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It's essentially cognate with "Indian" or "Indo-". But "Hindu" has religious connotations in English that "Indo-" does not.
by panglott 10y ago
It's essentially cognate with "Indian" or "Indo-". But "Hindu" has religious connotations in English that "Indo-" does not.
- shripadk 10y agoIndo, Hindu, Sindhu all point to geography and not religion. Hindu only has religious connotations in English because the West chose to recognize the word as a religion. The actual name of the religion is "Sanathan Dharma". I'm sure it was easier to say Hindu than say "Sanathan Dharma".
- panglott 10y agoThere is no Wikipedia page for "Sanathan Dharma". The closest I can get is Sanātanī, but it appears this term does not cover significant elements of Hinduism. Wikipedia says that this term was popularized in 1921, but etymonline says "Hinduism" has been present in English since 1786. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San%C4%81tan%C4%AB https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San%C4%81tan%C4%AB Hinduism is ancient, but a living, evolving, and extremely diverse religion. To an outsider, it looks more like a cluster of religions than a unified religion. So it's hard to name appropriately. "Vedic religion" is mostly used for historical traditions more than living ones.