A Comparative Grammar of the Modern Aryan Languages of India v1.c7.2

v1.c7.2

§ 72. THE treatment of compound consonants involves some curious considerations on the subject of the power of articulation possessed by the human organs of speech in ancient and modern times. Sanskrit in this respect resembles all the early languages of its family, inasmuch as it is rich in combinations of consonants in groups of two, three, and even occasionally four, without any intervening vowel. We find the same state of things in the Semitic family also; the Aramaic group, which is now generally admitted to represent the oldest type, clusters its consonants together in a way which at times almost defies pronunciation; the Hebrew, which stands second in point of antiquity, is less addicted to this practice, having several