Charles E Bennett

New Latin Grammar Charles E Bennett

a. The Sanskrit, spoken in ancient India. Of this there were several stages, the oldest of which is the Vedic, or language of the Vedic Hymns. These Hymns are the oldest literary productions known to us among all the branches of the Indo-European family. A conservative estimate places them as far back as 1500 B. C. Some scholars have even set them more than a thousand years earlier than this, i.e. anterior to 2500 B. C. The Sanskrit, in modified form, has always continued to be spoken in India, and is represented to-day by a large number of dialects descended from the ancient Sanskrit, and spoken by millions of people.