Sanskrit insults, expletives and idioms
verb caus. AkSepayati { AkSip } cause to throw down
adj. akSetrajJa not finding out the way
adj. akSetrajJa destitute of spiritual knowledge
adj. akSetravid not finding out the way
adj. akSetravid destitute of spiritual knowledge
n. AkSepasUtra string for filing pearls
n. akSaitrajJya spiritual ignorance
n. AkSeparUpaka in which the object compared is only hinted at
sent. mama tu AkzepaH nAsti I have no objection.
adj. biladhAvana cleaning the hole [used in obscene sense]
बिलधावन
[ biladhāvana ] [ bí la-dhā́vana ] m. f. n. (sensu obsceno) rimam tergens Lit. TS.
बिल्मग्रहण
[ bilmagrahaṇa ] [ bilma-grahaṇa ] n. grasping or understanding by bits i.e. by degrees Lit. Nir. i , 20.
बिलकारिन्
[ bilakārin ] [ bí la-kārin ] m. “ hole-maker “ , a mouse Lit. L.
बिलंगम
[ bilaṃgama ] [ bí la-ṃ-gama ] m. “ hole-goer “ , a snake Lit. MW.
https://spokensanskrit.org/index.php?tran_input=settlements&direct=es&script=hk&link=yes&mode=3
words for settlement
https://spokensanskrit.org/index.php?mode=3&script=hk&tran_input=debt&direct=es&anz=100
https://spokensanskrit.org/index.php?mode=3&script=hk&tran_input=debt&direct=es&anz=100 debt slave
अरूढमूलत्व
n. arUDhamUlatva insufficient foundation
पादपूरण
adj. pādapūraṇa -expletive
निरर्थक
n.nirarthaka - expletive
एवम्
ind. evam and — be used as an expletive
तु
adverb tu — sometimes used as a mere expletive
एवम्
ind. evam — sometimes evam is merely an expletive
(p. 680) Sapāka …Sk. [śvapāka] “dog — cooker,” an outcast or Caṇḍāla J iv.380. Cp
चाण्डालवेश
adj. cANDAlaveza clothed like a caNDAla
गर्हित
ppp. garhita fucking [damned]
यभति
verb 1 yabhati { yabh } fuck [vulg]
पौंश्चलेय
m.pauṃścaleya whore-son [vulg.]
भद्र
m.bhadra”sanctimonious hypocrite”
कच्छपिका
f. kacchapikA — wart accompanying gonorrhoea
‘ha’ — expletive enclitic particle
अकस्मात्
indecl. akasmAt accidentally [unexpectedly]
“bahutAta” — one with many fathers.
“yabhati” — he fucks. (First usage notable in Sh. Brahmana, Yajurveda regarding the foul speech in Ashvamedha; proto IE : *ieobh- )
“yabha!” — f**k off.
tvam yiyapsamii’d like to fuck you
yabhama — let’s fuck
“mAtAri-puruSa” — mother fucker
“pAyu” — vulg. arsehole.
“bhagAsya” — one who has his mouth as vulva / mouth in vulva……
“jAragarbha”, “veshyAsuta”
- born of prostitute
“kANelIsuta”, “bandhAkineya”
- son of a prostitute / harlot / unchaste woman.
“bandhuka”, “bandhula”
- bastard.
“shvayoni” —
- simple. Born of a dog. / vagina of a dog (if referring to a place)
“shunaka”
- dog. (used still in South Indian Sanskritised Tamil dialects of Brahmins as “shaniyan”)
“bhaga-pA”
- drinking from bhaga. (bhaga — vulva)
“anekajanaka”/ “aneka
- any word for dad” — with not a single dad.
kUshmANDa
- very sweet word that means a melon. But used to mean “airhead” / “fool”.
वृषल
- mean, contemptible fellow.
क्लीब
- eunuch, impotent, weak.
चाण्डाल
- worst among, of the lowest caste etc.
In the Bhagavad Gita (chapter 2, verse 3), Bhagawan Krishna admonishes Arjuna in the following words-
क्लैब्यं मा स्म गमः पार्थ नैतत्त्वय्युपपद्यते ।
क्षुद्रं हृदयदौर्बल्यं त्यक्त्वोत्तिष्ठ परन्तप ||||
i.e. o Arjuna, don’t behave like an impotent guy. This behaviour does not suit you. Please shade off this weakness of heart and arise (for action), o destroyer of enemies.
Interesting etymology of the japanese 莫迦 ばか (baka) which means idiot is that possibly it derives from मोह moha illusion). but, maybe actually from বোকা bōkā (fool) from বাংলা https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/baka-meaning/#the-sanskrit-word-moha
Daṇḍin’s KĀ 1.66:
padasandhānavṛttyā vā vākyārthatvena vā punaḥ |
duṣpratītikaraṃ grāmyaṃ yathā yā bhavataḥ priyā || 1.66 ||
śakṛt !
dhik
Kāvyādarśa_ of Daṇḍin 1.62–67 on vulgarity. Term singled out is yabh, in fact effectively referred to as the “ya-word” at 1.65:
śabde [’]pi grāmyatāsty eva sā sabhyetarakīrtanam |
yathā yakārādipadaṃ ratyutsavanirūpaṇe || 1.65 ||
“In speech too [and not just in meaning], there certainly is [i.e., can be] vulgarity. It (sā) is a telling (-kīrtana) that is other-than-decorous (sabhya-itara-). For example: in illustrating (nirūpaṇe = prakāśane) of a festival of love, the word that begins with ya. (yabh means “to f$*k”)
धूर्त — sly, cunning and evil
भाण्ड — buffoon
पिशाच — disgusting, gross
अहल्लिक — literally a ghost, but probably used in the sense of a vampire or dark, nightly, unnatural
Words of Defamation in Sanskrit Legal Language
E. Washburn Hopkins
Journal of the American Oriental Society
Vol. 45 (1925), pp. 39–50 (12 pages)
Manu 6.47 ativādāṃs titikṣeta — one should patiently endure abuse — ‘ativād’ invokes the idea of one speaking too much
ekajātir-dvijātīṃstu vācā dāruṇāyā kṣipan. jihvāyāḥ prāpnuyāc-cedaṃ jaghanya-prabhavo hi saḥ
Although … worth considering… ekajātir-dvijātīṃstu vācā dāruṇāyā kṣipan. jihvāyāḥ prāpnuyāc-cedaṃ jaghanya-prabhavo hi saḥ
Manu 8.270. A once-born man (a Sudra), who insults a twice-born man with gross invective, shall have his tongue cut
out; for he is of low origin.
GautAA_2,3.6 / GautSt_12.8: śataṃ kṣatriyo brāhmaṇākrośe |
All these cases have to do with verbal assaults in the presence of the victim and witnesses, whereas paisuna is calumny in a less specific sense; as in Ap. ibid. 7, anaryavamn paisunam, are general faults, “ un-Aryan behavior and calumny.” 12 So
Gautama, 25, 7, pais’una is calumniating in general, like the admonition in G. 2, 19 to avoid sukctd vdcas, ‘sour words’; but such expressions, though not usual in the legal language, which is of course never wholly technical, sometimes occur even in formal legal phraseology.
For example, śuktavākyābhidhāne, ‘on calling bad names’ (one is to be fined) is a phrase used by Viṣṇu in the same category with 47 ākṣepe, ākrośane, kṣepe. 13 The combination of kruś with upa, which appears only in noun-formation in the lexicons (upakrośa, upakcrośana, upakroṣṭar) occurs in verbal form in Nār. 15, 30, upakruśya rājānam, ‘if a man censures the king’ (his tongue is to be cut out; a late form and rule)
manu 8.266–278
M 7, 51 discusses vākyapāruṣya — legal phrase from — sort of insult — paruṣam uktvā “speaking roughly” as opposed to daṇḍapāruṣya M.8.278 “abuse and assault”
Gautama recommends ‘sweet words’ śuktā vācaḥ // Gaut_2.25 // śuktāḥ niṣṭhurāḥ parasyogvegakāriṇvaḥ /
sarveṣāṃ varjayet // madyaṃ nityaṃ brāhmaṇaḥ // Gaut_2.26 //
Vi. dharma uttara purana 5.39 śuktavākyābhidāṇe ‘ on calling bad names’ in same category as ākṣepe, ākrośane, kṣepe (cf 5.37 . 36 — hīnavarṇākroṡane. G 12, 12
nteresting though how ‘yoga’ is defined in viṣṇudharmottara chap 6 as “proper application of a meaning of a sentence; yena vākyārthartho yuñjyate sa yoga” …. i wonder how many consumers of yoga today first think of this definition when asked what they think yoga means?
Although … worth considering… ekajātir-dvijātīṃstu vācā dāruṇāyā kṣipan. jihvāyāḥ prāpnuyāc-cedaṃ jaghanya-prabhavo hi saḥ
Manu 8.270. A once-born man (a Sudra), who insults a twice-born man with gross invective, shall have his tongue cut out; for he is of low origin. — — so, too 8.266–278 more or less defines “hate speech” — — M 7, 51 discusses vākyapāruṣya — legal phrase from — sort of insult — paruṣam uktvā “speaking roughly” as opposed to daṇḍapāruṣya M.8.278 “abuse and assault”
https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.311034/page/n33
yena vākyārthartho yuñjyate sa yoga / yo’rtho vi’dhi kṛta sūtrapade sa padārtha
interesting though how ‘yoga’ is defined in viṣṇudharmottara chap 6 as “proper application of a meaning of a sentence; yena vākyārthartho yuñjyate sa yoga” …. i wonder how many consumers of yoga today first think of this definition when asked what they think yoga means?
My struggles with 2.1 continue, mostly due to a lack of time. But while studying, I was rather delighted to find some examples of how Sanskrit was used as a natural language.
The form of Sanskrit found in most literature tends to follow the model of Patanjali, who likely studied Sanskrit after the language’s last native speakers had already died. According to S. D. Joshi, this would explain why Patanjali does not understand the idiomatic use of वा as a “preferable” condition, which led later tradition to treat वा, विभाषा, and अन्यतरस्याम् as essentially synonymous terms. But Panini was probably closely connected with the community of native speakers; perhaps he was a part of it himself. For that reason, many of his rules reflect certain idioms and expressions that we rarely see in later Sanskrit, except in highly elaborate forms.
Here I focus on rules 2.1.44, 2.1.47, and 2.1.48. These come in a section describing the use of locative (सप्तमी) तत्पुरुष compounds.
2.1.44 संज्ञायाम्
(Case 7 words are compounded with case-inflected nouns) in the sense of (providing) a name (and the result is called तत्पुरुष);
2.1.47 क्षेपे
(Case 7 words are compounded with case-inflected nouns) in the sense of abuse (and the result is called तत्पुरुष);
2.1.48 पात्रेसमितादयश्च
And words in the list starting with पात्रेसमित (are called तत्पुरुष when implying abuse).
Idioms
Sanskrit compounds are particularly handy for capturing idioms and natural expressions. Some of these are familiar already. For example, a king can be a नृप or नरप, a protector of men. Or he can be a नरेश or नरपति, a lord of men. Most Sanskrit students have probably seen words like this already.
But what is more remarkable is that these compounds can work in strongly idiomatic ways that are not always predictable from a non-Sanskrit perspective. The examples here are all instances of अलुक्समास:
अरण्येतिलकाः
(A person) like sesame seeds in the forest; a person who fails to live up to expectations
अरण्येमाषाः
(A person) like beans in the forest; a person who fails to live up to expectations
वनेकिंशुकाः
(Things) like किंशुक flowers in the forest; things found unexpectedly
वनेबिल्वकाः
(Things) like wood-apple trees in the forest; things found unexpectedly
कूपेपिशाचकाः
(Things) like demons in a well; things found unexpectedly
Insults
But I find the insults much more interesting. What qualities did Sanskrit speakers think were insulting? Wild action:
अवतप्तेनकुलस्थितं तवैतत्
You’re acting like a mongoose on hot ground.
polluting the natural order:
प्रवाहेमूत्रितम्
Like peeing in a stream
And perverting religious ritual:
भस्मनिहुतम्
Like offering in ashes
But the पात्रेसमित words are much more fun:
उडुम्बरमशकः
A fly for a certain type of tree; a person with limited interest.
मातरिपुरुषः
A man only with regard to his mother; “cowardly bully” (Monier Williams), “motherfucker” (S. D. Joshi).
पिण्डीशूरः , गेहेशूरः
A hero only with regard to a ball of food, or within his own home; a lazy bum