San|skrit

San|skrit «SAN skriht», noun, adjective.

–n.

1. the ancient sacred and literary language of India. It is of importance in the study of Indo-European: »

Sanskrit is of great interest to linguists because of the…stimulus which the introduction of Sanskrit to Western scholarship gave to the development of modern linguistic science (H. A. Gleason, Jr.).

2. the classical literary form of this language, as distinguished from the earlier Vedic.

–adj.

of or having to do with Sanskrit; Sanskritic. Also, Sanscrit.

╂[< Sanskrit samskrta prepared, cultivated (applied to the literary language as contrasted with the vernacular language). Compare etym. under Prakrit. (Cf. ↑Prakrit)]