From: fournet.arnaud
Message: 57679
Date: 2008-04-19
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rick McCallister" <gabaroo6958@...>
>> =========
>> I think you are compounding two questions together.
>> Q1. When and where was Rg Veda composed and hence
>> when and where was Vedic
>> Sanscrit spoken ?
>> Q2. What do the indo-iranian-looking words in
>> Mittani texts learn us about
>> Indo-iranian ?
>>
>> I'm not sure we can preclude Iranian or early
>> Iranian as a source of Mittani
>> "Aryanoid" ?
>> Or what are the reasons we can do that ?
>>
>> Do you accept -4000 BP as the earliest datation
>> possible for Sanscrit ?
>>
>> Arnaud
>>
>> ============
>
> Sanskrit was not developed until after the Indo-Aryans
> settled in India and Pakistan. The language
> Mitanni-Indo-Aryan lexicon is from was a related
> language, perhaps an "aunt or uncle" of Sanskrit.
=========
I think it's probable.
A western branch of sanscrit-like looks strange.
I've always been sceptical about this scenario.
Arnaud
=====
> Sanskrit is a polished, courtly prestige language and
> was probably only spoken by a small elite. If most
> likely arose c. 400-300 BCE with the arrival of
> Semitic writing to India and maintained artificially
> in the same sense as Classical Latin.
==========
I disagree,
if Rg veda was composed around say - 1500 BC,
then sanscrit already existed.
I agree the intellectualization of sanscrit into a learned language is
something else and much later
(Cf. Panini)
Arnaud
=======
>
> Iranian didn't reach Iran until much later than the
> appearance of Mitanni Indo-Aryan. This has been
> explained.
======
When was that arrival ?
A.