Zend Avesta Part 03

SR No.: 007673
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: L H Mills
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1887
Total Pages: 2618
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 49 MB

Page 479

INTRODUCTION.
xiii
Von Roth here translates subh by Fahrt, journey. But does subh ever possess that meaning? Von Roth himself in the Dictionary translates subh by Schönheit, Schmuck, Bereitschaft. Grassmann, otherwise a strict adherent of von Roth, does not venture even to give Bereitschaft, but only endorses Glanz and Pracht. Ludwig, a higher authority than Grassmann, translates subh by Glanz. I say then that to translate subh by Fahrt, journey, may be poetical, but it is not scholarlike. On the meanings of subh I have treated I, 87, 3, note 2. See also Gaedicke, Accusativ, p. 163.
But there comes another consideration. That mimikshire is used in the sense of being joined with splendour, &c. we see from such passages as I, 87, 6, bhânú-bhi sám mimikshire, i. e. ' they were joined with splendour,' and this is said, as in our passage, of the Maruts. Prof. von Roth brings forward no passage where mimikshire is used in the sense in which he uses it here, and therefore I say again, his rendering may be poetical, but it is not scholarlike.
To translate arkanti súshmam by 'das Pfeifen klingt,' is, to say the least, very free. Sushma comes, no doubt, from svas, to breathe, and the transition of meaning from breath to strength is intelligible enough. In the Psalms we read (xviii. 15), 'At the blast of the breath of thy nostrils the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the earth were discovered.' Again (Job iv. 9), 'By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed;' Isaiah xi. 4, ' And with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.' Wrestlers know why breath or wind means strength, and even in the expression' une œuvre de longue haleine,' the original intention of breath is still perceived. In most passages therefore in the Rig-veda where sushma occurs, and where it means strength, prowess, vigour, we may, if we like, translate it by breath, though it is clear that the poet himself was not always aware of the etymological meaning of the word. Where the sound of sushma is mentioned (IX, 50, 1; X, 3, 6, &c.), it means clearly breath. But when, as in VI, 19, 8, sushma has the adjectives dhanasprit, sudáksha, we can hardly translate it by anything but strength. When, therefore,
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