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Dec 0929List of English Words derived from Sanskrit via Latin Greek Persian
One of my friends said, “Look at the rich technical vocabulary of English. Isnt it amazing that today we have so many new words created in English like Computer, Processor, Monitor, Internet, Hardware, Software etc that it is almost impossible to create words with similar meaning in other languages and so instead we will have to directly import these english words into our languages to keep pace with the rapidly evolving new terms.”
“Very True.”, I said, “Any language during the time period of its peak usage as a spoken language will have its words imported into other languages that exist during that period. Just like the way Sanskrit words which got imported into Greek, Latin, Persian, etc during the peak usage of Sanskrit. These Sanskrit words have today silently formed a vast majority of the Original English Language!”.
And then I explained to him the Sanskrit source of various English words and he was quite surprised – not because he didnt knew it all these days, but because he had failed to recognize the obvious phoenetic connection that existed between words in his Indian language (which is again derived from Sanskrit) and similar sounding words with similar meaning in English!
So I thought I better pen down a list of all such English words derived indirectly from the ancient Sanskrit.
But before that, as usual a small preface
The World’s Oldest Known Literary work (around 3700 BCE) - the Vedas – the root source of the Indian and Hindu Philosophy and Spirituality – are written in Sanskrit. The time difference between the world’s next oldest literary work (Ancient Sumerian Texts – around 2600 BCE) and the vedas is about a millenium ie a thousand years!
“The Sanskrit language, whatever be its antiquity, is of 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 in the forms of grammar, than could not 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 Gothick and the Celtick, though blended with a very different idiom, had the same origin with the Sanskrit; and the old Persian might be added to the same family”
So said Sir William Jones – the English Philologist who for the first time in 1786 suggested in his book “The Sanscrit Language” that Greek and Latin were related to Sanskrit and perhaps even Gothic, Celtic and Persian languages were related to Sanskrit.
It was this work which later gave birth to the so called Proto-Indo-European theory which instead of looking into Sanskrit being the root language of all Indo-European languages, suggests that all Indo-European languages including Sanskrit came from another so far unheard of language called PIE or Proto-Indo-European language.
Well, the irony is that till today there is no literature in the world about the so called PIE. There is no inscription found anywhere in the world written in the so called PIE. Nobody knows how the PIE was. Nobody knows who spoke it or in which part of the world was it spoken. No known ancient culture in the world talks about such a language being the root of the language they spoke. Simply put there is NO PROOF about the existence of this language. Just look at its name. It was a name GIVEN to it. A language if spoken will definitely contain words referring to everything that the people who spoke it could identify, yet here is a language which doesnt even have a name referring to itself!
So then what is the basis of having introduced this language in the language tree in the first place - a language which will remain invisible forever? Might be a guess, Max Muller used to guess a lot like this about the vedas, which he then retreated later.
Be it Greek Latin English Hindi Lithuanian – Sanskrit is the mother of all Languages. Even Scholars like Voltaire, Immanuel Kant etc believed that Sanskrit was the root of all Indo-European languages.
“I am convinced that everything has come down to us from the banks of the Ganges” said Voltaire. He believed that the “Dynasty of Brahmins taught the rest of the world”.
“Mankind together with all science must have originated on the roof of the world ie the Himalayas” declared Immanuel Kant.
About PIE – No idea, they are all linguistic experts who created this language, Oops, I mean its existence – for the language itself is not known yet. I am not an expert to speak on PIE, might be those who speak about it are experts in this language
All I do is present below a list of English words which are derived from Latin/Greek/Persian which are in turn derived from Sanskrit. Indians will be quick enough to recognize these words in their own language since most Indian languages have also originated from Sanskrit and even the other languages have a great deal of Sanskrit influence on them.
And here goes the list of English words derived from Sanskrit.
NOTE: Just to make it clear the below list does not contain Sanskrit words that have been directly borrowed into English in recent times like Karma, Avatar, Mantra, Guru, Cheetah, Pundit, Juggernaut, Nirvana, Lakh etc but lists only those English words which were derived from Sanskrit as English evolved by borrowing words from Greek/Latin etc.
Root Sanskrit Word Median Word in Latin(L) / Greek(G) / Arabic(A) Derived English Word Gau (meaning Cow) Bous (G) Cow Matr (meaning Mother) Mater (L) Mother Jan (meaning Generation) Genea (G) Gene Aksha (meaning Axis) Axon (G) Axis Navagatha (meaning Navigation) Navigationem (L) Navigation Sarpa (meaning Snake) Serpentem (L) Serpent Naas (means Nose) Nasus (L) Nose Anamika (means Anonymous) Anonymos (G) Anonymous Naama (means Name) Nomen (L) Name Manu (means First Human) ?? Man/Men/Human Ashta (meaning Eight) Octo (L) Eight Barbara (meaning Foreign) Barbaria (L) Barbarian Dhama (meaning House) Domus (L) Domicile Danta (meaning Teeth) Dentis (L) Dental Dwar (meaning Door) Doru Door Dasha (meaning Ten) Deca (G) Deca Madhyam (meaning Medium) Medium (L) Medium Kaal (meaning Time) Kalendae (L) Calendar Kri (meaning To Do) Creatus (L) Create Mishra (meaning Mix) Mixtus (L) Mix Ma (meaning Me/My) Me (L) Me Pithr (meaning Father) Pater (L) Father Bhrathr (meaning Brother) Phrater (G) Brother Loka (meaning Place) Locus (L) Locale Maha (meaning Great) Magnus (L) Mega Mala (meaning Dirt/Bad) Malus (L) Mal as in Malicious, Malnutrition, Malformed etc Makshikaa (meaning Bee) Musca (L) (Meaning Fly) Mosquito Mrta (meaning Dead) Mortis (L) Murder Na (meaning No) Ne No Nakta (meaning Night) Nocturnalis (L) Nocturnal Paad (meaning Foot) Pedis (L) Ped as in Pedestrial, Pedal etc Pancha (meaning Five) Pente (G) Penta, Five Parah (meaning Remote) Pera (G) Far Patha (meaning Path) Pathes (G) Path Raja / Raya (meaning King) Regalis (L) Royal Sama (meaning Similar) Similis (L) Similar Sapta (meaning Seven) Septum (L) Seven Sharkara (meaning Sugar) Succarum Sugar / Sucrose Smi (meaning Smile) Smilen (L) Smile SthaH (meaning Situated) Stare (L) (meaning To Stand) Stay Svaad (meaning Tasty) Suavis (L) Sweet Tha (meaning That) Talis (L) That Tva (meaning Thee) Dih Thee Vachas (meaning Speech) Vocem (L) Voice Vahaami (meaning Carry) Vehere (meaning to Carry) (L) Vehicle Vama / Vamati (meaning Vomit) Vomere (L) Vomit Vastr (meaning Cloth) Vestire (L) Vest Yauvana (meaning Youth) Juvenilis (L) Juvenile Narangi (meaning Orange) Naranj Orange Pippali (meaning Pepper) Piperi (G) Pepper Chandana (meaning Sandalwood) Santalon (G) Sandalwood Chandra (meaning Moon) Candela (L) (meaning light / torch) Candle Chatur (meaning Four) Quartus (L) Quarter Shunya (meaning Zero) Cipher (A) Zero a (prefix meaning “not” ex: gochara – agochara) a (L)(G) (prefix meaning “not”) a (prefix meaning “not” ex: theiest-atheist an (prefix meaning “not” ex: avashya – anavashya) un (L)(G) (prefix meaning “not”) un (prefix meaning “not” ex: do-undo Arjuna (meaning Charm of Silver) Argentinum (L) Argentinum – Scientific Name of Silver Nava (meaning New) Novus (L) Nova – New Kafa (meaning Mucus) Coughen Cough Mithya (meaning Lie) Mythos (G) Myth Thri (meaning Three) Treis (G) Three Mush (meaning Mouse) Mus (L) Mouse Maragadum (meaning Emerald) Smaragdus (L) Emerald Ghritam (meaning Ghee) ?? Ghee Srgalah (meaning Jackal) Shagal (Persian) Jackal Nila (meaning Dark Blue) Nilak (Persian) Lilac Srgalah Shagal (Persian) Jackal Man (Ma as in Malaysia) (meaning Mind) Mens (L) Mind Upalah (meaning Precious Stone) Opalus (L) Opal Vrihis (meaning Rice) Oriza (L) Rice Upalah (meaning Precious Stone) Opalus (L) Opal
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24 Responses to “List of English Words derived from Sanskrit via Latin Greek Persian”
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Regarding the word ghrtam for ‘ghee’ i would like to add that in the PIE, the root is “ghrein” meaning “to apply, smear or anoint” since anointing or applying ghee was a major use.the greek word “christos” is a descendant of the word “ghrein” meaning “the anointed one”.
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ಈನೋ ನಿಮ್ಮ ದಯೆ – An attempt with the help of quilpad
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<<सन्तोष वार्ता >> क्रुपया पश्यतु http://www.24dunia.com/english-news/shownews/0/Sanskrit-is-second-Rajbhasha-in-Uttarakhand/5039588.html
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Agree with you on this, works by many western scholars are very much appreciable, especially by Stephen Knap. he is fully knowledgeable than we many Indians.
I think Thava’s was a generic statement considering few western criticizing souls. In-fact a considerable fraction of us are troubled/troubling the growth of Sanskrit. -
well.it has been a fashion for western scholars and researchers to sideline vedic history and sanskrit..
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संस्क्रुतम् एवम् मात्तूर्(षिमोग)ग्रामस्य संबन्ध भवान् जानति किला?
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You are right Shabana
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i know what pradeeps say and I am happy that whatever i learnt in sixth standard is still retained in my memory is somewhat vaguely … foolish people have five symptoms pride, fowl mouthed,haught tempered,bull headed and arrogant(disrespecting others words).
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Karthikeyan Marudhac, Suresh K V. Suresh K V said: RT @hitxp HitXP » List of English Words derived from Sanskrit via Latin Greek Persian http://bit.ly/5DwJLf [...]
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RT @sureshvembu: RT @hitxp HitXP » List of English Words derived from Sanskrit via Latin Greek Persian http://bit.ly/5DwJLf
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डेन् महोदयस्य वादानुवाद् पठित्वा ‘कन्चिन् देशे एकः राजः आसित्” एतत् कथा स्म्रिति मध्ये आगतवन्तः!!!
“मूर्खस्य पंच चिन्हानि ‘गर्वा, दुर्वचनं, क्रोधश्च, द्रिढवादश्च परवाक्येष्वनादरः”
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vatika -> vatican
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It’s true that Sanskrit is a very ancient language, but I’m going to side with the PIE theorists here.
PIE is the theoretical ancestral mother tongue of humans inhabiting the Euro-Asian continent. It was constructed by linguists with the intention of perhaps displaying the apparent relationship and relatedness of the many languages spoken today in the European continent and the Indian subcontinent. It was not created to be definitive, but as an aid to understanding the evolution of language.
It is proven that the languages of Europe, apart from Basque, are related. They all are descendants from a common ancestral language. It is also proven that the languages of India are related to those spoken in Europe. They all share a common ancestor and Sanskrit is amongst them.
Nobody knows what the TRUE ancestral language sounded like - it’s no longer spoken - but with PIE we can get a (hopefully) close approximation.
Sanskrit is old, but it’s not as old as the Proto-Indo-European language needs to be to claim to be the true mother tongue. -
एतत् ब्ळोग् अत्युत्तमं
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RT @hitxp HitXP » List of English Words derived from Sanskrit via Latin Greek Persian http://bit.ly/5DwJLf
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