# Avestan yare "year"



## Dhira Simha

The popular Etymological dictionary gives Avestan _yare_ "year"  as a cognate of Eng. _year_, Germ _Jahr_, Greek _hora_  etc. This seems plausible, however, I could not find _yare _ in any ofthe Avestan dictionaries I have at hand. I also could not find anything in Sanskrit which would be even remotely similar. This seems unusual.  Can anybody advise me if _yare  _has been attested in Avestan  and give a reference? I also suspect that the transliteration "_yare" _may not be correct. I would appreciate any other ideas and/or links in modern IE languages regarding this word.


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## fdb

You will find it in Bartholomae’s dictionary (col. 1287) as _yār-_. It is a neuter –r stem, quite common, on its own and in various compounds. The nom./acc. sing. is written and recited as _yārə _with an “anaptyktischer Vokal _ə_” arising in lento recitation (Hoffmann p. 51, with lots of examples).


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## Dhira Simha

fdb said:


> You will find it in Bartholomae’s dictionary (col. 1287) as _yār-_. It is a neuter –r stem, quite common, on its own and in various compounds. The nom./acc. sing. is written and recited as _yārə _with an “anaptyktischer Vokal _ə_” arising in lento recitation (Hoffmann p. 51, with lots of examples).


Thank you! Please give a full ref. to Hoffmann. I would like to look it up. Any ideas why it is completely missing in Sanskrit?


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## fdb

Karl Hoffmann, _Avestische Laut- und Formenlehre_ (2004). But you can read about the anaptyctic vowels also in the old grammars by Jackson and Bartholomae (in the _Grundriss der iranischen Philologie_).


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## Dhira Simha

Thank you, and the last, probably stupid question. In the examples of Bartholomea's  dictionary it repeatedly appears as *r_ə- : _
Is there some kind of  a _y_-elision rule?


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## fdb

No, this is Bartholomae's way of abbreviating the lemma. _°rə_ means _yārə_. (The _AiWb_ is a wonderful dictionary, but it is very difficult to use).


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## Dhira Simha

fdb said:


> No, this is Bartholomae's way of abbreviating the lemma. _°rə_ means _yārə_. (The _AiWb_ is a wonderful dictionary, but it is very difficult to use).


Indeed!  Thank you for you valuable advice. I still ponder on the possibility of  _yārə  _being actually a compound of the  interrogative base _ya_  plus  _ara_  "spoke of a wheel (also wheel of time). This may explain its absence in Skr.  and the long _ā  _which would be the usual case of _-a + a- _sandhi. Semantically, it does make some sense because in many IE languages this word means not "year" but  "season, time of year" cp. Gr. _ώρα, φορά_  and Rus. _пора pora _"time, season".


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## berndf

Dhira Simha said:


> Indeed!  Thank you for you valuable advice. I still ponder on the possibility of  _yārə  _being actually a compound of the  interrogative base _ya_  plus  _ara_  "spoke of a wheel ( also wheel of time). This may explain its absence in Skr.  and the long _ā  _which would be the usual case of _-a + a- _sandhi. Semantically, it does make some sense because it many IE languages this word means not "year" but  "season, time of year" cp. Gr. _ώρα, φορά_  and Rus. _пора pora _"time, season".


I have problems following your argument. Can you give a reference for an "interrogative base 'ya'" in PIE? I haven't heard of such a thing.


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## Dhira Simha

berndf said:


> I have problems following your argument. Can you give a reference for an "interrogative base 'ya'" in PIE? I haven't heard of such a thing.


True, but here is a verb*y_ā _"to seek, request" (Watkins, 102) and Skr. *ya* 3 the actual base of the relative pronoun in declension. And its derivatives:* yaka* mf = 3. %{ya} , who , which, (cp. Rus. dial  _як, якой jakoj_ "how, which, what)


*yarhi*
ind. (fr. 3. %{ya} ; correlative of %{ta4rhi} ,  %{eta4rhi} , but also followed by %{tadA} , %{tatra} , %{atha} &c.)  when , at which time

etc.


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## berndf

Dunno. It sounds a bit far fetched to take a derivation for a non-existent word in Sanskrit following a logic which really only works in that language to explain Greek or English words.


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## Dhira Simha

berndf said:


> Dunno. It sounds a bit far fetched to take a derivation for a non-existent word in Sanskrit following a logic which really only works in that language to explain Greek or English words.


Agree, but it is a legitimate field to explore and creates a discourse in connection with the  universal representation of the eternal cycle of life as a wheel divided by spokes coming from the centre (where they often placed the Sun). The puzzling absence of this word in Vedic needs to be accounted for.


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## aruniyan

Dhira Simha said:


> Avestan yare "year"
> The popular Etymological dictionary gives Avestan _yare_ "year"  as a cognate of Eng. _year_, Germ _Jahr_, Greek _hora_  etc. This seems plausible, however, I could not find _yare _ in any ofthe Avestan dictionaries I have at hand. I also could not find anything in Sanskrit which would be even remotely similar. This seems unusual.  Can anybody advise me if _yare  _has been attested in Avestan  and give a reference? I also suspect that the transliteration "_yare" _may not be correct. I would appreciate any other ideas and/or links in modern IE languages regarding this word.




I am thinking about Tamil Gyaayiru(Sun) *ஞாயிறு,
*also to have some connection.


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## mataripis

In Tagalog, Year is "_Taon_"  but in English There is a word _Solar_(yearly/1 year cycle) . If i translate _Solar_ in Tagalog, it is _Taunan_ but _Sun_ in Tagalog is "_Araw_"! Aruniyan is correct the Avestan "_Yare_" is related to _Gyaayiru_ of Tamil and _Araw_ of Tagalog. The greek word "_Ilios_" (sun) become "_Ilaw_"(light) in Tagalog which is also related to "_Araw_"(sun)!I suspect that the term "_RA_" in a mantra chant is a Sanskrit  form of _Yare_  term in Avestan.


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## Dhira Simha

mataripis said:


> _Sun_ in Tagalog is "_Araw_"


I do not clearly see the link and do not quite follow your logic. However,_ Araw_ is interesting in connection with  both  the Rig-Vedic _ara_ 'the spoke or radius of a wheel'  and _aru_ 'the Sun'. Do you think _Araw _ is a native word in Tagalog (Austronesian origin) or it may be a loan (from Sanskrit?).


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## francisgranada

For curiosity, in some Slavic languages, e.g. in Slovac there exists the word *jar *(Czech _jaro_) which means "spring" (as season; Sp. _primavera_)


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## fdb

francisgranada said:


> For curiosity, in some Slavic languages, e.g. in Slovac there exists the word *jar *(Czech _jaro_) which means "spring" (as season; Sp. _primavera_)



Of course it is the same Indo-European root as the Avestan word, English "year" etc. etc.


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## Dhira Simha

fdb said:


> Of course it is the same Indo-European root as the Avestan word, English "year" etc. etc.


 Correct. Cp. also Ukr _ярь_ ж. "spring, spring wheat", Brlorus. _ярына́_ "spring wheat", Bulg. (dial) _яра́_  "spring", Serb._ jа̑р_ ж., род. п. _jа̑ри_ "spring", Sloven. _jȃr_, adj "spring", _jа̑r_ ж. "spring wheat", Czech _jaro_ "spring", _jarý_  "spring, of this year", Slovak. _jаr_ "spring", _jarý_ "fresh", Pol. _jаr_ м., _jarz_ ж. "spring", _jary_ "of this year", Upper Lusatian _ jerica_ "spring wheat", Lower Lusat. _jarica_ "spring". However,  in non of Slavonic languages it means "year".


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## aruniyan

It seems  also related with Summer in multiple language families.

http://starling.rinet.ru/cgi-bin/et...me=/data/ie/piet&text_number=+214&root=config


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## Dhira Simha

aruniyan said:


> It seems  also related with Summer in multiple language families.
> 
> http://starling.rinet.ru/cgi-bin/et...me=/data/ie/piet&text_number=+214&root=config



The cardinal meaning is spring. There is a reason for this since, traditionally,  the yearly calendar (wheel - kolo) stared with spring and it was about the awakening of nature, fertility and procreation. Across all Europian cultures and particularly, among Slavonic peoples,  the main event  was the  Spring festival where the central figure was "*Jarilo*; Croatian: _Jura or Juraj_; Serbian: Đurilo; Slavic: _Jarovit_), alternatively *Yarilo*, *Iarilo*, or *Gerovit*, was a major male Proto-Slavic deity of vegetation, fertility and spring, also associated with war and harvest".  Interestingly, Jarilo was sometimes imagined as a young hero on a white horse. He later transformed into  St. George (George = Jurij in Russian cp. Croatian: _Jura or Juraj_).  In some cultures to this day  the central figure of the spring festival is the so called "hobby horse". The intricate connection of the spring festival and the wheel calendar is also clearly seen in the German *Stuttgarter Frühlingsfest *where the main  feature is the the Ferris wheel.


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## aruniyan

Dhira Simha said:


> The cardinal meaning is spring. There is a reason for this since, traditionally,  the yearly calendar (wheel - kolo) stared with spring and it was about the awakening of nature, fertility and procreation. Across all Europian cultures and particularly, among Slavonic peoples,  the main event  was the  Spring festival where the central figure was "*Jarilo*; Croatian: _Jura or Juraj_; Serbian: Đurilo; Slavic: _Jarovit_), alternatively *Yarilo*, *Iarilo*, or *Gerovit*, was a major male Proto-Slavic deity of vegetation, fertility and spring, also associated with war and harvest".  Interestingly, Jarilo was sometimes imagined as a young hero on a white horse. He later transformed into  St. George (George = Jurij in Russian cp. Croatian: _Jura or Juraj_).  In some cultures to this day  the central figure of the spring festival is the so called "hobby horse". The intricate connection of the spring festival and the wheel calendar is also clearly seen in the German *Stuttgarter Frühlingsfest *where the main  feature is the the Ferris wheel.



Interesting, I donot want to drag this further, as I have limited knowledge about Slavic dieties...

but I read this somewhere..

*Jaorvit (*_connected with spring and his name suggest he was originally connected with Sun, the slavic root Jar -_* designating brightness and clarity)*


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## Dhira Simha

aruniyan said:


> Interesting, I donot want to drag this further, as I have limited knowledge about Slavic dieties...
> 
> but I read this somewhere..
> 
> *Jaorvit (*_connected with spring and his name suggest he was originally connected with Sun, the slavic root Jar -_* designating brightness and clarity)*



It is true but more interesting and  touches the very fundamentals of what we call "Indo-Europeans"  and, I am convinced,  goes much deeper. I am doing a research on this.


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## Ben Jamin

aruniyan said:


> Interesting, I donot want to drag this further, as I have limited knowledge about Slavic dieties...
> 
> but I read this somewhere..
> 
> *Jaorvit (*_connected with spring and his name suggest he was originally connected with Sun, the slavic root Jar -_* designating brightness and clarity)*



You meant probably Jarovit /yarovit/? Knowledge about Slavic deities has been almost completely eradicated by the Christian Church. As known, the Slavic people didn't write anything before christianization, and if they even did, everything was destroyed. Only confusing second hand fragments have reached our times.


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## mataripis

Dhira Simha said:


> I do not clearly see the link and do not quite follow your logic. However,_ Araw_ is interesting in connection with  both  the Rig-Vedic _ara_ 'the spoke or radius of a wheel'  and _aru_ 'the Sun'. Do you think _Araw _ is a native word in Tagalog (Austronesian origin) or it may be a loan (from Sanskrit?).


  Probably it is Devanagari.


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## Dhira Simha

mataripis said:


> Probably it is Devanagari.


It was my first feeling. The reason I asked was that Skr. _aru_ "the sun" is not registered in Rig Veda and I suspected a possible Austronesian link. However, there is Rig-Vedic _aruṇa _"reddish-brown, tawny, red, ruddy (the colour of the morning opposed to the darkness of night"which might be related  to_ aru_.


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## mataripis

the red color of the sun suggests that it is in the west side.The Tagalog of west is "Kanluran".


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## Vukabular

In Serbian word *jar *means "heat" and *jarko *_"_bright_". _*Jarac *_"_capricorn, male goat" a belligerent animal and a symbol of fertility. _*Jare *_"kid, baby goat". *Jarilo *solar diety of fertility, god of war portrayed as a young blond man on a white horse with a grain in his hand symbolizing fertility. *God* is one ring in the cross section of the tree and every year the tree gets a new ring, so in Russian *год *(god) "year" and in Serbian _*godina *"year" _​


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