Editing Sanskrit (section)

=== Origin and development ===
{{see also|Indo-European vocabulary|Proto-Indo-Aryan language|Indo-Iranian languages}}
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| footer = Left: The [[Kurgan hypothesis]] on [[Indo-European migrations]] between 4000 and 1000&nbsp;BCE; right: The geographical spread of the Indo-European languages at 500 CE, with Sanskrit in South Asia
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Sanskrit belongs to the [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European family of languages]]. It is one of the three earliest ancient documented languages that arose from a common root language now referred to as [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]]:<ref name=Woodard12/><ref name=Bauer2017p90/><ref name="Ramat2015p26">{{cite book |first1=Anna Giacalone |last1=Ramat |first2=Paolo |last2=Ramat |year=2015 |title=The Indo-European Languages |pages=26–31 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-92187-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PLa5CAAAQBAJ}}</ref>
* [[Vedic Sanskrit]] ({{circa}} 1500–500&nbsp;BCE).
* [[Mycenaean Greek]] ({{circa}} 1450&nbsp;BCE)<ref>{{cite news |title=Ancient tablet found: Oldest readable writing in Europe |date=1 April 2011 |website=National Geographic |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/03/110330-oldest-writing-europe-tablet-greece-science-mycenae-greek|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110401192141/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/03/110330-oldest-writing-europe-tablet-greece-science-mycenae-greek/|url-status=dead|archive-date=1 April 2011}}</ref> and [[Ancient Greek]] ({{circa}} 750–400&nbsp;BCE).
* [[Hittite language|Hittite]] ({{circa}} 1750–1200&nbsp;BCE).

Other Indo-European languages distantly related to Sanskrit include [[Old Latin|archaic]] and [[Classical Latin]] ({{circa}} 600&nbsp;BCE–100&nbsp;CE, [[Italic languages]]), [[Gothic language|Gothic]] (archaic [[Germanic language]], {{circa|350&nbsp;CE}}), [[Old Norse]] ({{circa}} 200&nbsp;CE and after), [[Old Avestan]] ({{circa|late 2nd millennium&nbsp;BCE}}<ref>{{cite book |first=Jenny |last=Rose |date=18 August 2011 |title=Zoroastrianism: A guide for the perplexed |pages=75–76 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-4411-2236-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4h0SBwAAQBAJ}}</ref>) and [[Avestan language|Younger Avestan]] ({{circa}} 900&nbsp;BCE).<ref name=Bauer2017p90>{{cite book |first=Brigitte L. M. |last=Bauer |year=2017 |title=Nominal Apposition in Indo-European: Its forms and functions, and its evolution in Latin-romance |publisher=De Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-046175-6 |pages=90–92 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BWzNDgAAQBAJ}} For detailed comparison of the languages, see pp. 90–126.</ref><ref name="Ramat2015p26"/> The closest ancient relatives of Vedic Sanskrit in the Indo-European languages are the [[Nuristani language]]s found in the remote [[Hindu Kush]] region of northeastern Afghanistan and northwestern [[Himalayas]],<ref name="Ramat2015p26"/><ref name="DaniMasson1999">{{cite book |last=Harmatta |first=J. |editor1-last=Dani |editor1-first=Ahmad Hasan |editor2-last=Masson |editor2-first=Vadim Mikhaĭlovich |chapter=The Emergence of the Indo-Iranians: The Indo-Iranian Languages |title=History of Civilizations of Central Asia |url=https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000094466?posInSet=3&queryId=a6dad7c3-cad4-47e1-a5ef-49a1cd6d31f9 |year=1992 |volume=I |publisher=UNESCO |pages=357–358 |isbn=978-81-208-1407-3}}</ref>{{sfn|Masica|1993|p=34}} as well as the extinct [[Avestan]] and [[Old Persian]] – both [[Iranian languages]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Saul |last=Levin |date=24 October 2002 |title=Semitic and Indo-European |volume=II: Comparative morphology, syntax, and phonetics |page=431 |series=Current Issues in Linguistic Theory No. 226 |publisher=[[John Benjamins Publishing Company]] |oclc=32590410 |isbn=9781588112224}} {{isbn|1588112225}}</ref>{{Sfn|Bryant|Patton|2005|p=208}}<ref name="Robins2014p346">{{cite book |first=R. H. |last=Robins |year=2014 |title=General Linguistics |pages=346–347 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-88763-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IryOAwAAQBAJ |access-date=18 July 2018 |archive-date=29 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329134204/https://books.google.com/books?id=IryOAwAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> Sanskrit belongs to the [[Centum and satem languages|satem]] group of the Indo-European languages.

Colonial era scholars familiar with Latin and Greek were struck by the resemblance of the Sanskrit language, both in its vocabulary and grammar, to the classical languages of Europe.
In ''The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World'', Mallory and Adams illustrate the resemblance with the following examples of [[cognate]] forms{{sfn|J. P. Mallory|D. Q. Adams|2006|p=6}} (with the addition of Old English for further comparison):
{| class="wikitable"
 |-
 ! &nbsp; PIE !!  &nbsp; English !! &nbsp; Old English !!  &nbsp; Latin !! &nbsp; Greek !! &nbsp; '''Sanskrit''' !! Glossary
 |-
 | *méh₂tēr || &nbsp; mother || &nbsp; mōdor || &nbsp; māter || &nbsp; mētēr || &nbsp; '''mātṛ́-''' || mother
 |-
 | *ph₂tḗr || &nbsp; father ||&nbsp; fæder || &nbsp; pater || &nbsp; patēr || &nbsp; '''pitṛ́-''' || father
 |-
 | *bʰréh₂tēr || &nbsp; brother ||&nbsp; brōþor || &nbsp; frāter || &nbsp; phreter || &nbsp; '''bhrā́tṛ-''' || brother
 |-
 | *swésōr || &nbsp; sister ||&nbsp; sweoster || &nbsp; soror || &nbsp; eor || &nbsp; '''svásṛ-''' || sister
 |-
 | *suHnús || &nbsp; son ||&nbsp; sunu || &nbsp;-  || &nbsp; hyiós || &nbsp; '''sūnú-''' || son
 |-
 | *dʰugh₂tḗr || &nbsp; daughter ||&nbsp; dohtor || &nbsp;- || &nbsp; thugátēr || &nbsp; '''duhitṛ́-''' || daughter
 |-
 | *gʷṓws || &nbsp; cow ||&nbsp; cū || &nbsp; bōs || &nbsp; bous || &nbsp; '''gáu-''' || cow
 |-
 | *demh₂- || &nbsp; tame, timber ||&nbsp; tam, timber|| &nbsp; domus || &nbsp; dom- || &nbsp; '''dām-''' || house, tame, build
 |}
The correspondences suggest some common root, and historical links between some of the distant major ancient languages of the world.{{efn|William Jones (1786), quoted by Thomas Burrow in ''The Sanskrit Language'':{{sfn|Burrow|1973|p=6}} "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 Gothick and the Celtick {{sic}}, 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."}}

The [[Indo-Aryan migrations]] theory explains the common features shared by Sanskrit and other Indo-European languages by proposing that the original speakers of what became Sanskrit arrived in South Asia from a region of common origin, somewhere north-west of the [[Indus River|Indus region]], during the early 2nd millennium&nbsp;BCE. Evidence for such a theory includes the close relationship between the Indo-Iranian tongues and the [[Baltic languages|Baltic]] and [[Slavic languages]], vocabulary exchange with the non-Indo-European [[Uralic languages]], and the nature of the attested Indo-European words for flora and fauna.{{sfn|Masica|1993|pp=36–38}}

The pre-history of Indo-Aryan languages which preceded Vedic Sanskrit is unclear and various hypotheses place it over a fairly wide limit. According to Thomas Burrow, based on the relationship between various Indo-European languages, the origin of all these languages may possibly be in what is now Central or Eastern Europe, while the Indo-Iranian group possibly arose in Central Russia.{{sfn|Burrow|1973|pp=30–32}} The Iranian and Indo-Aryan branches separated quite early. It is the Indo-Aryan branch that moved into eastern Iran and then south into South Asia in the first half of the 2nd millennium&nbsp;BCE. Once in ancient India, the Indo-Aryan language underwent rapid linguistic change and morphed into the Vedic Sanskrit language.{{sfn|Burrow|1973|pp=30–34}}