Sanskrit compound

Sanskrit inherits from its parent, the Proto-Indo-European language, the capability of forming compound nouns, also widely seen in kindred languages, especially German, Greek, and also English.

However, Sanskrit, especially in the later stages of the language, significantly expands on this both in terms of the number of elements making up a single compound and the volume of compound-usage in the literature, a development which is unique within Indo-European to Sanskrit and closely related languages.

Further, this development in the later language is an entirely artificial, literary construct and does not reflect the spoken language.