Is "Sanskrit" Dravidian ?

Paul Kekai Manansala kekai at JPS.NET
Fri Jun 11 02:31:54 UTC 1999


Lars Martin Fosse wrote:
>
> >
>
> Samar Abbas wrote:
>
> > Is the word "Sanskrit" itself of Dravidian etymology ?
> >
> > The word "samskrutam" has the suffix -am, indicating a Dravidian origin of
> > the word. Is it possible to trace a Dravidian origin for the prefix
> > samskr- ? Perhaps, Shimoga (Kann. place), Shanmugam (Tam. name), Shan
> > (Burmic) are the sources.
> >
>
> Samar, why don't you get yourself Colson's Teach Yourself Sanskrit? Then you
> would immediately know that "Sanskrtam" has nothing to do with Dravidian, and
> that the ending -am is a very common ending for skt. nouns.
>

Yes, but Sanskrit is an Indian language.  Maybe it would be more
relevant if -am was a common ending for IE nouns.

> >
> > Since 30-50 % of the words of Sanskrit are of Dravidian etymology >anyway,

And many other words are of Austric or other etymology making
up the vast majority of Sanskrit words.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala





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