ARYAN (ar'yan, or ar'-i-an) LAN GUAGES, an important language family fre quently styled the Indo-European or Indo-Ger manic family of tongues. They have reached a higher development than those of the second great family, the Semitic, and are far in ad vance of the next one — that comprising the Turanian tongues. Like the Syro-Arabian forms of speech they are inflectional; while those of Turanian origin are only agglutinate. Max Muller separated the Aryan family of languages primarily into a southern and a northern division. The former is subdivided into two classes: (1) The Indic; and (2) the Iranic; and the latter into six : (1) The Celtic; (2) the Italic; (3) the Illyric; (4) the Hellenic; (5) the Windic; and (6) the Teutonic. It is often said that Sanskrit, spoken by the old Brahmins, is the root of all these classes of tongues. It is more correct to consider it as the first branch and assume the existence of a root not now accessible to direct investigation. Students and experts in Aryan language claim that the entire structure is developed out of monosyllabic elements, usually called roots. These were of two classes, predicative or ver bal, indicating action or quality; and demon strative or pronominal, indicating position or direction. By the combination of these two, es pecially, were grammatical forms made and parts of speech distinguished. The addition of pronominal endings to verbal roots made a verbal tense in three numbers (the dual per haps of later origin than singular and plural, and mostly lost again in the later languages) with three persons in each. The prefixion of an °augment° (doubtless a pronominal adverb, meaning °then))) made of this a past tense; but this augment-preterite has left only scanty and doubtful relics, except in Indo-Persian and Greek. Another past tense, or perfect, was formed by reduplicating the roots, apparently to signify completed action. This is the origin of the Greek and Latin perfects, our (ustrong° or irregular) preterite, etc. Futures were made later, with auxiliary verbs. Into the declen
sional inflection of nouns, adjectives and pro nouns was introduced the distinction of sex; first by the special characterization of a fem inine; later, by the additional separation of a neuter. In later history of the family primitive structure of Aryan language has been variously modified, reduced and added to. It was most fully and distinctly preserved in the Sanskrit, which on that account casts most light upon the common history of all; but there are points in which each branch leads the rest. As an il lustration of the affinity among the Aryan tongues the common word daughter may be instanced. It is in Swedish, dotter; Danish. datter; Dutch, dochter; German, tochter; Old Hebrew German, tohtar; Gothic, dauhtar; Lith uanian, duktere; Greek, thygater; Armenian, dustr; Sanskrit, duhitri; the last-named word signifying primarily °milkmaid,' that being the function in the early Brahman or Aryan house hold which the daughter discharged. Not only are the roots of very many words akin through out the several Aryan tongues, but (a more im portant fact) so also are the inflections. Thus the first person singular of a well-known verb is in Latin, do; Greek, didomi; Lithuanian, dumi; Old Slavonic, damy; Zend, dadhami; Sanskrit, dadami; and the third person singu lar present indicative of the substantive verb is in English, is; Gothic, ist; Latin, est; Greek, esti; Sanskrit, asti.
Bibliography.— Ehrlich, (Zur indo-german ischen Sprachgeschichte) (Konigsberg 1910); Hirt, 'Die Indo-germanen' (Strassburg 1905); and zur Indo-germanischen Altertumskunde' (1907); Michelis, E. de, (L'Origine degli Indo-Europei' (Turin 1903) ; Much, der Indo-germanen) (Berlin 1904); Reinach, (L'Origine des Aryens' (Paris 1892) ; Ripley, of Europe' (New York 1899) ; Schrader, (Reallexikon der indo-ger manischen Altertumskunde' (Strassburg 1901) ; Sergi, (Mediterranean (1901) ; Taylor, of the Aryans) (New York 1890) Sieg, E. and Siegling, W. die Sprache der Indoskythen' (Berlin 1908).