dur-

[El Ganador]

What does the root dur- mean in Sanskrit and Hindustani?

It comes in words such as दुर्योधन, दुर्भाग्य, दुर्लभ, दुर्बल, etc.
It seems to mean different things in these words, something related to hard or not? Can someone please give a better suggestion for the meaning?

 

[marrish]

dus ind. a prefix to nouns and rarely to verbs or adverbs (Pāṇ. ii, 1, 6; 2, 18, Vārtt. 2, Pat. ; iii, 3, 126 &c.) implying evil, bad, difficult, hard, badly, hardly; slight, inferior &c. (opp. to su), often = Engl. in- or un-

It becomes dur (q.v.) before vowels and soft consonants; dū (q.v.) before r and sometimes before d, dh, n, which become ḍ, ḍh, ṇ remains unchanged before t, th (in older language however ṣṭ, ṣṭh), becomes duṣ (q.v.), rarely duḥ before k, kh; p, ph, duś (q.v.) before c, ch duḥ (q.v.), rarely duś, duṣ, dus, before ś, ṣ, s. [Printed book page 488] (Sanskrit-English Dictionary, M. Monier-Williams 1899.

 

[apmoy70]

It's cognate with the Ancient Greek prefix in inseparable compounds (meaning it's never found alone) δυσ- /dys-/ > Modern Greek δυσ- /ðis-/ = bad, evil, unfortunate, present in many IE languages: Avestan duš-/duž-, Irish do- (lenition dho-/eclipsis ndo-) < Proto-Celtic *dus-.
The word for rain in the Slavic languages (eg Russian дождь, Polish deszcz, Czech déšť) < Proto-Slavic *dъždžь, is often connected with it, seen as a compound of PIE *dus- + PIE *dyeu̯- (the word for sky) = bad daylight.

 

[fdb]

The regular outcome of Skt durmanas- in Hindi is duman. Hindi duṣman is a borrowing from the Persian cognate.

 

[El Ganador]

It's cognate with the Ancient Greek prefix in inseparable compounds (meaning it's never found alone) δυσ- /dys-/ > Modern Greek δυσ- /ðis-/ = bad, evil, unfortunate, present in many IE languages: Avestan duš-/duž-, Irish do- (lenition dho-/eclipsis ndo-) < Proto-Celtic *dus-.
The word for rain in the Slavic languages (eg Russian дождь, Polish deszcz, Czech déšť) < Proto-Slavic *dъždžь, is often connected with it, seen as a compound of PIE *dus- + PIE *dyeu̯- (the word for sky) = bad daylight.

So, is this similar to the root seen in 'durable', 'during', etc that tends to mean 'hard or lasting'?

 

[apmoy70]

So, is this similar to the root seen in 'durable', 'during', etc that tends to mean 'hard or lasting'?

I'm afraid they're unrelated. Durable is from Old French durable < Latin dūrābilis, ultimately from the Latin verb dūrāre = to make hard, harden.
During is from Old French durer < Latin dūrāre.
Cognates with dūrāre are the Greek δηρός /dɛːˈros/ = long, Sanskrit दूर /duːˈɾɐ/ = distant, long, Lithuanian drūtas = strong. The PIE root is *deru-/*dreu̯-, hard, fast.

 

[Au101]

So, is this similar to the root seen in 'durable', 'during', etc that tends to mean 'hard or lasting'?

Rather it is similar to the root seen in dyslexia, dystopia, dysentery, etc.

 

[aruniyan]

Thura -

th/dh-keeping with,
u-inside, oo- outside
ra- take away, transfer away.



sounds seen in many sanskrit and IE words, like dhoor, door etc..

dur is a prefix in Sanskrit, to say something not likable, keep off, evil,off, without etc..



Thura- in Tamil(dravidian) it means to ward off, to loose. The word thuravi- refers to those monks who keep themselves away from worldly pleasures.

The words like 'durable' 'during' etc.. i think also comes from the same semantic meaning, ie withstanding adversity, mode of not allowing anything to enter.