Page:Next-of-kin Marriages in Old Iran.djvu/66

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IN OLD IRÂN.
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Etymologically Qaêtvadatha may be regarded as a compound word composed of qaêtu and datha, of which the first part may be compared with Skr. svay-am, Lat. suus, Pahl. kh'ish, and Mod. Pers. kh'ish derived from Av. qa = Skr. sva = Lat. sibi Eng. self. Hence it may originally mean 'self,' 'one's self,' 'one's own,' 'relation,' or 'allied.' The second part, datha, which is transliterated into Pahl. das, comes from the Av. root dâ = "to give," "to make," "to create." Dath is properly a reduplication peculiar to the Irânian dialect, from the Indo-Irânian root dâ "to give," &c. Thus the derivation of the word itself might suggest for it a number of definitions. It may mean "a gift of one's self, to one's self, or from one's self"; "a gift of one's own, to one's own"; "a gift of relation or alliance"; "a making of one's self"; "self-association"; "self-dedication"; "self devotion"; "self-sacrifice," &c.[1] These are some of the

  1. ↑ Compare Prof. Darmesteter's remarks on the derivation of the word suggested by Dr. Geldner in his Ueber die Metrik des jüngeren Avestâ (Etudes Irániennes, Vol. II.,
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