The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c15.215

v1.c15.215

They possess an extraordinarily archaic character. Words are still in every-day use which are almost identical with the forms they assumed in Vedic hymns, and which now survive only in a much corrupted state in the plains of India.

In their essence these languages are neither Irānian nor Indo-Āryan, but are something between both. (*Imp. Gaz.* I, p. 356.)