sanskrit influence over english

Linguistic Interactions of East & Linguistic Interactions of East & West – The Case of Sanskrit and West – The Case of Sanskrit and

EnglishEnglish

Dr. J.S.R.A. PrasadDept. of Sanskrit Studies,University of Hyderabad

Mighty Sanskrit

The Sanscrit language, whatever be its antiquity, is of a wonderful structure; more perfect than the Greek, more copious than the Latin, and more exquisitely 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 the Celtic, though blended with a very different idiom, had the same origin with the Sanscrit; and the old Persian might be added to the same family – William Jones (1786).

What the western scholars say?

"At one time Sanskrit was the one language spoken all over the world." - The Great Sanskrit scholar Franz Bopp (1791-1867) wrote in his Edinborough Review (Volume 33, page 43)

"The Brahmans are the teachers of Pythagoras, the instructors of Greece, and through her the whole of Europe. figured that the earliest humans had to have been located on the banks of the Ganges. - French astronomer Bailly 1777

I am convinced that everything–astronomy, astrology, metempsychosis, etc.– comes to us from the banks of the Ganges. Voltair 1777

The French naturalist and traveler Pierre de Sonnerat (1782) believed that - all knowledge came from India, which he considered the cradle of the human race.

Schelling (1807), Friedrich von Schlegel (1808), Eichhoff (1845), Vans Kennedy (1828), Lord A. Curzon (1855)

Marcus Zuerius van Boxhorn (1612 – 1653) was the first scholar to explore the common link between many languages, including Sanskrit.

Are We Primitive?Edward Pokoke (1604-1691): The Greek language is a derivation

from Sanskrit, therefore Sanskrit speaking people, i.e Indians must have dwelt in Greece, and the dwelling must have preceded the settlement of those tribes which helped to produce the corruption of the old language; or in other words, the people who spoke that language - i.e., the Indians, must have been the primitive settlers, or at least, they must have colonized the country so early, and dwelt their so long, as to have effaced all dialectic traces of any other inhabitants...".

"The history and origin of ancient Greece were not clearly written down by the Greeks themselves, but ancient Indian writings such as the Puranas, the Mahabharata, and the Rajput genealogies may hold keys to solving some of these questions." - Mysteries of Ancient Greece, Coen Vonk (2005)

British scholar Thomas Maurice (1754 - 1824), editor of the seven volumes of Indian Antiquities, mentions in Volume IV that Nathaniel Halhead (1751-1830), the first European Sanskrit scholar, "seems to hint that it (Sanskrit) was the original language of the earth. All Western scholars who readily apply their mind to the problem will find themselves concurring with Halhead that Sanskrit is the oldest language and that it was spoken all over the world. Other world languages are shattered and twisted bits of Sanskrit."

(Halhead authored 'The Code of Gentoo Law'.)

"One of ancient India’s greatest achievements is her remarkable alphabet, commencing with the vowels and followed by the consonants, all classified very scientifically according to their mode of production, in sharp contrast to the haphazard and inadequate Roman alphabet, which has developed organically for three millennia. It was only on the discovery of Sanskrit by the West that a science of phonetics arose in Europe." - Prof. A.L. Basham, The Wonder That Was India (page 390).

History of Indology started with the following western scholars: Heinrich Roth (1620 – 1668) – Sanskrit Grammar (in Latin) Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg (1682 – 1719) – Religion and Tamil

Literature A.H. Francke (1707) – Antiques of Indian Tibet Frederic Von Schlegel (1722-1829) – On the Language and

Wisdom of India

Contd...

William Jones (1746-1794) – Abhijnana Sakuntalam, Hitopadesa, Rtusamhara

Charles Wilkins (1749 – 1836) – Grammar of the Sanskrita Language

Franz Bopp (1791-1867) – Comparative Grammar of Sanskrit, Zend (Avestan), Greek, Latin, Lithuanian, Old Slavonic, Gothic and German

Max Muller (1823 – 1900) – The Vedas, Sacred Books of the East etc.

Cultural Voyage through Translations

Sakuntalam (1789) Hitopadesa (1787) Srimad-Bhagavad-Gita (1785) Rtusamhara (1792) Manusmriti (1794)

PIEBy the 19th century,

linguists knew that all modern Indo-European languages descended from a single tongue. Called Proto-Indo-European, or PIE, it was spoken by a people who lived from roughly 4500 to 2500 B.C., and left no written texts. (http://www.archaeology.org)

Sanskrit and PIE

It is believed that Sanskrit is the oldest language in the PIE hierarchy. Though it has influenced Greek, Latin, Persian, Avestan, Germanic languages, up to a great extent, there was disagreement with regard to its common ancestor, other than Sanskrit.

VocabularySanskrit - Latin

वहति� - Vehitवमति� - Vomitति�धिः - Nidus सर्प ः - Serpensदि��म् - Diesतिववा - Viduaयव�ः - Juvenis मध्यः - Mediusरसः - Ros

वीरः - Vir�न्�ः - Dentesसरः - Seriesअग्नि��ः - Ignisर्पति�ः - Potensमम रः - Murmer�ुमुलः - Tumultusर्पुत्रः - Puer

PIE Structures Like in Sanskrit, Greek

has dual number Numerals and pronouns

are similar to each other Similar verbal forms - 'To

be' Negative prefix – 'a' –

ajnanta → á-gnōstos 'unknown' in English

'अ' in Sanskrit always represents an 'é' in Greek.

Ex: janaH → génos- sapta → septem (also L.)→ heptá; - nabhas → néphos

Numerals

Sanskrit Greek Latin

एकःheĩs ūnus

द्वौdúō duo

त्रयःtreĩs trēs

चत्वारःtéssares quattuor

र्पञ्चpénte quīnque

Source: Comparative Indo-European Linguistics (p. 239)

षष्héks sex

सप्�heptá septem

अष्टoktō´ octō

�वennéa novem

�शdéka decem

Verbal Forms - Sanskrit&Greek

Sanskrit form Greek form

Root – 'अस' (to be)अस्ति�� - He is (3.1)असि� - You are (2.1)अस्ति�� - I am (1.1)स्मः- we are (1.3)स्थ – you are (2.3)सन्तिन्� - they are (3.3)

'es' – to beesti - He is (es-t)essi - You are (es)esmi - I am (s-um)

s-umus - we are (1.3)es-tis - you are (2.3)s-unt - they are (3.3)

VocabularySanskrit - Latin

वहति� Vehit

वमति� Vomit

ति�धिः Nidus

सर्प ः Serpens

दि��म् Dies

तिववा Vidua

यव�ः Juvenis

मध्यः Medius

रसः Ros

वीरः Vir

�न्�ः Dentes

सरः Series

अग्नि��ः Ignis

र्पति�ः Potens

मम रः Murmer

�ुमुलः Tumultus

रु्पत्रः Puer

Cognate Forms

Sanskrit Latin Greek English meaning

�ाम Nomen Onoma Name

माम् Me(-) Eme (') Me

तिर्प�ृ Pater Pater Father

त्रयः tres treῖs Three

र्परिर Per Peri Far

Contd...

Sanskrit Latin Greek English meaning

राजा rēx Vasiliás Regal

शक रा Saccharon skkharo sugar

�ल� (जटामांसी) Nardus Nrtho Indian spikenard

चन्��म् Sandalum Santhlyon/Santhleeon

Sandal

�ारङ्ग Orenge Orenge Orange

Contd...

Sanskrit Latin Greek English meaning

अन्�रीय Interim En to̱ metaxý Interim

गतिव (गौः) Bovi/Bovis vódi (in) Cow (7.1)

अस्थिस्थ Os Osteön Bone

�ीरम् Aqua Neró Water

आत्मा Anima Atme Soul

त्रासः Tremo Treo (-) Tremor

दु्यस् Deus theós Theoso-phy

Contd...

Sanskrit Latin Greek English meaning

उर्परिर Superhúper Above (adv.)

इ�ः intusentós

From here (adv.)

मूषस् mūs mūsMouse

दुम �स्dus-menás

Evil minded (compound)

Phonetic Changes

Jacob Grimms (1785-1863) drew attention to similarity of consonants between Sanskrit, Greek and Latin and certain Germanic languages, which is know as 'Grimm's Law.'

For instance, he showed that:- the 'p' in PIE become 'f' in the Germanic - 't' become 'th' – tres → three- short vowels becoming long vowels Ex: ae → ai

The ending of the instrumental plural in Sanskrit is – 'bhis.' In Greek we find this ending in the form – 'phi', cf. Sanskrit náu-bhis (�ौभि:ः), Gr. 'naũ-phi' = ‘with the ships.’

Although in principle it is not impossible that the -s was removed in Greek (it should have remained according to sound law), it is much more probable that the -s in Sanskrit was added.

Contd...

That would have occurred on the basis of the nominative and accusative endings -as and the dative -bhyas. The -as is thus seen as characteristic of the plural.

(Robert SP Beekes, Comparative Indo-Europen Linguistics – An Introduction, p. 77)

Declension Forms

case suffix Skt. Dec. Greek Latin

nom. ē´r तिर्प�ा patē´r pater

voc. er तिर्प�ः páter pater

acc. ér-m तिर्प�रं patéra patrem

dat. r-éi तिर्पत्रा patrí patrī

gen. r-ós तिर्प�ुः patrós patris

loc. ér-i तिर्प�रिर patre

Cases – Old English

In old English (1066) there used to be five cases: Nom., Acc., Inst., Dat. and Gen., like in

Germanic languages. Dual forms were maintained in personal

pronouns. Genders were attributed for all nouns.

Three genders agreed, but arbitrary fixation of genders.

Contd...

Ex: 'Girl' in Anglo Saxon was in neuter gender. Woman (Wifmann) was in masculine and child (cild) was in neuter.

(English language and literary criticism, A.S. Kharbe, p. 23)

Syntax SVO-OSV-VSO:

'The man killed the lion.''म�ुष्यः (1.1) सिसंहं (2.1) अह��् (v.3.1)।''सिसंहं (2.1) म�ुष्यः (1.1) अह��् (v.3.1)।''अह��् (v.3.1) म�ुष्यः (1.1) सिसंहं (2.1) ।''म�ुष्यः (1.1) अह��् (v.3.1) सिसंहं (2.1) ।''सिसंहं (2.1) अह��् (v.3.1) म�ुष्यः (1.1) ।''अह��् (v.3.1) सिसंहं (2.1) म�ुष्यः (1.1) ।'

Synatactic Structure in OE

'my name is' (ME) - 'min nama is,' 'nama min is...' (OE) all are same in meaning like in the inflectional process in Sanskrit. This trend was in vogue which happened until 1150 AD.

But lateral English, due to the old influence, shares still some similarities with Sanskrit syntax.

For instance: the “'s” as genitive. This is a book of my brother's → इ�ं �� भा�ुः

र्पुस्�कम् अस्तिस्� ।With possessive pronouns: 'He's a friend of Mine' → सः �दीयं धिमत्रम् अस्तिस्� । 'It is no business of theirs' → इ�ं � �दीयं काय@ व� �े

।

Contd...

Also, middle English got rid of the arbitrary gender system. Thereafter, the French influence was so high that about 10,000 words were introduced in to Old English changing its structure to be known as Middle English.

case positions – nom, acc, inst. Dat., abl., gen., loc. vis-a-vis propositions

Sanskrit and Latin have no articles as in PIE.Homer used no articles in archaic Greek.

NomenclatureThe Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus (1707-

1778) is regarded as the father of taxonomy, as he developed a system known as Linnaean classification for categorization of organisms and binomial nomenclature for naming organisms.

William Jones had improved the Linneous nomenclature.

The following plant names are derived from Sanskrit.

Plant Taxonomy

Carissa L. < Kṛṣṇa (phala) Datura L. < Dhattūra Piper Longum L. < Pippalī

Saccharum officinarum L. <Śarkarā ←ikṣu Santalum album L.

< CandanamVitex negundo L.

Nirguṇḍī

Contd...

Putranjiva RoxburhiiPutrajīva

Saraca asocaAśoka

Salmalia IndicaŚālmalī

Madhuca longifoliaMadhuka

Saccharum Munja L.Muñjā

Metaphor Use of metaphor in literature – East & West“the roofs of Paris” vis-à-vis “gangAyAM

ghoshaH (village in the river)” The 'prakaraNam' vis-à-vis 'context' in

Ogden&Richards (The Meaning of Meaning) Ex: 'I am not feeling well.'

Comparative Aesthatics “...the next greatest philosophical poem to the

Divine Comedy within my experience.” T. S. Eliot on Bhagavadgita (Dante, Selected Essays 1917-1932, New York, 1932, p. 219)

References From Philology to English studies – Language

and Culture in the Nineteenth Century English Language and Literary Criticism, A.S.

Kharbe (2009)* I.A. Richards and Indian Theory of Rasa http://vediccafe.blogspot.in/2014/01/hindu-ance

stors-of-greeks.html http://www.stephen-knapp.com/sanskrit_its_im

portance_to_language.htm

THANK YOU!!