Re: Rg Veda Older than Sanskrit (was: Ban all non academic discussio

--- "fournet.arnaud" <fournet.arnaud@...>
wrote:

>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Richard Wordingham"
> <richard@...>
>
> >> I have no idea if there is any such versification
> problem in Rg Veda
> >>or not.
>
> >Yes, there are. I may be wrong in details, as my
> knowledge is second
> >hand.
> >
> >1. As Piotr has remarked several times, the first
> syllable of
> >_duhita:_ 'daughter' is long by position. The
> explanation is that in
> >open syllables a vocalic laryngeal had resolved
> itself into consonant
> >plus vowel, only for the consonant to subsequently
> vanish leaving just
> >/i/.
> >
> >2. In verbs, an apparently short open vowel before
> the thematic vowel
> >is long in position. I am not sure about the
> relative frequency of
> >this phenomenon - always, usually or sometimes?
> This has been used as
> >evidence that the PIE subjunctive and thematic
> present morpheme was
> >*h1e rather than merely *e.
> >Richard.
> ====
>
> That's worth digging and investigating for more.
>
> Arnaud
>
> =========

But this is to be expected. As I said before, Sanskrit
is a literary language and as such, really reached its
apex with the arrival of Semitic writing to India c.
4th c. BCE. The Vedas are based on something that
happened centuries earlier and was transmitted orally.
A Sanskrit scholar would have to speak as to when they
were actually composed but I surmise they were
composed from previous oral sources in pre-Sanskrit
I-A languages/dialects.
By the way, how much dialect difference is noticed in
I-A around the time of the Vedas? How much of the
Prakrits goes back to pre-Sanskrit rather than to
Sanskrit itself?



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