Sanskrit

Definition

A classical Indo-European language of South Asia, which is the liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Jainism.

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Sanskrit संस्कृत (saṃskṛtá, “perfected, prepared, constructed, refined”). First use appears c. 1617 in the publications of Samuel Purchas.

Example Sentences

• "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."