May 03, 2012

ཞོ་ཤ།

There is a queer and quant old Tibetan word zho sha “yoghurt-meat.” It is said to mean “power or strength” (stobs san nus pa), or “tax, levy” (khral), or “payment, wages” (gla brngan). See Go-shul, gNa’ rtsom (p. 333, n. 30). Cf. the etymology of “salary,” which is said to be linked with salt.

Cf. Stein 1972: 117 “a loyal vassel’s gift to his king, which literally mean ‘curds and meat’ (zho sha).”


3 comments:

  1. Dear D,

    Hugh Richardson said he believed it was, as you say, originally a compound of yoghurt and meat (Corpus of Early Tibetan Inscriptions, p. 49). This word isn't all that unusual in pre-Mongol Tibetan writings, from O.T. inscriptions to late 12th century Kagyu Kambums, but have you seen it in use much in recent writings? If I used it in a modern love letter, would my sweetheart understand me? (I mean without cheating and looking in the dictionary.)

    I wonder if the plant names that include zho-sha aren't actually epithets using the already existent word. Like mchin-pa zho-sha would be a strengthener for the liver... Any thought on that?

    Yours,
    D.

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  2. Dear Dan,

    I see that also Stein renders zho sha as “curds and meat” (Stein 1972: 117). No, I haven‘t seen that it occurs in recent writings. If I received a love letter where zho sha is mentioned, I am very likely to understand it as yoghurt and meat and would not be able to decode the message. I will have to resort to a dictionary.

    The term mchin pa zho sha seems to already presuppose the metaphorical usage of zho sha.

    Best,

    Yours,

    D.

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  3. D, I thought Richardson had the translation 'sustenance,' which is a little more abstract than yoghurt-meat. Now that I look in his index, I see he defines it as "milk and meat, offerings." But I guess the compound would have been formed in an effort to convey the idea of a whole class of the most substantially nourishing-strengthening foods.

    Yourz,
    D

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