> 'bhootam' somehow got transformed to 'booci'. When Siva is referred to as
> 'bhoota naatha', I think it is used in the sense of 'Lord of the elements'
> rather than as 'Lord of ghosts'. The use of bhootam to mean ghost may be a
> more recent phenomenon.
>
(Count me among the converts to the "kanneganTi convention" of wRITing!)
Sabda ratnaakaramu gives the meaning bhootamu for boochi and quotes
allasaani peddana:
"boochi vOle nunna vaacham'yamuni mOmu, baalya chaapalamuna baTTuTayunu"
(swaarOchisha manusambhavamu, 4va aaSwaasamu)
This usage precedes General Bussi, right?
As far as bhoota nadha or bhootESa are concerned I believe the word
bhootamu means element (as in the five elements) as well as ghost-like
creatures (as in bhoota, prEta, piSaacha gaNamulu). The second meaning
is not a recent phenomenon. annamaachaarya sang tongue-in-cheek in the
15th century about vEnkaTESwara that:
"puDami nindara baTTe bhootamu, kaDu poDavaina nallani bhootamu"
Regards,
paaNini