--- In IndiaArchaeology@yahoogroups.com, Ram Varmha <varmha@...> wrote:
>
> Avestan and Vedic are obviously twin languages. Notice the
similarity from Avesta to Sanskrit in the sample below:
>
>
> tem amavantem yazatem
> surem damohu seviytem
> mithrem yazai zaothrabyo
>
>
>
> 'Mithra that strong mighty angel, most beneficent to all
creatures, I will worship with libations'.
>
> Becomes when rendered word for word in Sanskrit:
>
>
> tam amavantam yajatam
> yuram dhamasu yavistham
> mitram yajai hotrabhyah
>


This is "trick" linguistics, used often to "prove" languages are
related.

If the sample given above could be generalized to both languages, then
they would simply be dialects of one another. However, it is suggested
that their is signficant distance between the two. For example, here
is the classification found in Ethnologue:



Indo-Iranian - Indo-Aryan
|
Iranian


Indo-Aryan - Sanskrit

Iranian - Eastern Iranian - Northeastern Iranian - Avestan


Notice that Avestan is four splits down from Indo-Iranian. The same
classification suggests only three splits from English to
Proto-Indo-European.


>
>
> If that be the case, will it not be logical to assume that their
'parent' language may have been more akin to Vedic than Avestan; in
other words, is Avestan later than Vedic?
>
>

It's irrelevant if one accepts the commonly-given linguistic genealogies.

However, Vedic literature by most estimates is considered older than
Avestan literature in most cases by 500 to 1000 years.

The dating of both is highly speculative as the extant sources do not
date back before medieval times.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Quests of the Dragon and Bird Clan
http://sambali.blogspot.com/