-18 21:23, Simon Brodbeck via INDOLOGY wrote:

Dear colleagues,

 

Can anyone comment on the etymological link (if any) between the word "doom" and the word "dharma"?

 

Thanks in advance ...

 

Simon Brodbeck

Cardiff University

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