Sanskrit is an ancient literary language that existed in India. He has a complex grammar, is considered the progenitor of many modern languages. In literal translation, this word means "perfect" or "processed." It has the status of the language of Hinduism and some other cults.
Language distribution
The Sanskrit language was originally mainly distributed in the northern part of India, being one of the languages ​​for rock inscriptions, dating back to the 1st century BC. It is interesting that researchers consider it not as the language of a particular people, but as a specific culture that has been prevalent among the elite sections of society since antiquity.
Mostly this culture is represented by religious texts related to Hinduism, as well as the Greek language or Latin in Europe. Sanskrit in the East has become a way of intercultural communication between religious figures and scholars.
Today it is one of 22 languages ​​recognized as official in India. It is worth noting that his grammar is archaic and very complex, but the vocabulary is stylistically diverse and rich.
Sanskrit has had a significant impact on other Indian languages, mainly in the field of vocabulary. Today it is used in religious cults, the humanities and only in a narrow circle as a colloquial.
It is in Sanskrit that many artistic, philosophical, religious works of Indian authors, works on science and jurisprudence, which influenced the development of culture throughout Central and Southeast Asia, Western Europe, are written.
Grammar and vocabulary works were collected by the ancient Indian linguist Panini in the work The Eight Books. These were the most famous work in the world on the study of a language, which had a significant impact on linguistic disciplines and the emergence of morphology in Europe.
Interestingly, in this case there is no unified writing system in Sanskrit. This is explained by the fact that the works of art and philosophical works that existed at that time were transmitted exclusively orally. And if there was a need to write down the text, the local alphabet was used.
As the writing of Sanskrit, only at the end of the 19th century Devanagari became established. Most likely, this happened under the influence of Europeans, who preferred this alphabet. According to a common hypothesis, Devanagari was introduced to India in the 5th century BC by merchants who arrived from the Middle East. But even after mastering the writing system, many Indians continued to memorize texts in the old fashioned way.
Sanskrit was the language of literary monuments, on which you can get an idea of ​​Ancient India. The oldest written language for Sanskrit that has come down to our time is called brahmi. It is in this way that the famous monument of ancient Indian history was written under the name "Inscriptions" Ashoka ", which is 33 inscriptions carved on the walls of the caves, by order of the Indian king Ashoka. This is the oldest surviving monument of Indian writing and the first evidence of the existence of Buddhism.
History of occurrence
The ancient Sanskrit language belongs to the Indo-European language family, it is reckoned with the Indo-Iranian branch. He had a significant influence on most modern Indian languages, primarily Marathi, Hindi, Kashmiri, Nepali, Punjabi, Bengali, Urdu, and even Gypsy.
It is believed that Sanskrit is the oldest form of the once unified language. Once inside a diverse Indo-European family, Sanskrit has undergone sound changes similar to other languages. Many scholars believe that the original carriers of ancient Sanskrit came to the territory of modern Pakistan and India at the very beginning of the II millennium BC. As evidence of this theory, close relationship with the Slavic and Baltic languages, as well as the presence of borrowings from the Finno-Ugric languages, which are not Indo-European, are given.
In some studies of linguists, the similarities between the Russian language and Sanskrit are especially emphasized. It is believed that they have many common Indo-European words, with the help of which objects of fauna and flora are designated. True, many scientists adhere to the opposite point of view, believing that the native speakers of the Indian language of Sanskrit were the indigenous inhabitants of India, connecting them with Indian civilization.
Another meaning of the word "Sanskrit" is "ancient Indo-Aryan language." It is to the Indo-Aryan group of languages ​​that Sanskrit belongs to most scholars. From it came many dialects that existed in parallel with the related ancient Iranian language.
Determining which language is Sanskrit, many linguists come to the conclusion that in ancient times in the north of modern India there was another Indo-Aryan language. Only he could convey to modern Hindi some of his vocabulary, and even phonetic composition.
Similarity to Russian
According to various studies of linguists, the similarity of the Russian language and Sanskrit is great. Up to 60 percent of Sanskrit words coincide in pronunciation and meaning with words from the Russian language. It is well known that one of the first to study this phenomenon was the doctor of historical sciences, a specialist in Indian culture, Natalia Guseva. Once, she accompanied an Indian scientist on a tour of the Russian North who at one point refused the services of an interpreter, saying that she was happy to hear live and pure Sanskrit so far from home. From that moment, Guseva began to study this phenomenon, now in many studies the similarity of Sanskrit and the Russian language is convincingly proved.
Some even believe that the Russian North has become the ancestral home of all mankind. Many scholars prove the kinship of northern Russian dialects with the oldest language that is known to mankind. Some suggest that Sanskrit and Russian are much closer than it might initially appear. For example, they say that not the Old Russian language came from Sanskrit, but exactly the opposite.
There are really a lot of similar words in Sanskrit and Russian. Linguists note that with words from the Russian language today it is easy to describe almost the entire sphere of a person’s mental functioning, as well as his relationship with the environment, which is the main thing in the spiritual culture of any people.
Sanskrit is similar to the Russian language, but, claiming that it was the Old Russian language that became the founder of the oldest Indian language, researchers often use openly populist statements that only those who fight against the Russians deny these facts, helping to turn the Russian people into animals. Such scientists frighten the coming World War, which is being waged on all fronts. With all the similarities between Sanskrit and the Russian language, it is most likely necessary to say that it was Sanskrit that became the founder and progenitor of Old Russian dialects. And not vice versa, as some argue. So, when determining whose language it is, Sanskrit, the main thing is to use only scientific facts, and not go into politics.
Fighters for the purity of Russian vocabulary insist that kinship with Sanskrit will help clear the tongue of harmful borrowings, vulgarizing and polluting the language.
Language affinity examples
Now, with a clear example, we will understand how similar Sanskrit and the Slavic language are. Take the word angry. According to Ozhegov’s dictionary, it means "to be irritated, angry, to feel anger towards someone." It is obvious that the root part of the word "heart" from the word "heart".
"Heart" is the Russian word, which came from the Sanskrit "hridaya", so they have a single root -srd- and -hrd-. Broadly speaking, the Sanskrit concept of hridaya included the concepts of soul and mind. That is why in Russian the word "angry" has a pronounced cardiac affect, which becomes quite logical if you look at the connection with the ancient Indian language.
But why then do we have the word "angry" has such a pronounced negative effect? It turns out that even Indian brahmanas linked passionate affection with hatred and anger. In Hindu psychology, anger, hatred and passionate love are considered emotional correlates that complement each other. Hence the famous Russian expression: "From love to hate, one step." So, with the help of linguistic analysis, it is possible to understand the origin of Russian words associated with the ancient Indian language. Such are the studies of the similarity of Sanskrit and the Russian language. They prove that these languages ​​are related.
Lithuanian and Sanskrit are similar to each other, since initially Lithuanian practically did not differ from Old Russian, it was one of the regional dialects, similar to modern northern dialects.
Vedic Sanskrit
Particular attention in this article should be given to Vedic Sanskrit. You can get acquainted with the Vedic analogue of this language in several monuments of ancient Indian literature, which are collections of sacrificial formulas, hymns, religious treatises, for example, the Upanishads.
Most of these works are written in the so-called Novo-Vedic or Middle Vedic languages. Vedic Sanskrit is very different from the classical. The linguist Panini generally considered these languages ​​different, and today many scholars consider Vedic and classical Sanskrit as variations of the dialects of one ancient language. Moreover, the languages ​​themselves are very similar to each other. According to the most common version, classical Sanskrit is just descended from the Vedic.
Among the Vedic literary monuments, the Rig Veda was officially the first to be officially recognized. It is extremely difficult to date with accuracy, which means that it is difficult to assess where the history of Vedic Sanskrit should be calculated from. In the early era of its existence, sacred texts were not recorded, but simply pronounced aloud and memorized, memorized by heart in our days.
Modern linguists distinguish several historical strata in the Vedic language, based on the stylistic features of texts, grammar. It is generally accepted that the first nine books of the Rig Vedas were created in Old Indian.
Epic Sanskrit
The epic ancient Sanskrit language is a transitional form from Vedic Sanskrit to classical. A form that is the latest version of Vedic Sanskrit. He went through a certain linguistic evolution, for example, in some historical period, the subjectives disappeared from him.
This version of Sanskrit is a pre-classical form; it was common in the 5th and 4th centuries BC. Some linguists define it as a Late Vedic language.
It is believed that the original form of this Sanskrit was studied by the ancient Indian linguist Panini, who can be safely called the first scholar-philologist of antiquity. He described the phonological and grammatical features of Sanskrit, preparing the most accurately composed and amazingly formalistic work. The structure of his treatise is an absolute analogue of modern linguistic works devoted to similar studies. However, modern science took millennia to achieve the same accuracy and scientific approach.
Panini describes the language he spoke himself, already at that time actively using the Vedic revolutions, but not considering them archaic and outdated. It is during this time period that Sanskrit undergoes active normalization and orderliness. Just in epic Sanskrit, such popular works as the Mahabharata and Ramayana are written today, which are considered the basis of ancient Indian literature.
Modern linguists often pay attention to the fact that the language by which epic works are written is very different from the version that is described in the works of Panini. It is customary to explain this discrepancy with the so-called innovations that occurred under the influence of prakrit.
It is worth noting that in a certain sense, the ancient Indian epic itself contains a large number of prakritisms, that is, borrowings that penetrate into it from a common language. In this, he is very different from classical Sanskrit. At the same time, Buddhist hybrid Sanskrit is a literary language in the Middle Ages. It created most of the early Buddhist texts, which over time were assimilated to one degree or another under classical Sanskrit.
Classic Sanskrit
Sanskrit is the language of God, many Indian writers, scholars, philosophers, and religious figures are convinced of this.
There are several varieties of it. The first examples of classical Sanskrit reach us from the 2nd century BC. In the comments of the religious philosopher and yoga founder Patanjali, which he left to Panini's grammar, you can find the first studies in this area. Patanjali claims that Sanskrit at that time is a living language, but it can be supplanted by various dialectal forms over time. In this treatise, he recognizes the existence of prakrit, that is, dialects that influenced the development of ancient Indian languages. Due to the use of colloquial forms, the language begins to narrow, and the grammatical notation is standardized.
It was at this moment that Sanskrit freezes in its development, turning into a classical form, which Patanjali himself refers to with the term meaning “finished”, “finished”, “perfectly made”. For example, the same epithet describes ready-made dishes in India.
Modern linguists believe that there were four key dialects in classical Sanskrit. When the Christian era began, the language practically ceased to be used in its natural form, remaining only in the form of grammar, after which it ceased to evolve and develop. It became the official language of worship, it belonged to a certain cultural community, while not being associated with other living languages. But often used as a literary language.
In this position, Sanskrit lasted until the fourteenth century. In the Middle Ages, prakrit became so popular that they formed the basis of Neo-Indian languages ​​and began to be used in writing. By the 19th century, Sanskrit was finally supplanted by national Indian languages ​​from native literature.
The history of the Tamil language, which belonged to the Dravidian family, was not at all connected with Sanskrit, but since ancient times it has been competing with it, since it also belonged to a rich ancient culture. In Sanskrit, there are certain borrowings from this language.
Today's language position
The alphabet of the Sanskrit language has about 36 phonemes, and if you take into account allophones, which are usually considered when writing, the total number of sounds increases to 48. This feature is the main difficulty for Russians who are going to learn Sanskrit.
Today, this language is used as the main spoken language exclusively by the highest castes of India. During the 2001 census, more than 14,000 Indians admitted that Sanskrit was their main language. Therefore, officially it cannot be considered dead. The development of the language is also indicated by the fact that international conferences are regularly held, and Sanskrit textbooks still continue to be reprinted.
Sociological studies show that the use of Sanskrit in spoken language is very limited, so that the language no longer develops. Based on these facts, many scientists classify it as dead languages, although this is not at all obvious. Comparing Sanskrit with Latin, linguists note that Latin, having ceased to be used as a literary language, has long been used in the scientific community by narrow specialists. Both of these languages ​​were constantly updated, stages of artificial revival took place, which were sometimes associated with the desire of political circles. Ultimately, both of these languages ​​became directly associated with religious forms, even though they have been used in secular circles for a long time, so there is a lot in common between them.
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Great interest in this language persists not only in India itself and in Russia, but throughout Europe. As far back as the 17th century, the German missionary Heinrich Roth made a great contribution to the study of this language. He himself had lived in India for many years, and in 1660 he completed his Latin book on Sanskrit. When Roth returned to Europe, he began to publish excerpts from his work, to give lectures at universities and before meetings of linguistic specialists. Interestingly, his main work on Indian grammar has not yet been published, it is stored only in the form of a manuscript in the National Library of Rome.
Actively study Sanskrit in Europe began at the end of the XVIII century. For a wide circle of researchers, it was discovered in 1786 by William Jones, and before that, its features were described in detail by the French Jesuit Kerdu and the German priest Henksleden. But they published their work only after the work of Jones came out, so that they are considered auxiliary. In the 19th century, acquaintance with the ancient Sanskrit language played a decisive role in the creation and development of comparative historical linguistics.
European linguists were delighted with this language, noting its amazing structure, sophistication and richness, even compared with Greek and Latin. At the same time, scientists noted its similarity with these popular European languages ​​in grammatical forms and the roots of the verb, so this, in their opinion, could not be an ordinary accident. The similarity was so strong that the vast majority of philologists who worked with all three of these languages ​​did not doubt that they shared a common ancestor.
Language study in Russia
As we have already noted, Russia has a special attitude to Sanskrit. For a long time, the work of linguistic scientists was associated with two editions of the Petersburg Dictionaries (large and small), which appeared in the second half of the 19th century. These dictionaries opened a whole era in the study of Sanskrit for domestic linguists, they became the main Indological science for the whole coming century.
Vera Kochergina, professor at Moscow State University, made a great contribution: she compiled the Sanskrit-Russian Dictionary, and also became the author of the Sanskrit Textbook.
In 1871, the famous article by Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev entitled "The Periodic Law for Chemical Elements" was published. In it, he described the periodic system in the form in which it is known to all of us today, and also predicted the discovery of new elements. He called them ecaaluminium, ecaborium and ecasilicon. For them, he left empty places in the table. We spoke about the chemical discovery in this linguistic article not by accident, because Mendeleev showed himself here as an expert in Sanskrit. Indeed, in this ancient Indian language "eka" means "one." It is well known that Mendeleev was close friends with the Sanskrit scholar Betlirgkom, who at that time was working on the second edition of his work on Panini. The American linguistic scientist Paul Kriparsky was convinced that Mendeleev gave precisely Sanskrit names to the missing elements, thus expressing recognition of ancient Indian grammar, which he highly valued. He also noted a special similarity between the periodic system of elements of the chemist and the “Shiva Sutras” of Panini. According to the American, Mendeleev not in a dream saw his table, but came up with it, studying Hindu grammar.
Nowadays, interest in Sanskrit is significantly weakened, at best, individual cases of the coincidence of words and their parts in Russian and Sanskrit are considered, trying to find reasoned justifications for the penetration of one language into another.