The Orion, or Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas c11.94

c11.94

verb nathan, nath, nethum, and divided as nid-ar, ar being a comparative termination. (Bopp, Com. Gr. Eng. Tr. 1860, Vol. I., p 382). K. Brugmann compares Sk. nediyas with Av. nazd-yah meaning 'nearer,' and derives the words from nazd (ni down and ad to sit). Cf. Sk. nīḍa Lat. nīdus, O. Ir. net, O H. G. nest = a resting place (Comp. Gr. i., § 591, ii. §§ 4, 135). Both Bopp and Brugmann do not propose any new meaning of nediyas. But it is evident that whichsoever derivation we adopt the word is connected with ni down, and it we find passages in the Brāhmaṇas where it is contrasted with uparishṭāt we can, I think, safely understand nediyas to mean 'lower' as suggested by its etymology, 'nearer' is a secondary meaning.