Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c17.s2: Appendix B: Linguistic Aspect of Our Etymology of Licchavi

Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c17.s2

Language: English

Appendix B: Linguistic Aspect of Our Etymology of Licchavi

c17.s2.2

The changing of ‘l’ into ‘r’ is a regular feature of the Eastern dialects of the Indo-European family. Professor T. Burrow makes the following observation on this point:

“In Iranian Indo-European r and l appear indiscriminately as r.¹ In the language of the *Ṛg Veda* this is predominantly the case. In Classical Sanskrit both l and r are found, but their distribution does not correspond exactly with that of Indo-European. In certain Eastern dialects of Indo-Aryan (notably in the inscriptions of Aśoka and in the Māgadhī of the Drama) only l is found.” ²

c17.s2.4

¹ T. Burrow, *The Sanskrit Language*, p. 82 fn. 1, with a few exceptions though.

c17.s2.5

² *Ibid.*, p. 82.

c17.s2.6

This gives us grammatical support for our suggestion that *Ṛkṣavin* was the original name, formed from *ṛkṣa*. By changing an ‘in’ ending into a lengthened vowel in the nominative singular, we get *Ṛkṣavī* (meaning “people of the bear-abounding region”) from *Ṛkṣavin*. In the Pāli canon, the *Arthaśāstra*, the *Mānavadharma Śāstra* and the Gupta Inscriptions it is represented as *Licchavi*, by the substitution of ‘Li’ for ‘Ṛ’, and ‘ccha’ for ‘kṣa’, according to the regular rules of Eastern Prākrit, but retaining the ending of the nominative singular.

c17.s2.7

Ṛkṣa vī from Ṛkṣa vin
Ṛ — Kṣa — Vī =
Li — Ccha — Vī

c17.s2.8

Thus *Ṛkṣavin* would be the original Sanskrit form of Licchavi.

Linked texts (4)

Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra — Kauṭilya, Sanskrit
Mānava Dharmaśāstra — Manu & Bhṛgu, Sanskrit
Licchavi
Ṛgvedasaṃhitā — Sanskrit