Sanskrit S Is Persian H
Caption
Sanskrit S is Persian H. sapta/haft (7), sahasra/hazār (1000), soma/hōm, asura/ahura, sindhu/hindu, sama/ham (same), māsa/māh (moon), svar/khor (sun). One regular shift. It’s why the river Sindhu became “Hindu” to the Persians, and “India” via Greek.
Short takes
Greek made a similar move. Seven: Latin septem, Greek hepta, Sanskrit sapta, Persian haft. Four languages, one word, and you can hear the same s-to-h slide in two of the branches.
Test yourself: Sanskrit sahasra means “thousand”. What is the Persian? Reply, then see if you can spot the s→h rule in your own languages.
Image description
Two-column mirror table: Sanskrit words on the left (sapta, sahasra, soma, asura, sindhu, sama, māsa, svar) and Persian equivalents on the right (haft, hazār, hōm, ahura, hindu, ham, māh, khor), with the first letter highlighted s on the left and h on the right.
