अष्ठीवत्
Sanskrit
Etymology
From Proto-Indo-Aryan *HaṣṭʰiHwánts, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *HastčiHwánts. Cognate with Old Armenian ճիւ (čiw).
Lubotsky suggests that this word was certainly influenced by अस्थि (ásthi, “bone”), in part due to the rare cluster -ṣṭh-, possibly reflecting an earlier Rigvedic astcīvát.
Pronunciation
- (Vedic) IPA(key): /ɐʂ.ʈʰiː.ʋɐ́t/
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ɐʂˈʈʰiː.ʋɐt̪/
Noun
अष्ठीवत् • (aṣṭhīvát) m (Vedic astcīvát)
- shank, shin
Usage notes
As shown by Lubotsky, the correct meaning is “shank, shin”, not “the knees”, as is usually thought.
Descendants
- Early Assamese: আণ্ঠু (aṇṭhu)
- Assamese: আঁঠু (ãthu), আণ্ঠু (anthu)
- Bengali: হাঁটু (hãṭu)
- Sylheti: ꠀꠑꠥ (aṭú)
References
- Lubotsky, Alexander (2002), “The Indo-Iranian Word for ‘shank, shin’”, in Journal of the American Oriental Society, volume 122, issue 2, pages 318–324