Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-Iranian/kanH-

Perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *kenh₂- (“to be pleased, enjoy”), infixed nasal stem of *keh₂- (“to like, wish”).

*kanH- or *čanH-

1. to love, take pleasure in

• Proto-Indo-Aryan: *kanH-
  • Sanskrit: कन् (kan)
• Proto-Iranian: *kanH-, *čanH- / *činH-
  • Avestan: 𐬐𐬀𐬥- (kan-, “to love, take pleasure in”)
  • Shughni: чу̊н (čū̊n, “please; I swear”) (the existence of this word is uncertain)

• *kanHati
  • Proto-Indo-Aryan: *kanHati
    • Sanskrit: कनति (kanati, “to be pleased with, enjoy”)
• *čánHas (deverbative noun)
  • Proto-Indo-Aryan: *ćánHas
    • Sanskrit: चनस् (cánas, “delight, satisfaction”)
  • Proto-Iranian: *čínHah, *čánHah
    • Avestan: -𐬗𐬌𐬥𐬀𐬵- (-cinah-), -𐬗𐬀𐬥𐬀𐬵- (-canah-, “desire, affection”), in the compounds 𐬀𐬱𐬀-𐬗𐬌𐬥𐬀𐬵- (aša-cinah-, “attached to aša”), 𐬥𐬁𐬌𐬭𐬌-𐬗𐬌𐬥𐬀𐬵- (nāⁱri-cinah-, “desiring a woman/women”), 𐬴𐬀𐬉𐬙𐬋-𐬗𐬌𐬥𐬀𐬵- (ṣ̌aētō-cinah-, “desiring money”), 𐬵𐬀𐬊𐬨𐬀-𐬗𐬌𐬥𐬀- (haoma-cina-, “desiring haoma”), etc.
    • Old Persian: 𐎨𐎴𐏃 (c-n-h /⁠canah-⁠/, “desire”), in the compound 𐎠𐎿𐎱𐎨𐎴𐎠 (a-s-p-c-n-a /⁠Aspacanāʰ⁠/, “a male given name”, literally “lover of horses”) (see there for further descendants)
    • Parthian:

      Manichaean: 𐫢𐫀𐫅𐫝𐫗 (šʾdcn /⁠šād-čan, šād-žan⁠/, “happy, glad”)

    • Sogdian: -𐼿𐼻 (-cn /⁠-čan⁠/, “a morpheme forming future participles; a suffix with the meaning “inclined to; belonging to””), 𐼾𐼰𐽁𐼿𐼻 (pʾšcn /⁠pāš-čan⁠/, “showing reverence”)
    • Khotanese: [script needed] (dirsū-jsinä, “wishing to see”), [script needed] (daṃjanai, “building”) ← *dama-čana-ka- (literally “connected with the building”)
    • Ossetian:

      Iron: -дзинад (-ʒinad, “abstract suffix”); -дзӕн (-ʒæn), -дзын (-ʒyn, “future tense marker”)

      Digor: -дзийнадӕ (-ʒijnadæ, “abstract suffix”); -дзин (-ʒin, “future tense marker”)

    • → Old Armenian: -ճան (-čan)
    • ⇒? Proto-Iranian: *čanHadāru (literally “auspicious tree”)
      • >? Middle Persian: cynʾl (činar, “oriental plane tree”)
      • >? Parthian: *čan(a)dār-
      • >? Georgian: ჭადარი (č̣adari, “plane tree; poplar”), ჭანდარი (č̣andari) — nonstandard
        • → Armenian: ճանդարի (čandari) (Tbilisi)
        • → Mingrelian: ჭანდარი (č̣andari), ჭადარი (č̣adari)
          • → Abkhaz: a-ҷанда́р (a-čʼandár)
        • → Svan: ჭანდა̈რ (č̣andär)
      • >? Middle Armenian: ճանդարի (čandari, “plane tree”), ճանդար (čandar), ճանտարի (čantari), ջանդարի (ǰandari), ջանտարի (ǰantari)
        • Armenian: տնջրի (tnǰri, “plane tree; poplar?”), ճանդար (čandar, “log”)
• Unsorted formations:
  • Sanskrit: चकान (cakāná), चाकन (cākana)
  • Avestan: 𐬗𐬌𐬥𐬬- (cinv-), 𐬗𐬀𐬐𐬀𐬥- (cakan-), 𐬗𐬁𐬑𐬥- (cāxn-), -𐬐𐬁𐬙𐬀- (-kāta-), 𐬐𐬁𐬚𐬉 (kāθē)

Cheung remarks that the nominal derivative *čánHah has become a suffix of "wish" in several languages, semantically comparable to Ancient Greek -φιλος (-philos, “-phile”).

• Rastorgujeva, V. S., Edelʹman, D. I. (2003) “*čan- / *čin-”, in Etimologičeskij slovarʹ iranskix jazykov [Etymological Dictionary of Iranian Languages] (in Russian), volume II, Moscow: Vostochnaya Literatura, pages 217–218
• Edelʹman, D. I. (2011) “*³kan- : *čan- / *čin-”, in Etimologičeskij slovarʹ iranskix jazykov [Etymological Dictionary of Iranian Languages] (in Russian), volume IV, Moscow: Vostochnaya Literatura, pages 216–217
• Cheung, Johnny (2007) Etymological Dictionary of the Iranian Verb (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 2), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 233f
• Mayrhofer, Manfred (1992) Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindoarischen [Etymological Dictionary of Old Indo-Aryan]‎^[3] (in German), volume I, Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag, pages 296f, 528
• Martirosyan, Hrach (2014) “Armenian čandari ‘plane tree’”, in Iran and the Caucasus‎^[4], volume 18, number 1, pages 51–63

A root of unclear origin, possibly from a root Proto-Indo-European *kenh₁- (“to dig”); tentatively cognate with Phrygian [script needed] (keneman, “a monument or a part of it”),^[1][2][3][4] as well as perhaps Lithuanian kója (“leg”).^[5] The unetymological aspiration of the Sanskrit descendants is perhaps from analogy with another word with similar phonetics and semantics, usually assumed to be खा (khā, “source, spring”).^[1]

*kanH- or *čanH-

1. to dig, destroy

• Unsorted formations:
  • Sanskrit: खन् (khan, “to dig”), चात्वाल (cātvāla, “ceremonial hole”)^[6]
  • Persian: کَندَن (kandan, “to dig”), چال (čâl, “pit, hole”),^[6] Persian: آکندن (âkandan, “to fill, bury”)^[4]