Talk:Salcete

@AryamanA This is very similar to Salsette Island and both may share a similar etymology. Salsette Island doesn't appear to have an entry yet. Maybe the indigenous Koli people of Mumbai were Konkani speakers and influenced by the Portuguese and Christianity just like Salcete in Goa. Kutchkutch (talk) 00:04, 15 December 2017 (UTC)

@Kutchkutch: Hmm, Mumbai and some surrounding regions were Portuguese controlled for some time, so it makes sense the Portuguese would spell the two place names similarly. Both of them are called "Sashti" in their respective languages, but I'm not sure about the etymologies of the terms (the etymology on the Wikipedia article seems like a folk etymology to me; and no idea about the region in Goa). —Aryaman^{A (मुझसे बात करें • योगदान)} 00:09, 15 December 2017 (UTC)

@AryamanA I don't know about Konkani, but sixty-six in Marathi is सहासष्ठ (sahāsaṣṭha). So सहासष्ठ (sahāsaṣṭha) with ह-dropped, feminine gender, and loss of final aspiration सहासष्ठ (sahāsaṣṭha) could possibly become साष्टी. The Wikipedia article cited Census of India, 1901 and it calls it 'the island of the " Marathi सासष्टी (sāsaṣṭī) " (Salsette) or ' sixty-six ' villages'. Kutchkutch (talk) 00:32, 15 December 2017 (UTC)

@Kutchkutch: Oh, I guess that could be a reliable source, but don't forget that the the British weren't great at tracing etymologies in New Indo-Aryan languages; the Platts Hindustani dictionary for example, published in 1884, is full of errors. We still don't know the etymology of the Konkani name Saxtti though. Perhaps @माधवपंडित can help. —Aryaman^{A (मुझसे बात करें • योगदान)} 00:43, 15 December 2017 (UTC)

@AryamanA: You're definitely right about the fact that there's a lot of incorrect etymologies circulating about words so it's hard to find the correct one. Until User:माधवपंडित sees this here are a few sources about Salcete in Goa:

[1]: "Each of ninety-six famillies settled itself in one village giving rise to the two provinces of Goa, viz., Tiswadi and Salsette, the former from तीस + वाडी and the latter means sixty-six, from Sanskrit षट् (ṣaṭ) + Sanskrit षष्टी (ṣaṣṭī)"

[2]: "In a foral of the district of Salsette early in the 17th century, it is stated that its name originated from the fact that it contained 66 villages. In Yule and Burnell's Glossary of Anglo-Indian Colloquial Words and Phrases, it is stated that the name Salsette appears to be the corruption of Marathi साष्टी (sāṣṭī) from Marathi सासष्टी (sāsaṣṭī), meaning 'sixty-six."

This source explains the connection between the one in Goa and the one in Mumbai [3]:

"The name of the island of Salsette is derived from Sanskrit षष्टी (ṣaṣṭī) and Marathi Marathi साष्टी (sāṣṭī), in contradistinction to the name of the district of Salsette to the south-east of Goa from Sanskrit षट्षष्टी (ṣaṭṣaṣṭī) and Marathi सासष्टी (sāsaṣṭī). The other distinction is that while the Salsette of Bombay, about ten miles to the north of the latter city, is an island, the Salsette of Goa, lying about twenty miles distant from the new city of Goa is a peninsula. They were both indiscriminately written by the Portuguese Salcete or Salsette. Mr.K.Graul inferred from the sound of the word that it was derived from the Portuguese sal (“salt”), which was prepared during the occupation of the island by them, as it is now, not far from the causeway that unites Salsette to Bombay.…The mistake has evidently arisen from two different places being named alike."

And there's also this [4]:

"The name has been by some connected with the salt works which exist upon the islands: Portuguese salina. But it appears in fact to be the corruption of sixty-six because (it is supposed) the island was alleged to contain that number of villages. This name occurs in the form Sanskrit षट्षष्टी (ṣaṭṣaṣṭī) a stone inscription dated Sak. 1103 (AD 1182). Another inscription on copper plates dates Sak. 748 (AD 1027) contains a grant of the village of Naura, “one of the 66 of Sri Sthānaka ठाणे (ṭhāṇe)” thus entirely confirming this etymology." Kutchkutch (talk) 01:29, 15 December 2017 (UTC)

@AryamanA, Kutchkutch: I don't know the etymology for this one; sixty six in Konkani is सेसष्ट. And the -l- in Salcete needs explaining if we derive it from सष्टि. -- माधवपंडित (talk) 01:56, 15 December 2017 (UTC)

@AryamanA, माधवपंडित: If the sixty-six villages etymology is considered accurate along with the fact that स and श are somewhat interchangable in speech despite the prescribed sound (like Desi/Deshi), the remaining steps appear to have occured in Portuguese. According to Portuguese orthography, ⟨x⟩ appears to be /ʃ/, and the ⟨l⟩ appears to have come from the influence of Portuguese sal (“salt”) (referring to Portuguese salina (“saltworks, salt pan”)). And it appears that सालशेत was borowed Portuguese. Kutchkutch (talk) 08:26, 15 December 2017 (UTC)