From: Mike Lorrey (mlorrey@datamann.com)
Date: Fri Jan 11 2002 - 16:38:40 MST
CurtAdams@aol.com wrote:
>
> In a message dated 1/11/02 2:11:26 PM, samantha@objectent.com writes:
>
> >Since early Sanskrit was a oral only it is not at all convincing
> > re the opinion that the language was derived from Western
> >roots to bring up where its written alphabetic characters were
> >derived from. It is more convoluted to provide proof of such a
> >contention. One thing that has been tried to date some orally
> >transmit Hindu Vedas (Rig Veda especially iirc) is to use
> >atronomical evidence from astronomical references in the text.
> >Some of these place the Rig Veda as early as 6000 BC. If this
> >is accurate and given that it was transmitted orally in Sanskrit
> >for that many millenia, it would he impossible that Sanskrit
> >derived from the sources stated.
>
> Oh, there's no question Sanskrit is just another Indo-European
> language. Scads of isoglosses and cognates; people even used
> to learn Lithuanian to help with Sanskrit. Either they borrowed the
> astronomical observations from older sources, or somebody
> just got the astronomy wrong. I'll bet different observations
> put the Rig Veda in markedly different times, reflecting an accretional
> or erroneous origin for the text. Language and geography put it
> 2000-1000 BC.
>
> Anyway, wasn't Mike discussing the origin of *writing*? Use
> of a middle eastern alphabet is very strong evidence that hindu
> *writing* was borrowed, regardless of the origin of the language.
Well, I was commenting on JR's reference to the philosophies of various
'illuminated ones', generally of hindu and chinese origin, as being the
fruit of the 'most ancient cultures'. Chinese and Indian culture, as
measured by the relative age of their written languages compared to
those of the west, are not so ancient. If you want an illuminated one
from a true ancient culture, you can't do any better than the Epic of
Gilgamesh. He sought immortality and personal perfection as much as any
modern transhumanist, and was not averse to defending himself or earning
a profit either. ;)
Mike Lorrey
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