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ArchivesWhat is the meaning of Indian name Ushoshi?
I heard this name of a Bengali girl.
I wondered why the Frisbee was getting bigger, and then it hit me.
I wondered why the Frisbee was getting bigger, and then it hit me.
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Replies
uS means to burn, and uSas is the morning light or twilight in general (cognate to the first element in aurora). In Sanskrit, the particular feminine form uSasI I have heard particularized to the evening twilight only, but I doubt that is where the name came from: most likely it is a modern feminine from uSas, dawn, made to use as a woman's name.
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So it could perhaps be used to mean either Dawn or Eve! Delightful, but not particularly specific ...
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As I said, it normally means dawn.
In fact,the dawn/evening ambiguity exists also for the common word for evening in Sanskrit: sandhyA. That comes from a word which means to join (sam- together dhi to establish). There were three joins in a twenty four hour period: when the morning met afternoon (midday), when afternoon met night (evening), and when night met morning (dawn). The word is today used almost exclusively (except in the phrase tri-sandhyA three joins) for evening.
In English, twilight has a similar ambiguous connotation, though it is used more often for the evening than for dawn.
In fact,the dawn/evening ambiguity exists also for the common word for evening in Sanskrit: sandhyA. That comes from a word which means to join (sam- together dhi to establish). There were three joins in a twenty four hour period: when the morning met afternoon (midday), when afternoon met night (evening), and when night met morning (dawn). The word is today used almost exclusively (except in the phrase tri-sandhyA three joins) for evening.
In English, twilight has a similar ambiguous connotation, though it is used more often for the evening than for dawn.
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