From a Comment Here on my little blog site… made by Jordan Tabov:

Could the word sanscrit be an abbreviation of “santo escrito” (Holy Scripture) ?

And I quote from a different source:

“Heinrich Roth (“1620 – 1668“), a German born Jesuit missionary, reached Goa in “1652“, sent as emissary to the Mogul court of Agra around “1660“, (G,B. The Restoration?) where he got opportunity to learn a language called Sanskrit for more than six years. (G.B. Around 1666?) So it is said. He had compiled a grammar-book for Sanskrit in Latin that was discovered in the Vatican archive and first published as facsimile in Leiden, Netherlands, in 1988. The Indologists today confirm that the grammar by Heinrich Roth was the best in comparison with all others. No wonder! He had prepared a slim translation of the all-time perfect grammar for the Sanskrit language compiled by Panini. Heinrich Roth did not mention the Vedic language.”