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Thread: Words like प्रातःसन्ध्या

  1. #1

    Words like प्रातःसन्ध्या

    Edit: Namaste to all

    How do you pronounce words with the ":" in the word, as in प्रातःसन्ध्या.

    What is the ":" called, and what do you do with it? I know how to pronounce the rest of the word, but I have not found this symbol yet in my studying of Hindi/Sanskrit.

    Does this mean to pronounce the
    तः like praatahsandhyaa, NOT praatasandhyaa. Notice the missing "h" after the "ta" in the second example. I would suppose it means to say "ta," quickly breathe the "h" (not "ha") before continuing on with the rest of the word. I see it on the end of words, too.
    Last edited by deafAncient; 02 August 2014 at 05:50 PM.

  2. #2
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    Re: Words like प्रातःसन्ध्या

    hariḥ oṁ
    ~~~~~~
    namasté
    Quote Originally Posted by deafAncient View Post
    How do you pronounce words with the ":" in the word, as in प्रातःसन्ध्या.

    What is the ":" called, and what do you do with it? I know how to pronounce the rest of the word, but I have not found this symbol yet in my studying of Hindi/Sanskrit.

    Does this mean to pronounce the
    तः like praatahsandhyaa, NOT praatasandhyaa. Notice the missing "h" after the "ta" in the second example. I would suppose it means to say "ta," quickly breathe the "h" (not "ha") before continuing on with the rest of the word. I see it on the end of words, too.
    two things need to be accomplished with your post...
    1. please begin with a salutation , a hello , a greeting ( this is our custom and I ask for your cooperation on this matter)
    2. provide the word you offer in saṃskṛt in romanized letters and/or transliteration i.e. प्रातःसन्ध्या = prātaḥsandhyā ( note prātaḥ = prātar = in early morning or daybreak + sandhyā = saṁdhya = the junction point)

    The letter you are looking for with this symbol : is the sound form of h.

    Regarding this wonderful sound (ḥ) called visarga
    This visarga¹ is written as : in saṃskṛtam. Offically it is not part of the saṃskṛta alphabet but is part of the ~rules~ of saṃdhi¹. It would be like saying, is a period (.) that is used in English part of the alphabet? No, it is part of grammar and sentence structure and informs the reader when to stop. We see this in saṃskṛta as a bar (|) at the end of a hymn, a śloka.

    But that said, by the rule a sound it produced , and it is an unvoiced breath; it is due to the adjacent sounds before it.

    So, here is the pickle ... visarga (ḥ) comes after a vowel . It can be other vowels ( not only 'a'), but let's use this example of namaḥ ( like in the word you offered prātaḥ). Here it is the unvoiced breath following the 'a' , air comes from the mouth as long as the mouth is open with the 'a' , there is the emission of breath.

    Some like to 'echo' the vowel 'a' , so now it looks like this, namaḥa. Now ha is in fact a phoneme. The thirty-third and last consonant of our nāgarī alphabet (in pāṇini's system belonging to the guttural class , and usually pronounced like the English h in hard).

    More info that is beyond the question asked
    So you see, then you would count 'ha' as a phoneme/sound. Some build mantra's with this 'ha' in it takes advantage of 'ha' sound. But who cares?
    The designer of a mantra - 'ha' is a masculine form of śiva or bhairava , and feminine form some say śakti. No matter , it is auspicious and 'ha' means auspicious, heaven, it also means delight, and viṣṇu . Where do we find this 'ha' ? In a+ha + ṁ.

    words
    • visarga - emission; sending forth , letting go . That is why is is associated with śiva , as he 'sends forth' creation from Himself.
    • saṃdhi , some write sandhi - In general, containing a conjunction or transition from one to the other .
      • More specifically according to the Monier-Williams Saṃskṛt Dictionary, saṃdhi is a euphonic junction of final and initial letters in grammar .
      • Every sentence in saṃskṛt being regarded as a euphonic chain , a break in which occurs at the end of a sentence and is denoted by a virāma or avasāna , " stop ";
      • this euphonic coalition causing modifications of the final and initial letters of the separate words of a sentence and in the final letters of roots and stems when
        combined with terminations to form such words
    Last edited by yajvan; 03 August 2014 at 12:40 PM.
    यतस्त्वं शिवसमोऽसि
    yatastvaṁ śivasamo'si
    because you are identical with śiva

    _

  3. #3

    Re: Words like प्रातःसन्ध्या

    Namaste yajvan,

    I think, according to some source I read yesterday, aḥ would be pronounced as "aha" such that it is pronounced such that the last "a" is very lightly pronounced after the "h" sound, such that it sounds like "aha" with stress on the first "a" (keeping in mind that the first "a" is "a", not "ā" in this example). Right?

    So, it looks like to me that प्रातः should be pronounced as pr
    ātaha (note final italized "a" to distinguish between normal "a" and "ghost," light a sound).



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