Sanskrit
proper noun
- ancient language
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈsænskɹɪt/ / /sənˈskrɪt̪/
adj
Etymology: Learned borrowing from Hindi संस्कृत (sanskŕt), itself a learned borrowing from Sanskrit सं॒स्कृ॒त (saṃskṛtá, “perfected; prepared; constructed; refined”). First use appears c. 1617 in the publications of Samuel Purchas.
- Relating to Sanskrit.
“Sanskrit, Greek, Slavonic, Germanic, and Celtic names were all of this type, but there are also shorter names formed from the compound ones; […].”
noun
Etymology: Learned borrowing from Hindi संस्कृत (sanskŕt), itself a learned borrowing from Sanskrit सं॒स्कृ॒त (saṃskṛtá, “perfected; prepared; constructed; refined”). First use appears c. 1617 in the publications of Samuel Purchas.
- A classical Indo-European language of South Asia, which is the liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Jainism.
“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 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... - Sir William Jones, 2 February, 1786, at the Asiatick Society.”