The Sanskrit LanguageThe Sanskrit Language presents a systematic and comprehensive historical account of the developments in phonology and morphology. This is the only book in English which treats the structure of the Sanskrit language in its relation to the other Indo-European languages and throws light on the significance of the discovery of Sanskrit. It is this discovery that contributed to the study of the comparative philology of the Indo-European languages and eventually the whole science of modern linguistics. Besides drawing on the works of Brugmann and Wackernagel, Professor Burrow incorporates in this book material from Hittite and taking into account various verbal constructions as found in Hittite, he relates the perfect form of Sanskrit to it. The profound influence that the Dravidian languages had on the structure of the Sanskrit language has also been presented lucidly and with a balanced perspective. In a nutshell, the present work can be called, without exaggeration, a pioneering endeavour in the field of linguistics and Indology. |
Contents
| 1 | |
OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF SANSKRIT | 35 |
PHONOLOGY | 67 |
THE FORMATION OF NOUNS | 118 |
THE DECLENSION OF NOUNS | 220 |
NUMERALS PRONOUNS INDECLINABLES | 258 |
THE VERB | 289 |
LOANWORDS IN SANSKRIT | 374 |
Common terms and phrases
action nouns active addition adjectival type adjectives adverbs agent nouns alternation ancient aorist apophony appears Aryan aspiration Avestan beside classical language classical Sanskrit common comparative compound suffixes consonant corresponding declension derived dialects Dravidian dual early elsewhere examples existence extension feminine formations function gender Goth grammar grammarians Greek guage guna Hitt Hittite IE languages India Indo Indo-European Indo-European languages Indo-Iranian inflection instr Iranian later language Lith masc masculine meaning Middle Indo-Aryan neuter neuter nouns neuter suffix nominal stems non-thematic normal old neuter opposed optative original Pāṇini participles perfect period phonetic plural Prakrit preserved preterite primary pronoun radical accent reduplication Ṛgveda sandhi Sanskrit language secondary endings singular Slavonic small number sonant subjunctive suffixal accent syllable termination thematic stems tion Tocharian u-stems Veda Vedic language verb verbal vṛddhi weak form weak grade words
Popular passages
Page 6 - The Sanskrit 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 in 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...
Page 6 - ... 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 Sanscrit; and the old Persian might be added to the same family, if this were the place for discussing any question concerning the antiquities of Persia.