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_rgk t1_j0snxzd wrote

Reply to comment by Tony2Punch in Ancient Grammatical Puzzle That Has Baffled Scientists for 2,500 Years Solved by Cambridge University Student by Superb_Boss289

When?

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mylittlekarmamonster t1_j0srq8p wrote

> I’ll let you be the judge of that. Here are two sentences, one in sanskrit, one in lithuanian: Sanskrit: Kas tvam asi? Asmi svapnas tava tamase nakte. Agniṃ dadau te śradi tada viśpatir devas tvam asi. Lithuanian: Kas tu esi? Esmi sapnas tavo tamsioje naktyje. Ugnį daviau tau širdy, tada viešpatis dievas tu esi. English: Who are you? A dream in your dark night. I gave you the fire in your heart, so you are god our lord. Sanskrit: Kas tava sūnus? Lithuanian: Kas tavo sūnus? English: Who is your son?

Just some words. Lithuanian on the left, Sanskrit center, English on the right: DIEVAS-DEVAS-GOD; BŪTIS-BHUTIS-EXISTENCE; VIEŠPATS-VISPATI-Another expression for God (more or less equivalent to the christian expression: “our lord”); RASA-RASA-DEW; MEDUS-MADHUS-HONEY; JAVAS-YAVAS-CEREAL; UGNIS - AGNIS-FIRE; VĖJAS-VAJUS-WIND; AKMUO-AKMAN-STONE/ROCK; BANGA- BHANGA-WAVE; VYRAS-VIRAS-MAN; SŪNUS-SUNUS-SON; SENAS-SANAS-OLD; ESU-ASMI-I’M... Of course, they are still different languages, but it’s no wonder many scholars that want to study Sanskrit do study Lithuanian first.

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notmyrealnameatleast t1_j0sv6gf wrote

Wow that's so interesting, I had no idea they were so similar and yet so far apart geographically.

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Russki_Wumao t1_j0tvyze wrote

I speak Latvian and I understood all but three words you listed. This is neat as fuck. The Sanskrit sentence reads more like Latgalian dialect. Probably because the region borders with Lithuania.

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dilsiam t1_j0u0f8a wrote

This is beautiful and very interesting, thank you for sharing

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Modern_rocko t1_j0sri2q wrote

Ye Olde’ Time, he just said

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MarsRocks97 t1_j0t5mzi wrote

On a tangent, but I read somewhere that “Ye” is not pronounced like in yet or yeet. The archaic letter Y was just commonly used to denote a “th” sound.

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nolo_me t1_j0t7t3r wrote

The letter þ was called "thorn", it fell out of use with the rise of the printing press. In blackletter type "Y" was often substituted.

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cdncbn t1_j0thxzd wrote

Even more tangential, but I do enjoy saying 'th' to myself whenever I see Ye in the news.

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