ARABIC ELEMENTS IN HINDUSTANI

Have you ever stopped to wonder why so many Hindustani words sound alike? For instance, Imtehaan (examination), Intezaar (to wait), Iraada (intention), Taaleem (education), Tafseel (details), and so on? 

Has it ever crossed your mind to stop and muse over how many Arabic words you are actually using while speaking or writing basic, everyday Hindustani? 

Hindustani: A Language and a Culture

Defined by Encyclopaedia Britannica as the lingua franca of Northern India and Pakistan, Hindustani is the everyday, ‘fusion language’ which Mahatma Gandhi originally envisioned as India’s national language for overcoming communal and religious differences. Unlike Hindi for Hindus and Urdu for Muslims, a concept cemented at least partly by British administrative policy, Hindustani is the bridge language that contains both. Old Hindi films, and songs they featured, such as Mughal-e-Azam, Pakeezah, and Pyaasa were in Hindustani. Indeed, even several popular Bollywood songs in the 1990s were heavy on Hindustani lyrics. 

Now, we all know that Hindustani is infused with Persian, Arabic and Turkish words. But how much of Hindustani is really Arabic? 

Well, much to the dismay of Indian right-wing groups for whom the sub-continent is populated by ‘us’ and ‘them’, the Hindustani they use every day boasts scores of nouns, adverbs, plurals, and prepositions of Arabic origin. Several rules of Arabic grammar are extensively used in Hindustani.

Needless to say, Arabic words with religious connotations were logically borrowed and so were words referring to social customs, cultural practices, and objects of foreign origin that did not exist in India before the arrival of Muslims from central Asia. The process of Hindustani being inundated by Arabic words was in fact a slow, unhurried one, which was unfortunately not documented. And while most of the Hindustani words of Arabic origin have retained the original meaning in Arabic, many Hindustani words convey meanings quite different from their Arabic counterparts. Yet, on closer examination, shreds of logic can be found.  

For example, Inqilaab, a word of Arabic origin means revolution in Hindustani but simply an alteration, transformation, or inversion in Arabic. Now, one could argue that a revolution is nothing but a dramatic change or transformation. The derivation here is logical. 

Then, there are also words in Hindustani such as Sitaara (star) and Shehr (city) which mean curtain and month in Arabic respectively, but it must be borne in mind that these words have reached Hindustani from Persian. In Persian, Sitaara means a star and Shehr, a city. 

The Arabic You Never Knew You Knew 

So, what are these Arabic elements that have dappled Hindustani? Let’s find some interesting examples.

1. Arabic verbal nouns: Arguably the largest category of Arabic-origin words to permeate Hindustani, it is hard to speak even a few lines of basic Hindustani without using one of these. Most of these are really verbal nouns of derived trilateral verbs in Arabic, meaning verbs formed by adding one or more letters to the basic verb, to form another verb with a different meaning. There are nine commonly used set patterns of derived trilateral verbs in Arabic whose verbal nouns or infinitives are frequently used in Hindustani. This is why so many words sound alike in Hindustani. 

Eg: Taaliim (education) and Ta’amiir (construction) belong to the category of taf-eel in Arabic.

Mudaakhalat (interference) and Mukhaalafat (opposition) belong to the category of mufaa-a-lat in Arabic.

Iraada (intention) and Izaafa (addition) belong to a sub-category of If-aal in Arabic.

Imtiyaaz (distinction) and Intezaar (waiting) belong to the category of If-te-aal in Arabic.

2. Arabic Plurals: There are three kinds of plurals in Arabic. Sound masculine plurals, which are formed by suffixing ‘oon’ (the letters wow and noon); sound feminine plurals, which are formed by suffixing ‘aat’ (the letters alif and taa), and broken plurals, which are formed by breaking up the noun, and adding or subtracting one or more letters. Examples abound in Hindustani.

Eg: Maahiriin (experts) and Naaziriin (spectators, viewers) are Arabic sound masculine plurals in the accusative/ genitive cases.

Waqia’aat (incidents) and Mua’amalaat (matters) are Arabic sound feminine plurals.

Huqooq (rights) from haqq, Madaaris (schools) from madrasa, and Ulamaa (learned men) from Aalim are all examples of Arabic broken plurals. 

3. Arabic Active Participles: An active participle in Arabic is a noun that refers to the doer of an action. Although active participles of the above-mentioned derived trilateral verbs are frequently used in Hindustani, the use of Arabic active participles of primitive trilateral verbs is so widespread; it is a part of everyday, basic Hindustani. These are formed on the pattern of Faa’il.

Eg: Aashiq (lover), Shaa’ir (poet), Jaahil (ignorant), Aalim (scholar), Haakim (ruler), Maalik (owner).

4. Arabic Passive Participles: The antonym of an active participle, a passive participle is a noun in Arabic that refers to the object of an action. Many of the commonly used Arabic passive participles in Hindustani are those of primitive trilateral verbs. These, like active participles, have one pattern and that is Maf-ool. Again, there are countless examples.

Eg: Mahfooz (protected, safe), Mahmood (praised), Maqbool (popular), Maqtool (killed), Majboor (compelled), Mahboob (beloved). 

5. Arabic Random Vocabulary: Language is a cultural asset and the fun of it, I daresay, lies in fusion. Every day, unknowingly, you use at least a dozen words derived from Arabic, many of whose equivalents are hard to find in Hindi. Here a few examples: Kitaab (book), Qalam (pen), Kursi (chair), Aadmi (man), Dunya (world), Aakhri (last/final), Insaan (human being), Haiwaan (animal), Jaahil (ignorant/foolish), Jurm (crime/sin), Qareeb (near/close), and Waqt (time). 

So, these were only a few Arabic elements that have enhanced the wealth of the Hindustani language. There are, in fact, many more. 

The Confluence of Rivers 

The syncretic culture of Northern India that blends both Hindu and Muslim thoughts and traditions is often referred to as Ganga–Jamuni Tehzeeb. That this shared heritage is likened to the confluence of rivers underlines one clear fact – mixing, meeting and evolving is an attribute of great cultures. A culture flowers and fruits and thrives and survives better when exposed to another culture. Besides, what can you possibly do about influences that have permeated so deep, you have never known a time without them? How far can you ‘purify’ the language you speak? 

So, the next time you spot a cleric with a flowing beard and cropped trousers, don’t just identify him by his outfit. Say hello; you and he have a little more in common than you believed! 

With a History major from Lady Shri Ram College for Women, University of Delhi, and an Advanced Diploma and Master’s degree in Arabic Language and Literature from the Faculty of Arts, University of Delhi, cultural history has never ceased to fascinate me. I taught myself Urdu because you couldn’t enroll in an Arabic course at the University of Delhi without knowing some Urdu.