Similarity between English and Sanskrit language prefix and suffix

We are here to talk about similar features of English and Sanskrit. These languages have many things similar and we will be discussing about one prefix and one suffix that are used for English and Sanskrit words and have similar sound. I will provide examples to make it easier for understanding what we are talking about.

We will begin with English and then try to find out what is same for Sanskrit language.

Common prefix in English and Sanskrit Languages

For many words in English, there is one prefix ‘un’ that is used to make the antonyms of the words. This prefix gives the opposite meaning to the English word to which it is attached. Let us take an example:

‘Attached’ will become ‘unattached’ when we put the ‘un’ prefix to it.
‘Able’ will become ‘unable’ when we put the ‘un’ prefix to it.

The meanings of English words with the prefix attached get changed in the opposite—we get the antonyms of these words.

Now we take the example of Sanskrit Language. In Sanskrit language, there is similar sounding prefix– Upasarga (उपसर्ग)—called ‘un’ (अन्) and which also imparts the opposite meaning to that Sanskrit word giving the antonyms of that Sanskrit word. Let’s take example of Sanskrit words with the prefix ‘un’:

‘Yukta (युक्त)’ will become ‘unayukta (अनायुक्त)’ when prefix ‘un’ is added to this Sanskrit word.

‘Avashyak (आवश्यक)’ will become ‘unavashyak (अनावश्यक)’ when prefix ‘un’ is added to this Sanskrit word.

So, we can clearly see that both English and Sanskrit languages have a common prefix, Upasarga, that is used to get the antonyms of the words. These words are strikingly similar and are clearly common in the usage, functionality and sound in both English and Sanskrit.

Common suffix in English and Sanskrit Languages

There is one common suffix that is used in English and Sanskrit language and has the same meaning and sound while pronouncing it.

When, in English, we have to impart the possession to something or somebody, or when we have to talk about the thing related to something or somebody, we use the apostrophe and the letter ‘s’. This apostrophe ‘s’ gives us the meaning that the associated word is the possessor of the thing talked about. Let us take some examples for that:

‘My leg’ becomes ‘my leg’s’ when we add the suffix ‘s to it that gives us the meaning that we are talking something that is of ‘my leg’.

‘His brother’ becomes ‘his brother’s’ when we add the suffix ‘s to it that gives us the meaning that we are talking about something that his brother’s.

Now we take the case of Sanskrit. While we have to impart the same meaning to any word in Sanskrit, the prefix used in Sanskrit language is ‘sya (स्य)’, which has the same sound as that of apostrophe ‘s’ of English languages. Let us take some examples:

‘Ram (राम)’ will become ‘Ramasya (रामस्य)’ when we add the ‘sya (स्य)’ suffix to this Sanskrit word.
‘Krishan (कृष्ण)’ will become ‘Krishnasya (कृष्णस्य)’ when we add the ‘sya (स्य)’ suffix to this Sanskrit word.

So, we can see that the sound and the meaning of this suffix is same for English and Sanskrit.