The Vedic Posterius -Pitvam, Cover (Night)

Abstract

THE WORDS prapitvam, dpitvaim, and abhipitvdim must all be compounds, and their analysis as such is very simple. The posterius -pitvam,' quasi 'tectum,' is derived from the root PO(i) '(pro-) tegere,' but in Greek iroa we have the concrete sense of 'lid, cover.' From the sense of 'cover' -pitvam developed the sense of 'night.' The conception is familiar. We have in Isaiah (60. 2), 'Darkness shall cover the earth.' Shakespeare may be cited for 'Night is fled, Whose pitchy mantle over-veil'd the earth'; and for 'Well cover'd with the night's black mantle.' In the Iliad (5. 23) Homer has the same figure. Prellwitz is undoubtedly right when, in his Greek lexicon, he connects uKe'7ras 'shelter,' generalized from 'cover,' with Skr. ks p, Av. xsap 'night.' In Skr. abhi-pitvaim 'evening' and 4-pitvdim (cf. Av. 6-xsapan'evening twilight') we have the sense of 'sub noctem' (close to night), while pra-pitvam (cf. pra-do~sm 'at eve'), which originally meant 'ante noctem' (=twilight), was allocated, thanks to the frequent connotation of prain other time words (,rpwl 'mane'), to the sense of 'morning twilight.' These words are cognate with Lat. o-pa--cus., dark, shadowy (see JAOS 34. 336, n. 1). In apitvam we have the IE. preverb E, which I am always disposed to speak of as Brugmann's E (see Gr. 2. 2, ?634). In spite of all the exaggerated use to which Brugmann puts it, as in lrog (1. c.), its reality is not to be doubted. To get the Vedic usage of pra-pitvdm settled right I have consulted, besides the lexica, the versions of Griffith, Ludwig, and Grassmann. Ludwig, who etymologizes prapitvaim on Lat. prope 'near,' translates everywhere as if in terms of propinquitas or appropinquatio. This erroneous definition seems supported by