Re: Indo-European Studies
Gerold Firl (geroldf@sdd.hp.com)
7 Jul 1995 13:04:45 -0700
In article <3tjafa$36v@nntpd.lkg.dec.com> verma@awecim.enet.dec.com (Virendra Verma) writes:
>In article <3thhreINN6l@hpsdlmc1.sdd.hp.com>, geroldf@sdd.hp.com (Gerold Firl) writes...
>>Surely you are aware that the vedas are written in sanskrit? And that
>>sanskrit is an IE language?
> This logic is based on false premise. Sanskrit is much older than
> any languages of Europe. In fact, Europe is only 6000 years old
> and Sanskrit is much older than that. Rig veda is supposed to be
> composed around 6500 BC!!!!
Oh dear ... you are confused.
Sanskrit is derived from a common root-language from which the other IE
languages developed. The rig veda represents a cross-section of liturgical
hymns spanning approximately 1500-500bc.
> Some European languages may have been derived from Sanskrit, but
> the origin of Sanskrit lies in India.
Classical sanskrit was not written down until long after the aryan
invasion, but I don't think it was influenced much by the native tongues.
I expect the language did evolve in india between the time the IE peoples
arrived and the time it was written, but you really can't call that the
*origin* of sanskrit.
>>If aryans (i.e., indo-europeans) did not
>>physically move into india ("invade"), then where did the language come
>>from?
> This argument is stupid. Where do you find Sanskrit so nicely
> preserved other than India? The west discovered Sanskrit
> only in the 18th century.
Sanskrit is only found in india, of course. Just as greek is spoken in
greece. Nonetheless, they are both IE languages, derived from a common
ancestor. The people who spoke this ancestral language, this ur-IE, appear
to have originated somewhere on the broad grasslands of eurasia, herding
cattle and fighting with each other. Eventually, they learned to
domesticate and ride the horse, which gave them much more mobility. Then,
they invented the war chariot, light, manueverable, with two spoked wheels,
which gave them the striking power to break-out from their homelands and
attack east, west, and southwards. If you want to claim to be aryan, you
have every right to do so. They spread far and wide.
> So Europe is the center of all civilizations? The tone sounds similar
> to what Max Muller and Hitler were propagating earlier in this
> century.
You think so?
The middle east, specifically mesopotamia, is the center of all
civilization. That is where it was invented, and from there it spread. (the
americas are open to debate) The europeans have come to the civilization
game kind of late, actually.
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