Yaska's Theory of Meaning: An Overlooked Episode in the History of Semantics in India

Summary: This paper provides a comprehensive reinterpretation of the Gargya controversy, a significant event in the early history of language study in India. The controversy, recorded in Yaska's Nirukta, revolves around the question of whether all nouns or only certain nouns can be derived from verbs. The author examines the arguments presented in this dispute and argues that Yaska's belief in the derivability of all nouns not only serves as a linguistic axiom but also reflects non-linguistic concerns regarding the purpose of etymology as a discipline and the transcendent nature of the Vedic texts.