CHAPTER I
SANSKRIT AND INDO-EUROPEAN
§i. Indo-Aryan and Indo-Iranian
In the greater part of India today languages are spoken which are derived from a single form of speech which was introduced into India by invaders from the north-west more than three thousand years ago. The invading peoples were knowm in their own language as ivy a-, a word which is also commonly used as an adjective meaning * noble, honourable Behind them in Central Asia remained kindred peoples who eventually occupied the plateau of Iran, as well as large tracts of Central Asia. These peoples used the same name of themselves, in Avestan airy a-, and from the genitive plural of this word the modern name Iran is ultimately derived. In conformance with this usage the term Aryan is now used as the common name of these peoples and their languages ; alternatively the term Indo- Iranian is commonly used. To distinguish the Indian branch from the Iranian, the term Indo-Aryan has been coined, and as applied to language, it covers the totality of languages and dialects derived from this source from the earliest times to the present day. It is practical to distinguish three periods, Old, Middle and Modern Indo-Aryan. The classical form of Old Indo-Aryan eventually came to be designated by the term Samskrta- meaning ' polished, cultivated, correct (according to the rules of grammar) in contradistinction to Prdkrta the speech of the uneducated masses, which was the same Indo- Aryan in origin, but was subject to a process of steady change and evolution. As a term to distinguish Indo-Aryan from the non-Aryan languages the adjective ary a- was used in opposition to mlecchd- 4 barbarian In addition we may note that one of the terms for ' speech bkarati (sc. vdk) had originally an ethnic sense, meaning * language of the Bharatas ’A
1 At an early period the most prominent of the Indo-Aryan tribes, whence also the indigenous name of India bharata(-varsa).
