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ArchivesWriddhiman, anyone?
Wriddhiman Saha is a new member of the Indian test cricket team, and the longer I look at his name the more delighted and curious I get. I've never seen a 'wr' combination before that didn't go back to a Germanic language, like wrath and wren and write: and now this!
I don't know where in India he comes from, or anything about him except his sporting talent and his remarkable name. But I'd like to!
I don't know where in India he comes from, or anything about him except his sporting talent and his remarkable name. But I'd like to!
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The Sanskrit (and Hindi) sound is actually a labiodental unaspirated consonant, and most people write it as a v, which in English has slightly more aspiration: the w is probably to avoid that. In any case, in Bengali, it is actually pronounced b, so all that is rather academic. The ri is actually the vowel R (as in grrrr, only shortened to a short vowel length), it is ri in most parts of north India, but ru as you come slightly south of that. The d and dh are dental, unaspirated and aspirated, the i is short, and the a is long open (as in English car).
vR is actually quite common in Sanskrit, but the reflex of the sonorant R is often a consonantal r in other Indoeuropean languages, and the conjunct (or sonorant) sometimes appears as a zero-grade ablaut. The Sanskrit v is often cognate with Germanic w. As far as I know that wren is of unknown etymology beyond Germanic (and it used to be werna, the current form is a metathesis), and writing is a new concept, for which I don't know where the w- comes from (the closes Sanskrit is rikh, to scratch), but wrath does go back to ProtoIndoEuropean wer-/wert- to turn, which is also reflected in Sanskrit vRt/vart to turn/revolve/roll.
In any case, the root is vRdh, to increase (grow, be abundant, grow old) appears already in the Vedic period, of unclear origin, but sometimes connected with the Indo-european base wrad- apparent in English root (plant part), radix, and radish. It with the noun-forming suffix -ti (vRddhi = growth, often figuratively, and also in many technical terms), followed by the possesive (or `has' or `causes') suffix -mat: vRddhimat (apart from a technical term in grammar) means somebody who possesses growth, or becomes powerful. The masculine nominative singular is vRddhimAn.
vR is actually quite common in Sanskrit, but the reflex of the sonorant R is often a consonantal r in other Indoeuropean languages, and the conjunct (or sonorant) sometimes appears as a zero-grade ablaut. The Sanskrit v is often cognate with Germanic w. As far as I know that wren is of unknown etymology beyond Germanic (and it used to be werna, the current form is a metathesis), and writing is a new concept, for which I don't know where the w- comes from (the closes Sanskrit is rikh, to scratch), but wrath does go back to ProtoIndoEuropean wer-/wert- to turn, which is also reflected in Sanskrit vRt/vart to turn/revolve/roll.
In any case, the root is vRdh, to increase (grow, be abundant, grow old) appears already in the Vedic period, of unclear origin, but sometimes connected with the Indo-european base wrad- apparent in English root (plant part), radix, and radish. It with the noun-forming suffix -ti (vRddhi = growth, often figuratively, and also in many technical terms), followed by the possesive (or `has' or `causes') suffix -mat: vRddhimat (apart from a technical term in grammar) means somebody who possesses growth, or becomes powerful. The masculine nominative singular is vRddhimAn.
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Oops checked the bengali spelling: the name is pure r- not wr- or br-, so not clear why he writes it with a wr.
The root is then from Rdh, which means the same as (and may be alternate form of vRdh), and is also very old. Rddhi, however, has more of the connotation of prosperity rather than growth, and so is more suited for name use than vRddhi, even though they mean the same.
In some Bengali pronounications, the initial vowel R is more like Rhi than Ri. As I already mentioned, elsewhere in India today it may be Ru instead. But, Wr is definitely creative, or some local convention.
The root is then from Rdh, which means the same as (and may be alternate form of vRdh), and is also very old. Rddhi, however, has more of the connotation of prosperity rather than growth, and so is more suited for name use than vRddhi, even though they mean the same.
In some Bengali pronounications, the initial vowel R is more like Rhi than Ri. As I already mentioned, elsewhere in India today it may be Ru instead. But, Wr is definitely creative, or some local convention.
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I was at a Bengali gathering just now, and most people there thought that the wr is an attempt to represent the sonorant R. The common explanation was that the current Bengali pronunciation of R sounds close to the British wr in writ etc., and hence the usage.
So, you were rght to start with: it is the Germanic wr after all.
Apologies for two followups to my own post.
So, you were rght to start with: it is the Germanic wr after all.
Apologies for two followups to my own post.
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I'm always delighted to hear from you ... the more, the merrier!
Thank you so much for, as usual, a thorough and scholarly answer. By the way, so far I haven't heard any radio commentator, Indian or not, try to pronounce Wriddhiman, which isn't surprising really, but when they do, I'll be properly prepared.
All the best
Thank you so much for, as usual, a thorough and scholarly answer. By the way, so far I haven't heard any radio commentator, Indian or not, try to pronounce Wriddhiman, which isn't surprising really, but when they do, I'll be properly prepared.
All the best
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