I have decided to upload a draft of my RUSSIAN – SANSKRIT DICTIONARY OF COMMON AND COGNATE WORDS which is the result of some eight years of work. This dictionary has been conceived as a practical reference book with the objective of providing factual material for researchers in the field of the Indo-European linguistics or anyone interested in etymology, semantics and the origin of the Indo-European, particularly, Slavonic languages. Compiling a dictionary is time-consuming and it is a mammoth task to do for a single person. The first draft published here is only a rough approximation. It contains only 488 entries, which is about a quarter of the planned volume, and still lacks some essential parts in the Introduction section. The entries have not yet been properly proof-read and I am constantly updating the comments.
You may access the text at my page on Academia.edu
Although this work is titled ‘Dictionary’ it is neither a traditional Russian-Sanskrit dictionary nor a formal etymological dictionary, but rather a catalogue of various cognate, common or otherwise connected Russian and Sanskrit words, arranged is a systematic way with cross-references, explanatory notes, links to other Slavonic and Indo-European languages, indexes and other features aimed at making it a valuable and convenient reference book. The specific task called for employing both Cyrillic and Devanagarī scripts throughout the book because transliteration, however elaborate, cannot fully replace the native writing system. Since it is unlikely that every reader would be proficient in both scripts, each word is accompanied by a conventional transliteration.
In writing this book I endeavoured to go through all major works dedicated to this issue starting from the discovery of Sanskrit and its relation to the European languages in general, and particularly to Slavonic, covering the period from the 17th century up to the modern days. Each proposed cognate word has been carefully evaluated, checked through various dictionaries and, sometimes, re-linked or rejected. This method provided some eight hundred pairs that made the back-bone of the dictionary. The rest of the cognate pairs (about another thousand two hundred) are the result of many years of scrupulous research.
Many cognate pairs are obvious, some need more or less detailed explanations and might be difficult to apprehend without some basic knowledge of the principal linguistic concepts and terms. This is why the dictionary is prefaced by an Introduction containing some essential information about the Russian and Sanskrit languages and their phonetic and grammatical features with particular attention to the principal rules of sound correlation. This section is now in work and it is not included in this draft.
I would be grateful for any constructive criticism or comments. If you would like to support this project there are several ways of helping me with the work:
- report any spelling or other mistakes that you have noticed
- suggest any other cognate pairs
- check the various cognates I mention in Slavonic and other languages if they happen to be in your native language
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September 6, 2014 at 20:26
EastPole
Thank you very much for this dictionary. It is very important for everybody interested in linguistics and Slavic and Indo-Iranian languages. I hope to be able to contribute myself as well as to get others interested.
http://www.forumbiodiversity.com/showthread.php/42932-Russian-%E2%80%93-sanskrit-dictionary-of-common-and-cognate-words?p=1157362&viewfull=1#post1157362
EastPole
September 6, 2014 at 20:32
borissoff
Thank you! I would be very grateful if you could go through the Polish cognates and check the spelling, accents etc. It is a non-commercial project but I plan to add a page of acknowledgements for people giving active help.
September 8, 2014 at 21:48
gbuk2013
Maybe a good idea to add a “Draft” watermark to the document to make it obvious to people that haven’t read you post (Google will eventually index the PDF).
Something like this: https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/118939/add-watermark-that-overlays-the-images
September 9, 2014 at 05:28
borissoff
Thank you! It is a good idea, although I do state clearly in the Foreword that it is still a draft. I shall check how I can add it to my LaTeX document.
September 9, 2014 at 05:35
borissoff
Thanks! It works. I have now replaced the current version on Academia with the one with the watermark (version 5.1)
October 17, 2014 at 05:19
alex dew
Thank you for ryk wiedza (ऋग्वेद) this out, I feel I have become budzić (बुद्ध) but you have to admit when there’s dym ( धूम) there’s ogień ( अग्नि) sorry I will stop I know.
It looks like the affinity is obvious, but what’s really exciting is that instead of being yet another “Sanskrit to Europe” book I find it gives more understanding of Sanskrit itself and yes I agree Baltic and Slavic are clearly different it’s unfortunate scholars clump things together overnight which take’s year’s to undo.
Can you tell me are słowo speakers/academics becoming interested in this subject and is there any other research that your aware of that looks further into possible link’s through religion, trading or on the ground archaeology in Russia & neighbours today?
I have been interested in eastern European history for a while now I know it’s off subject but can you direct me to any new theories or ones of your own/colleagues for the possible meaning of river names in Ukraine especially the Dnieper and Dniester?
I am aware of Vasmer and Abaev’s theories but find them far fetched and inadequate.
Regards Alex
October 17, 2014 at 11:41
borissoff
I travel this week. Will reply next week
November 1, 2014 at 11:46
borissoff
Dear Alex, I cannot give you any links now. I should say that such research has not been very popular among Russian scholars for man reasons. I shall let you know whenever I come across anything in this field. I hope you have read my new article about Xors.
As for the river names, frankly, I try to avoid etymologising proper names. In my dictionary there are very few of them and I assign them the lowest rating (2). However, as far as Dnieper and Dniester are concerned I am inclined to consider Skt. (Vedic.) dhuni mfn. roaring, sounding, boisterous (the Maruts, rivers, the Soma &c.) as the possible element of these river-names rather than the conventional dānu `fluid, drop, dew’ favoured by Vasmer. In my view this suits better the nature of these rives abounding in rapids.
January 4, 2016 at 19:17
Sylvia Matušíková
Господа Борисов, I have found a mistake: page 39, Ukr. díty дíти, OSl. děti дѣти, Bulg. djàna дя̀на; Srb. djе̏ti дjе̏ти; Sln. dėtí ;
Cz. díti; Slk. diat’, Pl. dziać; USrb. dźeć v. ‘weave, spin’, LSrb. źaś ‘id.’.
Right Slovak word for “to put” is “DAŤ”. DIAŤ means “to take place, делаться
January 4, 2016 at 20:48
borissoff
Dear Sylvya, I really appreciate your help! This is still a rough draft and Slavonic cognates section needs to be thoroughly checked. I shall check it and do the corrections.
February 24, 2018 at 15:27
New draft of the Russian-Sanskrit Dictionary released | borissoff
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