Languages have a great evolutionary significance, because linguistic affinities are also clues to population history. A common language frequently reflects a common origin, and a related language indicates a common origin too, but further back in time (Barbujani 1997). Comparison of Sanskrit and modern Indian languages Hindi and Punjabi with Slovenian belonging to a Slavic language family shows that there is a linguistic similarity, and the older the language the greater is the resemblance.
Sanskrit, especially Vedic Sanskrit, which is the oldest, exhibits more similarities to Slovenian than Hindi or Punjabi. A statistical comparison shows that ~20% of Vedic words are the same or similar to Slovenian in sound and meaning. Similar comparison with Classical Sanskrit, shows ~10% similarity.
This resemblance is not limited to linguistics, but can be further seen in some family and also some topographical names. This can be taken as indication that the Slovenian language has changed relatively slowly over the millennia. Within this context, it would be reasonable to expect, that a modern Slovenian, familiar with the dialects and other Slavic languages, should be able to recognize words and meanings of the Venetic language, if it belongs to the same language family. In addition to linguistics, there are also genetic similarities between the Slavs of Europe and the peoples of the Indian sub-continent.
Page Created: October 20, 2001
Page Updated: October 21, 2001
©Copyright 2001 Gary L. Gorsha
