In this, the original sense of the word, it is little doubtful that Om
is but an older and contracted form of the common Sanskrit word evam
("thus"), which, coming from the pronominal base "a," in some
derivations changed to "e," may have at one time occurred in the form
avam, when, by the elision of the vowel following a, for which there are
numerous analogies in Sanskrit, vum would become aum, and hence,
according to the ordinary phonetic laws of the language, Om. This
etymology of the word, however, seems to have been lost even at an early
period of Sanskrit literature; for another is met with in the ancient
grammarians, enabling us to account for the mysticism which many
religious and theological works of ancient and medieval India suppose to
inhere in it. According to this latter etymology, Om would come from a
radical av; by means of an affix man, when Om would be a curtailed form
of avman or oman, and as av implies the notion of "protect, preserve,
save," Om would be a term implying "protection or salvation," its
mystical properties and its sanctity being inferred from its occurrence
in the Vedic writings and in connection with sacrificial acts, such as
are alluded to before.
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