सखि

Sanskrit

Alternative scripts

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-Iranian *sákʰā, from Proto-Indo-European *sokʷH- (friend, companion), from *sekʷ- (to follow). Cognate with Avestan 𐬵𐬀𐬑𐬌 (haxi, friend), Latin socius (partner, companion), Proto-Germanic *sagjaz (warrior, retainer), Old English secg (man, warrior, hero).

This noun has for the five strong cases a peculiarly strengthened base (vrddhied), namely sákhāy, which in the nominative singular is reduced to sákhā (without ending), and in the other cases takes the normal endings; this declensional paradigm is considered to most faithfully preserve the original declension of PIE *oi-stems. The instrumental and dative singular have the normal endings simply, without inserted n or guṇa; the ablative-genitive singular adds -us; and the locative singular adds -au: the rest exhibits normal endings of the paradigm.

Pronunciation

Noun

सखि • (sákhi) stemm (feminine सखी)

  1. a friend, companion
    Synonyms: मित्र (mitra), हित (hita)
    • c. 1500 BCE – 1000 BCE, Ṛgveda 6.26.8:
      वयं ते अस्यामिन्द्र द्युम्नहूतौ सखायः स्याम महिन प्रेष्ठाः ।
      vayaṃ te asyāmindra dyumnahūtau sakhāyaḥ syāma mahina preṣṭhāḥ.
      O Indra, at this holy invocation, may we be thy friends and thy most beloved.
  2. assistant
  3. the husband of the wife's sister, brother-in-law

Declension

Masculine i-stem declension of सखि
singular dual plural
nominative सखा (sákhā) सखायौ (sákhāyau) सखायः (sákhāyaḥ)
accusative सखायम् (sákhāyam) सखायौ (sákhāyau) सखीन् (sákhīn)
instrumental सख्या (sákhyā) सखिभ्याम् (sákhibhyām) सखिभिः (sákhibhiḥ)
dative सख्ये (sákhye) सखिभ्याम् (sákhibhyām) सखिभ्यः (sákhibhyaḥ)
ablative सख्युः (sákhyuḥ) सखिभ्याम् (sákhibhyām) सखिभ्यः (sákhibhyaḥ)
genitive सख्युः (sákhyuḥ) सख्योः (sákhyoḥ) सखीनाम् (sákhīnām)
locative सख्यौ (sákhyau) सख्योः (sákhyoḥ) सखिषु (sákhiṣu)
vocative सखे (sákhe) सखायौ (sákhāyau) सखायः (sákhāyaḥ)

References

  • Monier Williams (1899) “सखि”, in A Sanskrit–English Dictionary, [], new edition, Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 1130.
  • Mayrhofer, Manfred (1996) Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindoarischen [Etymological Dictionary of Old Indo-Aryan]‎[1] (in German), volume 2, Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag, pages 684-685