यवन

Borrowing from Prakrit 𑀬𑁄𑀦 (yona), 𑀬𑁄𑀜 (yoṇa), borrowed from Old Persian 𐎹𐎢𐎴 (yauna), ultimately borrowed from Ancient Greek Ἴων (Íōn, “an Ionian”). The earliest foreign contact of Sanskrit speakers was likely the armies of Alexander the Great. See also म्लेच्छ (mleccha, “non-Aryan, barbarian”).

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈjɐ.ʋɐ.n̪ɐ/

यवन • (yavana) m

1. a foreigner, barbarian not part of the four-tiers of varna
   1. a Greek, Ionian

      यवनेश्वर ― yavaneśvara ― king of the Greeks

      • c. 150 CE, Yavanajātaka :

        यवनजातक

        yavanajātaka

        nativity according to the Greeks

   2. Bactrian
   3. Scythians
      • c. 1000, Rāmāyaṇa 1.54.20b, 21a:

        विश्वामित्र अर्दितान् दृष्ट्वा पह्लवान् शतशः तदा ॥
        भूय एव असृजत् घोरान् शकान् यवन मिश्रितान् ।

        viśvāmitra arditān dṛṣṭvā pahlavān śataśaḥ tadā .
        bhūya eva asṛjat ghorān śakān yavana miśritān .

        • 2002 translation by Desiraju Hanumanta Rao

          On seeing the subdual of hundreds of Pahlava-s by Vishvamitra, then the Sacred Cow again generated deadly Shaka-s hobnobbed with Yavana-s through her mooing 'hums'.

   4. Arab, Muslim
   5. (Late Sanskrit) a European

• Tamil: யவனர் (yavaṉar)

• Monier Williams (1899), “यवन”, in A Sanskrit–English Dictionary, […], new edition, Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, OCLC 458052227, page 848.