Re: The significance of Arya/Aryan

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In article <3tjp01$6cc@nntpd.lkg.dec.com>, verma@awecim.enet.dec.com
(Virendra Verma) wrote:

> The Sanskrit word arya, from which the English word aryan is derived, is
> widely mis-used by archaeologists and anthropologists. <rest deleted to
save bandwidth>

Thanks for an interesting and illuminating article. I looked up several
recent references and all agree that the term aryan, if used at all,
should only apply to a language group and culture, never to a race. The
highly speculative supposition of a light-skinned northern Indian race was
almost certainly due to European prejudice and eurocentrism.

It is not for me to criticise professionals in their own profession, but
perhaps those who still refer to an aryan race are out of touch with their
own professional usage and standards.

Of course, the broader issue is whether ``race'' has meaning. That's in a
different thread.

-- 

Elliot Richmond                   | You are most welcome to my biased

(lurking in the halls of)         | opinion. It is mine alone and I'm 

Science Education Center          | proud of it. It has taken me over 

The University of Texas at Austin | fifty years to develop an opinion

elliot@mail.utexas.edu            | about nearly everything.

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