The 'Aryan' term refers to Indo-Iranian peoples who spread Sanskrit and Vedic culture to the Indian subcontinent. Lithuanian is considered among the most conservative living Indo-European languages, preserving archaic features also found in Sanskrit. Indo-European languages span Germanic (English, German) to Romance (Latin, French) to Slavic (Russian, Polish) to Indo-Aryan (Sanskrit, Hindi, Bengali). Iran literally means 'Land of the Aryans.' 'Arya' remains a popular name in Iran, India, and Indonesia today
Indo-European language family spans from Sanskrit to Germanic languages
Key facts
- The term 'Aryan' historically refers to Indo-Aryan/Indo-Germanic/Indo-European peoples who brought Sanskrit and Vedic culture to India
- Indo-European languages include: Indo-Aryan (Sanskrit, Pali, Hindi, Bengali), Iranian (Avestan, Old Persian, Farsi), Germanic (German, English, Dutch), Romance (Latin, French, Spanish, Portuguese), Slavic (Russian, Ukrainian, Polish), and Baltic languages
- Lithuanian is considered the living language most similar to ancient Sanskrit
- Southeast Asian languages (Thai, Lao, Khmer, Myanmar, Indonesian, Malay) show 'Indianized' influence from Sanskrit and Vedic culture
- Tocharian language was spoken in western China in the Tarim Basin
- Iran means 'Land of the Aryans' and 'Arya' remains a popular name in Iran, India, and Indonesia
- In modern Western linguistics, the term 'Aryan' has been largely replaced by 'Indo-European' or 'Indo-Iranian'
Sources
ARYANS - Encyclopaedia Iranicairanicaonline.org
“Aryan” is thus basically a linguistic concept, denoting the closely related Indo-Aryan and Iranian languages (including Nūrestānī).
Aryan - World History Encyclopediaworldhistory.org
Aryan is a designation originally meaning “civilized”, “noble”, or “free” without reference to any ethnicity.
Aryan - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
The stem is also found in the Indo-Iranian god *Aryaman, translated as 'Arya-spirited,' 'Aryanness,' or 'Aryanhood;' he was known in Vedic Sanskrit as Aryaman ...
Aryan | Definition, History, & Facts | Britannicabritannica.com
Aryan, name originally given to a people who were said to speak an archaic Indo-European language and who were thought to have settled in prehistoric times in ...
Who Are the Aryans? - The Atlantictheatlantic.com
Now “Aryan” was the name by which the ancient Persians and the ancient Hindus alike described themselves. In the Vedic hymns the dominant people of India ...
Was this story useful?
Keep exploring
Every site on this page sits on the globe, and the people who research them are on the Discord.
3D Globe · Sites by country · Story Archive · Research Library · Weekly Journal · Search
AI-generated text · images from the original sources · always verify with the sources.