Q. Who among the following scholars, made a comparative study of ancient languages and discovered close affinities between Sanskrit and some of the principal languages of Europe. Answer:
Filippo Sasetti
Notes:
In 6th century Filippo Sasetti, a Florentine (Italian), made a comparative study of many ancient languages. He discovered close affinities between Sanskrit and some of the principal languages of Europe such as Greek, Latin, Gothic (Teutonic or Germanic) and Celtic (English), and also Persian. Some important words of common use show the striking similarities between these languages. For example, ‘mother’ in English is known as matr in Sanskrit, mater in Persian, metor in Greek, mater in Latin, and mutter in German.
Sir William Jones who in 1786 suggested that these striking similarities and affinities could not be accidental but rather must have originated from a mother language unknown to us.
Max Mueller called these languages ‘Aryan’, but stressed clearly that the word ‘Aryan’ means language, and not race.
Penka, another German scholar, identified language with race, setting off an unending controversy whether ‘Aryan’ should refer to language alone, or to race alone, or to both.