उपानह्

From Proto-Indo-Aryan *upaHnádʰ- (“that which is tied below”), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *upa- (“under, below”) +‎ *Hnadʰ- (“to tie, to bind”). By surface analysis, उप (upa, “under, below”) +‎ नह् (nah, “to bind”). Cognate with Avestan 𐬥𐬀𐬯𐬐𐬀 (naska, “bundle”), 𐬥𐬀𐬜𐬀 (naδa, “headgear”).

• (Vedic) IPA^(key): /u.pɑː.nɐ́ɦ/
• (Classical Sanskrit) IPA^(key): /uˈpɑː.n̪ɐɦ/

उपानह् • (upānáh) stem, f

1. a shoe, sandal
   • c. 1200 BCE – 800 BCE, Kṛṣṇa-Yajurveda (Taittirīya Saṃhitā) V.4.4.4:

     ...मृत्युर् वा एष यद् अग्निः । ब्रह्मण एतद् रूपं यत् कृष्णाजिनम् । कार्ष्णी उपानहाव् उप मुञ्चते ब्रह्मणैव मृत्योर् अन्तर् धत्ते...

     ...mṛtyúr vā́ eṣá yád agníḥ. bráhmaṇa etád rūpáṃ yát kṛṣṇājinám. kā́rṣṇī upānáhāv úpa muñcate bráhmaṇaivá mṛtyór antár dhatte...

     ...the fire death; the black antelope skin holy power; he puts on a pair of sandals made of black antelope skin; verily by the holy power he shuts himself away from death...

The final -ह् (-h) of the root नह् (nah) normally reverts to a dental. In this case, conversion to a retroflex also occurs.

• उपानह (upānaha)
• चरणोपानह् (caraṇopānah)

• Dardic:
  • Gawar-Bati: پاݨے (pāṇē, “sandals”)
• Pali: upāhanā
• Prakrit: 𑀉𑀯𑀸𑀡𑀳𑀸 (uvāṇahā), 𑀉𑀯𑀸𑀡𑀬𑀸 (uvāṇayā), 𑀉𑀯𑀸𑀳𑀡𑀸 (uvāhaṇā), 𑀧𑀸𑀡𑀳𑀸 (pāṇahā), 𑀧𑀸𑀳𑀡𑀸 (pāhaṇā), 𑀯𑀸𑀳𑀡𑀸 (vāhaṇā), 𑀯𑀸𑀡𑀳𑀸 (vāṇahā)
  • Central:
    • Hindi: पनही (panhī, “shoe”), पनहिया (panhiyā)
  • Eastern:
    • Bhojpuri: पनही (panᵊhī)
    • Middle Bengali: পানই (panoi)
    • Assamese: পানই (panoi)
  • Northwestern:
    • Punjabi: ਪਾਹਣ (pāhaṇ, “shoe”)
  • Southern:
    • Konkani: व्हाण (vhāṇ, “sandal”)
    • Marathi: वहाण (vahāṇ, “sandal”)
    • Sinhalese: වහන (wahana, “sandal, shoe”)
  • Western:
    • Old Gujarati: वाणही (vāṇahī, “shoe, sandal”)

• Monier Williams (1899) “उपानह्”, in A Sanskrit–English Dictionary, , new edition, Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 213.
• Hellwig, Oliver (2010-2024) “upānah”, in DCS - The Digital Corpus of Sanskrit, Berlin, Germany.
• Apte, Vaman Shivram (1890) “उपानह्”, in The practical Sanskrit-English dictionary, Poona: Prasad Prakashan, page 472
• Arthur Anthony Macdonell (1893) “उपानह्”, in A practical Sanskrit dictionary with transliteration, accentuation, and etymological analysis throughout, London: Oxford University Press, page 54
• Turner, Ralph Lilley (1969–1985) “upānáh”, in A Comparative Dictionary of the Indo-Aryan Languages, London: Oxford University Press, page 108