Wednesday, November 5, 2014

From a Student at the Sorbonne

So, rēs in latin and ray in sanskrit both mean wealth or physical goods originally. Res publica, where republic comes from, originally meant "state treasury," literally the "state wealth", and from that it later came to mean simply the state. What's interesting is that both these words, res and ray, come from an indo-european root meaning to give, to offer. Sanskrit even still has a verb rā meaning to give. So there was obviously a heavy link between giving and money in those times: the word for wealth meant "something you give." In Sanskrit culture in general the importance of giving is key- generosity is king, and the best way to show off wealth is by giving it (although, only to those who deserve it - no throwing pearls to swine could have been an indian proverb!). 


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