The term ‘Urdu’ and its origin

The Urdu term derives from a Turkish word ordu meaning camp or army. The Urdu language developed among the Muslim soldiers in the Mughal armies who belonged to various ethnicities such as Turks, Arabs, Persians, Pathans, Balochis, Rajputs, Jats, and Afghans. These soldiers lived in close contact with each other and communicated in different dialects, which slowly and gradually evolved into present-day Urdu. It is for this reason that Urdu is also known as Lashkari Zaban or army language.

During its development, the Urdu language also assumed various names such as the term Urdu-e-Maullah meaning exalted army which was given by Emperor Shah Jahan and the term Rekhta meaning dispersed (with Persian words) which was coined by scholars. of Urdu poetry.

History and evolution of the Urdu language

The evolution and development of any language depends on the evolution and development of a society where that language is spoken. Various invasions and conquests of a place affect the development of their language. Urdu is no exception as it too went through various stages of development.

Urdu belongs to the Indo-Aryan family of languages. Urdu by origin is considered a descendant of Saur Senic Prakrit. The term Prakriti means root or base. It is a later version of Sanskrit. As the Prakrit language began to develop, it was influenced by the Western Hindi dialects of Khari Boli, Brij Bhasa, and Haryanvi.

With the advent of Darya-e-Latafat* from Insha, the need was felt to differentiate Urdu from other languages, especially Hindi. It became a Hindi-Urdu controversy and as a result Khari Boli and Devanagari became the identity of Indians while Urdu and Persian of Muslims. In this context, the Persian and Arabic words replaced by Sanskrit served to differentiate Hindi from Urdu.

Urdu emerged as a distinct language after 1193 AD, the time of the Muslim conquest. When the Muslims conquered this part of the continent, they made Persian the official and cultural language of India. As a result of the fusion of local dialects and the language of the invaders, which was Persian, Arabic and Turkish, a new language evolved which later became Urdu. During the Mughals’ reign, Urdu was spoken in palaces and courts and until the end of Mughal rule; Urdu was the official language of most Mughal states. This was the time when Urdu had become Persianized and enriched with Persian words, phrases and even Persian script and grammar. With the arrival of the British, new English words also became a part of the Urdu language. Many English words were accepted in their actual form, while others were accepted after some modification.

Currently, the Urdu vocabulary contains about 70% of Persian words with the rest being a mix of Arabic and Turkish words. However, there are also traces of the French, Portuguese and Dutch language in Urdu. But these influences are few.

Urdu was carried to other parts of the country by soldiers, saints and Sufis, and by the common people. As a result of political, social and cultural contacts between people of different languages ​​and dialects, a mixed form of language called ‘Rekhta’ (Urdu and Persian in mixed form) was formed. Soon, the people started using the new language in their speech and literature, resulting in the enrichment of the Urdu language and literature.

urdu literature

The origin of Urdu literature can be traced back to the 13th century in India during the Mughal rule. One of the most eminent early poets who made use of Urdu in his poetry is Amir Khusro who can be called the father of Urdu language. In literature, Urdu was generally used alongside Persian. The Mughal kings were the great patrons of art and literature and it was under their rule that the Urdu language reached its zenith. There used to be a tradition of ‘Sheri Mehfils’ (poetic meetings) in the courts of kings. Abul Fazal Faizi and Abdul Rahim Khankhana were the famous Urdu poets of the Mughal court. Likewise, Mirza Ghalib, Allama Iqbal, Hakim Momin, Ibrahim Zauq, Mir Taqi Mir, Sauda, ​​Ibn-e-Insha and Faiz Ahmed Faiz have contributed to the evolution of the Urdu language through their literary works.

In fact, it is true that Hindi and Urdu are descendants of the same language, i.e. Prakrit, but where Hindi took influence from Sanskrit and adopted the Devanagri script, Urdu absorbed words from Persian, Turkish and Arabic languages ​​and adopted the Persian-Arabic script. and the Nastaliq calligraphic style of writing and emerged as a separate language. But aside from common ancestry, the two languages ​​are about as different as can be. There are marked grammatical, phonological and lexical differences in both languages.

Muslims also used Urdu as a tool for freedom struggle and to raise awareness among Muslim communities in South Asia to unite under the banner of independence from the British Raj. For this, the services of Maulana Hali, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and Allama Iqbal stand out, who through their poetry and prose caused the necessary spark in the lives of Muslims. Urdu was chosen to become the national language of Pakistan at the time of independence from the British. Urdu is now the national language of Pakistan, fully spoken and understood by the majority of the population.

Grades:

* A book by Ibn-e-Insha, dealing with the phonetic and linguistic features of Urdu and a variety of working formations and rhetorical expressions.

References:

1. George Cardona and Dhanesh Jain (eds). Indo-Aryan languages. Routledge Publishers. London. 2003.

2. Ram Babu Saksena. A history of Urdu literature. Sind Sagar Academy. Lahore. 1975.

3. Dr. Tariq Rehman. Peoples and languages ​​in the pre-Islamic Indus Valley. [Online] [Cited 2009 April 4]. Available at: http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/scad/archivedwebsites/archivedwebsites/LanguagesInPreIslamicPakistan.htm

4. Mirza Khalil Ahmad Beg. Urdu Grammer: History and Structure. Bahri Publications. New Delhi. 1988.

5. Zoya Zaydi. Urdu: Language and poetry. [Online] 2006 [Cited 2009 April 4]. Available at: http://www.sikhspectrum.com/082006/urdu.htm