SANSKRIT AND INDO-EUROPEAN 27 Hung, hah 1 foam, froth, cream Veps. kobe ' wave, foam Sam. (Kam.) khdwil 1 foam ' ; Skt. kiipa 1 pit, well 1 : Fi, kuoppa 1 pit Lapp guoppe y Cer. kiip , Voty. gop , etc. ; Skt. saldkd c/u*a ' splinter, etc/ : Hung, szilank ' chip, splinter Fi. sale , 3. saleen c ‘ id etc. In cases like these, and others could be added, no IE etymology has been found for the Sanskrit words. Since it is certain that we must assume long contact between the early Indo-Iranians and the neighbouring Finno-ugrians, and since there is no reason why the movement of words should have been entirely one way, we should consider Finno-Ugrian to be a likely source of Aryan words in cases like the above where striking similarity in form and meaning is found. §6. Aryans in the Near East The earliest recorded traces of the Aryan peoples come neither from India nor from Iran, but from the Near East. The presence of Aryans in this area is recorded principally in documents of the Mitanni kingdom of North Mesopotamia during the period 1500-1300 b.c. The list of royal names pre- served in a variety of cuneiform documents has a distinctly Aryan appearance, even though their interpretation is not absolutely certain in all cases. The names of these kings are as follows : Sutarna , Par£asatar> Saussatar, Artaddma, Ariafumara, Tnsratha, Matiwdza, i.e. in Indo-Aryan form Sutarana - (cf. Ved. sutdrman -), Prasdstar - ‘ director, ruler * 5 auksatra- ‘ son of Suksatra- (?)', Rtadhdman - (nom. Rtadhdmd) V.S., Rtasmara- ‘ mindful of right *Tvisratha -, cf. V. tvesdratha- ‘ having rushing chariots *Mativdja- £ victorious through prayer In addition there are found in private documents from this area written in Assyrian a number of proper names of local notables which can be interpreted as Aryan, e.g. Artamna, Bardasva, Biryasura, Purusa, Saimafura, Saiaivaza , i.e, Rtamna - ' mindful of the law V drddhdsva- * son of Vrddhdsva- Vtryasura -
- hero of valour Purusa- ' man, male Ksemasura - ‘ hero of
peace or security *, Sdtavdja- 4 who has won prizes’ (Bvr. cf. v. Vdjasdti -) . This was a period of the expansion of Mitanni influence in the surrounding territories. Consequently we come across rulers of neighbouring principalities having similar Aryan names, and this extends as far as Syria and Palestine. The dearest examples of Aryan names among these are Suvardata :
