शिंशुमार
Sanskrit
Alternative forms
- शिशुमार (śiśumāra) — Epic Sanskrit, Classical Sanskrit
- शुंशुमार (śuṃśumāra)
- शिंशुक (śiṃśuka), शिशुक (śiśuka) — Classical Sanskrit
- शुशुका (śuśukā) — Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit
- शि॒शूल॑ (śiśū́la) — Vedic
Etymology
Unknown; probably borrowed from substrate.[1][2]
The following hypotheses have been put forth:
- Lüders' proposal relating -मार॑ (-mā́ra) to मक॑र (mákara, “sea monster, crocodile”); rejected by Mayrhofer.
- Thieme's derivation from शिशुम् (śiśum, “child”, acc.sg) + *आर (*āra) (related to Latin alere (“to raise, nourish”)); rejected by Edgerton,[3] Mayrhofer, and Turner. But note Thieme's response offering additional evidence for the root अर् (ar) ~ अल् (al, “to satisfy”).[4]
- Some relationship with Tamil கிஞ்சுமாரம் (kiñcumāram), கிஞ்சுமம் (kiñcumam), கிஞ்சி (kiñci, “crocodile”); tentatively listed by Mayrhofer.
In later Sanskrit, the term was folk-etymologically modified to शिशु (śiśu, “baby, infant”) + मार (māra, “killing”), literally “baby-killer”.[5]
Pronunciation
- (Vedic) IPA(key): /ɕĩ.ɕu.mɑ́ː.ɾɐ/
- (Classical Sanskrit) IPA(key): /ɕĩ.ɕu.mɑː.ɾɐ/
Noun
शिं॒शु॒मार॑ • (śiṃśumā́ra) stem, m [6]
- South Asian river dolphin (Platanistidae spp.)
- c. 1500 BCE – 1000 BCE, Ṛgveda 1.116.18:
- यदया॑तं॒ दिवो॑दासाय व॒र्तिर्भ॒रद्वा॑जायाश्विना॒ हय॑न्ता ।
रे॒वदु॑वाह सच॒नो रथो॑ वां वृष॒भश्च॑ शिंशु॒मार॑श्च यु॒क्ता ॥- yádáyātaṃ dívodāsāya vartírbharádvājāyāśvinā háyantā.
reváduvāha sacanó rátho vāṃ vṛṣabháśca śiṃśumā́raśca yuktā́.
- 1890 translation by Ralph T. H. Griffith
- When to his house ye came, to Divodâsa, hasting to Bharadvâja, O ye Aṣvins, The car that came with you brought splendid riches: a porpoise and a bull were yoked together.
- yádáyātaṃ dívodāsāya vartírbharádvājāyāśvinā háyantā.
- यदया॑तं॒ दिवो॑दासाय व॒र्तिर्भ॒रद्वा॑जायाश्विना॒ हय॑न्ता ।
- mugger crocodile (Crocodylus palustris)
Declension
| singular | dual | plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | शिंशुमारः (śíṃśumā́raḥ) | शिंशुमारौ (śíṃśumā́rau) शिंशुमारा¹ (śíṃśumā́rā¹) |
शिंशुमाराः (śíṃśumā́rāḥ) शिंशुमारासः¹ (śíṃśumā́rāsaḥ¹) |
| accusative | शिंशुमारम् (śíṃśumā́ram) | शिंशुमारौ (śíṃśumā́rau) शिंशुमारा¹ (śíṃśumā́rā¹) |
शिंशुमारान् (śíṃśumā́rān) |
| instrumental | शिंशुमारेण (śíṃśumā́reṇa) | शिंशुमाराभ्याम् (śíṃśumā́rābhyām) | शिंशुमारैः (śíṃśumā́raiḥ) शिंशुमारेभिः¹ (śíṃśumā́rebhiḥ¹) |
| dative | शिंशुमाराय (śíṃśumā́rāya) | शिंशुमाराभ्याम् (śíṃśumā́rābhyām) | शिंशुमारेभ्यः (śíṃśumā́rebhyaḥ) |
| ablative | शिंशुमारात् (śíṃśumā́rāt) | शिंशुमाराभ्याम् (śíṃśumā́rābhyām) | शिंशुमारेभ्यः (śíṃśumā́rebhyaḥ) |
| genitive | शिंशुमारस्य (śíṃśumā́rasya) | शिंशुमारयोः (śíṃśumā́rayoḥ) | शिंशुमाराणाम् (śíṃśumā́rāṇām) |
| locative | शिंशुमारे (śíṃśumā́re) | शिंशुमारयोः (śíṃśumā́rayoḥ) | शिंशुमारेषु (śíṃśumā́reṣu) |
| vocative | शिंशुमार (śíṃśumā́ra) | शिंशुमारौ (śíṃśumā́rau) शिंशुमारा¹ (śíṃśumā́rā¹) |
शिंशुमाराः (śíṃśumā́rāḥ) शिंशुमारासः¹ (śíṃśumā́rāsaḥ¹) |
- ¹Vedic
Descendants
- Pali: suṁsumāra
- Prakrit: 𑀲𑀼𑀁𑀲𑀼𑀫𑀸𑀭 (suṃsumāra), 𑀲𑀼𑀲𑀼𑀫𑀸𑀭 (susumāra) (see there for further descendants)
References
- ^ Mayrhofer, Manfred (1976) “śíśumā́raḥ”, in Kurzgefasstes Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindischen [A Concise Etymological Sanskrit Dictionary][1] (in German), volume III, Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag, page 346
- ^ Turner, Ralph Lilley (1969–1985) “śiṁśumā́ra”, in A Comparative Dictionary of the Indo-Aryan Languages, London: Oxford University Press, page 720
- ^ Edgerton, Franklin (1959) “Review of Altindische Grammatik; Introduction générale; Nachträge zu Band I, (and) zu Band II. 1; Nachträge zum Abkürzungsverzeichnis von Band II. 2, by J. Wackernagel, L. Renou, & A. Debrunner”, in Journal of the American Oriental Society[2], volume 79, number 1, page 45
- ^ Thieme, Paul (1994) “On M. Mayrhofer's "Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindoarischen"”, in Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London[3], volume 57, number 2, pages 321–328
- ^ Mayrhofer, Manfred (1996) “śiśumā́ra-”, in Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindoarischen [Etymological Dictionary of Old Indo-Aryan][4] (in German), volume II, Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag, page 641
- ^ Monier Williams (1899) “शिंशुमार”, in A Sanskrit–English Dictionary, […], new edition, Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 1069.
Further reading
- Hellwig, Oliver (2010–2025) “śiṃśumāra”, in DCS - The Digital Corpus of Sanskrit, Berlin, Germany.