OF LANGUAGES. 



45 



Languages. 



Child. 



Boy. 



Girl. 



Son, 



Daughter. 



TTpTttpw 





Yeled, Ben, 



Yaldah, 



Ben45. 



Bath. 







&c. 



Bath, &c. 







Arabic 



•• 



Welad. 



Welidet. 



Ibn, We- 



Bint. 











lad. 





Sanskrit . . 



Toka, Apa- 



Bala, Kuma- 



Bala, Kan- 



Putra,46 



Duhitri,47 



tya. 



ra. 



ya, &c. 



Suta. 



Suta. 



Greek 



Teknon, 



Pais, Koros. 



Pais,Korg. 



Hyios. 



Thygater. 





Nepion. 







German . . 



Kind. 



Knabe. 



Madchen48. 



Sohn. 



Tochter. 



Parentage and filiation admit therefore only two 

 essential component parts, those representing kinship 

 and sex. The relationship existing between brothers and 

 sisters, being of a more complex nature, includes besides 

 a third element, that of age. 49 It is a significant feature 



(45) " Ben" is connected with the verb bandh, to build, in the sense of 

 building a house (bayith) by progeny ; ben is therefore, he who represents 

 the continuation of the family, the son. 



(46) Putra is pu -f- tra, the well known Kritaffix. The first syllable is 

 probably only an expression of caress addressed by the parents to the child, 

 in imitation most likely of childish sounds. The Latin puer, and in the 

 reduplicated forms of pupus and pupa (compare the German puppe), the 

 German Bube, the English boy, &c. are its representatives. The birth of a son 

 ensures the happiness of his father, He clears after the death of his father 

 the departed spirit from all mundane impurity. Hence the meaning of the 

 root pu, to purify. The derivation of putra from put-tra " saving from hell 

 (put)" already extant in the Dharmasastra of Manu, IX, 138 — 



' ' Punnamno narakadyasmat trayate pitaram sutah, 

 Tasmat putra iti proktah svayameva svayambhuva," 

 though ingenious and pretty, is devoid of all real foundation. If any exact 

 etymological meaning can be ascribed to the word putra, it is that of purifier. 



Suta (Hyios, Sohn, Son) from su, to beget, bring forth, is " the begotten," 

 "brought forth," the son. 



(47) Duhitri, from duh to milk, the " milk-maid," indicating the principal 

 household duty of a daughter in a primitive family. If duhitri is explained 

 as drawing milk from the mother, it can be objected, that a boy does the same 

 thing. In Lingayya Suri's Commentary to Amarakosha we read dogdhi 

 dhanaharanena rildlkaroti pitarau duhitd, i.e., "a daughter milks, empties 

 her parents by taking away wealth " through her marriage. 



(48) Madchen is a diminutive of Magd, maid ; this neuter diminutive can be 

 compared with the Greek to meirakion, boy. 



(49) It ought not to be omitted that words expressing age are occasionally 

 used even in connection with "father," "mother," and "child." The 



