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ArchivesRe: What is the meaning of Indian name Ushoshi?
in reply to a message by ajay
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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