A Comparative Grammar of the Modern Aryan Languages of India v3.c19.72

v3.c19.72

A few special remarks are due to a very widespread word which is claimed by the Non-Aryan writers, अडे, अरे or रे. This is used to call inferiors, to rebuke impertinence, in scolding or quarrelling, and in most languages takes also a feminine form अडी, डी, री. Dr. Caldwell shows¹ that this word is also in use in the Dravidian group, and is there understood to mean “O slave!” Hemachandra, however (ii, 201), knows it as used in addressing (sambhâshaṇe), and in dalliance (ratikalahe). For reproach (kshepe) he prescribes हरे. I do not dispute the Non-Aryan origin of this word, but it must have found its way into Aryan speech at a very early date, and has there, to a great extent, lost its sense of rebuke, for it is often used merely to call attention, and in friendly condescension to an inferior, and there has sprung up beside it a form अबे, used also in the same tone. The interchange of ड and र need cause no difficulty, being, especially in early writers, extremely common. There does not appear to be any Sanskrit origin for this word, and the fact that in the Dravidian group it can be traced to a definite meaning, is one which carries great weight.