First of all this question - of common root words - between L, G, A, and S is certainly one profound (and as of yet unresolved and unknown) link of history.
Can something take the importance away from philology?
We can probably make a case for/against the prevailing paradigm of philological fundaments; however, can we also argue about its importance and potential contribution to the knowledge about human history?
From anthropologic sense, Language is certainly a key to demystifying the secrets of the civilizational origins. Beyond word-root analysis too, one needs to analyse philosophies, practices, rituals, folk-lores, folt-arts, outlook, traditional sense of history. These can not be underestimated, although they are not science in the same sense as some other disciplines that will contribute to this subject : bio-genetics, archaeo-hydrology etc.
Coming back to the question of common root-words.
I agree, one needs to use careful discretion about the common words. Not all common (sounding and meaning) words mean really common words. Also I agree there can be various, very plausible, root cause for the commonness - viz. trade, human interaction/influence, knowledge-body-import. Each case of different common word would probably require analysing for different causes.
We can probably break down the common sounding+meaning words by domain, for this.
<b>A) Skill and Trade related</b>
Terminology related to a technology has got to be imported, along with the technology itself. It is very true today, when we have an explosion of technology. It could have been true always - I can not think of any plausible reason to opine otherwise.
So, the technical/knowledge/trade/skill words belong to where that knowledge was first created.
Let us first examine this before accepting.
<b>A.1) Mathematics </b>
We do know now, that several of the mathematical concepts originated in India, thereby the Sanskrit terminology for this subject was imported by Europe.
<b>A.1a) Numbers</b>
Although names of the numbers must have predated the knowledge of mathematics, we don't have to document it here. Well-known fact that the terms of numbers (Ek, Dwi, Tri..Nava) are the roots of the numbers of L and G
<b>A.1b) Geometry</b>
S JyAmiti - G/L geo-metria
S jyA (earth) - G/L Geo
S miti - L metricus G metria (to measure) - metre, metric, meter
S koNa (angle) - L/G -gona (trikoNa - trigon ; ashtakoNa - octagon; saptakoNa - heptagon)
Long List really...
<b>A.2) Philosophy</b>
S Atm (indivisible existance) - L atomus, G atomos (Atom came from)
S jIv (individual lifeform) - L/G zo/zoa (zoo came from)
S daiv (Gods) - L dei/deus, G theo (Devine, theology came from)
S jan (birth) - L/G gen (genetic came from)
S mArt/mrityu (death) - mort (mortal came from)
S manas (mind) - L/G men (mental came from)
S vid (vision) - L/G visio, vidio (video, vidya and veda come from the same origin!)
Long list too...
<b>A.3) Transportation</b>
S nau (sea-related) - L navis
S pot (any float) - Boat from Anglo/Saxon bot
S pattan (port) - L portus
S vahan/vAhan (carrier/vehicle) - L vehiculum/vehere
S vihara (to wander) - L vehere
S ramaNa (to roam) - E Roam, middle Eng. romen
Long List...will come back later - so mny vast fields - Mechanics/Astronomy/Chemistry/Metallurgy
Now above can be somewhat explained that the technology exchange resulted in word exchange. Let us move on to other domains.
<b>B) Human Anatomy</b>
S dant (teeth) - L/G dent
S aksha (eye) - old English eage
S nAsA (nose) - L/G nas (nasal came from)
S pAda (feet) - L/G pede (centipede came from)
S nakha (nail) - L/G/old English nogh/noegl
S hArd/hrid (heart) - Old English heorte, L/G card (cardic came from)
S nAdi (nerve) - Fr nerf L nervus
S sved - sweat
<b>C) Human Emotions</b>
S trAs (trgic) - L tragicus, G tragos
S mod (happy) - L moedia, G midia (from which comedy and comedian came)
S hat (hurt) - Ger/Fr/Eng hurt (also physical injury)
can not think of more right now...maybe later
<b>D) Human Relations</b>
Ah this we know well...
S pitar - L/G peter (to father)
S mAtar - L/G mater (to mother)
S bhrAtar - L/G (what exactly)
vedic S swasAr (sister) - Norse systir - what is it in L/G
S mitr - Germ. mate
<b>E) Inside the house</b>
S dhAm (home) - L/G dome (domestic came from)
S dwAr (door) - unknown beginning in europe, but many have dor, duru, door
deshaj kamara (room) - L camara - G kamara (chamber came from)
S upari (upwards) - Upper
S attAlikA (roof/balcony/upper story) - L atticus (attic came from)
<b>F) food</b>
S Sarkar (sugar)
S pippali (pepper)
S vanaspat (vegetation) - ? L vegetus (vegetarian came from)
(above must be trade-related)
<b>G) Creatures</b>
S manav - man
S ulook (owl) - old English ole (imitative by sound of the creature, so can be a parallel development)
S swAn (dog) - L/G cyon
S sarp (snake) - Latin serpens (serpent came from)
S mUSa (mouse) - Old English moos (deshaj, it became 'moos' too! - as in the name of 'moosAhAr' tribe)
S maSaka (mosquito) - Latin musca, arrived in English through Spanish/Portugese derivative
<b>H) Coulors</b>
S pita (yellow) - pale
S pinkara - pink/red
S bhru ? - brown
<b>I) Others</b>
S mardan - Ger. murder
S dAn (giving away) - L donti donre (donation came from)
S laksha/locha/loka (see/look) - Old English locian (deshaj became 'lakha' as in 'Bharee Sarai Rahim Lakhi, Pathik Aap Phir Jae')
S vAcha/vAka - L vocalis - (voice, vocal and vocabulary are from the same mother as vachan, vAk-patu and vAchaspati)
S ant - end
S madhya - mid
S sthit - state/status
List is long, really long. Some of the words are so easily traceable and identifiable, and at the same time very hard to imagine to have been adopted inorganically.
I think, we can not write off philology as a source of anthopological historical analysis, but rather utilize it to turn the tables on AIT. I agree, AIT can not be the only theory to explain this, but also 'mutual-neighborly-influence' or trade-relations, alone is not plausible.
Anyways, I wish we can document a comprehensive listing of Sanskrit origin words which are in common use in English of today, irrespective of how it reached there i.e. through Fr/ger/L/G/ etc. Does some one know such a list? Also some of the above may be wrong too. Please do point. I intend to update above list as and when something else comes to mind, or pointed.
Can something take the importance away from philology?
We can probably make a case for/against the prevailing paradigm of philological fundaments; however, can we also argue about its importance and potential contribution to the knowledge about human history?
From anthropologic sense, Language is certainly a key to demystifying the secrets of the civilizational origins. Beyond word-root analysis too, one needs to analyse philosophies, practices, rituals, folk-lores, folt-arts, outlook, traditional sense of history. These can not be underestimated, although they are not science in the same sense as some other disciplines that will contribute to this subject : bio-genetics, archaeo-hydrology etc.
Coming back to the question of common root-words.
I agree, one needs to use careful discretion about the common words. Not all common (sounding and meaning) words mean really common words. Also I agree there can be various, very plausible, root cause for the commonness - viz. trade, human interaction/influence, knowledge-body-import. Each case of different common word would probably require analysing for different causes.
We can probably break down the common sounding+meaning words by domain, for this.
<b>A) Skill and Trade related</b>
Terminology related to a technology has got to be imported, along with the technology itself. It is very true today, when we have an explosion of technology. It could have been true always - I can not think of any plausible reason to opine otherwise.
So, the technical/knowledge/trade/skill words belong to where that knowledge was first created.
Let us first examine this before accepting.
<b>A.1) Mathematics </b>
We do know now, that several of the mathematical concepts originated in India, thereby the Sanskrit terminology for this subject was imported by Europe.
<b>A.1a) Numbers</b>
Although names of the numbers must have predated the knowledge of mathematics, we don't have to document it here. Well-known fact that the terms of numbers (Ek, Dwi, Tri..Nava) are the roots of the numbers of L and G
<b>A.1b) Geometry</b>
S JyAmiti - G/L geo-metria
S jyA (earth) - G/L Geo
S miti - L metricus G metria (to measure) - metre, metric, meter
S koNa (angle) - L/G -gona (trikoNa - trigon ; ashtakoNa - octagon; saptakoNa - heptagon)
Long List really...
<b>A.2) Philosophy</b>
S Atm (indivisible existance) - L atomus, G atomos (Atom came from)
S jIv (individual lifeform) - L/G zo/zoa (zoo came from)
S daiv (Gods) - L dei/deus, G theo (Devine, theology came from)
S jan (birth) - L/G gen (genetic came from)
S mArt/mrityu (death) - mort (mortal came from)
S manas (mind) - L/G men (mental came from)
S vid (vision) - L/G visio, vidio (video, vidya and veda come from the same origin!)
Long list too...
<b>A.3) Transportation</b>
S nau (sea-related) - L navis
S pot (any float) - Boat from Anglo/Saxon bot
S pattan (port) - L portus
S vahan/vAhan (carrier/vehicle) - L vehiculum/vehere
S vihara (to wander) - L vehere
S ramaNa (to roam) - E Roam, middle Eng. romen
Long List...will come back later - so mny vast fields - Mechanics/Astronomy/Chemistry/Metallurgy
Now above can be somewhat explained that the technology exchange resulted in word exchange. Let us move on to other domains.
<b>B) Human Anatomy</b>
S dant (teeth) - L/G dent
S aksha (eye) - old English eage
S nAsA (nose) - L/G nas (nasal came from)
S pAda (feet) - L/G pede (centipede came from)
S nakha (nail) - L/G/old English nogh/noegl
S hArd/hrid (heart) - Old English heorte, L/G card (cardic came from)
S nAdi (nerve) - Fr nerf L nervus
S sved - sweat
<b>C) Human Emotions</b>
S trAs (trgic) - L tragicus, G tragos
S mod (happy) - L moedia, G midia (from which comedy and comedian came)
S hat (hurt) - Ger/Fr/Eng hurt (also physical injury)
can not think of more right now...maybe later
<b>D) Human Relations</b>
Ah this we know well...
S pitar - L/G peter (to father)
S mAtar - L/G mater (to mother)
S bhrAtar - L/G (what exactly)
vedic S swasAr (sister) - Norse systir - what is it in L/G
S mitr - Germ. mate
<b>E) Inside the house</b>
S dhAm (home) - L/G dome (domestic came from)
S dwAr (door) - unknown beginning in europe, but many have dor, duru, door
deshaj kamara (room) - L camara - G kamara (chamber came from)
S upari (upwards) - Upper
S attAlikA (roof/balcony/upper story) - L atticus (attic came from)
<b>F) food</b>
S Sarkar (sugar)
S pippali (pepper)
S vanaspat (vegetation) - ? L vegetus (vegetarian came from)
(above must be trade-related)
<b>G) Creatures</b>
S manav - man
S ulook (owl) - old English ole (imitative by sound of the creature, so can be a parallel development)
S swAn (dog) - L/G cyon
S sarp (snake) - Latin serpens (serpent came from)
S mUSa (mouse) - Old English moos (deshaj, it became 'moos' too! - as in the name of 'moosAhAr' tribe)
S maSaka (mosquito) - Latin musca, arrived in English through Spanish/Portugese derivative
<b>H) Coulors</b>
S pita (yellow) - pale
S pinkara - pink/red
S bhru ? - brown
<b>I) Others</b>
S mardan - Ger. murder
S dAn (giving away) - L donti donre (donation came from)
S laksha/locha/loka (see/look) - Old English locian (deshaj became 'lakha' as in 'Bharee Sarai Rahim Lakhi, Pathik Aap Phir Jae')
S vAcha/vAka - L vocalis - (voice, vocal and vocabulary are from the same mother as vachan, vAk-patu and vAchaspati)
S ant - end
S madhya - mid
S sthit - state/status
List is long, really long. Some of the words are so easily traceable and identifiable, and at the same time very hard to imagine to have been adopted inorganically.
I think, we can not write off philology as a source of anthopological historical analysis, but rather utilize it to turn the tables on AIT. I agree, AIT can not be the only theory to explain this, but also 'mutual-neighborly-influence' or trade-relations, alone is not plausible.
Anyways, I wish we can document a comprehensive listing of Sanskrit origin words which are in common use in English of today, irrespective of how it reached there i.e. through Fr/ger/L/G/ etc. Does some one know such a list? Also some of the above may be wrong too. Please do point. I intend to update above list as and when something else comes to mind, or pointed.