[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Reference works](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference) › [Vedic Index of Names and Subjects](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912) › v1.c3.s21.910 # Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.s21.910 Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.s21.910 - **Language:** English ### [v1.c3.s21.910](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v1.c3.s21.910) ² As derived from \*pā\*, ‘protect.’ But, as Böhtlingk and Roth, St. Petersburg Dictionary, \*s.v. Mātar\*, footnote, suggest, \*pa\* and \*mā\* were probably the much older original onomatopoetic names for ‘father’ and ‘mother,’ which in a later reflective age influenced the formation of \*pitṛ\* and \*mātṛ\* (which themselves go back to the Indo-European period). - [Previous: v1.c3.s21.909](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v1.c3.s21.909) - [Next: v1.c3.s21.911](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v1.c3.s21.911) - [Up: v1.c3.s21](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v1.c3.s21) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v1.c3.s21.910](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v1.c3.s21.910) · Pramāṇa