"Apa" redirects here. For the three-letter acronym, see APA

Ap (') is the Vedic Sanskrit term for "water", in Classical Sanskrit occurring only in the plural, ' (sometimes re-analysed as a thematic singular, '), whence Hindi '. The term is from PIE *hap- "water" The Indo-Iranian word survives also, as the Farsi word for water, Aab, e.g. in Punjab (from ' "five waters"). In archaic ablauting contractions, the laryngeal of the PIE root remains visible in Vedic Sanskrit, e.g. ' "against the current", from *. The word has many cognates in archaic European toponyms (e.g. Mess-apia, perhaps also Avon).

In the Rigveda, several hymns are dedicated to "the waters" (): 7.49, 10.9, 10.30, 10.47. In the oldest of these, 7.49, the waters are connected with the draught of Indra (Soma, referred to as "the offspring of water", ).

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

• Rigvedic rivers
• Old European hydronymy

Hindu philosophical concepts | Rig Veda | Hindu deities | Sanskrit terms