Difficulties of Sanskrit drapsá- ‘drop’ from Proto-Indo-European *dherebh- / *dhrebh-(so-): ‘analogical (original) ps’?
Dr. Mirushe Hoxha,
Faculty of Philology “Blaze Konseki,” “Ss. Cyril and Methodius University” (UKIM), North Macedonia
The second opinion of Mayrhofer (1992, pp. 754-755) on Sanskrit (Skr.) drapsá- differs from his first opinion on this word (1963, pp. 71-72). In his second etymology, Mayrhofer (1992, ibid.) traces back the original meanings of Skr. drapsá- to Proto-Indo-European (PIE.) *dreb- ‘to tremble, quiver’; under one condition, Avestan (Av.) drafša-, the equivalent of Skr. drapsá-, is from PIE. *dreb- as well (ibid., p. 754). This marks the scholar’s withdrawal of his first opinion on the different meanings of Skr. drapsá- from more than one older root, its meaning ‘drop’ from PIE. *dhrebh-so- (Mayrhofer, 1963, ibid.). Main references of the old etymology of Mayrhofer (ibid.) are Uhlenbeck’s (1898/1899, p. 131) reconstructed *dhrabzha-, and Pokorny’s (1959, p. 257) PIE. *dherebh- ‘to harden’. The present study aims to illuminate an issue that is missing from the debates: meaning ‘drop’ of Skr. drapsá- from PIE. *dherebh- / *dhrebh-so- / *dhrabzha- results with the origin of its cluster -ps- from an ‘analogical original ps’ alternating with ‘analogical ps’, while the ‘analogical (original) ps’ in Skr. drapsá- contradicts the most attested meaning of this word, viz. ‘drop’. Unfortunately, we still prefer to refer to the old etymology of Pokorny (ibid., 257; 211); consequently, etymology of Av. drafša- (out of it Middle Persian drafš, New Persian derafš) remains rather floating. Arguments on the doubtfulness of ‘analogical (original) ps’ in Skr. drapsá- ‘drop’ serve also as an introduction to the plausibility of Av. drafša- and Skr. drapsá- from PIE. *dreb- (from PIE. *der-3 ‘to run’) + *-s-, as opposed to their equally doubtful origin from PIE. *drep- (from PIE. *der-4 ‘to cut’) + *-s-.
Keywords: etymology, drapsá-, *dherebh-, *dhrebh-so-, *dhrabzha-, ‘analogical (original) ps’, *drep-, *dreb-, drafša-.
The above abstract is a part of the article which was accepted at The Eighth International Conference on Languages, Linguistics, Translation and Literature (WWW.LLLD.IR), 14-15 February 2023, Ahwaz.