Eight Thousand Articles

Our Dictionary of Gāndhārī has reached 8,000 articles with a total of 41,713 references. Article eight thousand is ñadi­mitra­salohida, from a fragmentary frieze inscription found at the Taxila Dharmarājika stūpa and wishing for the health of the “relatives, friends and kinsmen” of the donor. The array of compounds expressing the same general notion, attested as early as the Aśokan edicts, is surprisingly large and includes ñadiga­baṃdhava, ñadiga­mitra­saṃbhatiga, ñadigasaṃgha, ñadiga­salohida, ñadi­salohida, mitra­ñadiga­salohida, mitra­ñadisa­lohida, mitr­amaca­ñadi­salohida, mitra­saṃstuda, mitra­saṃstuda­ñadiga, mitra­saṃstuda­sahaya­ñadiga, sava­ñadiga, sava­ñadi­saṃgha. The terms ñadigasaṃgha, savañadisaṃgha and sava­ñadiga suggest that ñadi(ga) is the semantically central element in these compounds, and indeed it is present in all of them with the single exception of mitra­saṃstuda.