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suriilii aavaaz

melodious voice

kaabulii

of or belonging to Kabul

chaahat

love, fondness, affection, desire

TaT-pu.njiyaa

a merchant or trader of small capital or stock-in-trade, a petty merchant, bankrupt, broke

lashkaaraa

shine, glitter, brightness

suup to suup chhalnii bhii bolii jis me.n bahattar chhed

the kettle calling the pot black, the defective person should look at its own defects before opening the tongue, the one who have a clean image, then it is brag

zan-muriid

hen-pecked (husband), subservient husband, uxorious

ku.Dmaa.ii

the celebration of of an engagement, betrothal, engagement

duudh-shariik bahan

foster sister

baaGii

rebel, traitor, insurgent, mutineer, rebellious, disloyal

havaalaat

custody (plural & singular)

KHairaat

charity, alms

kal aanaa

to obtain relief, to be at ease.

murtasim

one who draws, printer, the one who sketches, engraver, the writer

mazduur

a hired labourer, worker

nizaam-e-qudrat

arrangement of nature, system of nature

shariir

body, body of animate being

zimnii-intiKHaabaat

an election that happens at a different time from a main election, to choose a Member of Parliament to replace one who has died or left his or her job, by-election

dastuur

custom, usage, manner, mode, fashion

vesar

a mule

Home / Blog / The Curious Case of the word Maah

The Curious Case of the word Maah

by Rajat Kumar 03 November 2021 2 min Read

The Curious Case of the word Maah

Words are a great way to map not only how different languages are intertwined, but also how all of the sciences are related to each other.

Before we dive into our feature-word ‘Maah’, let’s quickly rope in another closely related word, ‘Shahr’.

The word Shahr, meaning city or town, is known to one and all and barely needs an introduction. But what’s less known is that it also has an Arabic twin to it; ‘Shahr’ in Arabic means to show up, emerge, or make something public. 

On paper, these two words are written exactly the same way. So, what is it that makes them common? And what is it that makes them distinct? Well, essentially, the same thing!

The Arabic Shahr also means ‘Moon’. Why? Because the moon “emerges”, and the emergence of moon brings forth a ‘Month’, which is another one of Shahr’s (Arabic) meanings.

From Emergence to Moon to Month, notice an incognito logic running behind? 

Well, the same logic gave way to the word ‘Maah’ in Persian, which means both moon and month. And here comes the twist in the tale, the Persian ‘Maah’ is nearly based on the Sanskrit word ‘Maasa’, again, meaning both moon and month.

So, the Persian word ‘Maah’ got its “form” from the Sanskrit ‘Maas’, and its “meaning” (following the logic) from the Arabic ‘Shahr’. 

Where else would you see two distantly-positioned words from different languages conceiving a word in the third one!

It also shows how different language speakers are basically thinking on the same lines.

If you’re wondering, ‘but then what about ‘Shahr’, the city?’. 

Well, it’s a centuries old Persian word which was once scribed as “Kashastar'' and was directly taken from the Sanskrit word ‘Kshetra’, and later morphed into its modern form ‘Shahr’. It’s also the root of many of our everyday words like Mash’huur, Shuhrat, and Tash’hiir.

But the similar-sounding word ‘Ishtihaar’, or advertisement, comes from the Arabic Shahr, from its meaning, ‘to make public’.

How closely knit the complex network of words is, isn’t it?


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