Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-Iranian/kanH-

This Proto-Indo-Iranian entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-Indo-Iranian

Etymology 1

Perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *kenh₂- (“to be pleased, enjoy”), infixed nasal stem of *keh₂- (“to like, wish”).

Root

*kanH- or *čanH-

1. to love, take pleasure in

Descendants

• Proto-Indo-Aryan: *kanH-
  • Sanskrit: कन् (kan)
• Proto-Iranian: *kanH-, *čanH- / *činH-
  • Avestan: 𐬐𐬀𐬥- (kan-, “to love, take pleasure in”)
  • Shughni: чу̊н (čū̊n, “please; I swear”) (the existence of this word is uncertain)

Derived terms

• *kanHati
  • Proto-Indo-Aryan: *kanHati
    • Sanskrit: कनति (kanati, “to be pleased with, enjoy”)
• *čánHas (deverbative noun)
  • Proto-Indo-Aryan: *ćánHas
    • Sanskrit: चनस् (cánas, “delight, satisfaction”)
  • Proto-Iranian: *čínHah, *čánHah
    • Avestan: -𐬗𐬌𐬥𐬀𐬵- (-cinah-), -𐬗𐬀𐬥𐬀𐬵- (-canah-, “desire, affection”), in the compounds 𐬀𐬱𐬀-𐬗𐬌𐬥𐬀𐬵- (aša-cinah-, “attached to aša”), 𐬥𐬁𐬌𐬭𐬌-𐬗𐬌𐬥𐬀𐬵- (nāⁱri-cinah-, “desiring a woman/women”), 𐬴𐬀𐬉𐬙𐬋-𐬗𐬌𐬥𐬀𐬵- (ṣ̌aētō-cinah-, “desiring money”), 𐬵𐬀𐬊𐬨𐬀-𐬗𐬌𐬥𐬀- (haoma-cina-, “desiring haoma”), etc.
    • Old Persian: 𐎨𐎴𐏃 (c-n-h /⁠canah-⁠/, “desire”), in the compound 𐎠𐎿𐎱𐎨𐎴𐎠 (a-s-p-c-n-a /⁠Aspacanāʰ⁠/, “a male given name”, literally “lover of horses”) (see there for further descendants)
    • Parthian:

      Manichaean: [Manichaean needed] (šʾdcn /⁠šād-čan, šād-žan⁠/, “happy, glad”)

    • Sogdian: [script needed] (-cn /⁠-čan⁠/, “a morpheme forming future participles; a suffix with the meaning “inclined to; belonging to””), [script needed] (pʾšcn /⁠pāš-čan⁠/, “showing reverence”)
    • Khotanese: [script needed] (dirsū-jsinä, “wishing to see”), [script needed] (daṃjanai, “building”) ← *dama-čana-ka- (literally “connected with the building”)
    • Ossetian:

      Iron: -дзинад (-ʒinad, “abstract suffix”); -дзӕн (-ʒæn), -дзын (-ʒyn, “future tense marker”)

      Digor: -дзийнадӕ (-ʒijnadæ, “abstract suffix”); -дзин (-ʒin, “future tense marker”)

    • → Old Armenian: -ճան (-čan)
    • ⇒? Proto-Iranian: *čanHadāru (literally “auspicious tree”)
      • >? Middle Persian: cynʾl (činar, “oriental plane tree”)
      • >? Parthian: *čan(a)dār-
      • >? Georgian: ჭადარი (č̣adari, “plane tree; poplar”), ჭანდარი (č̣andari)
        • → Armenian: ճանդարի (čandari) (Tbilisi)
        • → Mingrelian: ჭანდარი (č̣andari), ჭადარი (č̣adari)
          • → Abkhaz: a-ҷанда́р (a-čʼandár)
        • → Svan: ჭანდა̈რ (č̣andär)
      • >? Middle Armenian: ճանդարի (čandari, “plane tree”), ճանդար (čandar), ճանտարի (čantari), ջանդարի (ǰandari), ջանտարի (ǰantari)
        • Armenian: տնջրի (tnǰri, “plane tree; poplar?”), ճանդար (čandar, “log”)
• Unsorted formations:
  • Sanskrit: चकान (cakāná), चाकन (cākana)
  • Avestan: 𐬗𐬌𐬥𐬬- (cinv-), 𐬗𐬀𐬐𐬀𐬥- (cakan-), 𐬗𐬁𐬑𐬥- (cāxn-), -𐬐𐬁𐬙𐬀- (-kāta-), 𐬐𐬁𐬚𐬉 (kāθē)

Usage notes

Cheung remarks that the nominal derivative *čánHah has become a suffix of "wish" in several languages, semantically comparable to Ancient Greek -φιλος (-philos, “-phile”).

References

• Rastorgujeva, V. S., Edelʹman, D. I. (2003) “*čan- / *čin-”, in Etimologičeskij slovarʹ iranskix jazykov [Etymological Dictionary of Iranian Languages] (in Russian), volume II, Moscow: Vostochnaya Literatura, pages 217–218
• Edelʹman, D. I. (2011) “*³kan- : *čan- / *čin-”, in Etimologičeskij slovarʹ iranskix jazykov [Etymological Dictionary of Iranian Languages] (in Russian), volume IV, Moscow: Vostochnaya Literatura, pages 216–217
• Cheung, Johnny (2007) Etymological Dictionary of the Iranian Verb (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 2), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 233f
• Mayrhofer, Manfred (1992) Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindoarischen [Etymological Dictionary of Old Indo-Aryan]‎^[2] (in German), volume I, Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag, pages 296f, 528
• Martirosyan, Hrach (2014) “Armenian čandari ‘plane tree’”, in Iran and the Caucasus‎^[3], volume 18, number 1, pages 51–63

Etymology 2

A root of unclear origin, possibly from a root Proto-Indo-European *kenh₁- (“to dig”); tentatively cognate with Phrygian [script needed] (keneman, “a monument or a part of it”). The unetymological aspiration of the Sanskrit descendants is perhaps from analogy with another word with similar phonetics and semantics, usually assumed to be खा (khā, “source, spring”).

Root

*kanH- or *čanH-

1. to dig, destroy

Derived terms

• Unsorted formations:
  • Sanskrit: खन् (khan, “to dig”), चात्वाल (cātvāla, “ceremonial hole”)
  • Persian: کَندَن (kandan, “to dig”), چال (čâl, “pit, hole”), Persian: آکندن (âkandan, “to fill, bury”)