Sanskrit (n.)

also Sanscrit, ancient sacred language of India, 1610s, from Sanskrit samskrtam "put together, well-formed, perfected," neuter of samskrta, from sam "together" (from PIE root *sem- (1) "one; as one, together with") + krta- "to make, do, perform" (from PIE *kwer- "to make, form;" see terato-). "[S]o called as being the cultivated or literary language, distinguished from the vulgar dialects, or, some say, because regarded as a perfect language, the speech of the gods, formed by infallible rules" [Century Dictionary]. It continued as a learned tongue long after it ceased to exist as a vernacular.

also from 1610s

Entries linking to Sanskrit

karma (n.)

1800, in an Indian context, "the sum of a person's actions in one life," which determines his form in the next; from Sanskrit karma "action, work, deed; fate," related to Sanskrit krnoti, Avestan kerenaoiti "makes," Old Persian kunautiy "he makes;" from PIE root *kwer- "to make, form" (see terato-). "Latterly adopted by Western popular 'meditative' groups" [OED, 1989]. It is related to the second element in Sanskrit.

Prakrit (n.)

collective name for the popular dialects of ancient northern and central India (distinguished from and succeeding Sanskrit), sometimes also applied to modern languages (Hindi, Bengali, etc.), 1766, from Sanskrit prakrta- "natural, original" (opposed to samskrta- "prepared, refined"), from pra- "before, forward, forth" (from PIE root *per- (1) "forward," hence "before") + krta- "to make, do, perform," from PIE root *k(w)er- "to make, form" (related to karma). Related: Prakritic.

*sem-

terato-

See all related words (4) >

Trends of Sanskrit

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/. Ngrams are probably unreliable.

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lac

All these are from Persian lak, from Hindi lakh (Prakrit lakkha), from Sanskrit laksha "red dye," which is of uncertain origin...But others say lakh is perhaps an alteration of Sanskrit rakh, from an IE root word for "color, dye" [Watkins]....Still another guess is that Sanskrit laksha is related to English lax, lox "salmon," and the substance perhaps was so called...

rajah

also raja, "king or prince in India," ruling either independently or as a feudatory, 1550s, from Hindi, from Sanskrit rajan...Related: Rajput, "member of the ruling caste in northern India" (1590s), from Sanskrit rajaputrah "prince," literally "king's...

crocus

from Greek krokos "crocus," also "saffron," a word probably of Semitic origin (compare Arabic kurkum), ultimately from Sanskrit...kunkumam, unless the Sanskrit word is from the Semitic one....

Bhagavad-Gita

in Hindu scripture, a dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna inserted in Mahabharata; Sanskrit, from Bhaga, a god of wealth,...from Sanskrit bhagah, literally "allotter, distributor, master, lord," from bhajati "assigns, allots, apportions, enjoys...

Gondwana

name of a region in north central India, from Sanskrit gondavana, from vana "forest" + Gonda, Sanskrit name of a Dravidian...

deva

"god, divinity, good spirit" in Hindu religion, 1819, from Sanskrit deva "a god" (as opposed to asuras "wicked spirits"),...Also Devanagari, the formal alphabet of Sanskrit writings (1781), which is literally "divine city (script)," from nagara...

ginger

ginȝiber, from Late Latin gingiber, from Latin zingiberi, from Greek zingiberis, from Prakrit (Middle Indic) singabera, from Sanskrit...But this may be Sanskrit folk etymology, and the word may be from an ancient Dravidian word that also produced the modern...Burnell and Gundert considered that the Tamil iñci must have had an initial ś- formerly, that the Sanskrit śṛṅgabera was...

Urdu

official language of Pakistan, 1796, formerly also known as Hindustani, from Urdu urdu "camp," from Turkish ordu (source of horde); short for zaban-i-urdu "language of the camp." Compare Dzongkha, a variant of Tibetan and the official language of Bhutan, literally "the language o

SAM

1958, acronym for surface to air missile (see surface (n.))....masc. proper name, typically a shortening of Samuel (q.v.). Sam Browne in reference to a type of belt with shoulder strap is by 1915, from Sir Samuel James Browne (1824-1901), the British general who invented it. Sam

language

late 13c., langage "words, what is said, conversation, talk," from Old French langage "speech, words, oratory; a tribe, people, nation" (12c.), from Vulgar Latin *linguaticum, from Latin lingua "tongue," also "speech, language," from PIE root *dnghu- "tongue." The -u- is an Anglo

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updated on December 21, 2021

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Dictionary entries near Sanskrit

sank

Sanka

sans

sansculotte

sansei

Sanskrit

sans-serif

Santa

santa

Santa Claus

santeria