Ap (water)

Classical elements
Stoicheion (στοιχεῖον)
Greek   Air   Water Aether Fire   Earth
Tattva – Mahābhūta
Hinduism/Jainism – Buddhism   Vayu   Ap Akasha Agni   Prithvi
Wŭ Xíng (五行)
Chinese   Wood (木)   Water (水)   Fire (火) Metal (金) Earth (土)
Godai (五大)
Japanese   Air (風)   Water (水) Void (空) Fire (火)   Earth (地)
Bön
Tibetan   Air   Water Aether Fire   Earth
Alchemy
Medieval   Air   Water Aether Fire   Earth Sulphur Mercury Salt

Ap (áp-) is the Vedic Sanskrit term for "water", in Classical Sanskrit occurring only in the plural, āpas (sometimes re-analysed as a thematic singular, āpa-), whence Hindi āp. The term is from PIE h_xap "water". The Indo-Iranian word survives also, as the Persian word for water, Āb, e.g. in Punjab (from panj-āb "five waters"). Here, a similarity can be seen between the concept of 'Ap'(Waters/River) and the Sumerian 'Ab'(Ocean), which is a language that is widely believed to be a language isolate. In archaic ablauting contractions, the laryngeal of the PIE root remains visible in Vedic Sanskrit, e.g. pratīpa- "against the current", from *proti-h_xp-o-.

In the Rigveda, several hymns are dedicated to "the waters" (āpas): 7.49, 10.9, 10.30, 10.47. In the oldest of these, 7.49, the waters are connected with the draught of Indra. Agni, the god of fire, has a close association with water and is often referred to as Apām Napāt "offspring of the waters". The female deity Apah is the presiding deity of Purva Ashadha (The former invincible one) asterism in Vedic astrology

In Hindu philosophy, the term refers to water as an element, one of the Panchamahabhuta, or "five great elements". In Hinduism, it is also the name of the deva, a personification of water, one of the Vasus in most later Puranic lists.

See also

• āpō, the Avestan concept of "the waters"
• Doab, spit of land lying between two confluent rivers
• Old European hydronymy
• Rigvedic rivers
• Sea and river deity
• Punjab