Bengali
names 24objects 12ISO 639-3 ben
Spoken in Bengal, Bengal (Calcutta/Serampore lexicography), Bengal (marked গ্রা◦, colloquial), Bengal (standard literary Bengali), Bengal (stated by the dictionary to be the usage of 'this country').
vernacular 10 · folk 3 · borrowed 11
See the Bengali sky on the chart →
The sky in Bengali
| Name | Object | Meaning | Register |
|---|---|---|---|
| অগস্ত্য agastya | Canopus | the sage Agastya The entry carries into modern Bengali the Agastya-yātrā observance keyed to the star's heliacal rising in Bhādra. | borrowed |
| ঝাঁটাতারা jhām̐ṭātārā | Comets | 'the broom star' — Dāsa's own bracket says 'because it is shaped like a broom' The Bengali folk comet-word, standing beside the learned ধূমকেতু, whose definition in the same dictionary (p. 1147) also reaches for the broom: 'a luminous body whose rays are shaped like a jhāṛu'. | folk |
| কবন্ধ kabandha | Comets | 'a headless trunk; a headless goblin' Beside the ordinary ধূমকেতু dhūmaketu (p. 544). The comet as a decapitated body is the same figure as the Rāhu/Ketu myth, and Biswas's entry runs the three senses together. | borrowed |
| নক্ষত্রপাত nakṣatra-pāta | Meteors and shooting stars | 'star-fall' Recorded because of the explicit statement of regional usage in the parenthesis: 'in this country a meteor-fall is called nakṣatrapāta'. The same entry supplies the colloquial Bengali pronunciations of নক্ষত্র — নোক্খোত্তোর, নখতর, নোখতা. | vernacular |
| তারা খসা tārā khasā | Meteors and shooting stars | 'a star slipping loose' Dāsa defines the Sanskrit উল্কাপাত by this ordinary Bengali phrase and by nothing else. | folk |
| তারাপতন, তারাপাত tārā-patana, tārā-pāta | Meteors and shooting stars | 'star-fall' Sub-lemmas under তারা. The learned word উল্কা ulkā is at p. 172 ('an aerolite or aerolith, a shooting star, a meteor'); তারাপতন is the transparent Bengali compound beside it. | vernacular |
| ইলবলা (also ইলবকা) ilabalā (ilabakā) | Orion | Ilvala, the asura brother of Vātāpi Haughton marks both as feminine and 'used in the plural only' — the Vedic plural Ilvalāḥ preserved intact in a Bengali dictionary of 1833. | borrowed |
| কালপুরুষ kālapuruṣa | Orion | Dāsa parses it 'Kāla (= Yama), his puruṣa (= assistant)', a genitive tatpuruṣa; but his second sense reads Kāla as TIME — 'the star-cluster that measures kāla, i.e. the rains and the other seasons' The second and better Bengali source for the prize word. Dāsa gives the alternative name অগ্রহায়ণী Agrahāyaṇī, and appends an English note describing the belt: 'one of the constellations containing seven very bright stars, three of which in a straight line, form Orion's belt'. | vernacular |
| কালপুরুষ kālapuruṣa (Kālpuruṣ) | Orion | 'the man of Kāla' — Kāla being both Time and Death (Yama); hence 'the Time-man / the black man', Yama's envoy The ordinary modern Bengali word for Orion; it is the name under which the figure is taught in Bengali schoolbooks and popular astronomy, and it has no counterpart in the Sanskrit star-lists, where Orion is Mṛga/Prajāpati and only its parts (Mṛgaśiras, Ārdrā, Iṣus trikāṇḍā) are named. | vernacular |
| লুব্ধক lubdhaka | Sirius | 'the hunter, the fowler' (also 'greedy one') The Sanskrit star-name surviving unaltered in the modern Bengali lexicon, with its hunter etymology still transparent in the same entry. | borrowed |
| অজবীথি ajabīthi | The Milky Way | 'the goat-road' Marked '(rare)'. This is a semantic shift, not an inheritance: in the Sanskrit sources Ajavīthī is one of the nine vīthīs, a three-nakṣatra segment of the ecliptic belt (see sanskrit_db_id ajavithi), never the galaxy. Both Biswas for Bengali and the Chandrakanta Abhidhana for Assamese gloss it 'Milky Way', so the shift is shared across the eastern lexicographic tradition. | borrowed |
| ছায়াপথ chāyā-patha | The Milky Way | 'the shadow-path' The ordinary modern Bengali word for the galaxy, and the one used in Bengali popular science. | borrowed |
| দুধপথ dudh-patha | The Milky Way | 'the milk-road' Listed by Dāsa among the Bengali synonyms of ছায়াপথ, and again under হরিতালী (p. 2133). This is the one indigenous eastern name for the galaxy that agrees with the European one, and Dāsa gives it without comment beside আকাশগঙ্গা and যমের জাঙ্গাল. | vernacular |
| হরিতালী, হরিতালিকা haritālī, haritālikā | The Milky Way | uncertain; the word's other senses are the bright-fourth of Bhādra and dūrvā grass Defined by its orientation: 'a white line running north-and-south across the path of the sky'. Praharaj's Odia entries for the same word (pp. 8972-8973) define it the same way and with the same orientation clause, and list it among the Sanskrit names of the Chāyāpatha at p. 4095. | borrowed |
| যমজাঙ্গাল yama-jāṅgāla | The Milky Way | 'Yama's jāṅgāl' — a jāṅgāl is a raised earthen causeway or embankment across flooded land Sub-lemma ~জাঙ্গাল under the headword যম (Yama, god of death). The image is of the galaxy as the raised road on which the dead travel — the deltaic-Bengal counterpart of the Odia hātidaṇḍā and Assamese hātīpaṭi 'elephant-track' (both in this file). | vernacular |
| যমের জাঙ্গাল (যমজাঙ্গাল) yamer jāṅgāl (yama-jāṅgāla) | The Milky Way | 'Yama's causeway' The second, independent attestation of the name — Dāsa lists it among the synonyms of ছায়াপথ (p. 812) and again as a sub-headword under যম (p. 1811), where it is equated with আকাশগঙ্গা, সোমধারা, দেবপথ and ছায়াপথ. | vernacular |
| সপ্তর্ষি saptarṣi | The Pleiades | 'the seven sages' Recorded as a divergence, not as a name to be used. Ram Comul Sen renders the English headword Pleiades by সপ্তর্ষি, which in every other source in this file — Bengali, Assamese and Odia alike — is Ursa Major. | borrowed |
| ধ্রুব dhruba | The pole star | 'the fixed one' The entry keeps both the Purāṇic prince and the star in one lemma, and the adjectival sense 'sure, certain, fixed' alongside them. | borrowed |
| সপ্তর্ষি (সপ্তর্ষিমণ্ডল) saptarṣi (saptarṣi-maṇḍala) | Ursa Major (the Big Dipper) | 'the seven sages' Biswas is the source that shows the modern Bengali equation of the group with the English 'Plough' as well as the Great Bear. | borrowed |
| ঋক্ষমণ্ডল ṛkṣa-maṇḍala | Ursa Major (the Big Dipper) | 'the bear-circle' Bengali keeps the old Vedic ṛkṣa 'bear ~ star' ambiguity live in a single dictionary entry: the headword is glossed 'the bear; a star; a constellation', and the compound is the Great Bear. | borrowed |
| শুকতারা śukatārā (Śuktārā) | Venus | 'Śukra-star' — a worn-down compound of Śukra (Venus) + tārā (star) Biswas glosses it 'the vesper', i.e. the EVENING star, although in ordinary Bengali speech শুকতারা is most often the MORNING star and সন্ধ্যাতারা the evening one. Praharaj, listing Bengali equivalents for his Odia headwords, prints শুকতারা against BOTH ପାହାନ୍ତି ତାରା (morning) and ପହରିକିଆ ତାରା (evening). The divergence is real and old; the underlying object is the same planet. | vernacular |
| সন্ধ্যাতারা sandhyā-tārā | Venus as evening star | 'evening star' Sub-lemma ~তারা under the headword সন্ধ্যা. The learned doublet সান্ধ্যতারা / সান্ধ্যতারকা is at p. 1005. | vernacular |
| সাঁঝের তারা sāñjher tārā | Venus as evening star | 'the star of dusk' (sāñjh, the colloquial Bengali for evening) Given by Dāsa as the plain Bengali equivalent of the learned সান্ধ্যতারা, alongside শুক্রতারা. | vernacular |
| পোয়াতে-তারা poẏāte-tārā | Venus as morning star | 'the dawning star' — Dāsa derives it from প্রভাতিয়া prabhātiyā, 'of the dawn' Illustrated from a work Dāsa abbreviates গ্রহ-নক্ষত্র ('Planets and Stars'): 'have you seen the poẏāte-tārā, or śuk-tārā?' — the citation itself glossing the folk word with the standard one. | folk |
Sources
- Sailendra Biswas, Samsad Bengali-English Dictionary, 3rd ed., Calcutta: Sahitya Samsad, 2000 (DSAL digital ed.), s.v. অগস্ত্য agastya, p. 6 link
- Jñānendramohana Dāsa, Bāṅgālā Bhāṣāra Abhidhāna, 2nd rev. ed., Kalikātā: Indian Publishing House [bhūmikā 1937] (DSAL digital ed.), s.v. ঝাঁটাতারা jhām̐ṭātārā, p. 882 link
- Sailendra Biswas, Samsad Bengali-English Dictionary, 3rd ed., Calcutta: Sahitya Samsad, 2000 (DSAL digital ed.), s.v. কবন্ধ kabandha, p. 202 link
- Jñānendramohana Dāsa, Bāṅgālā Bhāṣāra Abhidhāna, 2nd rev. ed., Kalikātā: Indian Publishing House [bhūmikā 1937] (DSAL digital ed.), s.v. নক্ষত্র nakṣatra, sub-lemma ̃পাত, p. 1157 link
- Jñānendramohana Dāsa, Bāṅgālā Bhāṣāra Abhidhāna, 2nd rev. ed., Kalikātā: Indian Publishing House [bhūmikā 1937] (DSAL digital ed.), s.v. উল্কা ulkā, sub-lemma ̃পাত, p. 349 link
- Sailendra Biswas, Samsad Bengali-English Dictionary, 3rd ed., Calcutta: Sahitya Samsad, 2000 (DSAL digital ed.), s.v. তারা tārā, sub-lemmas ~পতন, ~পাত, p. 458 link
- Sir Graves Champney Haughton, A Dictionary, Bengáli and Sanskrit, explained in English, London: printed by J. L. Cox and Son, 1833, s.v. ইলবকা / ইলবলা, p. 419 link
- Jñānendramohana Dāsa, Bāṅgālā Bhāṣāra Abhidhāna, 2nd rev. ed., Kalikātā: Indian Publishing House [bhūmikā 1937] (DSAL digital ed.), s.v. কালপুরুষ kālapuruṣa, p. 512 link
- Sailendra Biswas, Samsad Bengali-English Dictionary, 3rd ed., Calcutta: Sahitya Samsad, 2000 (DSAL digital ed.), s.v. কালপুরুষ kālapuruṣa, p. 231 link
- Sailendra Biswas, Samsad Bengali-English Dictionary, 3rd ed., Calcutta: Sahitya Samsad, 2000 (DSAL digital ed.), s.v. লুব্ধ lubdha, sub-entry লুব্ধক, p. 930 link
- Sailendra Biswas, Samsad Bengali-English Dictionary, 3rd ed., Calcutta: Sahitya Samsad, 2000 (DSAL digital ed.), s.v. অজবীথি ajabīthi, p. 12 link
- Sailendra Biswas, Samsad Bengali-English Dictionary, 3rd ed., Calcutta: Sahitya Samsad, 2000 (DSAL digital ed.), s.v. ছায়া chāẏā, sub-lemma ~পথ, p. 379 link
- Jñānendramohana Dāsa, Bāṅgālā Bhāṣāra Abhidhāna, 2nd rev. ed., Kalikātā: Indian Publishing House [bhūmikā 1937] (DSAL digital ed.), s.v. ছায়া chāẏā, sub-lemma ̃পথ, p. 812 link
- Jñānendramohana Dāsa, Bāṅgālā Bhāṣāra Abhidhāna, 2nd rev. ed., Kalikātā: Indian Publishing House [bhūmikā 1937] (DSAL digital ed.), s.v. হরিতালী, হরিতালিকা haritālī, haritālikā, p. 2133 link
- Sailendra Biswas, Samsad Bengali-English Dictionary, 3rd ed., Calcutta: Sahitya Samsad, 2000 (DSAL digital ed.), s.v. যম yama (2), sub-lemma ~জাঙ্গাল, p. 890 link
- Jñānendramohana Dāsa, Bāṅgālā Bhāṣāra Abhidhāna, 2nd rev. ed., Kalikātā: Indian Publishing House [bhūmikā 1937] (DSAL digital ed.), s.v. যম yama, sub-lemma ̃জাঙ্গাল, p. 1811 link
- Ram Comul Sen, A Dictionary in English and Bengalee, vol. 2, Serampore, 1834, s.v. Pleiades, p. 168 link
- Sailendra Biswas, Samsad Bengali-English Dictionary, 3rd ed., Calcutta: Sahitya Samsad, 2000 (DSAL digital ed.), s.v. ধ্রুব dhruba, p. 548 link
- Sailendra Biswas, Samsad Bengali-English Dictionary, 3rd ed., Calcutta: Sahitya Samsad, 2000 (DSAL digital ed.), s.v. সপ্ত sapta, sub-lemma ~র্ষি, p. 981 link
- Sailendra Biswas, Samsad Bengali-English Dictionary, 3rd ed., Calcutta: Sahitya Samsad, 2000 (DSAL digital ed.), s.v. ঋক্ষ r̥kṣa, sub-lemma ~মণ্ডল, p. 176 link
- Sailendra Biswas, Samsad Bengali-English Dictionary, 3rd ed., Calcutta: Sahitya Samsad, 2000 (DSAL digital ed.), s.v. শুকতারা śukatārā, p. 950 link
- Sailendra Biswas, Samsad Bengali-English Dictionary, 3rd ed., Calcutta: Sahitya Samsad, 2000 (DSAL digital ed.), s.v. সন্ধ্যা sandhyā, sub-lemma ~তারা, p. 979 link
- Jñānendramohana Dāsa, Bāṅgālā Bhāṣāra Abhidhāna, 2nd rev. ed., Kalikātā: Indian Publishing House [bhūmikā 1937] (DSAL digital ed.), s.v. সান্ধ্য sāndhya, sub-lemma ̃তারা, p. 2046 link
- Jñānendramohana Dāsa, Bāṅgālā Bhāṣāra Abhidhāna, 2nd rev. ed., Kalikātā: Indian Publishing House [bhūmikā 1937] (DSAL digital ed.), s.v. পোয়াতে-তারা poẏāte-tārā, p. 1386 link
