Editing Urdu (section)

== Vocabulary ==
{{Main|Hindi-Urdu vocabulary}}
{{Further|Hindustani etymology}}Syed Ahmed Dehlavi, a 19th-century [[lexicographer]] who compiled the ''[[Farhang e Asifiya|Farhang-e-Asifiya]]''<ref>{{Cite web |date= |title=Farhang-e-Asifiya |trans-title=فرہنگِ آصفیہ |url=https://xn--mgbqf7g.com/%d9%81%d8%b1%db%81%d9%86%da%af/%d9%84%d8%ba%d8%aa |website=Urdu Gah}}</ref> Urdu dictionary, estimated that 75% of Urdu words have their etymological roots in [[Sanskrit]] and [[Prakrit]],<ref name="Ahmad20022">{{cite book|title=Lineages of the Present: Ideology and Politics in Contemporary South Asia|last=Ahmad|first=Aijaz|publisher=Verso|year=2002|isbn=9781859843581|page=113|language=en|quote=On this there are far more reliable statistics than those on population. ''Farhang-e-Asafiya'' is by general agreement the most reliable Urdu dictionary. It was compiled in the late nineteenth century by an Indian scholar little exposed to British or Orientalist scholarship. The lexicographer in question, Syed Ahmed Dehlavi, had no desire to sunder Urdu's relationship with Farsi, as is evident even from the title of his dictionary. He estimates that roughly 75 per cent of the total stock of 55,000 Urdu words that he compiled in his dictionary are derived from Sanskrit and Prakrit, and that the entire stock of the base words of the language, without exception, are derived from these sources. What distinguishes Urdu from a great many other Indian languauges ... is that it draws almost a quarter of its vocabulary from language communities to the west of India, such as Farsi, Turkish, and Tajik. Most of the little it takes from Arabic has not come directly but through Farsi.}}</ref><ref name="Dalmia20172">{{cite book|title=Hindu Pasts: Women, Religion, Histories|last=Dalmia|first=Vasudha|date=31 July 2017|publisher=[[SUNY Press]]|isbn=9781438468075|page=310|language=en|quote=On the issue of vocabulary, Ahmad goes on to cite Syed Ahmad Dehlavi as he set about to compile the Farhang-e-Asafiya, an Urdu dictionary, in the late nineteenth century. Syed Ahmad 'had no desire to sunder Urdu's relationship with Farsi, as is evident from the title of his dictionary. He estimates that roughly 75 percent of the total stock of 55.000 Urdu words that he compiled in his dictionary are derived from Sanskrit and Prakrit, and that the entire stock of the base words of the language, without exception, are from these sources' (2000: 112–13). As Ahmad points out, Syed Ahmad, as a member of Delhi's aristocratic elite, had a clear bias towards Persian and Arabic. His estimate of the percentage of Prakitic words in Urdu should therefore be considered more conservative than not. The actual proportion of Prakitic words in everyday language would clearly be much higher.}}</ref><ref name="Taj19972">{{cite web|url=http://www.unc.edu/~taj/abturdu.htm|title=About Hindi-Urdu|last=Taj|first=Afroz|year=1997|publisher=[[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill]]|language=en|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090815023328/http://sasw.chass.ncsu.edu/fl/faculty/taj/hindi/abturdu.htm|archive-date=15 August 2009|access-date=27 March 2018}}</ref> and approximately 99% of Urdu verbs have their roots in Sanskrit and Prakrit.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dawn.com/news/681263/urdus-origin-its-not-a-camp-language|title=Urdu's origin: it's not a "camp language"|date=17 December 2011|work=dawn.com|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924135247/http://www.dawn.com/news/681263/urdus-origin-its-not-a-camp-language|archive-date=24 September 2015|access-date=5 July 2015|quote=Urdu nouns and adjective can have a variety of origins, such as Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Pushtu and even Portuguese, but ninety-nine per cent of Urdu verbs have their roots in Sanskrit/Prakrit. So it is an Indo-Aryan language which is a branch of Indo-Iranian family, which in turn is a branch of Indo-European family of languages. According to Dr Gian Chand Jain, Indo-Aryan languages had three phases of evolution beginning around 1,500 BC and passing through the stages of Vedic Sanskrit, classical Sanskrit and Pali. They developed into Prakrit and Apbhransh, which served as the basis for the formation of later local dialects.}}</ref><ref name="PTI19952">{{cite book|title=India Perspectives, Volume 8|date=1995|publisher=PTI for the Ministry of External Affairs|page=23|language=en|quote=All verbs in Urdu are of Sanskrit origin. According to lexicographers, only about 25 percent words in Urdu diction have Persian or Arabic origin.}}</ref> Urdu has borrowed words from Persian and to a lesser extent, [[Arabic]] through Persian,<ref name="Versteegh19972">{{cite book|title=The Arabic Language|last1=Versteegh|first1=Kees|last2=Versteegh|first2=C. H. M.|date=1997|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=9780231111522|language=en|quote=... of the Qufdn; many Arabic loanwords in the indigenous languages, as in Urdu and Indonesian, were introduced mainly through the medium of Persian.}}</ref> to the extent of about 25%<ref name="Ahmad20022" /><ref name="Dalmia20172" /><ref name="Taj19972" /><ref name="Khan19892">{{cite book|title=Studies in Contrastive Analysis|last1=Khan|first1=Iqtidar Husain|date=1989|publisher=[[Aligarh Muslim University|The Department of Linguistics of Aligarh Muslim University]]|page=5|language=en|quote=It is estimated that almost 25% of the Urdu vocabulary consists of words which are of Persian and Arabic origin.}}</ref> to 30% of Urdu's vocabulary.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=upHRAAAAMAAJ&q=urdu+persianized+30%25|title=Reports Service: South Asia series|author=American Universities Field Staff|date=1966|publisher=American Universities Field Staff|page=43|language=en|quote=The Urdu vocabulary is about 30% Persian.}}</ref> A table illustrated by the linguist Afroz Taj of the [[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill]] likewise illustrates the number of Persian loanwords to native Sanskrit-derived words in literary Urdu as comprising a 1:4 ratio.<ref name="Taj19972" />

[[File:Zaban_urdu_mualla.png|thumb|The phrase ''zubān-e-Urdū-e-muʿallā'' ("the language of the exalted camp") written in the [[Perso-Arabic]] script<ref name="Naim1999">{{citation|last=Naim|first=C. M.|author-link=C. M. Naim|title=Ambiguities of Heritage: Fictions and Polemics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OwHhAAAAMAAJ|year=1999|publisher=City Press|isbn=978-969-8380-19-9|page=87}}</ref>]]

The "trend towards Persianisation" started in the 18th century by the Delhi school of Urdu poets, though other writers, such as [[Meeraji]], wrote in a Sanskritised form of the language.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sqBjpV9OzcsC&pg=PA36|title=History of Indian Literature: 1911–1956, struggle for freedom : triumph and tragedy|last=Das|first=Sisir Kumar|date=2005|publisher=Sahitya Akademi|isbn=9788172017989|language=en|quote=Professor Gopi Chand Narang points out that the trends towards Persianization in Urdu is not a new phenomenon. It started with the Delhi school of poets in the eighteenth century in the name of standardization (''meyar-bandi''). It further tilted towards Arabo-Persian influences, writes Narang, with the rise of Iqbal. 'The diction of Faiz Ahmad Faiz who came into prominence after the death of Iqbal is also marked by Persianization; so it is the diction of N.M. Rashid, who popularised free verse in Urdu poetry. Rashid's language is clearly marked by fresh Iranian influences as compared to another trend-setter, Meeraji. Meeraji is on the other extreme because he used Hindized Urdu.'}}</ref> There has been a move towards hyper Persianisation in Pakistan since 1947, which has been adopted by much of the country's writers;<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0X1jAAAAMAAJ&q=%E2%80%9CHyper-persianized%E2%80%9D|title=Hindi and Urdu Since 1800: A Common Reader|last=Shackle|first=C.|date=1 January 1990|publisher=Heritage Publishers|isbn=9788170261629|language=en}}</ref> as such, some Urdu texts can be composed of 70% Perso-Arabic loanwords just as some Persian texts can have 70% Arabic vocabulary.<ref name="Kaye-1997">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T6jmziooEk0C&q=urdu+70%25+persian&pg=PA639|title=Phonologies of Asia and Africa: (including the Caucasus)|last=Kaye|first=Alan S.|date=30 June 1997|publisher=Eisenbrauns|isbn=9781575060194|language=en}}</ref> Some Pakistani Urdu speakers have incorporated Hindi vocabulary into their speech as a result of exposure to Indian entertainment.<ref name="Patel20132">{{cite news|url=https://www.firstpost.com/india/kids-have-it-right-boundaries-of-urdu-and-hindi-are-blurred-579088.html|title=Kids have it right: boundaries of Urdu and Hindi are blurred|last1=Patel|first1=Aakar|date=6 January 2013|work=[[Firstpost]]|language=en|access-date=9 November 2019}}</ref><ref name="Gangan20112">{{cite news|url=https://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report-in-pakistan-hindi-flows-smoothly-into-urdu-1619245|title=In Pakistan, Hindi flows smoothly into Urdu|last1=Gangan|first1=Surendra|date=30 November 2011|newspaper=[[DNA India]]|language=en|access-date=9 November 2019|quote=That Bollywood and Hindi television daily soaps are a hit in Pakistan is no news. So, it's hardly surprising that the Urdu-speaking population picks up and uses Hindi, even the tapori lingo, in its everyday interaction. "The trend became popular a few years ago after Hindi films were officially allowed to be released in Pakistan," said Rafia Taj, head of the mass communication department, University of Karachi. "I don't think it's a threat to our language, as it is bound to happen in the globalisation era. It is anytime better than the attack of western slangs on our language," she added.}}</ref> In India, Urdu has not diverged from Hindi as much as it has in Pakistan.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ieMgAAAAQBAJ&q=hindi+urdu+natioanal+varieties&pg=PA385|title=Pluricentric Languages: Differing Norms in Different Nations|last=Clyne|first=Michael|date=24 May 2012|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=978-3-11-088814-0|language=en}}</ref>

Most borrowed words in Urdu are nouns and adjectives.<ref name="Jain-2007">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OtCPAgAAQBAJ&q=difference+between+urdu+and+hindi&pg=PA294|title=The Indo-Aryan Languages|last1=Jain|first1=Danesh|last2=Cardona|first2=George|date=26 July 2007|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-79711-9|pages=294|language=en}}</ref> Many of the words of Arabic origin have been adopted through Persian,<ref name="Ahmad20022" /> and have different pronunciations and nuances of meaning and usage than they do in Arabic. There are also a smaller number of borrowings from [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]]. Some examples for Portuguese words borrowed into Urdu are ''chabi'' ("chave": key), ''girja'' ("igreja": church), ''kamra'' ("cámara": room), ''qamīz'' ("camisa": shirt).<ref>Paul Teyssier: História da Língua Portuguesa'', S. 94. Lisbon 1987''</ref>

Although the word ''[[wikt:Urdu|Urdu]]'' is derived from the [[Turkic languages|Turkic]] word ''[[wikt:ordu|ordu]]'' (army) or [[Orda (organization)|orda]], from which English ''[[wikt:horde|horde]]'' is also derived,<ref name="Austin20082">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q3tAqIU0dPsC&pg=PA120|title=One thousand languages: living, endangered, and lost|author=Peter Austin|date=1 September 2008|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-25560-9|pages=120–|access-date=29 December 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509064417/http://books.google.com/books?id=Q3tAqIU0dPsC&pg=PA120|archive-date=9 May 2013|url-status=live}}</ref> Turkic borrowings in Urdu are minimal<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dawn.com/news/672945/|title=Language: Urdu and the borrowed words|author=InpaperMagazine|date=13 November 2011|work=dawn.com|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150702191109/http://www.dawn.com/news/672945/|archive-date=2 July 2015|access-date=29 March 2015}}</ref> and Urdu is also not [[Genetic relationship (linguistics)|genetically related]] to the [[Turkic languages]]. Urdu words originating from [[Chagatai language|Chagatai]] and Arabic were borrowed through Persian and hence are Persianised versions of the original words. For instance, the Arabic ''[[ta' marbuta]]'' (&nbsp;{{lang|ar|ة}}&nbsp;) changes to ''[[He (letter)|he]]'' (&nbsp;{{lang|ur|{{nq|ه}}}}&nbsp;) or ''[[Taw (letter)|te]]'' (&nbsp;{{lang|ur|{{nq|ت}}}}&nbsp;).<ref>John R. Perry, "Lexical Areas and Semantic Fields of Arabic" in Éva Ágnes Csató, Eva Agnes Csato, Bo Isaksson, Carina Jahani, ''Linguistic convergence and areal diffusion: case studies from Iranian, Semitic and Turkic'', Routledge, 2005. pg 97: "It is generally understood that the bulk of the Arabic vocabulary in the central, contiguous Iranian, Turkic and Indic languages was originally borrowed into literary Persian between the ninth and thirteenth centuries"</ref><ref group="note">An example can be seen in the word "need" in Urdu. Urdu uses the [[Persian language|Persian]] version ضرورت rather than the original Arabic ضرورة. See: [http://dsalsrv02.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.5:1:5370.platts John T. Platts "A dictionary of Urdu, classical Hindi, and English" (1884) Page 749] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225125131/http://dsalsrv02.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.5:1:5370.platts |date=25 February 2021 }}. Urdu and Hindi use Persian pronunciation in their loanwords, rather than that of Arabic– for instance rather than pronouncing ض as the ''[[wikiwikiweb:emphatic consonant|emphatic consonant]]'' "ḍ", the original sound in ''[[Arabic phonology|Arabic]]'', Urdu uses the Persian pronunciation "z". See: [http://dsalsrv02.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.5:1:5339.platts John T. Platts "A dictionary of Urdu, classical Hindi, and English" (1884) Page 748] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414045951/http://dsalsrv02.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.5:1:5339.platts |date=14 April 2021 }}</ref> Nevertheless, contrary to popular belief, Urdu did not borrow from the [[Turkish language]], but from [[Chagatai language|Chagatai]], a [[Turkic language]] from Central Asia.{{Citation needed|date=January 2024}} Urdu and Turkish both borrowed from Arabic and Persian, hence the similarity in pronunciation of many Urdu and Turkish words.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=María Isabel Maldonado García|last2=Mustafa Yapici|date=2014|title=Common Vocabulary in Urdu and Turkish Language: A Case of Historical Onomasiology|url=http://pu.edu.pk/images/journal/studies/PDF-FILES/Artical-10_v15_no1.pdf|journal=Journal of Pakistan Vision|volume=15|issue=1|pages=193–122|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150927195813/http://pu.edu.pk/images/journal/studies/PDF-FILES/Artical-10_v15_no1.pdf|archive-date=27 September 2015}}</ref>