The Hindi word for dictionary, शब्दकोश (śabdkośa), literally means word-chest. Apart from accurately describing the function of a dictionary, the word also aptly illustrates the fundamental problem language students face upon first opening the dictionary of a new...
Of all the Indo-European languages, ancient Greek and Sanskrit are undoubtedly the two which exhibit the clearest signs of originating from one common ancestral language. These signs were first observed in their shared basic lexicon containing, for example, identical...
“Without your love, I’m like a song without words, just like a nest without birds … I’m like a plane without wings, a violin with no strings.” You can almost hear Billie Holiday sing through the nostalgic pitter-patter...
Sanskrit and Hindi are both part of the Indo-European language family and share, if one looks closely enough, many of its distinctive features. In the case of Hindi, the language has been so tossed about in the seas of history, that many shared features have been torn...
The mother-tongue of all Indo-European languages was a root-based language, meaning that all or most of its verbs, nouns and adjectives could be reduced to a meaningful core, an atom of meaning, so to speak, which itself could not be broken down into smaller...
In the age of the internet and global electronic communication mania it is very easy to find material on pretty much anything in a matter of two or three clicks or swipes. But everyone will probably agree that the quantity of the material and the ease with which...
In an earlier article entitled Father sky in ancient Greek and Sanskrit the word designating the ancient Indo-European deity presiding over of the heavens has been discussed in connection with the very close correspondences between the declension of the word sky in...
Apart from bringing relief from summer’s toasting dry heat and filling the air with the heavy perfume of jungle – a cushion for the muffled cries of birds – rain is also a force that calls forth from us that most essential of human qualities: adaptability. By...
सूर्य नमस्कार (sūrya namaskāra), lit. the performance of a bow, i.e. devotion, to the sun, is a very popular sequence of twelve yoga poses. Its performance is aimed at harnessing the divine energy of the sun in order to make the whole being prosperous and energetic....
This is the first in a series of articles intended for all those with an interest in yoga and in widening their understanding of Sanskrit words used in connection with its practise. Yoga has now for a long time been one of India’s best known export goods...
