Sanskrit words for Waterproofing

I have recently become interested in Sanskrit. I am amazed and delighted to find out that Sanskrit has many words that carry the meanings for which we use English words in Indian languages. I will list some interesting words in Sanskrit in this series of articles.


One such word is found in a verse of Bhagwad Geeta. अक्लेद्यो. While describing the characteristics of human soul, Sri Krishna uses this term. It means Waterproof in a modern context.

Here are some other words that can be used as a replacement for Waterproof in some Indian languages where Jal is the term used for water

जल प्रतिरोधक
जल रोधक
जलावरोधक
जल निरोधक

However not all Indian languages use the term Jal to denote Water, I will propose a more common word in Sanskrit that can be applicable in all Indian languages.

अक्लेद्य

अक्लेद्य - is the precise word with meaning, that which can not be moistened/ wetted

For the process of Waterproofing we can use the following terms

अक्लेद्यन
अक्लेदन

The beauty of Sanskrit is that you can use many different words to indicate similar thing. They mostly mean the same thing but with subtle nuances, that can be applied as an when required.

For example if we want to use a word for "Waterproofing compound" we can use the term "अक्लेदक"
or

Let us look at how these words are constructed.

क्लिद - To be or become wet or damp
क्लेद - wetness, dampness, moisture
क्लेदन - (Verb) making wet, moistening (This term denotes the process of moistening or wetting something)
क्लेदक - (Noun) An object that can be used to moist something else. Moisturizing agent, or a Sponge used for moistening something.
क्लेद्य - (Adjective) Something that can be made wet, moistened.
अक्लेद्य - (Adjective) Something that can not be made wet or moistened

Now we have got a word अक्लेद्य that is derived form क्लेद. By using the Sanskrit grammatical construct we can derive more words out of the existing words even if they are not in practice. Here are my derivatives

अक्लेद्यन  - The process of waterproofing, making something un-wet-able.
अक्लेदक - Something that can assist / be used in the process of waterproofing, ie. waterproofing compound.
After manufacturing a waterproof item, the manufacturers can add this term to denote waterproof in Sanskrit  (अक्लेद्य ) which has been a term being used even in the Bhagwad Geeta.

The same term can be used for some other functions
अव-क्लेदन - De-humidification/ De-moisturization

The word अक्लेद्यन means making something अक्लेद्य that means waterproof
Whereas when we use words such as अक्लेदन, अवक्लेदन - These words would mean making something un-moist or un-wet