परशु

See also: पर्शु

Sanskrit[edit]

From Proto-Indo-Aryan *paraśúṣ, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *paraćúš. Cognate with Ancient Greek πέλεκυς (pélekus, “axe”),^[1]^[2] and hence apparently reconstructible back to Proto-Indo-European^[1]^[2] as *peleḱús (“axe”). The word is often considered a Wanderwort,^[1] and the similarity of Akkadian 𒁄 (pilaqqu, “wooden handle; spindle, harp”) (from Sumerian 𒁄 (balag, “wooden handle; spindle, harp; possibly a split piece of wood or wooden wedge”); compare Arabic فَلَقَ (falaqa, “to split apart”)) has led some to suggest that the Proto-Indo-European word is a borrowing of the Akkadian word.^[1]^[2]

परशु • (paraśú) stem, m

Masculine u-stem declension of परशु (paraśú)
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	परशुः paraśúḥ	परशू paraśū́	परशवः paraśávaḥ
Vocative	परशो páraśo	परशू páraśū	परशवः páraśavaḥ
Accusative	परशुम् paraśúm	परशू paraśū́	परशून् paraśū́n
Instrumental	परशुना / परश्वा¹ paraśúnā / paraśvā́¹	परशुभ्याम् paraśúbhyām	परशुभिः paraśúbhiḥ
Dative	परशवे / परश्वे¹ paraśáve / paraśvé¹	परशुभ्याम् paraśúbhyām	परशुभ्यः paraśúbhyaḥ
Ablative	परशोः / परश्वः¹ paraśóḥ / paraśváḥ¹	परशुभ्याम् paraśúbhyām	परशुभ्यः paraśúbhyaḥ
Genitive	परशोः / परश्वः¹ paraśóḥ / paraśváḥ¹	परश्वोः paraśvóḥ	परशूनाम् paraśūnā́m
Locative	परशौ paraśaú	परश्वोः paraśvóḥ	परशुषु paraśúṣu
Notes	¹Vedic

Monier Williams (1899) “परशु”, in A Sanskrit–English Dictionary, […], new edition, Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 589/2.

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 ^1.3 J. P. Mallory, D. Q. Adams, The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European (2006, →ISBN): "We find cognates in Grk pélekus, Oss færæt, and Skt paraśú, and the proto-form is often compared with Semitic forms, e.g. Akkadian pilakku which some translate as 'axe' but others translate as 'spindle', which is semantically very distant."
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 Martin Bernal, Black Athena: The linguistic evidence