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ArchivesRe: New names I've come across -- mixed bag
in reply to a message by Cleveland Kent Evans
The meaning of Niraj given in that book is highly suspect. There is indeed a root rAj meaning to rule, be resplendant, glitter, or shine; probably originally connected to raj/ranj/Rnj with clear cognates in Greek and meaning to colour, feel emotion, dye, illuminate, decorate, set straight etc. There is also a prefix nis/nir which gives the sense of away etc., and often strengthens the meaning of verbs and nouns with slightly negative or causative meanings. nIrAja from that can indeed mean to illuminate, but I have never seen that spelling as the name.
The name is nIraja (long -I-, first short schwa -a-, last silent -a). This word has an obscure meaning derived from the same root ranj: that word gave rise to various words like rakta (`coloured' but meaning blood), rAga (`colour' but could also mean a pattern of song and strong emotion), and raja (`glitterring' but dust or the female genitive principle). nIraja from the same nir/nis could mean a woman not menstruating, but also dust or emotion free, and is used as an epithet for the emotionless, meditative, destroyer amongst the trinity, and this probably contributed at some point in the history of the name.
The meaning most people will, however, recognize, comes from the word nIra, water, whose connection to the root nI, to lead is not clear. the element -ja comes from jan, cognate with the root of genesis, to be born, and nIraja means water-born and is commonly recognized as a word for lotus or water lily, and is the seat of the goddess of wealth.
vINA is indeed the seven stringed two-gourded nineteen-fretted Indian lute with a compass of two octaves. The word is of uncertain origin, and the actual number of strings and its compass can vary depending on design. In modern east Indian pronounciation the labio-dental v- becomes the bilabial b- and the difference between the retroflex -N- and the dental -n- is lost. Furthermore the difference between long -I- and short -i- is lost, so we can get binA.
The name is nIraja (long -I-, first short schwa -a-, last silent -a). This word has an obscure meaning derived from the same root ranj: that word gave rise to various words like rakta (`coloured' but meaning blood), rAga (`colour' but could also mean a pattern of song and strong emotion), and raja (`glitterring' but dust or the female genitive principle). nIraja from the same nir/nis could mean a woman not menstruating, but also dust or emotion free, and is used as an epithet for the emotionless, meditative, destroyer amongst the trinity, and this probably contributed at some point in the history of the name.
The meaning most people will, however, recognize, comes from the word nIra, water, whose connection to the root nI, to lead is not clear. the element -ja comes from jan, cognate with the root of genesis, to be born, and nIraja means water-born and is commonly recognized as a word for lotus or water lily, and is the seat of the goddess of wealth.
vINA is indeed the seven stringed two-gourded nineteen-fretted Indian lute with a compass of two octaves. The word is of uncertain origin, and the actual number of strings and its compass can vary depending on design. In modern east Indian pronounciation the labio-dental v- becomes the bilabial b- and the difference between the retroflex -N- and the dental -n- is lost. Furthermore the difference between long -I- and short -i- is lost, so we can get binA.
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