ध्वंस्

From Proto-Indo-European *dʰwe-n-s-, nasal-infixed form of *dʰwes- (“to breathe”), probably with influence from the possibly related term *dʰewh₂- (“(to produce) smoke, mist, haze”), with further semantic shift to mean destruction (perhaps as allusions to natural phenomena like volcanism or storms, which involve smoke and haze).

• (Vedic) IPA^(key): /dʱʋɐ̃s/
• (Classical) IPA^(key): /d̪ʱʋɐs̪/

ध्वंस् • (dhvaṃs)

1. to fall to pieces or to dust, decay, be ruined, perish
2. to be gone, vanish
3. to scatter, cover

• Monier Williams (1899) “ध्वंस्”, in A Sanskrit–English Dictionary, […], new edition, Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 0522/1.
• Arthur Anthony Macdonell (1893) “ध्वंस्”, in A practical Sanskrit dictionary with transliteration, accentuation, and etymological analysis throughout, London: Oxford University Press
• William Dwight Whitney, 1885, The Roots, Verb-forms, and Primary Derivatives of the Sanskrit Language, Leipzig: Breitkopf and Härtel, page 086
• Otto Böhtlingk, Richard Schmidt (1879-1928) “ध्वंस्”, in Walter Slaje, Jürgen Hanneder, Paul Molitor, Jörg Ritter, editors, Nachtragswörterbuch des Sanskrit [Dictionary of Sanskrit with supplements] (in German), Halle-Wittenberg: Martin-Luther-Universität, published 2016
• Mayrhofer, Manfred (1992) Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindoarischen [Etymological Dictionary of Old Indo-Aryan]‎ (in German), volume 1, Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag, pages 799-800
• Lubotsky, Alexander (2011) The Indo-Aryan Inherited Lexicon (in progress) (Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Project), Leiden University, pages 173-4

• Rix, Helmut, editor (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben [Lexicon of Indo-European Verbs] (in German), 2nd edition, Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, →ISBN, page 159
• Pokorny, Julius (1959) chapter 0268, in Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 1, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, page 0268