1

निस्·nis "out, forth, away" > nirvana "to blow out, extinguish; out of breath?"

नि·ni "down, back, in, into" < PIE *h₁én "in; down?"

My question is whether these words are from the same PIE root? And If they are cognates, how does the meaning shift from "in" to "out"?

PS: this is a post involving diachronic semantics, which I assume to be a subbranch of linguistics, so why did the close-voters vote "off-topic" option?

2
  • Canada (or Greek is it now? I still prefer LePressentiment), did you create a new account? Why?
    – Dan Bron
    Jun 10, 2018 at 12:27
  • @DanBron, Hi, my account is not a new one, please check my question list.
    – archenoo
    Jun 10, 2018 at 15:13

1 Answer 1

1

Sanskrit ni “down” and niṣ “out” are two different words. The former is cognate with the first part of German “nieder”. The latter does not have any assured cognates outside of Indo-Iranian.

1
  • Thanks for your cognancy infomation, if there is no cognate candidates, maybe semantic connection is unnecessary .
    – archenoo
    Jun 15, 2018 at 14:23

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.