Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.s1.258

v1.c3.s1.258

Āśum-ga in the Atharvaveda¹ seems to denote some sort of animal. It is qualified by the word ‘young’ (śiśuka), and Roth² suggests that it may mean a bird (‘swift-flying’), or that the expression denotes ‘a foal going to its dam’ (āśu-ga). Sāyaṇa, however, reads the accompanying word as śuśuka, which he assumes to denote an animal. Bloomfield³ renders the two words ‘a swift (āśumga) foal (śiśuka),’ thus agreeing with one of Roth’s suggestions in sense, though not in the explanation of Āśumga.