It was léûg ago conjectured by Paulin de Saint-B.arthé*'
lemy,- from no other sources of information than the vocabulary
of Zend and Pehlvi words published by Anquétil dtr
Perron, that the Zend was a dialect nearly related do the
Sanskrit ; and the same opinion has been**stated,0 i^j^ery
strong terms by Dr. Leyden, and other celebrated philolo-
gers. It is only of late years, and chiefly sinceJSanskrit has
been studied on the Continent, that the relation.-^between
these two ancient languages has been developed. It is how
admitted, that the Zend is allied as a sister language to
the S^skrit. According to M. Bopp, the -.relation
between these two idioms is nearer than that which subsists
between most of the distinct branches'of the Indo-European
systeffl7and it. may be .compared rto thé degreewf affinity
which the Latin bears-to the Greek^or ./the ojd iNiorse to
the Moeso-Gothic.# It has further been remarked, by -Mi
Burnouf and others, that the Zend bears a still closTer affinity
to the idiom which has been terfïïodffehe parent of the Sanskrit,
or the most ancient dorm of dhaf.ancfëut lan g u ie,
namely, the dialect of the Vedas. If we remember that the
Vedas, according to the opinion of Mr. Colebnoohe, one of
the best informed writers on Indian history and^phjlp^ophy,
were probably composed, in part atTeast, fourteen eenthries
before the Christian era, we shall obtain a clue to discover
the probable antiquity of the Zend. Another fact, df gréât importance
inf |te-history of languages is, that the Zend stand's*
at the head of one in two great divisions .of the Indo-Eudné
mais encore quelques contrées plus’pn ïhoi»s célébrés, soit par leur fertilité,
soit par le rôle qu’ils ont joué dans l’histoire, et qui pour la plupart portent fies
noms dont la langue Zende seule peut rendre complètement raison.”
This last observation is followed by an attempt to demonstrate, that a great
part of the names of places in the ancient Persian empire, handed down by
Herodotus, Ptolemy, and other Greek writers, and of which many are recognised
in the-geographical chapter of the Vendidad, are clearly significant in thé
Zend language. - The result is obvious j it represents the Zend, or the Zend
and its cognate dialects, as, in an early period, the national idiom of the Persian
empire.__See Burnouf, Commentaire sur le Yaçna j Notes, p. xciii et. seq.
* Bopp, Vergleichende Grammatik des Sanskrit, Zend u. s. w. : Berlin, 1838.
Vorred.
ropean idioms, whilst the Sanskrit may he reckoned as the
most ancient mëmber-’öf the other. To the former class
are.rèferrible the modern Persian as well as the Germanic
dialects and 'some- other idioms of northern and western
Europe, while with'the Sanskrit are associated, as we have
b e fo r e Noticed', theèètassioak^éaguages of Greece and Borne.
The work dn which M. Burnouf. has been'engaged, viz., in
translating, and it may ’.almosfrvbe said decyjffiëring, the
Zebd text o f’the Magian Scriptures* has led Mm to a very
Careful Scrutiny'ihtorfhe structure of the Zend language,'
andMilwomponent radical- words. Thefollowing brief state-
mewcontains his.results on this last particular. It seems
that the lists of Sanskrit dhatoos, or radical words, contains
nearly rail the- roots *©f thë?Zend ; but that' many of these
were Toots not used in classical Sanskrit, and only found in
the Vèdas. ■ 'Of : these' oldest; roots many were foreign to the
Grerek-.and Latin languages ; and only a part of them are
recognised-dn the Germanic dialects; The whole collective
numberNtf Zend add Sanskrit-roois^-is,' . in following out
th’èse Observations* divided by M. Burnouf into the follow-
n r classed
1. Zend’ radicals which belong almost exclusively to it and
theidiom of the Vedas or to the,most ancient Sanskrit, very
rare in the Greek and Latin languages, more éommon in
the Germanic dialeets* -
2. Zend radicals tvhich do not belong to the classical
Sanskrit, yet, being mentioned in the lists of roots, certainly;
belonged to that language, and probably to its most ancient
form. The numerous,-roots belonging to. this class are rare
in the learned languages of Europe.
3. Zend radicals whicK:belong to all ages of thé Sanskrit
language, and. are common to the Greek* Latin, Germanic,
Slavic, and Celtic idioms. This-class is the most numerous
of all, and may he said to form the common foundation of all
these languages.
4. Lastly, Zend radicals which cannot he connected with
any known radicals in the languages above mentioned.
Nearly all these have been recognised, more or less modified,
in the Persian dictionaries.