Language desk
< April 3	<< Mar \| April \| May >>	April 5 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Language Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is a transcluded archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

April 4

Gaushala

Having recently read the stray cow article I found the Indian word "gaushala/goshala" interesting since it resembles its English translation "cow shelter". Could they be distant cognates through Sanskrit or such? 46.188.170.116 (talk) 19:39, 4 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Note: The WP article is at Goshala. Deor (talk) 20:05, 4 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

From Wiktionary: गौशाला (gaushala) is composed of two words: गौ (gau) from Sanskrit गो (go), which is related to English "cow"; and Hindi or Sanskrit शाला (śā́lā), which is related to English "hall". The English word "shelter" has a different etymology and isn't related. --Amble (talk) 20:55, 4 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

And apparently, शाला (śā́lā) isn't related to the similar Germanic *salą, either... 惑乱 Wakuran (talk) 00:53, 5 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, there's a centum and satem divide here, so that the Germanic "s" doesn't match with the Sanskrit "ś", but the Germanic "h" does. --Amble (talk) 05:50, 5 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]