Similarities Between Sanskrit and Lithuanian

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Published 2023-08-30
Lithuanian and Sanskrit are both Indo-European language that have a lot in common. Even though Lithuanian has changed over the past thousands of years, the change has not been as much as other Indo-European languages, and hence Lithuanian has retained many old features which are found only in ancient languages such as Sanskrit.

In this video we explore some of the commonalities between the two languages, with Arnika, representing Sanskrit, and Paulius representing Lithuanian.

Paulius' Instagram page: www.instagram.com/pauliusjuodis93

Link to the episode I took part in on Paulius' podcast (The Ink Well):    • The Persian Language, Culture and Mod...  

If you would like to participate in a future video, be sure to follow and message me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/bahadoralast/

I would like to point out that in the subtitles, the ":" is missing after क, it should be "क:", and hence in the transliteration, it should read kaḥ to accommodate for it.

Sanskrit (संस्कृत) is one of the oldest Indo-Aryan languages. It is the primary liturgical language of Hinduism and some texts of Buddhism and Jainism. Today, Sanskrit is still spoken as a primary language in some parts of India. Sanskrit has had a significant impact on languages outside of the Indian subcontinent. Sanskrit manuscripts and inscriptions have been found in China, Indonesia, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Mongolia, Thailand, Malaysia, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Japan, and other parts of the world. It is very common to find words that are derived from Sanskrit in Chinese, Sino-Tibetan languages, Thai, Khmer, and Lao. Austronesian languages, such as Javanese, Malay, Tagalog, and Indonesian, also derive a portion of their vocabulary from Sanskrit. European languages, including English, also contain words derived from Sanskrit.

Lithuanian is a Baltic language spoken primarily in Lithuania where it is the official language. It is also one of the official languages of the European Union. Lithuanian is unique in the sense that it is one of only two living Baltic languages, along with Latvian, and among Indo-European languages, Lithuanian has retained many old features which are found only in ancient languages such as Sanskrit or ancient Greek. This makes Lithuanian an important language despite a small number of native speakers, since the language is very vital for reconstructing the Proto-Indo-European language. For several decades, the Lithuanian language was banned in education and publishing. This was due to an uprising the Russian Empire, and the ban was placed on the Lithuanian language by Mikhail Muravyov, the Russian Governor General of Lithuania, barring the use of the Latin alphabet altogether. Lithuanian books, however, continued to be printed across the border in East Prussia and smuggled into the country.

All Comments (21)
  • Hi guys! This is Paulius, the Lithuanian speaker from the video. 🙋‍♂ If you want to learn Lithuanian, I invite you to check out my comprehensible Lithuanian podcast for foreign students. 🎧
  • @user-ob7jp1kz2o
    I am an Indian and understood almost all the Lithuanian words! The similarity is striking! However, the sentences were difficult.
  • As an indonesian and javanese speaker. I can understand agni (agni/geni in Javanese), vayu (Bayu in Javanese), Madhu (Madu in Javanese/Indonesian), dina (dina in Javanese), and Deva (Dewa in Javanese/Indonesian). I think Javanese (Basa Jawa) got more influence from sanskrit than Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia)
  • @Diego-de6dq
    I'm kurdish, and I saw a lot of similarities with the majority of the words with my own language. Awsome to see the similar Indo-European words used in many of our languages.
  • @unzipmygenes8252
    This is fascinating. I'm studying Sanskrit, so could see for myself how many of the Lithuanian words make sense.
  • @shiny9009
    As a Lithuanian, I knew it was connected to Sanskrit, but I have never ever imagined it to be so similar! That is really interesting video!
  • Very interesting! Greetings from Lithuania 🇱🇹♥️🇮🇳
  • @Vermont2023
    Such INTELLIGENT speakers!! You are all the BEST!! Keep up your presentations!! The world needs you.
  • I'm spanish speaker and I understood when the Lithuanian said dantis because sound similar to Dientes in Spanish and means the same
  • @artrihs
    As Latvian it was very interesting, because Lietuva is our bralukai and Sanskrit sounded similar to Latvian as well.
  • @lokeshk4642
    The cultural minister of Lithuania thanked India for Sanskrit 2 years back. Many Eastern European languages and German has close similarities to Sanskrit but Lithuanian is the closest .
  • @krayxeez
    this is the most interesting connection between languages, I'm so fascinated by this. Thank you so much for making this video!
  • @sohinibiswas5478
    Wonderful video. Thanks for the effort. Congratulations to the team behind. ❤❤❤
  • @birajguha4797
    This video BLEW MY MIND! As a Bengali Speaker, I learnt a lot of Sanskrit words as a child, and Lithuanian has so many of them almost identical!
  • @e.8127
    Labai malonus akiai ir ausiai interviu. Intelektualūs ir išauklėti pašnekovai. Very pleasant conversation. Thank you!
  • Che bella idea hai avuto con il tuo canale. È molto interessante. Graziee 🙏💜💡
  • @nishan0309
    Had requested this a while back thank you so much @bahador❤
  • @shilarangarajan
    I never imagined this connection between Sanskrit and Lithuanian…. It was a delightful episode 🙂
  • @heresy1987LV
    Latvian is like a non identical twin of Lithuanian so this video gives me shivers. Beautiful similarities.
  • @abhimahto8578
    It was very informative. I thank all three of you very much.