Secrets of the Sacred — Vol. 32
Say the word “mother.” Now say the Sanskrit word for mother: Matr. Say “father.” Sanskrit: Pitr. Say “brother.” Sanskrit: Bhratar. Say “name.” Sanskrit: Nama. Say “new.” Sanskrit: Nava. Say “night.” Sanskrit: Nakt.
You are not imagining the similarity. These words are the same words — separated by thousands of years and thousands of miles, but connected by a common ancestor that linguists call Proto-Indo-European — the mother of both Sanskrit and English. You speak Sanskrit every day. You just don’t know it.
The Discovery That Changed Everything
In 1786, British judge Sir William Jones stood up at the Asiatic Society in Calcutta and announced: “The Sanskrit language 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… than could possibly have been produced by accident.” This was the founding statement of comparative linguistics — and the discovery that Sanskrit and English are cousins, sharing a common grandmother, is one of the most significant intellectual discoveries of the modern era.
The Words You Already Know
Door — Sanskrit: Dvara (द्वार). The same word, the same meaning, separated by 6,000 years. Dental — Sanskrit: Danta (दन्त). Serpent — Sanskrit: Sarpa (सर्प). Cardiac — Sanskrit: Hridaya (हृदय). Canine — Sanskrit: Shvan (श्वान). Nave (centre of a church) — Sanskrit: Nabhi (नाभि), meaning navel or centre.
Yoga — and the English word yoke — both from Sanskrit root yuj, meaning to join or unite. Yoga is the practice of joining the individual self with the universal. The yoke joins the oxen. The same root, the same idea of connection. Avatar — from Sanskrit avatara (अवतार), the descent of a deity into human form. Now used to mean your profile picture online. The word that described Krishna’s descent to earth now describes your digital identity.
Sanskrit Words That Entered English Directly
Jungle — from Sanskrit jangala (जङ्गल), a wild uncultivated land. Shampoo — from Sanskrit champu, to press or massage. The practice of head massage with oil came to Britain through India, and the word came with it. Loot — from Sanskrit luta, to rob or plunder. The British learned the word in India. Thug — from Sanskrit sthaga, a cheat or swindler. Bungalow — from Hindi bangla, from Sanskrit, meaning a house in the Bengali style. Pundit — from Sanskrit pandita (पण्डित), a learned person. Now used to mean any expert commentator. Nirvana — the extinguishing of the flame of desire, the state of liberation. Kurt Cobain named his band after a Sanskrit concept of liberation.
The Grammar Connection
The connection runs deeper than vocabulary — through the grammar itself. Sanskrit verb conjugation is directly parallel to English. Sanskrit cases — different forms of nouns depending on grammatical role — survive in English pronouns: “I” (nominative) vs “me” (accusative) vs “my” (genitive). The grammar of English is, in its deep structure, the grammar of Sanskrit — simplified, eroded by time, but recognisably the same.
Why This Matters
When you say “mother,” you are using a word that has been used, in recognisably similar form, by people in India, Greece, Rome, Persia, Germany, and Scandinavia — for six thousand years. The word carries within it the entire history of human family, human love, human connection.
Sanskrit is not a dead language. It is the grandmother of the language you are reading this in. It is alive in every word you speak.
Om. 🙏
— Divya India | Spiritual Lifestyle | Wear the Sacred
#SecretsOfTheSacred — Vol. 32