Etymology of a few words

[Vidyasankar]

>prakruti : prathama kruti (?)
>           first creation

Simply means "at first" or "original condition".


>shiva : ?
>(is often translated to mean destruction, negative and sometimes
>translated as pure)
>related term : shava means corpse, are shiva and shava related ?


Not in a strict etymological sense, but by a creative play on words. It is a
popular saying "Shiva without Shakti is Shava" The intended reference here
is to the fact that i-kAra, the sound i, represents Shakti.


>shambhu : ?

sham = good; shambhu = born of good, or from whom good is born.

therefore, the meaning is benificient, kindly, benevolent etc.


>--------------------------
>sama = balance, equalize
>
>There are many words beginning with sama like:
>
>samadhi, samskar, samhita, samasara

sam is a prefix meaning, "well" or "thoroughly" or "good". What it is
prefixed to provides the primary meaning.

e.g. samskRta - well-done, developed, thoroughly done.
samhita/samhata - well placed together, or appropriate conjunction/joining.

The role as a prefix is different from the word sama, meaning equal.

I would suggest the following URL, for help with Sanskrit language
questions.

http://www.alkhemy.com/sanskrit/dict

Or else, go directly to

http://aa2411s.aa.tufs.ac.jp/~tjun/sktdic - the Apte dictionary
http://www.uni-koeln.de/phil-fak/indologie/tamil/mwd_search.html - the
Monier-Williams dictionary

Vidyasankar