________________
VEDIC GHRAMSÁ-« HEAT OF THE SUN, ARDHAMAGADHI GHIMSU « BURNING HEAT", JAINA MAHARASTRI
GHIM- " HOT SEASON".
Ву COLETTE CAILLAT
In a list of lexemes and formations common to both Vedic and Prakrit, Pi (86) registers “ AMg. ghimsu, ved. ghramsa", an equation which, though not totally acceptable as such, nevertheless paves the way to the more convincing etymology “ ghimsu. m. heat' rather < *GHRMSU.", as proposed by R. L. Turner (IAL 4391; 4530).
As a matter of fact, Charpentier rightly underlined that, if only from a phonetic point of view, Pi's conjecture is unsatisfactory (Utt p. 285, ad Utt 2.8). Hence, starting from the equivalence commonly alleged by the Jaiga commentaries, viz. ghimsu = grişme, “in the hot (season)" (cf. infra ), Charpentier prefers to take ghimsu as “a loc. pl. ghrmsú, from ved. ghrams[sic), cp. pumsú- / ., and māsú / ./ (cp. māssú, ".
In favour of this etymology, it is true it could be argued that a gen. pl. appears to be at the origin of pa. gimhāna (< gimhāna( m ) māse, Sadd V 1359, s. v. gimha ( grişma ] ); moreover it could be pointed to the common pa. dvandva hemanta-gimhisu, undoubtedly a loc. pl., « in summer and winter ". Novertheless, Charpentior's suggestion is complicated and would need further justification (cf. L. Alsdorf, IIJ 2 (1958), 269; infra). As it is, it is an attempt to elucidate two questions, one pertaining to grammar, the other to semantics : in both respects, there is an objection to be made.
First, it is generally accepted that ghráms (AV 7. 18. 2a; padap. ghrán) results in fact from an haplology, from ghramsás.1 Secondly ghramsás never denotes the hot season or summer, but refers to the sun's burning heat, or possibly sunshine, which, in the RV as in the AV is eventually opposed
Abbreviations used are listed at the end.
1. AIG 3. 80'( ná) ghrims (tatapa nd himo jaghāna) AV 7, 18, 2A (Padap. ghron) aus Nsg ghramado "nicht Hitze brannte, nicht Kälte schlug", vgl. 13, 1, 480-d tdsmad ghramads tásma dhimds tásmäd yajno 'jayata" daraus entstand die Hitze, die Kälte, das Opter”.
2. Grassmann, Wört. zum Rig Veda, 9. v. : 1) Son Denglut: 2) Sonnenbello, Sonnenschein. Cf. PW . v. -AiG 2. 2. 922 : 6" Sonnenglut" vgl. bret. groez" id, " (aus *ghren-ge). EWA 1 364 " Sonnenglut / heat of the sun ".