कर्पट

Sanskrit

Etymology tree

Sanskrit कद्- (kad-)?

Proto-Indo-European *pel-der.?

Sanskrit पट (paṭa)?

Sanskrit कर्पट

Unclear. Most theories invoke a relation to पट (paṭa, “garment”):^[1]

Burrow, following the Pali Text Society, suggests a re-Sanskritization of the Middle Indo-Aryan descendant of कद्- (kad-, “what?”) +‎ पट (paṭa, “garment”).^[2]^[3]^[1] However, the prefixation of कद् (kad, “what”) in the sense "bad" is not widespread; compare Pali kantāra (“forest”), potentially derived from कद्- (kad-) +‎ तरति (tarati, “crosses”), i.e. "difficult to cross", and Sanskrit कदाचार (kadācāra, “bad conduct”).
Other sources attempt to relate the word to कर्पास (karpā́sa, “cotton”) and ultimately derive it from a substrate language;^[4] in this case, the -pāsa- in कर्पास (karpāsa) is a dialectal form of पट (paṭa). However, this etymology is phonologically difficult and no specific source language linking both कर्पट (karpaṭa) and कर्पास (karpā́sa) is known. It is perhaps worth noting that कर्पास (karpā́sa) is likely from some reflex or relative of Proto-Mon-Khmer *kpaas (“cotton”).

कर्पट • (karpaṭa) stem, n

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 Mayrhofer, Manfred (2001), “karpaṭa-”, in Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindoarischen [Etymological Dictionary of Old Indo-Aryan]‎^[1] (in German), volume 3, Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag, page 68
^ Pali Text Society (1921–1925), “kappaṭa”, in Pali-English Dictionary‎, London: Chipstead
^ Burrow, Thomas (1972), “A Reconsideration of Fortunatov's Law”, in Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London‎^[2], volume 35, number 3, page 537 of 531–545
^ Mayrhofer, Manfred (1956), “karpaṭaḥ”, in Kurzgefasstes Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindischen [A Concise Etymological Sanskrit Dictionary]‎^[3] (in German), volume 1, Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag, page 174