Legacy Meaning in Urdu:
In recent years, in
particular in urbanized India, the usage of Urdu has become more commonplace
and there has been a marked upsurge in the way it is used in the English
language. It has become quite clear that Urdu has a distinctive legacy meaning
in English as there are distinct changes that happen when the Urdu words come
into contact with the English ones.
Most recently in UK
this phenomenon has become evident when the term 'parachinar' is commonly used.
In South Asia, it is very common to use Urdu words in Hindi to mean a little
shop or a grocer in the UK. There are many other examples of this phenomenon,
which are based on British English speakers who have begun to have a profound
impact on their peers in the UK and of course in India.
There are in fact
several highly-regarded Urdu dictionaries which provide an English translation
of the Urdu term for many common British terms. One of the most important areas
of the Urdu lexicon that is not being talked about much in the United Kingdom,
is its legacy in the English language.
The legacy
meaning in Urdu is to be found in the Punjabi vernacular itself. The
majority of Urdu words are derived from Sanskrit, which has been a part of the
vernacular Indian speech from time immemorial. In addition, Sanskrit and Urdu
share similar languages with a shared culture.
For example, there is
a language called Farsi which is an offshoot of Arabic which is used by many
Iranian Muslims in Iran to communicate with each other. In fact, Farsi speakers
all over the world understand and can communicate in their own language quite
well.
Similarly, there are
many place names in Pakistan which are derived from Hindi such as Chateki,
Aksai, Aksa and Aksai Chin, which are just some of the largest cities in
Pakistan. Even the Pakistani currency was designed in the Urdu script. There
are also several countries which use Urdu as their official language.
Afghanistan has
declared Urdu as its official language and has placed many Urdu educational
institutions on the standard reading list. Pakistan and Bangladesh, are two
other countries which are using Urdu as a medium of communication with the rest
of the world.
It should be noted
that there are many other developed countries which use and still use the
legacy meaning in Urdu. The rest of the world has, however, adapted and become
cognizant of the presence of Urdu in the globalised age.
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