Urdu – The Origin and History of the Language

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

Throughout its development Urdu language also assumed various names like the time period Urdu-e-Maullah that means the exalted military which was given by Emperor Shah Jahan and the term 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 the place that language is spoken. Various invasions and conquests on a spot affect the development of its language. Urdu isn’t any exception as it also underwent various levels 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 time period Prakrriti means root or basis. It’s a later model of Sanskrit. As Prakrit language began 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 necessity was felt to distinguish Urdu with different languages especially Hindi. It became a Hindi-Urdu controversy and because of this Khari Boli and Devanagari grew to become the identity of Indians while Urdu and Persian of Muslims. In this context, Persian and Arabic words replaced with Sanskrit served the purpose 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 local dialects and the language of the invaders – which was either Persian, Arabic and Turkish, a new language evolved which later grew to become Urdu. Throughout 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 become Persianized and enriched with Persian words, phrases and even script and grammar. With the approaching of the British, new English words additionally became part of the Urdu language. Many English words were accepted of their real form while others have been accepted after some modifications.

At the moment, Urdu vocabulary accommodates approximately 70% of Persian words and the remaining are a mixture of Arabic and Turkish words. Nonetheless, 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. On account of the political, social and cultural contacts amongst the individuals of various speech and dialects, a combined form of language formed called ‘Rekhta’ (Urdu and Persian in combined form). Quickly people 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 throughout the Mughal rule. One of the vital eminent earliest poets who made usage of Urdu in his poetry is Amir Khusro who may be called the father of Urdu language. In literature, Urdu was normally used alongside side Persian. Mughal kings had been the nice 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 have 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 way of their literary works.

It’s indeed true that Hindi and Urdu are descendents of the identical language i.e. Prakrit, however where the Hindi took influence 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 fashion of writing and emerged as a separate language. But beside frequent ancestry, the 2 languages are as totally different as can be. There are marked grammatical, phonological and lexical differences in both languages.

Urdu was additionally used as a device by the Muslims for freedom battle and for creating awareness among Muslim communities in South Asia to unite under the banner of Independence from British Raj. For this, companies of Maulana Hali, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and Allama Iqbal should notable, who by way of their poetry and prose provoked the required spark within the lives of the Muslims. Urdu was chosen to become the nationwide language of Pakistan on the time of Independence from British. Urdu is now the nationwide language of Pakistan, spoken and understood thoroughly by majority of the population.

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