Yaska

Yāska was an ancient Indian grammarian and linguist (7th–5th century BCE). Preceding Pāṇini (7th–4th century BCE), he is traditionally identified as the author of Nirukta, the discipline of "etymology" (explanation of words) within Sanskrit grammatical tradition and the Nighantu, the oldest proto-thesaurus in India. Yaska is widely regarded as the precursive founder of the discipline of what would become etymology in both the East and the West.