श्वन्

Sanskrit

Alternative scripts

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-Iranian *ćwā́, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱwṓ (“dog”). Cognate with Ancient Greek κύων (kúōn, “dog”), Latin canis (“dog”), Avestan 𐬯𐬞𐬀𐬥 (span, “dog”), Lithuanian šuo, Old Armenian շուն (šun), Old English hund (whence English hound).

Pronunciation

• (Vedic) IPA^(key): /ɕʋɐ́n/
• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ɕʋɐn̪/

Noun

श्वन् • (śván) stem, m (feminine शुनी)

1. a dog; hound; cur
   • c. 1700 BCE – 1200 BCE, Ṛgveda 2.39.4:

     ना॒वेव॑ नः पारयतं यु॒गेव॒ नभ्ये॑व न उप॒धीव॑ प्र॒धीव॑ ।
     श्वाने॑व नो॒ अरि॑षण्या त॒नूनां॒ खृग॑लेव वि॒स्रसः॑ पातम॒स्मान् ॥

     nāvéva naḥ pārayatam yugéva nábhyeva na upadhī́va pradhī́va.
     śvā́neva no áriṣaṇyā tanū́nām khṛ́galeva visrásaḥ pātamasmā́n.

     Save us like two ships; be like yokes, spokes, and fellies unto us;
     Like two unfailing dogs unto our bodies; and like two staves keep us from falling.

   • c. 400 BCE, Mahābhārata 5.70.70:

     प्रतिघातेन सान्त्वस्य दारुणं संप्रवर्तते ।
     तच्छुनाम्इव गोपादे पण्डितैरुपलक्षितम् ॥

     pratighātena sāntvasya dāruṇaṃ saṃpravartate .
     tacchunāmiva gopāde paṇḍitairupalakṣitam .

     With the failure of appeasement, hostility ensues;
     This is observed by the wise in a gopāda (brawl?) of dog-like men.

   • c. 400 BCE, Mahābhārata 17.3.7:

     अयं श्वा भूतभव्येश भक्तो मां नित्यमेव ह ।
     स गच्छेत मया सार्धमानृशंस्या हि मे मतिः ॥

     ayaṃ śvā bhūtabhavyeśa bhakto māṃ nityameva ha .
     sa gaccheta mayā sārdhamānṛśaṃsyā hi me matiḥ .

     O master of past and present, this dog has been constantly loyal to me like no other.
     Let him go with me side by side, for the sake of my care (for his wellbeing).

Declension

Descendants

• Dardic:
  • Kalasha: šọ̃́a
  • Kashmiri:

    Arabic script: ہوٗن (hūn)

    Devanagari script: हून (hūn)

  • Shina: śun
• Pali: sā, soṇa
  • → Thai: โสณ (sǒo-ná-) (learned)
• Prakrit:
  • Konkani: सूणें (sūṇẽ)

Further reading

• Hellwig, Oliver (2010-2024) “śvan”, in DCS - The Digital Corpus of Sanskrit, Berlin, Germany.
• Arthur Anthony Macdonell (1893) “श्वन्”, in A practical Sanskrit dictionary with transliteration, accentuation, and etymological analysis throughout, London: Oxford University Press, page 323
• Monier Williams (1899) “श्वन्”, in A Sanskrit–English Dictionary, , new edition, Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 1105/1.
• Apte, Vaman Shivram (1890) “श्वन्”, in The practical Sanskrit-English dictionary, Poona: Prasad Prakashan, page 1580