English and Sanskrit are distant cousins. Both descend from Proto-Indo-European (PIE), a reconstructed language spoken perhaps six thousand years ago somewhere on the Eurasian steppe. Although the two languages have travelled very different paths — one through Germanic into Old English, the other through Indo-Iranian into Sanskrit — they preserve dozens of inherited words that betray the family resemblance.
Recognising a
A is not a . A is borrowed across languages — like yoga and karma, which entered English from Sanskrit in modern times. A , by contrast, descends independently in both languages from a shared ancestor. The Sanskrit mātṛ and the English mother are not borrowings; they are two different developments of the same word.
Kinship Terms
Family vocabulary is among the most conservative.
- pitṛ (पितृ) ~ father ( pH₂tér-)
- mātṛ (मातृ) ~ mother
- bhrātṛ (भ्रातृ) ~ brother
- svasṛ (स्वसृ) ~ sister
- putra (पुत्र) ~ Old English bēor "boy" (less direct), but compare Latin puer
- duhitṛ (दुहितृ) ~ daughter
- sūnu (सूनु) ~ son
- vidhavā (विधवा) ~ widow
Numbers
The numerals are textbook examples.
- eka (एक) — one (compare archaic English ane)
- dvi (द्वि) — two
- tri (त्रि) — three
- catur (चतुर्) — four (note the deeper kʷetwores)
- pañca (पञ्च) — five
- ṣaṣ (षष्) — six
- sapta (सप्त) — seven
- aṣṭa (अष्ट) — eight
- nava (नव) — nine
- daśa (दश) — ten
Body Parts
- pad (पद्) ~ foot
- dant- (दन्त) ~ tooth ( h₃dónts)
- hṛd (हृद्) ~ heart
- nāsā (नासा) ~ nose
- manas (मनस्) ~ mind
- jānu (जानु) ~ knee
Nature
- naktam (नक्तम्) ~ night
- aham (अहम्) "I" ~ Latin ego, English I (the same first-person pronoun)
- agni (अग्नि) "fire" ~ Latin ignis; not directly with English fire, but linked through cousins
- yuga (युग) "yoke, age" ~ yoke
- sthā (स्था) "stand" ~ stand ( steh₂-)
- vid (विद्) "know" ~ wit, wise ( weid-)
- jñā (ज्ञा) "know" ~ know ( ǵneh₃-)
Verbs of Action
- bhū (भू) "to be, become" ~ be ( bʰuH-)
- as (अस्) "to be" ~ English is ( h₁es-)
- yuj (युज्) "to join, yoke" ~ yoke
- manyate (मन्यते) "thinks" ~ Latin mens, English mind
Loanwords vs Cognates
The distinction is illuminating. Yoga, karma, guru, avatar, mantra, pundit, jungle, bandana, bungalow, and shampoo are loanwords — English took them from Sanskrit (often via Hindi or Persian intermediaries). But mother, brother, three, seven, stand, and know are cognates — both languages inherited them independently.
Why Cognates Matter
Cognates remind English speakers that learning Sanskrit is not learning an alien tongue but rediscovering a forgotten branch of one's own linguistic family. They also provide invaluable evidence for the reconstruction of , allowing linguists to trace the prehistory of one of humanity's largest language families. To recognise pitṛ in father or jñā in know is to glimpse a continuity that long predates either Sanskrit or English as they are now spoken.