LANGUAGE. 
166 
in their original (late, rude and favage, without letters, 
knowledge, and culture, in a great degree ignorant of the 
hiltory of their anceftors; and indebted for the (canty in¬ 
formation refpeiting them to the books of their neigh¬ 
bours. They had no written characters, and thofe of 
their neighbours were not fit for exprefling the founds of 
their language. At length, however, the art of writing 
was introduced among them. For a confiderable time 
their tran fail ions were recorded in the Aflyrian language; 
in procefs of time they employed that of the Greeks ; and 
afterwards they made ufe of that of the Perfians. In the 
time of Mofes Chorenenfis, the names of their towns, and 
fome other particulars, were exprefied in one of thefe 
three languages. It was after the introduction of Chrifti- 
anity, that Miefrob, either towards the clofe of the fourth 
or the commencement of the fifth century, invented let¬ 
ters that accurately exprefied the founds of the Armenian 
language, and which are in ufe among them at this day. 
This invention, according to the tradition of the country, 
was revealed to Miefrob in a dream, after the author had 
in vain attempted to make the difcovery himfelf, and after 
he had taken many ufelefs journeys to procure affiftance 
from the learned. Sir William Jones (Afiat. Ref. vol. iii.) 
is of opinion, tliatthe bafis of the Armenian language was 
ancient Perfian, of the fame Indian (lock with the Zend, 
and that it lias been gradually changed fince the time 
when Armenia ceafed to be a province of Iran, or Perfia. 
However, the letters in which it now appears are allowed 
to be comparatively modern ; and, if they be not derived 
from the Pahlavi, or ancient Perfian, they are probably, as 
this ingenious writer imagines, an invention of fome 
learned Armenians in the middle of the fifth century. 
According to Strabo, the language of the ancient Arme¬ 
nians was limilar to that of the Syrians; at lealt it is very 
probable, from Polytenus ( 1 . iv.), that they ufed the Sy¬ 
rian characters. The modern Armenians pretend, that, 
befides their vulgar language, they have a learned one, 
which has no affinity with the other oriental languages, 
and which is very expreffive, and enriched with all the 
terms of religion, and of arts and fciences. 
The Sanskrit, though one of the mod ancient lan¬ 
guages in the world, was little known even in Alia till 
about the middle of the prefent century. Since that pe¬ 
riod, by the indefatigable induftryof the very learned and 
ingenious fir William Jones and the other worthy mem¬ 
bers of the Afiatic Society which he founded, that noble 
and ancient language has at length been brought to light; 
and from it vafi treafures of oriental knowledge have been 
communicated both to Europe and Afia ; knowledge 
which, without the exertions of that happy effablifhment, 
muft have efcaped the refearches of mankind to the end 
of the world. 
The Sanlkrit language had for many centuries lain con¬ 
cealed in the hands of the bramins of Hindooftan. It is 
by them deemed facred, and is of confequence confined 
folely to the offices of religion. Its name imports the per¬ 
fect language, or, according to the eaftern ftyle, the language 
tf perfection. It is the grand fource of Indian literature, 
and the parent of almofi: every dialed, from the Perfian 
gulf to the China feas ; and accordingly traces of its ori¬ 
ginal extent may be difcovered in almoit every diftrift of 
Afia. Thofe who are acquainted with that language have 
often found the fimilitude of Sanfxrit words to thofe of 
Perfian and Arabic, and even of Latin and Greek ; and 
that not in technical and metaphorical terms, which re¬ 
fined arts and improved manners might have occafionally 
introduced, but in the main ground-work of language, in 
rnonofyllables, the names of numbers, and appellations of 
fuch things as would be firlt difcriminattd on the imme¬ 
diate dawn of civilization. 
Though numberlefs changes and revolutions have from 
time to time convulfed Plindooftan, that part of it which 
lies between the Indus and the Ganges ftill preferves that 
language whole and inviolate. Here they ftill offer a 
thoufand books to the pevufal of the curious 1 foms of 
thefe have been lately tranfiated. 
The Sanfkrit language is very copious and nervous. 
The firlt of thefe qualities arifes in a great meafure from 
the vaft number of compound words with which it is al- 
moft overftocked. “The Sanlkrit (fays fir William Jones,) 
like the Greek, Perfian, and German, delights in com¬ 
pounds ; but to a much higher degree, and indeed to fuch 
excefs, that I could produce words of more than twenty 
fyllables ; not formed ludicroufiy like that by which the 
buffoon in Ariftophan-es defcribesa feaft, but with perfect 
ferioufnefs, on the molt folemn occafions, and in the molt 
elegant works."’ But the ftyle of its belt authors is won¬ 
derfully concife,. In the regularity of its etymology it 
far exceeds the Greek and Arabic; and, like them, has 
a prodigious number of derivatives from each primary 
root. The grammatical rules alfo are numerous and dif¬ 
ficult, though there are not many anomalies. As one in- 
ftance of the truth of this aflertion, it may be obferve'd, 
that there are feven declenfions of nouns, all ufed in the 
lingular, the dual, and the plural, numbers, and all of them 
differently formed, according as they terminate with a 
confonant, with a long or a (hort vowel; and again, dif¬ 
ferent alfo as they are of different genders ; not a nomi¬ 
native cafe can be formed to any one of thefe nouns with¬ 
out the application of at lealt four rules, which vary like- 
wife with each particular difference of the nouns, as above 
dated ; add to this, that every word in the language may 
be ufed through all the feven declenfions, which is a full 
proof of the difficulty of the idiom. 
Perhaps our readers may feel a curiolity to be informed 
of the origin of this-oriental tongue. If we believe the 
bramins themfelves, it was coeval with the race of man. 
The bramins, however, are not the only people who as¬ 
cribe a kind of eternity to their own particular dialedt. 
We find that the Sanfkrit in its primitive deftination was 
appropriated to the offices of religion. It is indeed pre¬ 
tended, that all the other dialefts 1 'poken in Hindooftan. 
were emanations from that fountain, to which they might 
be traced back by a fkilful etvmologifl: Indeed, if we ad¬ 
mit the authority of the Mofaic hiftory, all languages 
whatfoever are derived from that of the firft man. It is 
allowed that the language under confideration is impreg¬ 
nated with Perfian, Chaldaic, Phoenician, Greek, and even 
Latin, idioms. This, we think, affords a preemption 
that the Sanfkrit was one of thofe original dialedts which 
were gradually produced among the defendants of Noah, 
in proportion as they gradually receded from the centre 
of population. What branch or branches of that family 
emigrated to Hindooftan, it is not eal'y to determine. That 
they were a party of the defendants of Shem is molt pro¬ 
bable, becaufe the other fepts of his pofterity fettled in 
that neighbourhood. See the article Hindoostan, vol. x. 
P- 3 - 
Though mod of the anc:ent oriental tongues are read 
from right to left, like the Hebrew, Chaldaic, Arabic, &c. 
yet fuch as properly belong to the whole continent of In¬ 
dia proceed from left to right, like thofe of Europe. The 
Arabic, Perfian, See. are the grand lources whence the 
former method has been derived; but, with thefe, the nu¬ 
merous original dialefls of Hindooftan have not the Irnall- 
elt connexion or refemblance. 
The learned are now convinced that the ufe of nume¬ 
rical figures was firft derived .from India. Indeed the an¬ 
tiquity of their application in that country far exceeds the 
powers of inveftigation. All the numerals- in Sanlkrit 
have different forms for the different genders, as in Ara¬ 
bic. There appears a ftrong probability that the Euro¬ 
pean method of computation was derived from India, as 
it is much the fame with the Sanfkrit, though we think 
the Europeans learned it from the Arabians. The Ben- 
galefe merchants compute the largeft luins by fours-, a 
cultom evidently derived from the original mode of rec¬ 
koning by the fingers. 
The 
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