INDO-ARYAN AND SLAVIC AFFINITIES
Joseph Skulj, Jagdish C. Sharda
Hindu Institute of Learning, 11
Westacres Drive, Toronto Ontario, Canada, M6M-2B7
Introduction
The most important of the
linguistic families of India, Pakistan and Ceylon (Sri Lanka) is the Indo-Aryan,
of which the ancient and classical form is Sanskrit. The word samskrta-means
'perfected', 'polished' and is strictly applied to the language as regulated and
established by the Indian grammarians. In a wider sense Sanskrit is applied both
to the earlier form called Vedic Sanskrit which appears in the Vedic texts and
to the later form stereotyped by the grammarians (Panini) called Classical
Sanskrit. From Sanskrit are descended Pali and the various dialects of Prakrit,
which are collectively styled 'Middle Indo-Aryan'. Out of the Middle Indo-Aryan,
the various modern Indo-Aryan languages of the Indian area have evolved:
Bengali, Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, Punjabi etc. Outside, Sanskrit is closely
connected with the languages of the Iranian family of which the earliest
representatives are Avestan and Old Persian (Encyclopaedia Americana).
The discovery of Sanskrit by
European scholars towards the close of the 18th century was the starting point
of the scientific study of language. It was observed that in both vocabulary and
grammar Sanskrit was remarkably similar to the majority of the languages in
Europe and particularly in grammar, to the classical languages. The only theory
that could explain these fundamental similarities was that all the languages in
question were derived from a common parent language (Encyclopaedia Americana).
Most scholars are cognizant of the
similarities between Sanskrit and classical languages such as Greek and Latin,
but relatively few are aware that equal similarities still exist in modern,
living Slavic languages in particular Slovenian. Slovenian still preserves some
grammatical forms that are no longer present in other European or Indian
languages.
Vedic and Classical Sanskrit
The language and literature of the
Aryan invaders of India falls into two periods, the Vedic and Sanskrit. Vedic is
the English adjective formed from the noun veda, the native for the literature.
The word means "knowledge", (Slovenian "veda ") in the sense of sacred knowledge
comparable to the Bible. It is a religious literature, composed to meet the
various needs of a complex religious system. The four books of sacred writings
are: Rig-Veda, Sama-Veda, Atharva-Veda and Yajur-Veda. The oldest of these is
Rig-Veda. The age estimates of Rig-Veda vary considerably between competent
scholars. They estimate the age anywhere from 3000 to 6000 years (Encyclopaedia
Americana).
The spoken dialect on which the
language of the Rig-Veda is based lay to the northwest of the area where the
later classical language developed. The most important difference in the dialect
between Vedic and Classical Sanskrit lies in the treatment of Indo-European "r"
and "l". In the Rig-Veda, Indo-European "l" nearly always appears as "r", e.g.
ruc 'light', (Slo. 'luč). In Classical Sanskrit, on the other hand, "l" is
frequently preserved, e.g. laghu 'light', (Slo. 'lahko'). Vedic, the earliest
literary language, was based on a dialect spoken in Punjab; the home of the
Classical Sanskrit was the ancient Madhyadesa or 'Middle Country', which
corresponds roughly to the modern Uttar Pradesh. Classical Sanskrit, which was
eventually polished and fixed by Panini about 300 B.C., is essentially a later
form of the language that appears in the Vedas. The literary Sanskrit as the
heir of the Vedic religious tradition has remained down to the most recent
times, the language of the traditional Hinduism of India. The situation is
similar to the position of Latin, which was the vehicle of the classical and
medieval culture of Europe and lived until recently in the writings and the
liturgy of the Catholic Church. With the aid of Panini's systematic grammar, an
English judge in India Sir William Jones announced in Calcutta-that Sanskrit,
Greek and Latin "have sprung from some common source which, perhaps, no longer
exists." This was the seed from which sprang Indo-European comparative grammar,
the branch of linguistics that sets forth in all detail the relationship posited
by Jones (Emeneau M).
Linguistic Comparisons
Reindl (1999) gives an excellent
short comparison between Sanskrit and Slovenian. Sanskrit and Slovenian (and
other Slavic languages) are related at the Indo-European level; that is, if you
were to think of the Slavic languages as being "sister" languages, Sanskrit
would be a "cousin" language to them.
Thus, there are certain
similarities that can be observed in the areas of phonology, morphology, syntax
and lexicon because of their historical connection.
The phonological similarities are
heightened by the fact that Slavic and Indic languages are both part of the "satem"
group of Indo-European languages; thus, they will often share an /s/, whereas
other languages will have a /k/, such as Germanic /h/. For example, Sanskrit
satam 'hundred' and Slovenian sto 'hundred', but Latin centum 'hundred' and
German hundert 'hundred'.
Slavic is, very generally speaking,
phonologically conservative in many ways, thus allowing us to recognize cognates
with Sanskrit because of its own archaic nature. For example, Sanskrit vranam
'wound' and Slovenian rana 'wound', Sanskrit maksha 'fly' and Slovenian muha
'fly', Sanskrit ish, icchati 'to look for' and Slovenian iskati 'to look for'.
(To Reindl's examples, it is possible to add many others, such as Sanskrit
mushka 'muscular person' and Slovenian moški 'manly', Sanskrit mush 'mouse' and
Slovenian miš 'mouse', Sanskrit i, eti 'to go' and Slovenian iti 'to go'.)
In the realm of morphology,
Slovenian preserves the dual number (as does Sorbian, a Slavic language spoken
in eastern Germany). The verbal endings in the present tense are strikingly
similar between Slovenian and Sanskrit:
Singular
Dual Plural
Skt
patami patasi patati patava patathah patatah patamah patatha
patanti
Slo
padam padaš pada padava padasta padata padamo padate
padajo
Eng I
fall you fall he falls we
fall you fall they fall
Singular
Dual Plural
Skt asmi
asi asti svah sthah stah smah stha
santi
Slo
sem si je sva sta sta
smo ste so
Hindi maim
hum tu hai vah hai ham haim tum
ho ve haim
Eng I
am you are he is we
are you are they are
Nouns also show similarities
between Sanskrit and Slovenian. Both have dual. The vocative is not preserved in
Slovenian, but is found in Czech, Croatian, Serbian, Macedonian and Bulgarian.
The full 8-case system of Sanskrit has evolved in most Slavic languages to 7 or
6 cases (Slovenian and Latin 6; in Greek 5).
NUMERALS---CARDINALS:
ENGLISH
SANSKRIT SLOVENIAN HINDI PUNJABI
one
eka eden, neki 'someone' ek
ek
two dva, f.dve dva, f.dve
do do
three tri tri
ti:n tinn
four catur štiri
cha:r cha:r
five panca pet
pa:nch panj
six shash, shat- šest chhe
chhe
seven sapta sedem
sa:t satt
eight ashta: osem a:th
atth
nine
nava devet nau
nau
ten das'a deset
das das
(Macdonell)
decade das'at desetka dasshak
(Skt., peta
'open hand with fingers expanded' Slo., pedpet)
NUMERALS---ORDINALS:
ENGLISH
SANSKRIT SLOVENIAN HINDI PUNJABI
first
prathama(purva) prvi pehla
pehla
second
dvitiya drugi dusra
duja
third tritiya tretji
tisra tija
fourth caturtha četrti
chautha chautha
fifth pancatha peti
pachva pannava
sixth shashtha šesti
chhatha chhatha
seventh saptama sedmi satwa
satma
eight ashtama osmi ath
ath
ninth navama deveti
navam nauvan
tenth das'ama
deseti daswa daswa
twofold dvaya dvoje
duguna duguna
threefold traya troje
triguna triguna
tenfold dasa kritvas deset krat
dasguna dasguna
(Macdonell)
Syntactically, most Slavic
languages have adopted a basic SVO pattern, in distinction to the (usual) SOV
pattern in Sanskrit. Consideration that Sorbian is underlyingly OVS is
questionable (Reindl). Although Sanskrit SOV pattern is most frequent, the verb
can occur anywhere in the sentence (Venkatacharya).
In addition to noun declensions,
Sanskrit grammar and Slovenian grammar have additional other similarities. Both
are highly inflected and have three genders - masculine, feminine and neuter.
Both have three numbers - singular, dual and plural; also adjectives are
inflected to agree with the nouns. Verbs are inflected for tense, mode, voice,
number and person.
In Sanskrit only the first four
numerals are declined in three genders. The numerals 1, 2, 3 and 4 agree in
gender and case with the following noun. (This is similar to Slovenian.) The
numerals from 5 to 19 are declined alike in the three genders. They agree with
the nouns they qualify in gender, number and case. (In Slo., they agree in
number and case, but not in gender.)
In
Sanskrit and Slovenian, the ordinals, being all adjectives, are all declined
in masculine, feminine and neuter. They agree in gender, number and case with
the following nouns. 
Additional Vocabulary Comparisons
The Sanskrit vocabulary can be
found in Sir Monier Monier-Williams A Sanskrit-English Dictionary, and
SED column indicates the page numbers, where additional meanings can be found.
Nouns and adjectives are presented as roots without nominative endings. Verbs
are also rendered in a root form plus 3rd person singular or 3rd person singular
ending.
SANSKRIT
SED ENGLISH SLO. HINDI PUNJABI
ad 17 eating jed
adna: adna:
agni
5 fire ogenj a:g, agni
agg
ajijivat, cf.
jiv 422 restore to life oživeti
agnishtha
5 fire-pan ognjišče
apuplavat,cf.plu715 to inundate, submerge poplaviti aplavit
karana:
akarna
1 without ears okrnjen
aru, arauti
150 to shout, cry towards rjuti rona:
rona:
aruj, arujati
150 to tear out, demolish rušiti, ruvati
askand, -ati
161 to invade, assault naskočiti
asku, askauti
161 to pluck, tear, pull oskubiti
asu, asuvati
160 send off towards suvati
aushta
240 lip-shaped usta oth
hoth
aruna
88 redish brown, red rujno arun
arun
badisa, vadisa
719 hook, fish-hook bodica
bal, balate
722 to hurt, to mention boleti
bala
722 young shoot bil bel
vel
bala
722 sick bolan
bhaga
743 gracious lord (gods) bog bhagwa:n
bhagavat
743 prosperous bogat bhagavat
bhara
747 gain, prize, booty bera bha:r
bharr
bhara, bharat
747 shout barati bha:r 'force'
bha:r force'
bharts, -ayati
748 to abuse, menace brcati
bhiyas
758 fear, apprehension bojazen bhaya bhaya
bhiyasana
758 fearful, timid bojazen,-ljiv bhi:shan
bhi:shan
bhlas',
-ate 771 to shine, glitter bleščati
bhratri
770 brother brat
bhra:ta: ?
bhru
770 the brow obrv bhru:
bhu, bhavati
760 to exist, live, abide bivati
bhuta
761 being, existing biti bhav
bhugna
750 bent, curved, cowed upognjen jhukna: jhukna:
bhur, bhurati
760 to stir, palpitate buriti
bhurloka
763 world, earth brlog 'den' bhu:lol
bhuin
bija/vija
732 origin of poem viža bi:j
bi:
bil/vil,
bilati 732 to split, cleave vile 'forks'
bis', bes'ati
732 to go bežati 'flee'
bis, bisyati
732 to urge on, incite bezati
brinh, -ayati
735 to further, promote brigati se
bru, braviti
742 to speak, say, tell praviti
budh, bodhati
733 to wake, wake up buditi bodha mem rahna:
buddha
733 awakened buden
budhna
735 bottom, ground poden
etc.
Names
In addition to grammatical and
linguistic affinities between Indo-Aryan languages and Slavic languages in
particular Slovenian, there are also some similarities in the Slovenian family
names and names found on the Indian sub-continent.
HINDU
NAMES MEANING SLO.
NAMES
A:pi
friend, ally, acquaintance Apih
Apa:ra:
boundless, with no rival, unequalled Opara
Archana:
respected Arčan, Arčon
Archin
shining, devout Arčin
Arha
deserving Arh
Ariha
killing enemies Arih
Arjuna
white, clear, fair in visage and mind Eržen
Arka
ray, learned man, (Skt. singer) Arko
As'mana
stone, gem, thunderbolt Ažman
As'na:
eating a lot, voracious Ažnik
avasanika (Skt)
being at the end
Avsenek
Bahula
broad, ample, large, abundant Pahulje
Bachil (Skt
vacana) one who speaks much, orator Bačnik
Bahuvata
strong-armed Bahovec
baida/vaida(Skt)
wise man, learned Bajda/Vajda
Bhanu
light, glory, king, master Ban
bharaga(Skt)
going under load Baraga
Bharu
bearing a load, lord, master Barič
bhasaya(Skt)
to resemble a bird Basaj
bhela(Skt)
timid, ignorant,
foolish Belej
balihara(Skt)
paying tribute, taxes
Belihar
Bhanga
to break, destroy, destroyer Benko
Bharanyu
striving to fulfil, protector, master, friend Beranek
bhruna(Skt)
child,
boy Brunčič
Bukka:
the heart, loving, sincere Buko-vec
Etc.
(Gandhi)
(T. I. S.)
Note: For Sanskrit transliteration,
Monier-Williams' A Sanskrit-English Dictionary convention, where possible, was
followed, but long and short vowels are not indicated. The pronunciation is
similar to English, but C is pronounced as CH and S' as SH. For Hindi and
Punjabi, Chaturvedi and Tiwari's A Practical Hindi-English
transliteration was followed. The pronunciation is similar to English and :
denotes a long vowel. For Slovenian Č is pronounced as CH, J as Y, Š as SH and Ž
as J in French.

Numerical Comparisons
An attempt was made to determine,
on a percentage basis, how many cognate words Vedic Sanskrit and Classical
Sanskrit share with Slovenian. To compare Vedic Sanskrit with Slovenian, the
vocabulary of Macdonell's A Vedic Reader for Students was used. All
entries were compared, except names and derivatives for a total of 1612. Out of
1612, some 330 were similar to Slovenian in sound and meaning. This is 20.5%.
For Classical Sanskrit comparison, Sanskrita Jnana-Jyotih textbooks 1 and
2 were used. The vocabulary consists of 735 words, where 74 were similar to
Slovenian for a 10% similarity.
Some
additional NUMERICAL COMPARISONS of similarities (%) with Slovenian:
Language |
Similar. |
Remark |
Russian |
~80 |
|
Vedic
Sanskrit |
~20 |
|
Classical
Sanskrit |
~10 |
|
Lithuanian |
~10 |
|
German |
~6 |
Half of
these are technical terms such as anode, seminar, selenium, etc. |
Irish
Gaelic |
~3 |
A third of
these are technical and trade names, e.g. doctor, captain, etc. |
Latin |
~2 |
|
Persian |
~1 |
|
Divergence of Sanskrit and
Slovenian
Despite of numerous similarities in
the two languages, there is no common recognizable terminology for metals. The
discovery and dating of the 'Ice Man' in the South Tyrol with his copper axe,
indicates that metals were known 5,200 years ago. This could be construed that
the two languages separated before metallurgy became known.
Genetic Affinities
Barbujani (1997) agrees with other
authors such as Renfrew and Guglielmino who see linguistic affinities as clues
to population history. He cites Sokal who wrote, that a common language
frequently reflects a common origin, and a related language indicates a common
origin too, but farther back in time. He also makes an observation, that the
partial correlations with language are stronger for Y chromosomes than for mtDNA.
This suggests that when women were incorporated into a group speaking a
different language, they passed to the future generations, along with their own
genes, their husbands' language.
Kivisild et al. (1999) in their
analyses of Indian and western-Eurasian mtDNA lineages (Czechs, Slovaks and
Russians included), found an extensive deep late Pleistocene (51,000-67,000 BP)
link between contemporary Europeans and Indians provided by the mtDNA haplogroup
U. This probably predates their spread to Europe. Only a small fraction of the
'Caucasoid-specific' mtDNA lineages found in Indian populations can be ascribed
to a relatively recent admixture, which they date at 9,300+- 3,000 BP and also
conclude that this does not support a recent massive Indo-Aryan invasion, at
least as far as far as maternally inherited genetic-lineages are concerned.
Malaspina et al. (2000) have
analyzed the Y chromosome in various populations and have broken it down into
networks such as 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.1, 3.1G, 3.1A, 1.4 and others. They conclude
that 1.1, 2.1, and 3.1G coalesce in the Paleolithic.
Underhill et al.
(2000) date the expansion of humans
out of Africa a ~45,000 BP. The following is the indicated presence in some
Indo-Aryan, Dravidic and Slavic populations:
Y chrom.
network. |
1.1 |
2.1 |
3.1G
|
Total |
Brahui |
0.20 |
0 |
0.07 |
0.27 |
Punjabi |
0.23 |
0 |
0.15 |
0.38 |
Sindhi |
0.30 |
0.05 |
0.15 |
0.50 |
|
|
|
|
|
Slovak |
0.43 |
0.09 |
0 |
0.52 |
Ukrainian |
0.33 |
0.17 |
0 |
0.50 |
Polish |
0.31 |
0.03 |
0.19 |
0.52 |
Two networks 1.2 and 3.1A coalesce
in a window of time post-dating Last Glacial Maximum (ca. 20,000 BP):
Y chrom.
network. |
1.2 |
3.1A |
Total |
Brahui |
0.27 |
0.33 |
0.60 |
Punjabi |
0 |
0.46 |
0.60 |
Sindhi |
0.05 |
0.35 |
0.40 |
|
|
|
|
Slovak |
0 |
0.39 |
0.39 |
Ukrainian |
0 |
0.50 |
0.50 |
Polish |
0.06 |
0.39 |
0.45 |
Network 3.1A clearly discriminates
between Western and Eastern European (and Indian) populations (Malaspina et
al.). In Portugal and Central Spain it is not found; in Southern Spain it is
present at .02 level. On the Italian peninsula, it is present at .10 in Apulia
and Venetia. East of Italian peninsula, the presence increases and is present at
higher levels (~.45) in Central and Eastern Europe and also on the Indian
sub-continent (~.38) level.
Network
1.3, which dates back to the last 3,000-4,000 BP, is common in Sardinians, but
is not present in Indians or Slavs.

Dating of Migrations
Based on mt DNA sequences in
ancient Australians, Adcock et al. (2001) see evidence that, there is
morphological evidence for the survival of Neanderthal genes in Europe after the
arrival of Cro Magnon people.
Underhill et al. (2001),
suggest that modern humans dispersed across Africa and into Western Asia, Asia
and Melasia and then into Northern Eurasia. Overlain on these events are the
contractions with the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), and subsequent post-glacial
expansion of both hunter-gatherers and agriculturists.
Underhill et al.
(2000) sees evidence that small
sub-group of humans separated into several fairly isolated groups. These groups
remained small throughout the last glaciation before they underwent roughly
simultaneous expansion in size.
Richards et al. (2000) used founder
analysis method for analysis of nonrecombining DNA sequence data, with the aim
of identification and dating of migrations into new territory. They conclude
that:
(i) There has been
substantial back-migration into the Near East,
(ii) The majority of extant
mt DNA lineages entered Europe in several waves during the Upper Paleolithic
(ca. 45,000 BP),
(iii) There was a founder
effect or bottleneck associated with the Last Glacial Maximum, 20,000 years ago,
from which derives the largest fraction of surviving lineages, and
(iv) The immigrant Neolithic
(ca. 9,000 BP) component is likely to comprise less than one-quarter of the
mtDNA pool of modern Europeans.
Richards et al. (2000) using mtDNA
trace lineages back into prehistory, through the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), to
the first settlement of Europe by anatomically modern humans, almost 50,000 BP.
They have found that, the first four migrations from 45,000- 9,000 BP brought
over 90% of the genes to Europe and that, less than 10% of the population came
to the present regions in the last 3,000 years - Alps 6.9%, South-eastern Europe
8.2%, and North-eastern Europe 5.5%.
Based on linguistic and genetic
information, Štih (2000) appears to be correct in his assertion that all those
presentations and assertions bespeaking the settlement of the Slovenes in the
eastern Alpine region at the end of 6th century are a historical myth.
References
Antoine R, A Sanskrit Manual
13th ed., Xavier Publications, Calcutta, India 1991, pp.117-121.
Barbujani G, (1997) DNA Variation
and Language Affinities. Am.
J. Hum. Genet.
61:1011-1014.
Emeneau MB, "Sanskrit".
Encyclopaedia Americana, 2000,
24:232-233.
Gandhi M, Book of Hindu Names.
Penguin Books, New Delhi, India 1993, pp.1-79.
Lakshminarayana S, Sanskrita
Jnana-Jotih, Book 1 and 2, Arya Buk Dipo, New Delhi, India 1997.
Malaspina P, et al. (2000) Patterns
of male-specific inter-population divergence in Europe, West Asia and North
Africa. Ann. Hum. Genet.
64:395-412.
Macdonell AA, A Vedic Grammar
for Students, 2nd ed. Motilal Barnasidass Publishers Private Limited, Delhi,
India 1995, pp.96-103.
Macdonell AA, A Vedic Reader for
Students, 2nd ed. Low Price Publications, Delhi, India 1995, pp. 221-263
Monier-Williams M, A Sanskrit
Dictionary, 12th ed. Motilal Barnasidass Publishers Private Limited, Delhi,
India 1993.
Reindl DF, (Information in an
e-mail from Professor Donald F. Reindl, Department of Slavic Languages and
Literatures, Indiana University, 09/04/99).
Štih Peter, "Autochthonal
Theories Among The Slovenes" (Paper presented at annual gathering of
American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies Nov. 12, 2000,
Denver, Colorado, U. of Ljubljana, Slovenia).
T.I.S., Telefonski Imenik Slovenije
Underhill PA, et al.(2000) Y
chromosome sequence variation and the history of human populations. Nature
Genetics 26:358-361.
Undehill PA et al. (2001) The
phylogeography of Y chromosome binary haplotypes and the origins of modern
humans. Ann. Hum. Genet.
65:43-62.
Venkatacharya HA, (Personal
communication from Professor H .A.Venkatacharya, Professor Emeritus of Sanskrit,
University of Toronto).
Williams M, A Dictionary English
& Sanskrit, 4th ed. Motilal Barnasidass, Delhi, India 1982, pp. 1-859.

Abstract
Languages have a great evolutionary
significance, because linguistic affinities are also clues to population
history. A common language frequently reflects a common origin, and a related
language indicates a common origin too, but further back in time (Barbujani
1997). Comparison of Sanskrit and modern Indian languages Hindi and Punjabi with
Slovenian belonging to a Slavic language family shows that there is a linguistic
similarity and the older the language the greater is the resemblance. Sanskrit,
especially Vedic Sanskrit, which is the oldest, exhibits more similarities to
Slovenian than Hindi or Punjabi. A statistical comparison shows that~20% of
Vedic words are same or similar to Slovenian in sound and meaning. Similar
comparison with the Classical Sanskrit, shows ~10% similarity. This resemblance
is not limited to linguistics, but can be further seen in some family and also
some topographical names. This can be taken as indication that Slovenian
language has changed relatively slowly over the millennia. Within this context,
it would be reasonable to expect, that a modern Slovenian, familiar with the
dialects and other Slavic languages, should be able to recognize words and
meanings of the Venetic language, if it belongs to the same language family. In
addition to linguistics, there are also genetic similarities between Slavs of
Europe and the peoples of the Indian sub-continent.

Povzetek
Jeziki imajo velik pomen pri ugotavljanju
razvoja, saj so jezikovne podobnosti lahko ključ do zgodovine ljudstev. Podoben
jezik pogosto kaže na skupen izvor in sorodni jeziki tudi kažejo na skupen
izvor, vendar dlje v preteklosti (Barbujani 1997). Primerjava sanskrta in
sedanjih indijskih jezikov hindija in pandžabija s slovenskim, ki pripada
slovanski skupini, kaže podobnosti in čim starejši je jezik, tem več jih je.
Sanskrt, posebno vedski sanskrt, ki je najstarejši, kaže več podobnosti s
slovenskim jezikom kot hindi ali pandžabi. Statistična primerjava kaže, da je
okoli 20% vedskih besed enakih ali podobnih slovenskim v zvenu in pomenu. Za
klasični sanskrt je podobnosti okoli 10%. Ta podobnost ni omejena na
jezikoslovje, temveč je opazna tudi pri nekaterih družinskih in topografskih
imenih. To nam nakazuje, da se je slovenščina v zadnjih tisočletjih le počasi
spreminjala. Glede na to bi lahko pričakovali, da bi sedanji Slovenec, ki pozna
narečja in druge slovanske jezike, lahko prepoznal besede in pomene venetskega
jezika, če ta spada v isto jezikovno skupino. Poleg jezikovnih obstajajo tudi
genetske podobnosti med Slovani v Evropi in ljudmi v Indiji.
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