ܛܒܟܫܝܪ ṭbkšyr Indian medicament
Allotrope: ܛܒܫܟܝܪ ṭbškyr
Early MP *tabak-šīr, MP *tabag-šīr cane sugar (Gignoux 1998, 728), where the second element is related to MP šīr milk, šīrēn sweet, sugared (cf. CPD 80), NP tabāšīr sugar of bamboo; chalk, clay, plaster; whiteness, tabšīr clay, fuller's earth, plaster (Steingass 278; 280); the Ir. word in its turn is a loanword from OInd. tvakkṣīrā- bark-milk, bamboomanna (Monier-Williams 1899, 463). The term exactly indicates the silicious concretion of crystalline form, found in the culms or joints of an Indian bamboo, also used for medical purposes (Laufer 1919, 350–352). The formal development of the word is not completely clear; see also Mayrhofer EWA 3, 248 ● ṭbkšyr Med 165, 2; EN 26, 75; BB 786, 22; ṭbškyr Med 164, 4 ◆ LS 266b, 268a; Lagarde GA 48, 122; PS Suppl. 138; Duval index pers. 222