GLOSSARY 



The very name Sanskrit abbreviated from Sams- 

 krita implies the elaboration and subtle nicety of its 

 structure, " the perfectly constructed speech dedicated to 

 literary and religious purposes, but also the spoken lan- 

 guage of cultured people " ; and thus distinguished from 

 the vernacular of the common people, Prakrita, or Prakrit, 

 of which there are many dialects. 



Although the Sanskrit alphabet contains forty-eight let- 

 ters thirteen vowels and thirty-five consonants 

 these are augmented by so many compound letters ac- 

 cording as they are grouped in words, and to express 

 shades of meaning and pronunciation, that about five 

 hundred distinct types, or symbols, are necessary for the 

 complete equipment of a Sanskrit font. The reason for 

 this nice distinction is the conviction that number, form, 

 and color are inherent in every sound. 



Diacritical marks, corresponding somewhat to the 

 Greek " breathings," under and over letters, both vow- 

 els and consonants, change their sound-value entirely; and 

 as these lack significance to English eyes, having no cor- 

 respondence with English usage, the best method to con- 

 vey the pronunciation of Sanskrit words has been to spell 

 them in English as nearly as possible phonetically. For 

 example: the spelling Sakti gives no hint of the pronun- 

 ciation of the word. In Sanskrit the S would have a 



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