Old English Morphology and Indo-European

In the closing of the 18th century, the foundation of the science of Comparative Philology had been laid by the discovery of Sanskrit to the Europeans. The science has been fully developed in course of less than two centuries and now it has been known that major European languages and Sanskrit along with the latter’s derivative languages belong to the same family, called Indo-European or Indo-Germanic. As a corollary of this discovery, it is believed that the English language belongs to the same stock with Sanskrit, the eldest surviving sister in the Indo-European family. It is very easy to believe, is but very difficult to linguistically prove. This harculean task has been performed by Dr. B.K. Ray in his monumental work which is now being reprinted. The erudition and scientific insight of Dr. Ray is simply awe-inspiring. He has not only traced the origin of various forms of English morphology-nouns and verbs, but has traced the origin and development of each and every example to different stages of the word comparing them with a dozen other language forms, and each case citing the cognates from Sanskrit. Therefore, though the subtitle of the work reads as “A Dissertation on the Origins of the English Language”, it is, in fact, a very well written handbook for the study of the Comparative Indo-European Philology. For the students of Sanskrit, it is a linguistic study of their language. The innumerable bibliographical references will initiate a student further research in the subject.