# Urdu, Hindi: uuNgh / اونگھ / ऊँघ



## marrish

The other day I said to a friend of mine something in this manner:

mujhe to uuNgh aa rahii hae ab mujhe ijaazat denaa.
مججے تو اونگھ آ رہی ہے اب مجھے اجازت دینا۔
मझे तो ऊँघ आ रही है अब मझे इजाज़त देना।

He was equally surprised as I was: he didn't understand what I said (_mujhe to uuNgh aa rahii hae_) and I couldn't believe he couldn't understand it.

I'd like to request your opinion about the usage of this word (_uuNgh_): is it familiar, obsolete, much used or regional? Or is it just me?

By the way, the meaning of _mujhe to uuNgh aa rahii hae _is_ '_As for me, I'm getting on the brink of sleep_'.

_Thank you


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## Faylasoof

marrish said:


> The other day I said to a friend of mine something in this manner:
> 
> mujhe to uuNgh aa rahii hae ab mujhe ijaazat denaa.
> مججے تو اونگھ آ رہی ہے اب مجھے اجازت دینا۔
> मझे तो ऊँघ आ रही है अब मझे इजाज़त देना।
> 
> He was equally surprised as I was: he didn't understand what I said (_mujhe to uuNgh aa rahii hae_) and I couldn't believe he couldn't understand it.
> 
> I'd like to request your opinion about the usage of this word (_uuNgh_): is it familiar, obsolete, much used or regional? Or is it just me?
> 
> By the way, the meaning of _mujhe to uuNgh aa rahii hae _is_ '_As for me, I'm getting on the brink of sleep_'.
> 
> _Thank you


 marrish SaaHib, uuNgh is very much current in Urdu speech and prose. The infinitive, as you know, is _uunNghnaa_ اونگھنا
 = نیند کا جھونکا آنا _niind ka jhoNkaa aanaa / _غنودگی آنا _Ghunuudagii aanaa.
_
  اونگھ  uuNgh =  نیم خوابی _niim-xwaabii_ (pronounced _xaabii_)


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## Chhaatr

Marrish saahib I have mostly heard and used _uuNgh rahaa.

_However, if you had said this sentence to me I would have understood you perfectly.


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## Faylasoof

Chhaatr said:


> Marrish saahib I have mostly heard and used _uuNgh rahaa.
> 
> _However, if you had said this sentence to me I would have understood you perfectly.


 Chhaatr SaaHib, I take it you don't say _uuNgh aanaa_? In Urdu this is very much used. Not only that, we sometimes even pluralize it: _us ke to uuNgheN aa rahii haiN! _


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## littlepond

Like Chhatr jii, I would only understand 'uungh rahaa" (usually in the context like "sher uungh rahaa hai"); otherwise, I would understand you, marrish jii, but I would also be very surprised.


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## Qureshpor

marrish said:


> The other day I said to a friend of mine something in this manner:
> 
> mujhe to uuNgh aa rahii hae ab mujhe ijaazat denaa.
> مججے تو اونگھ آ رہی ہے اب مجھے اجازت دینا۔
> मझे तो ऊँघ आ रही है अब मझे इजाज़त देना।
> 
> He was equally surprised as I was: he didn't understand what I said (_mujhe to uuNgh aa rahii hae_) and I couldn't believe he couldn't understand it.
> 
> I'd like to request your opinion about the usage of this word (_uuNgh_): is it familiar, obsolete, much used or regional? Or is it just me?
> 
> By the way, the meaning of _mujhe to uuNgh aa rahii hae _is_ '_As for me, I'm getting on the brink of sleep_'.
> 
> _Thank you


marrish SaaHib, on first sight of your query I was wondering why your friend had a problem with your sentence. However, having looked at all the responses, it appears to me that the problem is not with uuNgh (feminine noun) or uuNghnaa (verb) but the verb "uuNgh aanaa". In this respect I can follow Chhaatr SaaHib's "rahaa" form.

I have checked four "Classical" dictionaries of Urdu (three Urdu/Urdu and one Urdu/English) and none give an entry for "uuNgh aanaa". Could this have been the issue for your friend as opposed to just the use of the word "uuNgh"?

xvaab-i-tasarruf se nah uuNgheN ge ham
chaahiye haiN usii kuuche kii havaa ke jhoNke

Imam Baksh Nasikh- 1776-1838 (امام بخش ناسخ)


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## Faylasoof

^Classical dictionaries are indeed very useful but they are "classical" -meaning old usage.... and poetry, esp. old poetry, doesn't help either! uuNgh aanaa is used in Urdu as is uuNgh par uuNgh aanaa! It seems  uuNghnaa and uuNgh rahaa are more widely known to our friends here at least, but uuNgh can be used with other verbal forms too not just with aanaa since we also say uuNgh jaanaa / uuNghte jaanaa etc.

In most of these cases uuNgh is being used just like niind and we do say niind aannaa / niind jaanaa except we never say niind rahaa [hae] (!) in the we say uuNgh rahaa [hae]. 

This brings me to your other point QP SaaHib. I gather you didn't find _uuNgh aanaa_ in any of your dictionaries but did you find _uuNgh rahnaa_?


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## marrish

Qureshpor said:


> marrish SaaHib, on first sight of your query I was wondering why your friend had a problem with your sentence. However, having looked at all the responses, it appears to me that the problem is not with uuNgh (feminine noun) or uuNghnaa (verb) but the verb "uuNgh aanaa". In this respect I can follow Chhaatr SaaHib's "rahaa" form.
> 
> 
> I have checked four "Classical" dictionaries of Urdu (three Urdu/Urdu and one Urdu/English) and none give an entry for "uuNgh aanaa". Could this have been the issue for your friend as opposed to just the use of the word "uuNgh"?
> 
> 
> xvaab-i-tasarruf se nah uuNgheN ge ham
> chaahiye haiN usii kuuche kii havaa ke jhoNke
> 
> 
> Imam Baksh Nasikh- 1776-1838 (امام بخش ناسخ)


Thanks for sharing the results of your research, QP SaaHib. I will have to ask that friend (UP, India, native Urdu speaker) more about the verb itself but I think he is unfamiliar with uuNgh or uuNghnaa as he said "kyaa aa rahii hae?". Thanks to others my surprise has diminished.


Faylasoof SaaHib, uuNgh being both a noun and a verb stem doe not seem likely to be listed in any dictionary with "rahnaa", does it, as one can't expect all conjugations to be given like uuNghtaa, uuNghaa, uuNgh rahaa, uuNgh gayaa, uuNgh baiThaa etc. so I tend to agree with your comment about the absence of "uuNgh aanaa" from the dictionaries being not relevant but with a reservation: I perceive uuNgh in uuNgh aanaa to be a noun, not a verbal form as in "uuNgh rahaa hae".


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## Faylasoof

marrish said:


> Thanks for sharing the results of your research, QP SaaHib. I will have to ask that friend (UP, India, native Urdu speaker) more about the verb itself but I think he is unfamiliar with uuNgh or uuNghnaa as he said "kyaa aa rahii hae?". Thanks to others my surprise has diminished.
> 
> 
> Faylasoof SaaHib, uuNgh being both a noun and a verb stem doe not seem likely to be listed in any dictionary with "rahnaa", does it, as one can't expect all conjugations to be given like uuNghtaa, uuNghaa, uuNgh rahaa, uuNgh gayaa, uuNgh baiThaa etc. so I tend to agree with your comment about the absence of "uuNgh aanaa" from the dictionaries being not relevant but with a reservation: I perceive uuNgh in uuNgh aanaa to be a noun, not a verbal form as in "uuNgh rahaa hae".


 marrish SaaHib, why do you think I asked that question - and the question was put to QP SaaHib since he couldn't find uuNgh aanaa! 

 I do know that uuNgh is a noun here like niind in niind aanaa and taras in taras aanaa! But this is not exactly what we were discussing, btw, i.e. it is a noun or not.


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## littlepond

Just to confirm, "uunghnaa" also would surprise me for a human being (unless he's Kumbhkarna ... who anyway wasn't a human really  ): I can consider a "sher" (lion) to "uungh" (let's make a sentence: "sher kaa uunghnaa matlab chuuhon kaa damaknaa").


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## marrish

Thanks to all of you that participated in this thread. My astonishment has diminished. I think it is a valid verb and noun. I thank Faylasoof SaaHib for his input as it is thousands of miles from me but very near to him that the speaker of Urdu in India of nowadays didn't understand it. Same as Chhaatr and others. I think Urdu has no future in India. After all, will it die?


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## mundiya

We're going off on a tangent, Marrish jii, but I think you're reacting a bit too strongly.  I understand your dismay, but Urdu is certainly not dying or lacking a future in India.


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## Qureshpor

marrish said:


> Thanks to all of you that participated in this thread. My astonishment has diminished. I think it is a valid verb and noun. I thank Faylasoof SaaHib for his input as it is thousands of miles from me but very near to him that the speaker of Urdu in India of nowadays didn't understand it. Same as Chhaatr and others. I think Urdu has no future in India. After all, will it die?


kahte haiN maayuusii gunaah hai! kyaa yih mumkin nahiiN kih Urdu ko "uuNgh" aa'ii hu'ii ho nah kih "maut"! Urdu kii saxt-jaanii shaayad kuchh shaa3ir-i-3aziim "Faanii" kii saxt-jaanii se miltii-jultii hai.

mar mar ke jii rahaa hai Fani
*Allaah re us kii* *saxt-jaanii
*


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## littlepond

What is so dying or sleeping if a word is not in vogue? Strange reactions from _two_ Urdu speakers!


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## Qureshpor

^
yaa rab vuh nah samjhe haiN nah samjheN ge mirii baat
de aur dil un ko jo nah de muj ko zabaaN aur

Ghalib

littlepond Jii, I was not agreeing with marrish SaaHib's comment. My reply is suggesting that perhaps it is not death that is on its way to consume Urdu but merely "uuNgh", and uuNgh could be considered as a first stage to falling asleep. Sleep, within the Urdu speaking culture is thought to be a state very close to death. I hope you follow the gist.


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## marrish

Qureshpor said:


> kahte haiN maayuusii gunaah hai! kyaa yih mumkin nahiiN kih Urdu ko "uuNgh" aa'ii hu'ii ho nah kih "maut"! Urdu kii saxt-jaanii shaayad kuchh shaa3ir-i-3aziim "Faanii" kii saxt-jaanii se miltii-jultii hai.
> 
> mar mar ke jii rahaa hai Fani
> *Allaah re us kii* *saxt-jaanii
> *


Thank you. I wish you and mundiya jii were right. I agree - it is not yet even sleeping, just 'unghing' but it has all to do with money- I hope Anjuman and Furogh-e-Urdu institutions get good financing and that the youth thinks not only about English and Hindi. 

littlepond jii, I have plenty of reasons to make such a comment. It's not only the case of one word or two. I'm sorry my comment is perhaps exaggerated.


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