eighth avatar of Vishnu, 1793, from Sanskrit krshnah, literally "the Black One," from PIE *kers-no-, suffixed form of root *kers- "dark, dirty" (source also of Old Church Slavonic crunu, Russian coron, Serbo-Croatian crn, Czech cerny, Old Prussian kirsnan "black," Lithuanian keršas "black and white, variegated").
Entries linking to krishna
chernozem n.
"fertile black soil of Ukraine and southern Russia," 1842, from Russian chernozem, literally "black earth," from chernyi "black," from PIE *kers- "dark, dirty" (see Krishna) + zemlya "earth, soil" (from Old Russian zemi "land, earth," from PIE root *dhghem- "earth").
Hare Krishna adj.
1970, from the title of a Hindu chant or mantra, from Hindi hare "O God!" + Krishna, name of an incarnation of the god Vishnu.