- the classical Old Indic literary language, as cultivated from the 4th cent. onward: because of the antiquity of its written expression and the detailed descriptive analysis it received in the Sutras of the Hindu grammarian P?nini (end of the 4th cent. ), Sanskrit was used as a major source of data in the origin and development of Indo-European comparative linguistics
- loosely any written form of Old Indic, including Vedic
Origin of Sanskrit
from Sanskrit sa?sk?ta, literally , made together, well arranged from sa?-, together (see same) + -k?ta, made from Indo-European base an unverified form kwer-, to make from source Middle Irish creth, poetry: so called in distinction to Pr?krit, literally , the common (spoken) language of or written in Sanskrit
