Sanskrit and Greek: The Similarities and Differences between them
Sanskrit is an ancient language of India and Ancient Greek —as you can tell by the name— is an ancient language from Greece.
Sanskrit and Greek are related languages. This might seem surprising given that Athens (the capital of Greece) is about 3 thousand miles away from New Delhi (the capital of India).
Sanskrit and Greek are both part of the Indo-European language family, which also includes many of the languages spoken in Europe (English, for example), as well as several of the languages spoken in India (Hindi, for example).
Sanskrit and Greek evolved from a common ancestor language, the Proto-Indo-European language (spoken from around 4500 BCE to around 2500 BCE).
There aren’t any remaining traces of that language because the use of writing was not widespread at that time. But linguists have reconstructed it by analyzing its descendants.
Because of this common linguist origin, Sanskrit and Greek have some similarities, both in terms of vocabulary (we’ll see plenty of examples in the following sections), as well as in their grammar (for example, three grammatical genders and noun endings that change according to grammatical cases).
Sanskrit and Greek also have many differences because during several thousand years, they evolved without much contact with each other. These differences include the use of different writing systems and many vocabulary terms that are completely different.
Scholars and enthusiasts study Sanskrit and Ancient Greek to read the original versions of ancient texts.
For Ancient Greek, these include texts by authors such as Plato, Aristotle, Sophocles, and Homer (the author of the Odyssey and the Iliad —not the Simpsons character).
For Sanskrit, these ancient texts include core Hindu scriptures like the Bhagavad Gita and Upanishads, as well as ancient yogic texts like Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras and the Hatha Yoga Pradipika.
Sanskrit and Greek similarities in vocabulary
The table below provides examples of similar words in Sanskrit and Greek.
| English | Sanskrit | Greek |
|---|---|---|
| mind | मनस् (manas) | μένος (menos) |
| great, big | मह (maha) | μέγας (megas) |
| knee | जानु (janu) | γόνυ (gonu) |
| boat | नौ (nau) | ναῦς (naus) |
| water | उदन् (udan) | ὕδωρ (hudor) |
| winter, cold | हिम (hima) | χεῖμα (kheima) |
| a field | अज्र (ajra) | ἀγρός (agros) |
| house | दम (dama) | δόμος (domos) |
| night | नक्ति (nakti) | νύξ (nux) |
| a foot | पद् (pad) | πούς (pous) |
| mouse | मूष् (mus) | μῦς (mus) |
| reward | मीढ (midha) | μισθός (misthos) |
| donor | दातृ (datr) | δώτωρ (dotor) |
| lady | पत्नी (patni) | πότνια (potnia) |
| star | स्तृ (str) | ἀστήρ (aster) |
| sleep | स्वप्न (svapna) | ὕπνος (hupnos) |
| a month | मास् (mas) | μείς (meis) |
| man | नर (nara) | ἀνήρ (aner) |
| name | नामन् (naman) | ὄνομα (onoma) |
| door | दुर् (dur) | θύρα (thura) |
| a fox | लोपाश (lopasa) | ἀλώπηξ (alopex) |
| a bend | अङ्कस् (ankas) | ἄγκος (ankos) |
| bone | अस्थि (asthi) | ὀστέον (osteon) |
| intestine | अन्त्र (antra) | ἔντερον (enteron) |
| a reproach | निन्दा (ninda) | ὄνειδος (oneidos) |
| ray | अक्तु (aktu) | ἀκτίς (aktis) |
| flesh | क्रविस् (kravis) | κρέας (kreas) |
| to bite | दशति (dasati) | δάκνω (dakno) |
| to tame | दाम्यति (damyati) | δάμνημι (damnemi) |
A list with some additional similar words between Greek and Sanskrit is provided at the end of this article.
Sanskrit and Greek: language variants
Sanskrit and Greek are among the three most ancient documented Indo-European languages. The other one is the Hittite language.
Because the use of Sanskrit and Greek spans a very long timeframe, both of these languages have different variants that were in use during different periods.
Greek language variants
Mycenaean Greek is the most ancient documented form of Greek, dating back to the 15th century BCE. It predates the Greek alphabet and was written in a script called “linear B” which contained many ideograms (and pictograms) in addition to syllabic symbols.
Attic Greek is the form of Ancient Greek most studied by scholars today. It was written using the Greek alphabet.
Koine Greek is the form of Greek that was in use from the 4th century BCE to the 6th century CE. One of the noteworthy differences between Koine Greek and its predecessor (Attic Greek) is the disappearance of the distinction between long and short vowels.
Modern Greek is the form of Greek that is used in Greece today.
Sanskrit language variants
Vedic Sanskrit is the earlier form of Sanskrit. Its name comes from the Vedas, which are a collection of religious texts.
Classical Sanskrit is the form of the Sanskrit language which was codified by the scholar and grammarian Pāṇini around the 4th century BCE.
A visible linguistic pattern in the evolution of Sanskrit is the increased use of compound nouns. This was less common in Vedic Sanskrit, but later it became increasingly common, leading to longer and longer words. A Sanskrit word holds the first place for the “longest word” category in the Guinness Book of World Records.
Important texts in Greek and Sanskrit
The existence of important philosophical, and literary texts written in Greek and Sanskrit is one of the reasons why scholars study these ancient languages.
Some examples of important texts written in Ancient Greek include the following:
- Epic poems written by Homer (the Odyssey, the Iliad)
- Greek philosophy writing by Plato (the Republic)
- Plays by Sophocles (Oedipus Rex, Antigone, Electra)
- Writings by the Greek philosopher Aristotle
- Greek tragedies by Euripides
Sanskrit is an important language for scholars who are interested in Eastern philosophy and yoga. Examples of important texts written in Sanskrit include:
- the Bhagavad Gita (an epic story written in Sanskrit)
- the Upanishads (Sanskrit texts of Hindu philosophy)
- The Yoga Sutra (this Sanskrit text which covers the theoretical foundations of yoga was written by the sage Patanjali around the year 400)
- the Hatha Yoga Pradipika (a classical Sanskrit text on hatha yoga)
- the Kama Sutra
Sanskrit vs Greek Grammar
Both Sanskrit and Greek are languages that have 3 grammatical genders (masculine, feminine, and neuter).
The grammatical genders of Sanskrit and Greek vocabulary words are in some cases aligned and in some cases not, as the following examples show:
| Sanskrit | Ancient Greek |
|---|---|
| सूर्य (surya) - sun (masculine) | ἥλῐος (helios) - sun (masculine) |
| नदी (nadi) - river (feminine) | ῥοή (rhoe) - river (feminine) |
| चन्द्र (candra) - moon (masculine) | Σελήνη (Selene) - moon (feminine) |
Articles are words that accompany nouns. English, for example, has a definite article (“the”), as well as indefinite articles: “a” and “an”.
- Sanskrit has neither definite articles nor indefinite articles (but demonstrative pronouns can be used)
- Ancient Greek has definite articles but no indefinite articles.
Sanskrit and Ancient Greek are languages that use noun declensions (changes in endings) to indicate grammatical cases. As a result, Sanskrit and Greek have a relatively flexible word order (since the grammatical function can be inferred from the declensions rather than the word order).
Sanskrit and Ancient Greek have, in addition to singular and plural, a third grammatical number called the dual. This is a grammatical feature that Sanskrit and Greek received from their ancestor language, the Proto-Indo-European language.
More similar words between Greek and Sanskrit
The following list contains Ancient Greek and Sanskrit words that are similar in meaning, and which resemble each other. Most of these are cognates, meaning that they derive from a common ancestor word.
| Sanskrit Word and Meaning | Greek Word and Meaning |
|---|---|
| ज्ञान (jnana) - knowledge | γιγνώσκω (gignosko) - I know |
| आयु (ayu) - lifetime | αἰών (aion) - lifetime |
| क्रतु (kratu) - intelligence, power | κράτος (kratos) - strength, power |
| जरत् (jarat) - old | γέρων (geron) - old, an old man |
| युग (yuga) - a yoke | ζυγόν (zugon) - a yoke |
| जनस् (janas) - a category of being | γένος (genos) - a category of beings |
| दारु (daru) - wood | δρῦς (drus) - a tree |
| मूल (mula) - root | μῶλυ (molu) - a magical herb |
| फुल्ल (phulla) - flower | φύλλον (phullon) - leaf |
| लेप (lepa) - an ointment | λίπος (lipos) - animal fat |
| मन्दुरा (mandura) - a stable for horses | μάνδρα (mandra) - a stable for horses |
| दण्ड (danda) - a stick | δένδρον (dendron) - a tree |
| कण (kana) - a tiny particle | κόνις (konis) - dust |
Conclusion
Sanskrit and Ancient Greek are important classic languages that are linguistically related as they share a common ancestor.
Scholars study these languages because of the cultural, literary, and philosophical importance of the texts written in them.
For more on classic languages, see this comparison of Sanskrit and Latin, this comparison of Latin and Greek, and this list of the thousand most common Sanskrit words.
