Similarities Between Sanskrit and Lithuanian

Lithuanian and Sanskrit are both Indo-European language that have a lot in common. Even though Lithuanian has changed over the past thousands of years, the change has not been as much as other Indo-European languages, and hence Lithuanian has retained many old features which are found only in ancient languages such as Sanskrit. In this video we explore some of the commonalities between the two languages, with Arnika, representing Sanskrit, and Paulius representing Lithuanian. Paulius’ Instagram page: Link to the episode I took part in on Paulius’ podcast (The Ink Well): If you would like to participate in a future video, be sure to follow and message me on Instagram: I would like to point out that in the subtitles, the “:“ is missing after क, it should be “क:“, and hence in the transliteration, it should read kaḥ to accommodate for it. Sanskrit (संस्कृत) is one of the oldest Indo-Aryan languages. It is the primary liturgical language of Hinduism and some texts of Buddhism and Jainism. Today, Sanskrit is still spoken as a primary language in some parts of India. Sanskrit has had a significant impact on languages outside of the Indian subcontinent. Sanskrit manuscripts and inscriptions have been found in China, Indonesia, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Mongolia, Thailand, Malaysia, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Japan, and other parts of the world. It is very common to find words that are derived from Sanskrit in Chinese, Sino-Tibetan languages, Thai, Khmer, and Lao. Austronesian languages, such as Javanese, Malay, Tagalog, and Indonesian, also derive a portion of their vocabulary from Sanskrit. European languages, including English, also contain words derived from Sanskrit. Lithuanian is a Baltic language spoken primarily in Lithuania where it is the official language. It is also one of the official languages of the European Union. Lithuanian is unique in the sense that it is one of only two living Baltic languages, along with Latvian, and among Indo-European languages, Lithuanian has retained many old features which are found only in ancient languages such as Sanskrit or ancient Greek. This makes Lithuanian an important language despite a small number of native speakers, since the language is very vital for reconstructing the Proto-Indo-European language. For several decades, the Lithuanian language was banned in education and publishing. This was due to an uprising the Russian Empire, and the ban was placed on the Lithuanian language by Mikhail Muravyov, the Russian Governor General of Lithuania, barring the use of the Latin alphabet altogether. Lithuanian books, however, continued to be printed across the border in East Prussia and smuggled into the country.