kirtu wrote: ↑Fri Dec 11, 2020 6:20 pm
The usual definition is that Prakrit is derived from Sanskrit (and most Hindu scholars would say that, and probably Kongtrul would have said that as well).
Sanskrit literally means "refined language." Prakrit literally means "natural language."
"When the term arose in India, "Sanskrit" was not thought of as a specific language set apart from other languages, but rather as a particularly refined or perfected manner of speaking. Knowledge of Sanskrit was a marker of social class and educational attainment and the language was taught mainly to members of the higher castes, through close analysis of Sanskrit grammarians such as Pāṇini. Sanskrit, as the learned language of Ancient India, thus existed alongside the Prakrits (vernaculars), which evolved into the modern Indo-Aryan languages (Hindi, Nepali, Assamese, Marathi, Konkani, Urdu, and Bengali)."
https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Sanskrit
This entry is very good, based on excellent sources.
"a particularly refined or perfected manner of speaking"
We have examples of Buddhist brahmins in the Pali cannon looking askance at lower caste monks' inability to correct pronounce long and short syllables, like a
and
ā, and the Buddha rebuking them for their arrogance. A sort of tomato and tomato kind of thing.