Science in Sanskrit

Rodent Taxonomy in Sanskrit I will name the rodent groups into Sanskrit. Rodentia is the order of mammals that include mice, rats, squirrels, lemmings, and much more.  They are the the most diverse group of mammals, which is why I am drawing special attention to them.  Below is the phylogenetic tree for the Rodents. This is not how you draw a phylogenetic tree, but I did it this way for convenience. Let us start with Rodent. Hindi uses the word  कृन्तक​ , which means "chewer". Rodents are so so called for they gnaw; rodere  (whence rodent) means "gnaw" in Latin. The Sanskrit cognate is the verb  रदति . Thus if going by cognates, Rodent could be  रादक​ . Both I shall use.  Now onto the suborder Hystricomorpha . They include porcupines, guinea pigs, capybaras, etc. The name means "form of porcupines", and we can render this using the "-आकृति" ending.  Porcupine (old world porcupine) in Sanskrit is  शलल or शल्लक ​ . Thus the family of old world porc

 Some Machine Terms in Sanskrit Some terms like fan, gear, lever, or thruster are very simple technological terms that are likely absent in many Indian languages, which use the English terms. I am about to change that by introducing Sanskrit terms for this. This is actually easier than thought, because we have Sanskrit texts that deal mechanical contrivances (Samarangana Sutradhara, Chapter 31), and end up using Sanskrit terms. Of course, other times, I have to coin the words. the Spoken Sanskrit Dictionary has also coined words. With that let us go.  Simple Mechencial Devices: A gear  is a famous simple machine, which is essentially a wheel with teeth. Appropriately, I will call it  दन्तिचक्र​ , or "teethed wheel".  Flaps  are a sheet like thing, especially those found on airplanes. They are mentioned in the Samarangana Sutradhara, as  गजकर्ण​, which literally means "elephant ear", as flaps are like the ears of an elephant. For that matter a bellow  is  दृति , and

   Naming Some Extinct Animals in Sanskrit What type of taxonomy enthusiast would I be if I didn't reder any extinct animal names into  Sanskrit? I am going to discuss guidelines I made that will help us in naming extinct animals. These guidelines should streamline the process of translating so many extinct animal names into Sanskrit.  These guidelines are in the form of words that serve "prefixes" and "suffixes"  that describe the animal. Below is the list: भीम​ (bhIma) - terrible, mighty, large, buff, etc. The word  भीम  will be used to denote an animal that is buff or mighty looking. This is inspired from how "gorilla" is  भीमवानर​ , meaning "mighty monkey/ape".  भूरि (bhUri) - mighty, large, etc. [but secondary to भीम​ (bhIma)] The word  भूरि  will be used to like  भीम,  but it will have a secondary importance in terms of might or largeness. . So for an ape that is slightly  less  mighty looking than a gorilla, this would be used.  घोर​

Corocdilian Taxonomy in Sanskrit I will name the crocodilian groups into Sanskrit. Crocodylia is the order of reptiles that include crocodiles, alligators, gharials, and caimans.  They are a very cool species that have been around since the dinosaurs. Being of the group Archosauria, they are more closely related to birds than to lizards.  Crocodiles have a notable imprtance in Indian culture, with the legendary Makara , being based on a crocodile. Infact the word makara  often refers to a crocodile when it is not being used for the legendary animal. The crocodile is found in Indus Valley Seals and in later history, is found a place in the Bhagavatam, namely in the Gajendra Moksha story.  Below is the phylogenetic tree for the Crocodilians. This is not how you draw a phylogenetic tree, but I did it this way for convenience. Now let us begin. So we all probably know that crocodiles are different from alligators. For the fourmer, they have long V-shaped snouts and the fourth bottom tooth

Sanskrit Chemistry Here, I am going to be translating some modern chemistry terms into Sanskrit, including naming almost all the elements of the periodic table. This is not going to be official and will be subject to revision. Most of the terms liek solution,solute, pressure, charge have been rendered in to Indian languages, so I won't cover them. However, I will finish off coining Sanskrit words for chemichal terms. This topic is interesting because Ancient Indians did speculate on the idea of what we would label as atoms.  Found earliest in Vaiseshika and Nyaya philosophies (older than the Buddha) and then in Hindu literature the indivisible particle was known as अणु or परमाणु .  In modern Indian languages the same words are used though some textbooks confusingly say  अणु  is molecule while  परमाणु  is atom, so for simplicity molecule is घनाणु which is what the Sanskrit Dictionary for Spoken Sanskrit has coined. Atom will be  अणु  or  परमाणु . A diatomic molecule is a द्व्यणुक (a

  Cephalapod Taxonomy in Sanskrit I will name the cephalopods into Sanskrit. It is a shame that Indian literature has little to no attestation of cephalopods, which means that I am mainly starting from scratch. But here goes. Cephalopods are basically octopodes, squids, and nautluses, ammonites, etc. They are molluscs charecterised by a head with a sac or organs on the top and "feet" (arms and tentacles) on the bottom. Between their arms is parrot-like beak. Cephalopods, being molluscs have shells, with the exception being the octopus. For squids the shell is on the inside.  Below is the phylogenetic tree for the Cephalopods. This is not how you draw a phylogenetic tree, but I did it this way for convenience. Before I continue, there is no true definition of what a "squid" is in current taxonomy. However, in my taxonomy, I have defined a Squid as being those fo the clade Decapodimorpha  or "having 10 feet". On that note, let us cover the difference between