"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 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; there is a similar reason, though not quite so forcible, for supposing that both the Gothic and the Celtic, though blended with a very different idiom, had the same origin with the Sanscrit; and the old Persian might be added to the same family."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
William Jones, third annual discourse before the Asiatic Society on the history and culture of the Hindus (delivered on 2 February 1786 and published in 1788)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Indo-European_languages
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Indo-European languages
9 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Indo-European languages →
Related Quotes
"The classification "the Indo-European branch of humanity" could be defined either as the group of people who spoke so…"
"It is disappointing to have to say that at present there seems to be no hope of estimating objectively and with a use…"
"The biological situation among the speakers of modern Indo-European languages can only be explained through a transfe…"
"The question of identifying archaeological remains of Indo-European populations in Central Asia has been one of the m…"
"As in its original language we see the roots and shoots of the languages of Greek and Latin, of Kelt, Teuton and Slav…"
"They would not have it, they would not believe that there could be any community of origin between the people of Athe…"
"The new theory of Language has unquestionably produced a new theory of Race . . . If you examine the bases proposed f…"
"The vast interior of Eurasia is a linguistic spread zone—a genetic and typological bottleneck where many genetic line…"
"Here we have seen that their early history is still largely an open question. They may have had Greek origins: Whatev…"
"The first Greek-speaking people in the southern Balkan Peninsula arrived in Macedonia, Thessaly, and Epirus sometime …"