How frog might have got its names मेंडक का नामकरण कैसे हुआ होगा

Let’s walk with our ancestors today and go for frog-watching in different parts of the world at different stages of human migration. Switch on your time machines. Now   you are right at the time of the first sighting of frog in human history. It is rainy season and you hear the frogs croaking:  

   

Tar tarr trr tar trr tarr tarr...टर टर्र, टर्र, टर टर्र टर्र ....

Our ancestors try to mimic the sound as  

TAR TAR टर टर 

They name this ‘tar tar’ croaking animal as ‘TARTAR’टर टर 

Each generation of ancestors is trying to pass on the name TARTAR to their next generation and ‘TARTAR’s name undergoes mutations:  

TARTAR टर टर (proposed first word for frog)
DARDAR
DARDUR दर्दुर (frog in Sanskrit) > DADUR (frog in Hindi)

DADUR दादुर (frog in slang Sanskrit)

DADDUR

DADDUY

DADDU डड्डु (frog in Punjabi, Hindi)
TADDU
TODDU
TOUD
TOAD टोड 

**

Somewhere else migrating human populations are playing with the word DADURA

DADURA (Frog in Sanskrit)

JAJURA (mutation from D>J or J>D is very common in Sanskrit words)

CHAJURA (mutations between CH>J or J>CH are very common)

CHAYURA

CHURA (Frog in Swahili)

**

DADURA (Frog in Sanskrit)

TADURA

TAJURA (mutation from D>J or J>D is very common in Sanskrit words)

TAYURA

TAVURA

TAVULA

TAVALU

TAVALAI தவளை (Frog in Tamil)

**

DADUR दादुर (frog in slang Sanskrit, Hindi)

DADDUR

DADDUY

THATUY

THATA (frog in Ayapathu, an Australian language)
**

On a frog trail, we pass through a village.  We see children playing and jumping. They join us. As we spot a new species of frog, the children start jumping.  A child asks me: “What’s its name?” I ask him back, “you tell me. Haven’t you seen it earlier?” Not to be taken as low-witted, the child says KRIDA (word for play in Sanskrit)!    

DADUR or DADDU has a new name now: KRIDA. The word travels with our ancestors down the time:

KRIDA क्रीडा (play in Sanskrit)

GRIDA

GRODA (frog in Swedish)

**

KRIDA क्रीडा (play in Sanskrit)

KRIDAK क्रीड़क (player in Sanskrit)

KYIDAK

KODAK (frog in Indonesian)

**

KRIDAM क्रीड़म (play in Sanskrit)

KYIDAM

KINDAM (introduction of nasal sound)

MANDIK (re-arrangement of letters)

MANDUK मंडूक (another Sanskrit word for frog)> MENDAK मेंडक (frog in Hindi)

MADUK> MEDAK मेडक (frog in Hindi)

BADUK

BEDUK बेडूक (frog in Marathi)

**

Several centuries have passed in our travels with ancestors. We come to Europe and find that people migrating into Europe have given another name to frog: PRAKSHE which mean projectile in Sanskrit. People down the centuries continue their play with this word:

PRAKSHE प्रक्षे (projectile in Sanskrit)

FRAKSHE

FROKSHE

FORKSHE

FORSK (frog in old French)> FROSKR (frog in Old Norse)

FORKS

FROX (frog in old French)

FROXA

FROKKA

FROGGA (Old English)

FROG

**

PRAKSHE प्रक्षे (projectile in Sanskrit)

PRAKHE

FRAKHE

FROGE

FROG

***

PRAKSHE प्रक्षे (projectile in Sanskrit)

FRASHKE

FROSHCHE

FROSCH (Frog in German)

BROSCH

VROSCH

VORSC (Frog in Middle Dutch)

**

PRAKSHE प्रक्षे (projectile in Sanskrit)

PRAKSHEPIT प्रक्षेपित (projectile sent)

PRAKSHEPIT

PPITRAKSHE (rearrangement of letters)

PTRAKSHE

BTRAKSHE

BTRACHOSH

BATRACHOS (frog in Greek)

Back from our time-travel let's check the English dictionary for etymology of frog. It says:

Word Origin & History

frog

O.E. frogga, a dim. of frox, forsc, frosc "frog," from P.Gmc. *fruska-z (cf. O.N. froskr, M.Du. vorsc, Ger. Frosch "frog"), probably lit. "hopper" (cf. Skt. provate "hops," Rus. prygat "to hop, jump"). The L. word (rana) is imitative of croaking. As a derogatory term for "Frenchman," 1778 (short for frog-eater), but before that (1652) it meant "Dutch" (from frog-land "marshy land"). To have a frog in the throat "hoarseness" is from 1909.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

This blog post is dedicated to Dr Biju S Das and his team of frog lovers at the University of Delhi

Added on 09 January 2014

PRAKSHE प्रक्षे
PRAKE
PARKE
MARKE
MARHKE
MERHAK
MEDAK
MADEK
MADUK
MANDUK मंडूक 
MENDAK मेंडक