Re: Oka Prasna
Bapa Rao (brao@tis.com)
Wed, 23 Jul 1997 14:36:37 -0700 (PDT)
> As far as I know, the word atithi relates to an 'expected' guest, whereas
> abhyAgati to an 'unexpected' but neverteless, guest.
>
> Perhaps there is no simple, direct term for host, in its vulgar(*) meaning
> of the word, namely one who looks after the needs of the guests, one who
> invited them for a party, for a stay, etc...
>
> "gRhasthuDu" may mean something close to "host", but is probably not
> politically acceptable, disenfranchising 51% of the population and
> that sort of thing. In a technical sense, "yajamAni" has similar meaning,
> and pejorative connotations.
Any translation has to sustain the symmetry--nIvu naa atithvi; nEnu nI ???.
Another problem is, either the same term or a different one has to
be found to translate things like host of a parasite, internet host.
One neologism that occurs to me is to use "vaasi." which would seem to
work for all theree senses. (It also has the benefit of sounding close
to vaasaalu, which the parasite can count as it is feeding off the host. :-))
Bapa Rao