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were meant to be simultaneously valid, we must again admit that Yāska's etymologies were not intended as descriptions of the histories of the words concerned" (p. 7).
M. A. MEHENDALE
Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune 411 004 India
NOTES
As pointed out by the author, this is also the view of J. Gonda, "The Etymologies in the ancient Indian Brahmanas" Lingua S.43. 2 Nir. 7.14. 3 of the two, either aftj is valid or dah- at a time, and not the two together. 4 Gonda says that Durga on Nir. 1.14. has "attempted to show that the derivation of a single word from a plurality of roots was already in vogue in the Brahmanas" (Lingua 5.72). But Durga's expression anekadhatujāni there refers to the Brahmanical derivation of the three sounds in the word hrdaya from three roots hr, das, and 1. It is thus a case similar to the derivation of agni referred to above, and not of nighantu.
Madhu Vidya/160
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