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)
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
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.
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
Added on 09 January 2014
PRAKSHE प्रक्षे
PRAKE
PARKE
MARKE
MARHKE
MERHAK
MEDAK
MADEK
MADUK
MANDUK मंडूक
MENDAK मेंडक
