The Indo-Iranian word for 'shank, shin'.

• Author: Lubotsky, Alexander

Ein Spielmann zog einst des Weges daher,

Da sah er ein Knochlein blitzen,

Er hob es auf, als war's ein Rohr,

Wollt' sich eine Flote d'raus schnitzen.

G. Mahler, 'Das klagende Lied'

1. AVESTAN ASCUUA- 'SHANK'

   THIS AVESTAN WORD is attested as acc.sg. ascum in two almost identical passages in the Videvdat (four times in V 8.63--65 and four times in V 9.23), in a description of the purification ritual, which is performed when a man or a woman has become impure by coming into contact with a dead body. After the necessary preparations, the priest pours water on the person's forehead. Thereupon, Nasu, the female demon of death, moves to the place between the brows, and the priest pours water there. In this way, Nasu continually moves further down, springing from the front to the back and then again from the right to the left, until she disappears from the toes of the contaminated person, who is then pronounced to be purified. The Videvdat passages are important for determining the exact meaning of many body parts in Avestan, and this is also the case for ascum.

   Let us start our discussion at the point when Nasu sits at the person's right sraoni- 'buttock' and then springs to the left buttock. When the priest pours water on the left buttock, Nasu moves to haxti acc. du. 'pudenda'. In order to remove Nasu properly, the priest first pours water from behind and then at front, if the "patient" is a man, and the other way round, when it is a woman (which is perfectly understandable from the viewpoint of anatomy). It is important that, from this moment on, Nasu stays at the front of the legs and does not move backwards anymore. Nasu escapes to the right and left [LANGUAGE NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] 'thigh', to the right and left znum 'knee', and then to the right and left ascum, which evidently must mean 'shin, shank', (1) rather than 'calf of the leg', preferred by Wolff in his translation. (2) At the final stages of the ritual, Nasu moves to the right and left [LANGUAGE NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] 'ankle', to the right and left [LANGUAGE NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] 'fore-foot', then [LANGUAGE NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] 'under the sole'. When the priest pours water on the right and left sole, Nasu flees to the right and left angustam 'big toe' and finally disappears.

   Bartholomae assumed for ascum a u-stem (ascav- in his notation), which has created a problem for the historical interpretation of this word. As a matter of fact, c can only be phonetically regular before a front vowel, and there are hardly any forms in the inflection of the u-stems where palatalization would be operative. I therefore believe that Bartholomae's analysis of ascum can be improved. As we can see from Avestan forms like jum (acc.sg. of juua- < *jiua- 'alive'), -um can reflect PIIr. *-iuam through the stages [LANGUAGE NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]. Assuming the same origin for ascum, we immediately get an explanation for its c: [LANGUAGE NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]. In other words, ascum points to a thematic stem ascuua- < [LANGUAGE NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII].

   There is one more indication for a thematic stem of ascum. In Yt 17.22, we come across the adjective huuascuuo 'with beautiful shanks': (3) sriro ahi [LANGUAGE NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]

   You are handsome, o Zarathustra, you are well-shaped, o Spitama, with beautiful shanks and long arms.

   This adjective is thematic, and although Bartholomae postulated the stem hv-ascav-here, too, he remarked (s.v.): "Them.; auffallige Form, die einen AS. Ir. * [LANGUAGE NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] voraussetzt." If I understand this comment correctly, Bartholomae assumed that thematicization must have started from the accusative, which must then have had the form *-cuuam in Proto-Iranian. This observation comes close to the solution advocated here, but there is no need to assume an athematic stem at any point. (4)

2. SKT. ASTHIVA(NT)- 'SHANK, SHIN'

   2.1. Skt. asthiva(nt)- is generally glossed 'knee (-joint)', but this translation is wrong. The analysis of the passages clearly shows that asthiva(nt)- rather refers to a part of the leg between the knee and the ankle, i.e., a shank, shin-bone. The word is almost always used next to uru- 'thigh' in the texts, and it is a priori more probable that the pair uru- + asthiva(nt)- denote two major parts of the leg. The close connection between the two terms further follows from the dvandva compound urvasthiva-, which contains the stem [LANGUAGE NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]. The meaning of the compound clearly emerges from a few passages in the SB and JB, where urvasthiva- is used in the plural.

   SB 8.3.4.5

   Sapta va ime pascat pranas: catvary urvasthivani, dve pratisthe, yad avan nabhes tat saptamam

   There are seven vital airs here behind: the four thighs and shanks and two feet, and what is below the navel--that is the seventh.

   Eggeling here translates urvasthivani as 'thighs and knee-bones', but in a parallel passage 8.4.3.11 (dasa padya angulayas catvary urvasthivani dve pratisthe yad avan nabhes tat saptadasam "the ten toes, the four thighs and shanks, the two foot-soles, and what is below the navel that is the seventeenth") he opts for 'thighs and shanks', which is evidently the correct rendering of the word. The author of the text enumerates the parts of the body below the middle, and if we translate urvasthivani as 'thighs and knee-bones', we simply miss the shanks. The JB 1.251 and 257 passages are very similar.

   The compound urvasthive (du.) is further attested in a mantra, found with some variants in VS 18.23, MS 2.11.6 (143:13), KS 28.11 (273:11), KapKS (28.9), but its meaning cannot be determined from the context. I here give the VS text:

   VS 18.23

   vratam ca ma ca me tapas ca me samvatsaras ca me 'horatre urvasthive brhadrathantare ca me yajnena kalpantam

   Let my vow and my seasons, my austerity and my year, my day and night, thighs and shanks, Brhad and Rathantara, be put in order through the sacrifice.

   2.2. The stem [LANGUAGE NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] is further found in two compounds, mentioned by the grammarians. Panini (5.4.77) gives the compound pad-asthiva-, traditionally translated 'feet and knees', which is a remarkable combination, whereas 'feet and shanks' (i.e., the leg up to the knee) gives perfect sense. Yaska (Nir.) refers to a grammarian called Sthaulasthivi-, whose name presupposes a compound *sthulasthiva- 'with steady shanks' (cf. Debrunner 1957: 31).

   2.3. In the simplex we invariably find the nt-stem...