Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Grammar and Dictionary, 2 Vols

Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Grammar And Dictionary is apioneering work dealing with the description of the grammar and the lexicon ofBuddhist Hybrid Sanskrit (BHS). It is based primarily on an old Middle Indicvernacular not otherwise identifiable. It contains features which were borrowedfrom other Middle Indic dialects either originally or in the course of historicdevelopment or both. In other words, even its Middle Indic aspects are dialecticallysomewhat mixed. However, Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit (BHS) was also influencedextensively by Sanskrit from the very beginning of the tradition as it has beentransmitted to us and increasingly as time went on. Later many products of thistradition have often, though wrongly been called "Sanskrit" withoutany bearing. The most stinking peculiarity of this language is that fromthe very beginning of its tradition it was modified in the direction of standardSanskrit, while still retaining evidences of its Middle Indic origin, in all itstexts, even the oldest, as shown by our manuscripts and editions. Sanskritismsare constantly presented cheek by jowl with Middle Indic forms, and often withhybrids which strictly are neither one or other. These Sanskritisms are much toocommon to be comparable with stray Sanskrit loan words or loan forms which mayhave been occasionally adopted in many genuine Middle Indic vernacular. Theauthor has excluded from the grammar and dictionary all forms which are standardSanskrit, and all words which are used in standard Sanskrit with the samemeanings. The work is presented in two comprehensive volumes.