לפי רוב המקורות מקור המילא הוא מ
vasah
משמעותה ריח בסנסקרית
Alex | 11.16.07 - 9:22 pm | #

OK, I found that here:

http://www.bartleby.com/61/39/B0...9/ B0103950.html

but in the past, I've found some of the AHD's etymologies to be pretty suspect.

Any chance there's a Sanskrit reader out there who can confirm?
Dave (Balashon) | Homepage | 11.17.07 - 6:34 pm | #

Hey, I just discovered your site quite by accident. I am soooooo excited, as I love Ivrit, and am a former teacher of the language; four of my kids are in Israel (3 made aliyah), and we will be (G-d willing)going back yet again for our older son's wedding in a few months. . .
I invite you to read my blog.
Lady-Light | Homepage | 11.22.07 - 9:24 am | #

a friend of mine gave me his old Sanskrit Grammar book, but i haven't actually looked at it at all, sorry can't help
Steg (dos iz nit der šteg) | Homepage | 11.27.07 - 3:07 am | #

Balashon! Where are you?? One entry in a month is not OK. You're worrying us.
Anonymous | 12.05.07 - 9:41 am | #

I really should be coming back soon. Just want to finish the indexing of my sources, which is taking much longer than I expected.
Dave (Balashon) | Homepage | 12.05.07 - 9:46 am | #

I just now came across the posting on "basmati" rice. I do not know Hindi, but would like to point out that basmat as a word appears in Hebrew.

Basmat is one of the wives of Esau. The Alkali dictionary lists "basmat" as a perfumery (related to bosem and besamim). As any Israeli gardener knows, the plant impatiens is called basmat in Hebrew though I have never found the abundant, continuously blooming flowers to be fragrant.

As a wild guess, why look to Persian or Arabic, when there were since ancient times plenty of Jewish merchants whose trade language at least contained some Hebrew along the Silk Road?
Rabbi J. Leonard Romm | 12.30.07 - 10:04 pm | #