Persian and Urdu

The Persian language influenced the formation of many languages of the Middle East, Central Asia, and South Asia. Fact|date=February 2007. Following the Mughal conquest of South Asia and the resulting vast empire, especially in the North and middle areas, a hybrid language of Turkish, Arabic and Persian and local dialects began to form around the 10th and 11th centuries CE, one that would eventually be known as Urdu. "Ordu", meaning "army camp" in Turkish [ [http://www.crulp.org/English%20Site/..%5CPublication%5CCrulp_report%5CCR03_14E.pdf Bashir, Maryam, and Zir, Fariha. "Existence of an Asprirated I,r, and ? in Urdu Language", pp. 1.] ] , is also related to English word "horde". Urdu was initially called "Zaban-e-Ordu" i.e. 'language of the army' (or language of the camps) and was later shortened to just Urdu. It grew from the interaction of (often Persian speaking) Muslim soldiers and native peoples. Soon, the Persian script and Nasta'liq form of cursive writing was adopted, with additional figures added to accommodate the Indian phonetic system, and a new language based on the Hindi grammar with a vocabulary largely divided between Persian and Arabic. Elements peculiar to Persian, such as the enclitic "ezāfe", and the use of the "takhallus", were readily absorbed into Urdu literature both religious and secular.

It is important to note that despite the heavy influence of Persian on Urdu, linguistically, Urdu is not classified as an Iranian language (as is Persian) but rather as an Indo-Aryan language (like Hindi, Kashmiri, and Punjabi). Urdu soon gained distinction as the preferred language in Persian courts of India and to this day retains an important place in literary and cultural spheres. Many distinctly Persian forms of literature, such as Ghazal, Qasida, Marsia and Nazms, came to both influence and be affected by local culture, producing a distinct melding of Middle Eastern and South Asian heritages. A famous cross-over writer was Amir Khusro, whose Persian and Urdu couplets are to this day read in South Asia. Persian has sometimes been termed an adopted classical language of the South Asia aside from Sanskrit due to its role in local tradition. Again note that before 1850's Urdu and Hindi were one and the same language, which was at times called Urdu and at times "Hindvi".

See also

* Persian
* Urdu

References