Difference Between Sanskrit and English

Sanskrit vs English

Sanskrit and English are two Indo-European languages that show many similarities between them but still bear differences too between them. They both belong to the inflectional type of languages. The root in an inflectional language undergoes change sometimes to such an extent that it becomes unrecognizable.

Take for example the adjective good. In the comparative it becomes ‘better’ and in the superlative it becomes ‘best’. In the same way in Sanskrit too the root ‘as’ which means ‘to be’ undergoes change as ‘stah’ and ‘santi’ that mean ‘they two are’ and ‘they are’ respectively. In the above example the root ‘as’ undergoes such a kind of change so that it becomes unrecognizable. Similarly the word ‘good’ undergoes change so that it becomes unrecognizable too.

English is primarily spoken in the United Kingdom and in the United States of America. It is widely spoken in the other parts of the world as well including Australia, South Africa, India and parts of Europe. On the other hand Sanskrit is no longer spoken. It was spoken in the earlier times in India and some parts of the eastern countries like Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia.

English belongs to the Germanic group of languages. Philologists place Sanskrit under the Aryan group of languages. The other languages that come under Germanic group include Anglo-saxon, German and Gothic. The languages that come under Aryan group other than Sanskrit include Avesta, Hindi and the dialects of Hindi and the other languages spoken in the northern part of India.

English does not have the cerebral group of consonants. On the other Sanskrit boasts cerebral group of consonants. Cerebrals are the sounds that result when the tip of the tongue touches the roof of the hard palate. The sound of the letter‘t’ in words such as ‘train’, ‘content’ and the like are the cerebral sounds. It is believed that English has borrowed the cerebrals from Sanskrit language.

English boasts the presence of neutral vowel in its list of vowels. The neutral vowel is felt in the pronunciation of words such as ‘bank’, ‘cash’ and the like. The neutral vowel is absent in Sanskrit. Sanskrit is believed to be a ‘devabhasha’ or the ‘language of Gods’. This is because of the perfect Grammar of the language when it comes to pronunciation and usage.

On the other hand there are no strict rules in English when it comes to pronunciation and usage. Several words are interchangeable in the English language whereas words are generally not interchangeable in Sanskrit. Sanskrit is said to be one of the oldest languages of the world. On the other hand old English is said to be only 700 years old. Sanskrit is mother to several other languages including Hindi, Marathi, Gujarathi in India.

The influence of Sanskrit is felt on several other languages spoken across the world. These languages include French, English, Russian, German, Italian and Greek to name a few. On the other hand the influence of English is not seen on the Sanskrit language.

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