आज का शब्द / آج كا شبد / ਅੱਜ ਦਾ ਸ਼ਬਦ

[muckefuck]

चेला / چيلا / ਚੇਲਾ chelaa "disciple" (Sanskrit चेटकः ćeṭakah "slave, servant")

As a name for followers of a guru, this word has found its way into English-language New Age usage. There's a rhotic variant in Indo-Aryan, चेरा / چيرا / ਚੇਰਾ cheraa which retains the original meaning of "servant".

Another Sanskrit word for "slave" or "servant" is दास dāsa, which survives in the daughter languages nearly unchanged (i.e. दास / داس / ਦਾਸ daas). The original meaning is uncertain, but it seems to have been applied to various hostile peoples in contact with the early Aryans; as these people were subjugated, it acquired the meaning of "slave".

दास has also made it into religious use, acquiring more positive connotations in the process. In some traditions, it may even be used as a title for a sat guru or pure teacher, as this is a "servant" of the true god. Likewise, it has been incorporated into various theophoric names. For instance, the ancient Sanskrit author कालिदास Kālidāsa was literally a "servant of Kali". Mahatma Gandhi's given name, महात्मा Mohandaas, indicates devotion to Krishna; he had brothers named रामदास Raamdaas (also a Marathi saint) and देवदास Devdaas (the protagonist of an eponymous Bengali novel--and now a hit movie starring Shahrukh Khan!). Panjabi singing star ਗੁਰਦਾਸ ਮਾਨ Gurdaas Maan has a given name which memoralises devotion to the Sikh Gurus, two of whom (ਅਮਰ ਦਾਸ Amar Dass and ਰਾਮ ਦਾਸ Raam Daas) had the same element as a surname.

Comments

[tekalynn.livejournal.com]

Fascinating!

[richardthinks.livejournal.com]

When I ran across mohandes (meaning "engineer") in Arabic I wondered if that meaning somehow was related to Gandhi's birth name. This makes a lot more sense.

[caprinus.livejournal.com]

I've idly thought of compiling a list of words meaning slave in various languages, with etymologies and usage notes -- thanks for reminding me!