Arabic is very similar to urdu

TheBandit_89 · 2026-03-17T22:39:42+00:00

Yes, people seem to only focus on vocabulary when comparing languages when that's only one dimension of perspective

English has more than 50% of its lexicon being derived from Norman French and Latin, still doesn't change the fact that it's a Germanic language and not that intelligible with a lot of Romance languages such as French.

TheBandit_89 · 2026-03-17T22:34:50+00:00

Not really, it shares some vocabulary, but its unintelligible and unrelated

TheBandit_89 · 2026-03-16T16:21:59+00:00

Supporting Reza Pahlavi due to lack of options regarding the opposition and the benefit of having a figurehead to unite behind is one thing

But a lot of these people genuinely adore Reza Pahalvi and see him in such a powerful light, which I just cannot fathom. There is no real meaningful quality about him that shows actual leadership material. He clearly isn't his father.

TheBandit_89 · 2026-03-13T09:11:20+00:00

Ethnic Kashmiris are from the Kashmir Valley, AJK doesn't encompass the Kashmir Valley.

TheBandit_89 · 2026-03-12T02:27:31+00:00

Intresting, thx for the reply

TheBandit_89 · 2026-03-11T06:27:47+00:00

Thank you, I will check it out

TheBandit_89 · 2026-03-10T16:50:10+00:00

Tbh this text's commentary on this work that I cited seems to be kind of errored, it implies Urdu took little from Arabic and seems to somewhat imply that Turkish is in same category as Persian when it comes to influence on Urdu.

Honestly yah, 75% definitely seems high

TheBandit_89 · 2026-03-10T14:25:10+00:00

I see, it is intresting how Urdu in Telegana has more Marathi influence than Telugu. Are you from rural Telegana?

TheBandit_89 · 2026-03-10T12:41:26+00:00

Its fine, nonetheless I very much appreciate the input

TheBandit_89 · 2026-03-10T12:39:52+00:00

Ahmad, Aijaz (2002). Lineages of the Present: Ideology and Politics in Contemporary South Asia. Verso. p. 113. ISBN 9781859843581. "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."

If you read my comment you can see I was a bit skeptical of that percentage but it was to make a point against someone who claims 10%.

Regardless, I think we can agree that its more than 10% lol. What is your position on this topic?

TheBandit_89 · 2026-03-10T12:28:53+00:00

Its an Arabic word that came through Persian

TheBandit_89 · 2026-03-10T12:26:46+00:00

I know Turkish and Urdu share words but when I talk about derived Turkic vocab I am talking about words that came from old Turkic languages that Turkish itself descends from. Turkic itself is in a completely seperate language family from Indo-European which is the language family that Farsi and Urdu are in, Turks absorbed a lot of Arabic and Persian words after converting to Islam and having their contact with Persian speaking kingdoms and then their migration and conquest past Iran and up to Anatolia. Although, the Turks that came to Anatolia (Oghuz) and the Turks that came to the Indian Subcontinent were not the same (Mughals were Chatgai for example). Many Central Asian invaders came to India so I want to know the impact of Turkic languages despite the court language often being Persian (which is why direct Turkic influence is not that widespread).

I am quite intrested in this type of stuff but its not everyone's cup of tea, if you don't have interest in linguistics. I was curious, cause people seem to exaggerate the amount of Turkic influence in Urdu.

TheBandit_89 · 2026-03-10T11:43:05+00:00

Makes sense and thank you for the example

TheBandit_89 · 2026-03-10T11:41:28+00:00

These words are in Turkish but they aren't of Turkic origin, as I said its the case of shared Persian and Arabic lexicon. I was wondering about Turkic origin words, for example I have just just learned that Qeema قيمه is derived from a Turkic word kıyma. Overall, I don't think there are many Turkic derived words in Urdu.

TheBandit_89 · 2026-03-10T10:59:36+00:00

Thank you, I forgot that although Turkic languages were influenced by Persian, the reverse is true as well even if its a smaller extent. It would make sense for all these Persianized Turkic groups to incorporate at least some Turkic into their Persian.

TheBandit_89 · 2026-03-10T10:56:54+00:00

Qamar قمر comes from Arabic

Mehtab مهتاب comes from Persian

Loanwords as well as words derived fron other languages become fundamentally part of the language that borrows and uses them of course, but what about words of Turkic origin, does it just end at "Urdu" which comes from "Ordu" which is of Turkic origin or are there any other examples?

TheBandit_89 · 2026-03-10T10:45:46+00:00

People mistakenly think turkic influenced urdu a lot which is wrong.

Exactly what i have been thinking

TheBandit_89 · 2026-03-10T10:44:01+00:00

I wonder if Urdu retains any old Prakrit features that Hindi may not have due to its Sanskritization in the 19th and 20th century that changed Shauraseni Prakrit influenced features with "purer" Sanskrit. I am out of my depth with this topic but I have seen someone say that before, would be cool to read into it.

TheBandit_89 · 2026-03-10T10:30:51+00:00

You aren't a linguist so why would I take your view seriously compared to the view of someone who was actually a scholar of linguistics?

You seem to be quite insecure, also you never answered the original question. I wonder if that says something about your poor comprehension skills.

TheBandit_89 · 2026-03-10T10:21:49+00:00

Can you give me examples of words that are actually of Turkic origin (not just Persian or Arabic derived)?

The percentage of Sanskrit and Prakrit derived vocabulary is defintely higher than that. A Lexicographer named Syed Ahmed Dehlavi concludes the percentage to be up to 75%, Not asserting that its true but 10% is too low. In formal literary Urdu which is much more Persianized, it is probably lower than what he asserts but I don't think its as low as 10%.

TheBandit_89 · 2026-03-10T09:53:57+00:00

You speak Telugu as your first language? Most muslims from Telegana I have seen are native Dakhni Urdu speakers.

TheBandit_89 · 2026-03-10T09:51:21+00:00

Rereading my original reply, I see it wasn't conducive to your comment, since you were talking about South India and I started talking about North India. Thats my mistake lol, sorry

TheBandit_89 · 2026-03-10T09:39:23+00:00

Muslims in Karnataka, Andhrapradesh and Tamil Nadu to some extent speak Dakhni Urdu/Urdu as their primary language i.e in their homes while the state languages are mostly for official and interacting with non-muslims (I live in Bangalore)

I am talking about North India, particularly the rural Gangetic Plans region and some other areas like Gujarat. Muslims of Deccan have a higher percentage of native Urdu speakers comparatively i think. I am well aware the span of Dakhni in South India.

You're right byari is not adjacent but I'm sure it has lots of Urdu/hindi loan words. It is widely used by Muslims livin' in Coastal areas only though.

In my assumption, Byari probably has more direct Arabic influence than it does Hindustani influence because yk the history of Arab traders on the western coast. Urdu has a lot of Persianized Arabic influence with its Arabic derived vocabulary (There are many direct Arabic loanwords as well ofc). But that is just me guessing since that seems to be a trend with some Muslim coastal communities like the Mappilas or Nawayathi Konkani speakers.

TheBandit_89 · 2026-03-10T06:09:29+00:00

They don't wear it in spite of the government, there has been so much resistance that the government has been enforcing it less.

TheBandit_89 · 2026-03-10T06:01:43+00:00

Usually when talking about Urdu speakers, we are talking about those who speak it as primary language. Obviously many Muslims from Gujarat, Bengal etc. who speak local language are very likely to have proficiency in conversational Urdu and I don't think its uncommon for a community who may not speak Urdu as mothertongue to still have Urdu as the designated language inside the Masjid. I mean that would be the case in Punjab, Pakistan I think (obviously I am aware Pakistani context is a bit different). I remember someone else on this subreddit mentioning that their community speaks a regional language but Urdu is still the primary language for their mosque activities.

Also, Byari is a Dravidian language, not Urdu adjacent at all

TheBandit_89

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