दानु

• (Vedic) IPA^(key): /dɑ́ː.nu/
• (Classical Sanskrit) IPA^(key): /d̪ɑː.n̪u/

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

दानु • (dā́nu) stem

1. valiant, victor, conqueror

From Proto-Indo-Aryan *dáHnu, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *dáHnu, from Proto-Indo-European *déh₂nu (“river (deity)”). Cognate with Avestan 𐬛𐬁𐬥𐬎 (dānu, “river”) and Ossetian дон (don, “river”). See also Ancient Greek δρόσος (drósos, “dew”), less likely related.

दानु • (dā́nu) stem, n

1. a drop of liquid, dew
2. fluid

दानु • (dā́nu) stem, m

1. a class of demons

दानु • (dā́nu) stem, f

1. (Vedic religion, Hinduism) Danu, mother of the Danavas.
   • c. 1500 BCE – 1000 BCE, Ṛgveda 2.12.11:

     यः शम्ब॑रं॒ पर्व॑तेषु क्षि॒यन्तं॑ चत्वारिं॒श्यां श॒रद्य॒न्ववि॑न्दत्।
     ओ॒जा॒यमा॑नं॒ यो अहिं॑ ज॒घान॒ दानुं॒ शया॑नं॒ स ज॑नास॒ इन्द्रः॑॥

     yáḥ śámbaraṃ párvateṣu kṣiyántaṃ catvāriṃśyā́ṃ śarádyanvávindat.
     ojāyámānaṃ yó áhiṃ jaghā́na dā́nuṃ śáyānaṃ sá janāsa índraḥ.

     He, who discovered Śambara dwelling in the mountains for forty years; who slew Ahi, growing in strength, and the sleeping son of Dānu; he, men, is Indra.

• दानव (dā́nava)

• Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN
• Monier Williams (1899) “दानु”, in A Sanskrit–English Dictionary, , new edition, Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 474, column 3.