Re: [INDOLOGY] clearer Q re: vidūṣaka?

[Stefan Baums]

Dear Jo,

> Is there any other way to derive vidūṣaka from
> vidvāṁs -- perhaps involving some speculative
> etymologizing?

J.C. Wright suggested just such a derivation via
Middle Indo‐Aryan on p. 21 of his 1965 (published
1966) SOAS inaugural lecture (“Non‐Classical Sanskrit
Literature”):

   Other features, notably the highly stereotyped
   figure of the pedant (Sanskritized vidūṣaka, i.e.
   vidús, Prakrit vidū), and the basic structure of
   the dramatic genre, reflected to some extent in
   the theory and practice of classical Kāvya, will
   have a more distant origin [i.e., more distant
   than Buddhist literature].

(This is the passage referred to from Mayrhofers KEWA
s.v. vidūṣakaḥ with the unresolved abbreviation
„Wright, NCSL 21“.)

All best,
Stefan

-- 
Dr. Stefan Baums
Institute for Indian and Tibetan Studies
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich