The verses of the Atharvaveda are composed primarily in Vedic Sanskrit, the archaic form of Sanskrit that underlies all the Vedic scriptures. Yet, its linguistic texture is noticeably more varied and “earthy” than that of the more strictly liturgical collections. Scholars observe that it preserves some of the oldest Sanskrit forms alongside usages that differ from the more standardized patterns familiar from other Vedas. This gives the text a layered quality, as though it carries echoes from multiple stages in the life of the language.

Within this overarching frame of Vedic Sanskrit, the Atharvaveda reveals a mixture of dialectal and regional features. Its verses show non‑standard, colloquial, and folk elements that point toward spoken varieties of Old Indo‑Aryan, rather than a single, uniform priestly idiom. These appear in alternative verb forms, variant case endings, and phonetic simplifications that resemble what later becomes characteristic of Middle Indo‑Aryan tendencies. The language thus bears witness to early Vedic dialect zones, with eastern and western features coexisting within the same corpus.

Because of this, the Atharvaveda stands at an intriguing crossroads between formal ritual speech and the living vernacular of ancient communities. It incorporates popular religious and domestic practices into the Vedic idiom, and its vocabulary reflects ritual, magical, healing, and protective concerns. At the same time, it remains firmly within the sphere of Vedic Sanskrit: no separate, fully independent language is used for entire verses, though isolated non‑Indo‑Aryan words and loanwords are embedded in the text. The result is a scripture whose language mirrors its spiritual character—rooted in the sacred tradition, yet open to the voices and needs of everyday life.