Urdu – The Origin and History of the Language

The term Urdu derives from a Turkish word ordu meaning camp or army. The Urdu language developed between the Muslim soldiers of the Mughals armies who belonged to numerous ethnicities like Turks, Arabs, Persians, Pathans, Balochis, Rajputs, Jats and Afghans. These soldiers lived in close contact with one another and communicated in different dialects, which slowly and gradually developed into current day Urdu. It’s for this reason that Urdu can also be referred to as Lashkari Zaban or language of the army.

Throughout its development Urdu language also assumed varied names like the time period Urdu-e-Maullah which means the exalted military which was given by Emperor Shah Jahan and the time period Rekhta which means scattered (with Persian words) which was coined by the scholars for Urdu poetry.

History and Evolution of Urdu Language

Evolution and development of any language relies on the evolution and development of a society where that language is spoken. Various invasions and conquests on a place have an effect on the development of its language. Urdu is no exception as it additionally underwent various stages of development.

Urdu belongs to the Indo-Aryan family of languages. Urdu by origin is considered to be a descendent of Saur Senic Prakrit. The term Prakrriti means root or basis. It’s a later model of Sanskrit. As Prakrit language started to develop, it was influenced by Western Hindi dialects of Khari Boli, Brij Bhasa and Haryanvi.

With the coming of Insha’s Darya-e-Latafat*, a need was felt to distinguish Urdu with other languages particularly Hindi. It became a Hindi-Urdu controversy and as a result Khari Boli and Devanagari turned the identity of Indians while Urdu and Persian of Muslims. In this context, Persian and Arabic words replaced with Sanskrit served the aim of differentiating Hindi from Urdu.

Urdu emerged as a definite language after 1193 AD – the time of the Muslims conquest. When the Muslims conquered this part of the continent, they made Persian the official and cultural language of India. Because of the amalgamation of native dialects and the language of the invaders – which was either Persian, Arabic and Turkish, a new language developed which later became Urdu. Through the Mughals reign, Urdu was spoken in palaces and court and till the end of the Mughal rule; Urdu was the official language of most of Mughal states. This was the time when Urdu had grow to be Persianized and enriched with Persian words, phrases and even script and grammar. With the coming of the British, new English words additionally turned part of the Urdu language. Many English words have been accepted of their real form while others had been accepted after some modifications.

At the moment, Urdu vocabulary comprises approximately 70% of Persian words and the remainder are a mixture of Arabic and Turkish words. Nevertheless, there are also traces of the French, Portuguese and Dutch language in Urdu. However these influences are little.

Urdu was taken to different parts of the country by soldiers, saints and sufis and by the widespread people. Because of the political, social and cultural contacts amongst the people of different speech and dialects, a blended form of language formed called ‘Rekhta’ (Urdu and Persian in blended form). Soon individuals started to make use of the new language in their speech and in literature which resulted within the enrichment of Urdu language and literature.

Urdu Literature

The origin of Urdu literature dates back to the thirteenth century in India in the course of the Mughal rule. Probably the most eminent earliest poets who made usage of Urdu in his poetry is Amir Khusro who might be called the father of Urdu language. In literature, Urdu was normally used alongside side Persian. Mughal kings had been the good patrons of artwork and literature and it was under their rule that Urdu language reached its zenith. There was a tradition of ‘Sheri Mehfils’ (poetic gatherings) in the kings’ courts. Abul Fazal Faizi and Abdul Rahim Khankhana had been the famous Urdu poets of 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 Urdu language by their literary works.

It’s indeed true that Hindi and Urdu are descendents of the identical language i.e. Prakrit, but where the Hindi took affect from Sanskrit and adopted Devanagri script of writing, Urdu absorbed words from Persian, Turkish and Arabic languages and adopted Persian-Arabic script and Nastaliq calligraphic model of writing and emerged as a separate language. But beside frequent ancestry, the two languages are as totally different as can be. There are marked grammatical, phonological and lexical variations in each languages.

Urdu was additionally used as a instrument by the Muslims for freedom wrestle and for making awareness amongst Muslim communities in South Asia to unite under the banner of Independence from British Raj. For this, providers of Maulana Hali, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and Allama Iqbal are notable, who by way of their poetry and prose provoked the necessary spark within the lives of the Muslims. Urdu was chosen to grow to be the nationwide language of Pakistan at the time of Independence from British. Urdu is now the nationwide language of Pakistan, spoken and understood totally by mainity of the population.

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