A syntactic collocation in the Atharvaveda and the Indo-European concept of immortality nāṣṭrā́ (áti) tṝ- ‘overpass destructions’

Abstract

This paper focuses on the Indo-European concept of immortality by introducing new lexical and phraseological elements, attested in particular in the Atharvaveda, that reveal the bipartite nature of death in the ancient IE languages (Greek, Old Indian, marginally Latin): natural death (due to old age) as opposed to premature death. A collection of passages from the Atharvaveda (Śaunaka and Paippalāda) reveals the existence of a distinction between death by old age (jarā́mṛtyu-) and premature deaths, usually said to be ‘a hundred (and other)’ (AVŚ 1.30.3; AVŚ 2.28.1; AVP 1.61.2). In particular, we show that traces of the association of √*neḱ- with “premature death” – attested in Latin and presupposed by the Greek opaque compound νέκταρ – emerge in Vedic as well. This is shown by the use of the noun nāṣṭrā́- ‘danger, destruction, evil demon’, a suffixed derivative from the root *neḱ-: nāṣṭrā́- (which first appears in the Atharvaveda) in the formula nāṣṭrā́ (áti) tṝ- ‘overpass destructions’ (AVŚ 8.2.27; AVP 10.2.5; AVP 17.40.8).