Page 186 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

APPENDIX 171
arinos to Sk. aghrti1JD. But I do not lay much streess on these inas-
much as these words may be supposed to have been derived by
the addition of the prefix alpha to the already existing Greek
forms, and not directly obtained from Sans)q-it ajna and aghrd'J'l.
The change of gignomai into ginomai or of gignosko into ginosko
cannot, however, be so accounted for, and if g before n is dropped
in the body of a word, there is no reason why it should not be
dropped before r on the analogy of the phonetic rule given above.
Works on philology do not give any more instances of such
changes, but as observed above, the attention of scholars does
not appear to have been directed to this point. Otherwise I do not
think it was difficult to discover the similarity between Gk. turos
and Sk. takra. Takra is derived from tanch ( teng ) to contract,
to coagulate or curdle, and according to Fick the root is Indo-
Germanic. It is an old Vedic root, and we have such expressions
as dadhna atanakti ' coagulates (milk) with curds' in the Taittirtya
Saq~.hitA II. 5. 3. 5. Takra therefore literary means 'curdled milk'
and not 'curds mixed with water' as the word is understood in
modem Sans)q-it. Now if we suppose that the rule, which sanc-
tions the ommission of g or k before r or m in other languages,
also holds good as between Greek and Sanskrit, not only initially
( as in gravan and laos) but also medially, as in gignomai and
ginomai, Sk. takra may be easily identified with Gk. turos mean-
ing 'cheese'. Takra may thus be said to have retained its root
meaning in Greek. Turos is an old Greek word used in the
Odyssey, and it has not yet been explained by anything in Indo-
Germanic. Dr. Schrader, therefore, records a suggestion that it
should be derived from Turko Tataric turak. But if Sanskfit sara
and sarpis are found in Greek oros (whey) and e/phos (butter),
it is not reasonable to suppose that turos alone was borrowed
from a non-Aryan source. Takra in modern Sanskrit means 'curds
mixed with water and churned' and perhaps it may be contended
that we cannot identify it with turos which means 'cheese'. I have,
however, shewn that takra etymologically means 'curdled milk'
and not' curds dissolved in water' which is evidently its secondary
meaning. Besides when we see that sara which in Sanskrit denotes
'curdled milk', has become oros- whey in Gr eek, and serum in
Latin, there is nothing unsusual if we· find takra and turos used
in slightly different senses in the two languages. I have already
suggested in the body of the essay that we may identify Sk.