Mahavira Jain Vidyalay Suvarna Mahotsav Granth Part 1

Author(s): Mahavir Jain Vidyalaya Mumbai
Publisher: Mahavir Jain Vidyalay

Page 655

186 : SHRI MAHAVIRA JAINA VIDYALAYA GOLDEN JUBILEE VOLUME
comparisons are not reliable. Formally Skt. nå'ka- and Goth. nehwacorrespond exactly to each other, as descendants from an Indo-European * nēkwo-. It is possible that a formation of no or better of I.-E. *nē, ne in apophony with it, is contained also in Sanskrit nédīyān nédisthas, Avestan nazdyo adv. nazdišta- (on which s. Mayrhofer, op. cit. p. 179), further in Oscan-Umbrian nessimo-, Old Irish nessam (cp. my Lingue dell' Italia antica, 2d ed. 1964, p. 138), etc.
We might now ask : has this Indo-European adjective *nēkwoacquired his meaning 'firmament, sky' at first in Rgveda? Or is it possible that this meaning did arise already in some Indo-European dialects? It is impossible to answer unhesitatingly this question; anyhow I would like to remember that Tokharian has a word, A ñkät, Bñakte which means 'god' and could be a derivation by suffix -to-from *nekwo- : the palatalisation to be seen in ñ indicates that after the original n there was originally a front vowel, ē or e. In this case, ñkät/ ñakte would have meant originally celestial, inhabitant of the firmament', as a cast of *deiwo- (Sanskrit devá-s, Latin dīvus deus, Lithuanian dievas, etc.), which is a derivation of dyew- (Sanskrit dyáus Greek Zeús, Latin diēs etc.) 'sky, heaven'.
CIENCIC
POLITICAL
Ubook