परशु

See also: पर्शु

Sanskrit

Alternative scripts

Etymology

Cognate with Ossetian фӕрӕт (færæt, axe) and Ancient Greek πέλεκυς (pélekus, axe),[1][2] and hence apparently reconstructible back to Proto-Indo-European[1][2] as *peleḱús (axe), though not derivable from PIE morphology or known roots. The word is often considered a Wanderwort,[1] and the similarity of Akkadian 𒁄 (pilaqqu, wooden handle; spindle, harp) (from Sumerian 𒁄 (balag, wooden handle; spindle, harp; possibly a split piece of wood or wooden wedge)) has led some to suggest that the Proto-Indo-European word is a borrowing of the Akkadian word.[3][1][2] Alternatively from another Semitic word, from the root *palaq- (compare Arabic فَلَقَ (falaqa, to split apart)). (Can this(+) etymology be sourced?)

Pronunciation

Noun

प॒र॒शु • (paraśú) stemm [3]

  1. a hatchet, an axe

Declension

Masculine u-stem declension of प॒र॒शु
singular dual plural
nominative प॒र॒शुः (paraśúḥ) प॒र॒शू (paraśū́) प॒र॒शवः॑ (paraśávaḥ)
accusative प॒र॒शुम् (paraśúm) प॒र॒शू (paraśū́) प॒र॒शून् (paraśū́n)
instrumental प॒र॒शुना॑ (paraśúnā)
प॒र॒श्वा¹ (paraśvā́¹)
प॒र॒शुभ्या॑म् (paraśúbhyām) प॒र॒शुभिः॑ (paraśúbhiḥ)
dative प॒र॒शवे॑ (paraśáve)
प॒र॒श्वे¹ (paraśvé¹)
प॒र॒शुभ्या॑म् (paraśúbhyām) प॒र॒शुभ्यः॑ (paraśúbhyaḥ)
ablative प॒र॒शोः (paraśóḥ)
प॒र॒श्वः¹ (paraśváḥ¹)
प॒र॒शुभ्या॑म् (paraśúbhyām) प॒र॒शुभ्यः॑ (paraśúbhyaḥ)
genitive प॒र॒शोः (paraśóḥ)
प॒र॒श्वः¹ (paraśváḥ¹)
प॒र॒श्वोः (paraśvóḥ) प॒र॒शू॒नाम् (paraśūnā́m)
locative प॒र॒शौ (paraśáu) प॒र॒श्वोः (paraśvóḥ) प॒र॒शुषु॑ (paraśúṣu)
vocative पर॑शो (páraśo) पर॑शू (páraśū) पर॑शवः (páraśavaḥ)
  • ¹Vedic

Derived terms

Descendants

  • Pali: parasu, pharasu
  • Prakrit: 𑀧𑀭𑀲𑀼 (parasu)
    • Central:
    • Northwestern:
      • Punjabi: pharsā
        Shahmukhi script: پھَرسا
        Gurmukhi script: ਫਰਸਾ
    • Southern:
      • Dhivehi: ފުރޯ (furō)
      • Marathi: फरस (pharas), फरशी (pharśī)
      • Sinhalese: පොරොව (porowa)
  • Prakrit: 𑀨𑀭𑀲𑀼 (pharasu)
    • Northern:
    • Western:
      • Gujarati: ફરશી (pharśī)

Borrowed terms

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 J. P. Mallory, D. Q. Adams, The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European (2006, →ISBN): "We find cognates in Grk pélekus, Oss færæt, and Skt paraśú, and the proto-form is often compared with Semitic forms, e.g. Akkadian pilakku which some translate as 'axe' but others translate as 'spindle', which is semantically very distant."
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Martin Bernal, Black Athena: The linguistic evidence
  3. 3.0 3.1 Mayrhofer, Manfred (1996), “paraśú-”, in Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindoarischen [Etymological Dictionary of Old Indo-Aryan]‎[1] (in German), volume 2, Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag, page 87

Further reading