Editing Soma (drink) (section)

==Etymology==
Soma is a Vedic Sanskrit word that literally means "distill, extract, sprinkle", often connected in the context of rituals.<ref>{{cite book|author=Monier Monier-Williams|title=A Sanskrit-English Dictionary|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_3NWAAAAcAAJ|year=1872|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] (Reprint: 2001)|pages=1136–1137}}</ref>

Soma's [[Avestan]] cognate is the ''[[haoma]]''. According to Geldner (1951), the word is derived from Indo-Iranian roots ''*sav-'' (Sanskrit ''sav-/su'') "to press", i.e. ''*sau-ma-'' is the drink prepared by pressing the stalks of a plant,<ref>K.F.Geldner, Der Rig-Veda. Cambridge MA, 1951, Vol. III: 1-9</ref> but the word and the related practices were borrowed by the Indo-Aryans from the [[Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex|Bactria–Margiana culture]] (BMAC).{{sfn|Beckwith|2011|p=32}}{{sfn|Anthony|2007|pp=454–455}} Although the word is only attested in Indo-Iranian traditions, [[Manfred Mayrhofer]] has proposed a [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] origin from the root {{lang|ine-x-proto|sew(h)-}}.<ref>M. Mayrhofer, Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindoarischen, Heidelberg 1986–2000, vol II: 748</ref>