Soma in Vedas

[Shrinivas Gadkari]

On Thu, 5 Sep 2002 13:15:06 -0700, Srikrishna Ghadiyaram
<srikrishna_ghadiyaram at YAHOO.COM> wrote:

>> In vedic literature we often encounter the term
>> "soma".
>> Some people take it to mean sap of some plant.
>>
>> "soma" = "s" + "om", that which accompanies "om", or
>> that which we take in with "om".

>If that is the case it should have been 'Som'; why
>should it be 'Soma' ??
>
>Om Namo Narayanaya !!
>

Namaste,

My guess is, keeping it "som" would give it a mantra like
dynamic character. Adding "a" and making it "soma" imparts
stability making it suitable for use in a language.

Regards
Shrinivas