Re: Searching origin of Indian name Riya/Rita/Rina
in reply to a message by Jae
Many thanks for your response.
About Riya/Ria my main question is about the authenticity of those meanings. They are not Sanskrit, does anyone know which language they are. I had emailed the authors of a number of websites quoting those meanings without response.
I do know that in Sanskrit, there is a Rita (with a different spelling, and often different pronounciations in various parts of the country) which means the straight path or the true way of life. In the spelling it is used, it could also be related to words meaning path. Similarly Rina does mean dissolved in Sanskrit.
The question was whether these names as used in India (in particular in Bengal, if that matters) are of Sanskrit origin, or whether they were borrowed from English during the colonial period. The reason I ask is that I haven't found these names in literature from antiquity, and modern names taken from Sanskrit usually take a grammatically attested form. Rita does not fall into that class. For Rina, Sanskrit origin is more possible, but I still doubt it since meanings like `dissolved' have fallen out of favour in the modern age; so, a different origin should, at least, be considered.
Any more opinions? Especially for Riya/Ria?
Thanks again
Tanmoy
About Riya/Ria my main question is about the authenticity of those meanings. They are not Sanskrit, does anyone know which language they are. I had emailed the authors of a number of websites quoting those meanings without response.
I do know that in Sanskrit, there is a Rita (with a different spelling, and often different pronounciations in various parts of the country) which means the straight path or the true way of life. In the spelling it is used, it could also be related to words meaning path. Similarly Rina does mean dissolved in Sanskrit.
The question was whether these names as used in India (in particular in Bengal, if that matters) are of Sanskrit origin, or whether they were borrowed from English during the colonial period. The reason I ask is that I haven't found these names in literature from antiquity, and modern names taken from Sanskrit usually take a grammatically attested form. Rita does not fall into that class. For Rina, Sanskrit origin is more possible, but I still doubt it since meanings like `dissolved' have fallen out of favour in the modern age; so, a different origin should, at least, be considered.
Any more opinions? Especially for Riya/Ria?
Thanks again
Tanmoy