A still more extraordinary case of misunderstanding on the part of the original compilers of the Vedic texts, Uloka.and likewise of the authors of the Prâtisâkhyas, the Niruktas, and other Vedic treatises, has been pointed out by Professor Kuhn. In an article of his, 'Zur ältesten Geschichte der Indogermanischen Völker' (Indische Studien, vol. i, p. 351), he made the following observation: 'The Lithuanian laukas, Lett. lauks, Pruss. laukas, all meaning field, agree exactly with the Sk. lokas, world, Lat. locus, Low Germ. (in East-Frisia and Oldenburg) louch, lôch, village. All these words are to be traced back to the Sk. uru, Gr. εὐρύς, broad, wide. The initial u is lost, as in Goth. rûms, O. H. G. rûmi, rûmin (Low Germ. rûme, an open uncultivated field in a forest), and the r changed into l. In support of this derivation it should be observed that in the Veda loka is frequently preceded by the particle u, which probably was only separated from it by the Diaskeuastæ, and that the meaning is

that of open space.' Although this derivation has met with little favour, I confess that I look upon this remark, excepting only the Latin locus a, i. e. stlocus, as one of the most ingenious of this eminent scholar. The fact is that this particle u before loka is one of the most puzzling occurrences in the Veda. Professor Bollensen says that loka never occurs without a preceding u in the first eight Mandalas, and this is perfectly true with the exception of one passage which he has overlooked, VIII, 100, 12, dyaúh dehí lokám vágrâya vi-skábhe, Dyu! give room for the lightning to step forth! Professor Bollensen (l. c. p. 603) reads vritrâ´ya instead of vágrâya, without authority. He objects to dyaúh as a vocative, which should be dyaû´h; but dyaúh may be dyóh, a genitive belonging to vágrâya, in which case we should translate, Make room for the lightning of Dyu to step forth!