Hindi

Noun

हंस • ‎(hans) m

1. swan
2. Brahminy duck, Tadorna ferruginea

Sanskrit

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-Iranian (compare Avestan 𐬰𐬁 ‎(zā)), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰans- (compare English goose, Dutch gans, German Gans, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish gås), Old Irish géiss, Latin ānser, Latvian zùoss, Russian гусь ‎(gus'), Albanian gatë, Ancient Greek χήν ‎(khḗn)).

Noun

हंस • ‎(haṃsá) m

1. a goose, gander, swan, flamingo (or other aquatic bird, considered as a bird of passage)
2. sometimes a mere poetical or mythical bird, said in Rigveda to be able to separate Soma from water, when these two fluids are mixed, and in later literature, milk from water when these two are mixed
3. also forming in Tigveda the vehicle of the Aśvins, and in later literature that of Brahmā
4. the soul or spirit (typified by the pure white colour of a goose or swan, and migratory like a goose)
5. sometimes "the Universal Soul or Supreme Spirit", identified with Virāj, Nārāyaṇa, Vishnu, Shiva, Kāma, and the Sun
6. (in the dual) "the universal and the individual Spirit"
7. one of the vital airs
8. a kind of ascetic
9. a man of supernatural qualities born under a particular constellation
10. an unambitious monarch
11. a horse
12. an excellent draught-ox (according to some, a buffalo)
13. a mountain
14. a temple of a particular form
15. a kind of mantra or mystical text
16. silver
17. envy, malice
18. name of two metres
19. (music) a kind of measure
20. a mystical name of the letter 'h'
21. a spiritual preceptor

Declension

Proper noun

हंस • ‎(Haṃsá) m

1. name of a Deva-gandharva
2. name of a Dānava
3. name of a son of Brahmā
4. name of a son of Vasu-deva
5. name of a son of A-riṣṭā
6. name of a son of Brahma-datta and general of Jarā-saṃdha
7. name of various authors etc.
8. name of one of the Moon's horses
9. name of a mountain
10. name of the Brahmans in Plakṣa-dvīpa

Descendants

• Bengali: হাঁস ‎(hãs)
• Hindi: हंस ‎(hans)
• Telugu: హంస ‎(haṃsa)
• Thai: หงส์ ‎(hong)

References

• Sir Monier Monier-Williams (1898) A Sanskrit-English dictionary etymologically and philologically arranged with special reference to cognate Indo-European languages, Oxford: Clarendon Press, page 1286