पर्शु

From Proto-Indo-Aryan *párśuṣ, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *párĉuš, from Proto-Indo-European *pérḱus. Cognate with Avestan 𐬞𐬆𐬭𐬆𐬯𐬎𐬱‎ (pərəsuš, “rib, side”), Kurdish parsû (“rib”), Ossetian фарс (fars, “side”), Old Church Slavonic прьси (prĭsi, “breast”).

In the Rigveda, this word means only "rib", but it came also to mean "sickle" in the later Atharvaveda. This semantic transfer becomes clear when we take into consideration the rib-like shape of the sickle and realize that the rib of a horse was actually sharpened to produce the instrument.

• (Vedic) IPA^(key): /pɐ́ɽ.ɕu/
• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈpɐɽ.ɕu/

पर्शु • (párśu) m

1. rib
2. curved knife, sickle
3. name of a man
4. (in the plural) name of a warrior-tribe

पर्शु • (párśu) f

1. the supporting or side wall of a well
2. name of a woman

• Dardic: *páršu
  • Shina: प्रशु (práśu)
• Sauraseni Prakrit: 𑀧𑀁𑀲𑀼𑀮𑀺𑀆 (paṃsuliā)
  • Gujarati: પાંસળી (pā̃saḷī)
  • Hindi: पसली (paslī)
• Maharastri Prakrit: 𑀧𑀁𑀲𑀼𑀮𑀺𑀆 (paṃsuliā)
  • Old Marathi: पासोळी (pāsoḷī), पांसोळी (pāṃsoḷī)
    • Marathi: फासळी (phāsḷī)