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ArchivesRe: Find meaning of name
in reply to a message by Preshni Govender
I have what I think is a good guess. Please let me know if you find out that this is incorrect.
Cognate with Greek πρεκνο΄ς and perhaps related to a cluster of Sanskrit roots like pRS, pruS, and vRS meaning to sprinkle, rain, or get wet (and with varied cognates like the root of English freeze), there is a very old word called pR'shni. The stressed vowel R is what one would use in imitating the ring (rrrrrng) of an old style telephone, the sh roughly as in English sugar or sure. Its original meaning seemed to be speckled or spotted and was used approvingly of cows, the main source of wealth and happiness of the ancient nomadic herders who seem to have been responsible for the cultural traits which gave rise to a large part of the roots of Hinduism reflected in the ancient Indian texts called the vedas. It also seems to have developed an offshoot meaning of small, but the main development was the figurative development with the cow symbolizing the source of milk, and all nourishment, and the word pRshni was used, as well, to mean milk, and earth, and clouds, and a starry sky and, rarely, even a ray of light coming out of the clouds, or a water plant (http://aquat1.ifas.ufl.edu/pistpic.html).
Mythologically, a large number of characters carried this name (e.g.
a reincarnation of devakI, the mother of kRSNa; the mother of the maruts, the spirits of the winds; and the wife od savitA, the sun god who propels us to consciousness) and it was the family name of some holy men.
The vowel R has undergone a lot of modification in various Indian languages. In Sanskrit itself, it had sometimes become ra; in many modern Indian languages it sounds either like ri or like ru. I am guessing the re is just another form of the same.
Cognate with Greek πρεκνο΄ς and perhaps related to a cluster of Sanskrit roots like pRS, pruS, and vRS meaning to sprinkle, rain, or get wet (and with varied cognates like the root of English freeze), there is a very old word called pR'shni. The stressed vowel R is what one would use in imitating the ring (rrrrrng) of an old style telephone, the sh roughly as in English sugar or sure. Its original meaning seemed to be speckled or spotted and was used approvingly of cows, the main source of wealth and happiness of the ancient nomadic herders who seem to have been responsible for the cultural traits which gave rise to a large part of the roots of Hinduism reflected in the ancient Indian texts called the vedas. It also seems to have developed an offshoot meaning of small, but the main development was the figurative development with the cow symbolizing the source of milk, and all nourishment, and the word pRshni was used, as well, to mean milk, and earth, and clouds, and a starry sky and, rarely, even a ray of light coming out of the clouds, or a water plant (http://aquat1.ifas.ufl.edu/pistpic.html).
Mythologically, a large number of characters carried this name (e.g.
a reincarnation of devakI, the mother of kRSNa; the mother of the maruts, the spirits of the winds; and the wife od savitA, the sun god who propels us to consciousness) and it was the family name of some holy men.
The vowel R has undergone a lot of modification in various Indian languages. In Sanskrit itself, it had sometimes become ra; in many modern Indian languages it sounds either like ri or like ru. I am guessing the re is just another form of the same.
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