In Greek *yeug- became ζυγόν "yoke", which combined with συν "with" to form συζυγία "union, conjunction". This was borrowed as syzygy thru Latin. A syzygy, by the way, is an astronomical term for a conjunction or opposition of two heavenly bodies.
Another Sanskrit reflex is युग yuga a term for an age of the world. I quote the complete definition from Monier-Williams here because it's so interesting:
an age of the world, long mundane period of years (of which there are four, viz. 1. Krita or Satya, 2. Treta, 3. Dvapara, 4. Kali, of which the first three have already elapsed, while the Kali, which began at midnight between the 17th and 18th of Feb. 3102 B.C. [O. S.], is that in which we live ; the duration of each is said to be respectively 1,728 ,000, 1,296,000, 864,000, and 432,000 years of men, the descending numbers representing a similar physical and moral deterioration of men in each age; the four Yugas comprise an aggregate of 4,320,000 years and constitute a "great Yuga" or Maha-yuga
The Kali of the Kali Yuga, the yuga we are currently in, is the male demon named Kali, not the goddess Kālī.
4 comments:
The yuga names also, as I recall, appear as the names for various dice-rolls in some sort of gambling game (like what Yudhistira and Nala play)
You could say that the aim of yoga is yoga.
Yoga in the West tends to mean simply an exercise regime. There's a lovely line I read somewhere (but forget where) which said something like "The great danger of practicing yoga is that the new student may achieve enlightenment too fast and that his unprepared soul will be anihilated by the shock". My girlfriend was at a yoga class at the time and I became terribly worried.
I learn yet another strange word. Now I'll have to slip "syzygy" into a sentence when I visit with friends.
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