From: DXA4@psuvm.psu.edu
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian
Subject: Sanskrit: Mother of Languages (RE:Sanskrit and India's Unity)
Date: 15 Sep 92 14:16:10 GMT
Organization: Penn State University

For the past several weeks, very interesting and lively discussion on the
Sanskrit language and its origin, its relationship with other Indian and Europ-
ean languages, and its role in the unity of India, etc. is going on on the net.
Following article which I had posted on SCI last year would be of interest and
relevant to the ongoing debate on this subject, and therefore I am reposting it
hereunder.

Dinesh Agrawal...

********************************

SANSKRIT: THE MOTHER OF LANGUAGES

Sanskrit Language is the most scientific, perfect, and the oldest of all the
world languages. It is believed to have its origin in the creator of the world
itself, and hence in India is considered as the language of Devas (gods). Not
only most of the modern and ancient languages prevalent in the Indian sub-
continent, but most European languages also, either owe thier origin to it or
have drawn inspiration form it. In the following I shall briefly make an atte-
mpt to establish a clear relationship between Sanskrit and English language.

According to the most linguists, English and Sanskrit languages belong to the
category of Indo-European family (IEF) languages which have descended from a
common ancestral language. This family (IEF) consists of several languages and
groups of languages such as: Italic (Italian, French, Spanish etc.), Greek,
Indo-Iranian (Sanskrit, North Indian languages, Persian, etc.), Celtic (Irish),
Germanic (German, English, Danish, etc.), Baltic, Slavic (Polish, Russian, etc.
), Armanian, and several other minor languages. It has been widely observed
that most IE languages have numerous common words associated with kinships,
lower numerals, frequently used verbs and numerous other important objects used
in daily life of the societies belonging to ancient times. Especially the words
which linguistically form the foundation of a language in its formative stage,
consistently have been found to exhibit remarkable similarities in the syntax,
morphology, and phonology, indicating a common origin of these languages.

The linguists have been long hypothesizing a common ancestry of all IE langua-
ges, and calling this 'mother of languages' as Primitive or Proto-Indo-European
(PIE) which was never written down and there is no record of this. The search
of actual PIE is still on.

Many people believe that PIE is nothing but the Vedic Sanskrit due to its great
antiquity, oldest origin (^2000 BC), and being the most eleborately structured
language of the entire family. Sanskrit is classified into three forms: Vedic
(four Vedas), classic (Panini's Ashthadhyayee, Kalidas's work, etc.) and Epic
(Ramayana and Mahabharat), of which Vedic Sanskrit is the oldest and other two
had been derived from it.

It was the Florentine merchant, Filippo who after 5 year's stay in Goa (1583-
88) declared for the first time that there existed a definite relation between
Sanskrit and some of the principal languages of Europe. But this relation has
a common source, was suggested only by Sir William Jones, Chief Justice of
Calcutta in 1786 in his famous address to the Asiatic society of Bengal. He
thus established a common origin of a number of languages such as Greek, Latin,
Gothic, Celtic, Sanskrit, Persian, etc. And since then numerous scholars have
refined and reinforced this theory by revealing similarities between these
languages, and in most cases these similarities can be traced back to Vedic
Sanskrit. In Sir Jones own words:

   The Sanskrit language whatever be its antiquity, is of a wonderful structure
   more perfect than the Greek, more copious than the Latin, and more exquisi-
   tely refined than either; yet bearing to both of them a stronger affinity,
   both in the roots of verbs and the forms of grammar, than could possibly
   have been produced by accident; so strong indeed that no philologer could
   examine them all three without believing them to have sprung from some
   common source, which, perhaps, no longer exists; there is a similar reason,
   though not quite so forcible, for supposing that both the Gothic and Celtic,
   though blended with a different idiom, had the same origin with the Sanskrit
   and the old Persian might be added to the same family....

English itself derives from West Germanic branch of the IE family, and Sanskrit
had evidently contributed emmensely in its growth and development. Hereunder, I
list some basic English words with their corresponding Sanskrit words/originals
This list can be enlarged by other readers (I welcome any input from the intere
sted readers), and similar lists can also be composed between Sanskrit and
other IE languages. In fact, it is reported that there are more common factors
between Sanskrit and German, Greek, Italian and Zend. However, there are also
numerous words in the IE (not considering the modern additions) languages,
which do not show any similarity or indicate a common source. This may be due
to the local conditions, passage of time and the social and geographical
separation of the speakers. But one thing is sure that there are so many
similarities among the IE languages that a common ancestor can not be
discounted.

ENGLISH               SANSKRIT
*******               ********

Kinships:
Father                Pitar
Mother                Matar
Brother               Bhratar
Sister                Svasar
Daughter              Duhitar
Papa, Pape, Pope      Papus, From verb pa meaning to protect, support, naurish
Kin, Kind, Generation
   Gender             From the verb jan (janitar) meaning to beget, produce
Daddy                 Taat
Aunt (naunt)          Nanaa
Widow                 Vidhava
Son                   Sunu
Nephew, niece         Naptar, Naptri, Napaat

Important Objects:
Sun                   Sunnas, Surya
Moon                  Mas
Month                 Masas
Star                  Tara
Astral, astroid       Aastron
Light                 Laukas
Day                   Divas
Night                 Nisha, Nisht
Man                   Manas
Virile                Veer
Hero                  Varas
Horse                 Ashwa
Steer                 Sthiras (a bull)
Buck                  Bukka (a goat)
Sow, swine            Sus
Tooth, dentist        Danta
Gums                  Jambha (tooth)
Divine, divinity      From the root div (to shine)
Door                  Dvar
Heart                 Hrdiya
Foot                  Pad
Knee                  Jaanu
Naval                 Nabhi
Entrails              Antra
Mouse                 Mush
Mead                  Madhu
Path                  Path (roadway)
Murmur                Marmara
Light (in weight)     Laghu
Same                  Sama
New                   Nava
Middle                Madhya
Sweat                 Svadu, swid
Name                  Naaman
Warm                  Gharma
Spy                   Spash
Cow                   Gau
Ox                    Ukshan
Home                  Dama
White                 Sveta
Corn                  Kurna
Weave, web            From the verb ve or vap
Hymn                  Sumna
Vehicle               Vahan
Lop                   Lup (to cut)
Venerate, veneration  From the verb van (to honor)
Sound                 Svan
Tension               Tan, Tanomi
Serpent               Sarpa
Mind                  Manas
Know, Knowledge       Jna, Jnata
Unknown               Ajnata
Attic                 Atta
End                   Anta
Thin                  Tanu
Nest                  Nida
Drop                  Drapsa
Stand                 Stha
Stopped               Stabhd
Loot, booty           Lunt
Lush                  Lush (to rob)
Youngest              Yavishtha (ever young)

Numerals:
Two                  Dvam
Three                Tree, Traya
Four                 Chatvaras
Five                 Pancha
Six                  Shesh
Seven                Saptan
Eight                Asht
Nine                 Navan
Ten                  Dashan
Centum (100)         Shatam

Pronouns:
I                   Aham
Me                  Ma, Mam
We                  Vayam
Us                  Asme. asman
Thou, thee          Twan, twa
Ye, you             Yuyam, yushme
Him, them           (sva)yam

Verbs:
To eat              ad
To bear             bhar
To be               bhu
To lick             lih
To creep            sarp
To cut              chhid
To creat            kar
To vomit            vam
To thunder          stan
To loose            lee
To pray             prachh
To ascend           skand
To make             From the root ma (to fashion)
To cut              krt
To measure          From the root maa (to divide)
To sew              siv
To ignite           From Agni (fire)

More Additions:
Candy              Khand (a piece)
Lunar, lunatic     Louksnam
Voice              From the verb vak
Vision, video,
   wisdom         From the verb vidam (to see)
Mortal            From the verb mar (to die), mrita
Wind              Vata
Progeny           Praja
Flower            Phulla
Venus             Vanas, van (to love)
Red               Rudhira
Majesty           Tejasa
Mighty            Mahat
Juggernaut        Jagannath
Shirt, skirt,
  short, shear,
    scissors      from the verb sker (to cut)
Diameter,geometry Jameetra
Hour              Horaa
Curriculum        Gurukulam
Behaviour         Vyavhaar

It should be noted that Sanskrit language travelled across Persia to Europe and
during this journey many Sanskrit words lost their originality; for esample
many words which start with S in Sanskrit changed in to H (due to the influence
of Zend, the language of Zoroastrians) as in Sindhudesh to Hindudesh to Hind
and finally India, Summa to Hymn, etc. Also, Europeans had difficulty in pro-
nouncing certain sounds ssuch as hard d, and therefore many Sanskrit words got
distorted by changing hard d to soft d as in mother (matar), father (pitar),
brother (bhratar), etc. Similarly, many words which include sh as in Nisht and
Asht became night and eight.

The above list can be enlarged by other intelligent and experienced readers in
the subject, and similar lists can also be composed between Sanskrit and other
Indo-European languaes. In fact, it is reported by numerous linguists that
there are more common factors between Sanskrit and German, Greek, Italian and
Zend, than between Sanskrit and English. However, there are numerous words in
the Indo-European languages, which do not show any similarity or indicate a
common source; this may be due to the local conditions, passage of time, and
the social and geographical separation of the speakers. But one thing is sure
that there are so many similarities among the Indo-European languages that a
common ancestor cannot be discounted. And this common source is nothing but the
Vedic Sanskrit.

Dinesh Agrawal...
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian