Sanskrit suppresses other (Indian) languages

  • Some languages have an oppressor - oppressed relationship. Eg: Arabic vs Egyptian. English vs Iniut. Though Sanskrit was a link language across Asia,this was not the case with Sanskrit and other languages. Rather, their relationship was of the nourisher-nourished type.
  • References: Balram Shukla’s answer here.

Enrichment of other languages

  • Sanskrit enriched local languages - with its special ability to coin new words.
    • A grateful acknowledgement of influence on Thai - YTTh2015.
    • Sanskrit enrichment of telugu - IF15.
  • Works were composed for the study of Prakrits and apabhraMsha-s in Sanskrit (of course, with an intention of *preserving* the prAkrits and their treasures). Examples: Hemachandra’s 8th chapter, kAshmIra-shabdAnushAsanam, etc..
  • Ancient local language poets acknowledged their debt to sanskrit and sanskrit literature.
    • Reasons why southern poets used sanskrit included - gravity, amplification, resonance, clarity, brevity, intertextual reference (depth), phono-aesthetics ( DS_YT )
    • Again and again, the Tamil shaiva saints speak of how shiva revealed truth in Aariyam and Tamil. 1, 2, 3
  • It is not the case that the substratum of India when Vedic Indo Aryans arrived was draviDian ( DS_YT ).

Sanskrit also borrows

  • Linguists say that Sanskrit *borrowed* from as well as lent words to other languages (a hallmark of living languages).
  • Sanskritization is often involved in the process of borrowing.
    • This involves coining newer more Sanskrit words that sound similar to the alien word.
      • Eg. sultan → सुरत्राणः chocolate→ चाकलेहः mughal → मौद्गल। (Hammira-kaavya)
    • Inspiration is drawn from the nirukta and the uNAdi sUtra-s of grammar tolegitimizethe use of these new words.
  • In classical sanskrit aesthetic works (eg: rAjashekhara) the poet is esteemed by his ability to compose in Sanskrit as well as prakrits; and aesthetic quality is considered to be not-very language-dependent. Most examples of very high-quality poetry (dvani-kAvya) in Sanskrit works came from Prakrit, even if the author chose Sanskrit examples for mediocre and poor poetry!!
  • In south India there works composed in a mixture of Sanskrit and the local language (eg: maNipravaLa).

Examples

  • Borrowed words from farsi - कलम। दीनार। (both used by kShemendra)
  • Borrowed from prAkRta-s .
    • भर्ता (Sanskrit) → भट्टा (Prakrit) → भट्ट (Later sanskrit - kShemendra). Similarly, (gRha, geha) and (mUDha, mugdha).
    • kumarIla bhaTTa seems to have argued how words like pika come from prAkRtas.
  • English words and etymological inspiration
    • 92 Hoch study here.
    • English words appearing in arjunwadekar’s poems