# Hindi/Urdu: liver



## lcfatima

Is there a difference between jigar, kaleja, and kaleji? 

Jigri dost
TooTa hua kaleja
Kaleji fry

These words aren't interchangeable, right?


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## Illuminatus

I _think _jigar and kaleja are the same.

I haven't heard Kaleji. Can you give a sentence?

The thing is, these words are only used in Hindi expressions like _Jigri dost, jigar ka TukDa, kaleje ka TukDa, kaleja phaad ke kuch karna _etc. The technical name for Liver is *यकृत*. Mostly, though, we use the English word _Liver._


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## Faylasoof

Actually, <Jigar (Urdu & Farsi) = Kalejaa (Hindi & Urdu)>

But, as we always use it: kalejii = cooked liver pieces - usually fried, but also cooked in other ways.

In our eastern literature  <jigar> (in Urdu / Farsi); <kibd> (in Arabic) and <kalejaa> (in Hindi/ Urdu), occupy same / similar importance and carry the same symbolic meanings.  Hence, we have expressions like:

laxt-e-jigar, xoon-e-jigar = jigar kaa TukRaa = kaleje kaa TukRaa = very, very dear. (We also have <dil kaa tukRaa>.)
Roughly the same as calling someone your <life's blood>.


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## panjabigator

I agree with Faylasoof's wonderfully detailed post.

I hear more <jigar> than <kalejā> for expressions of love and friendship  (i.e., <o mere jigarī dost>) and I've heard <kalejā> in <kalejā ṭha.nḍā honā>, which I think translates to "blowing steam off."  

We eat <kalejī> often and perhaps the nomenclature is a North Indian thing.  Of all the English imported to Hindi/Urdu and Panjabi, I don't usually hear it called 'liver.'  Interesting.


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## BP.

gator, you raise an interesting point in _jigri dost_. AFAIK its a concept borrowed from Arabic that a person/thing dear to you metaphorically resides in the liver, and not the heart as we're used to saying in English. Hence _jigri _instead of _qalbi_.


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## panjabigator

Right.  It's quite a curious association!  It would be interesting to examine these metaphors cross culturally.  

The heart though can be added on to <jigar> for emphasis.  <mere qalb o jigar> is a useful construction for someone very close, correct?  I've heard it used in a devotional context to refer to the Prophet and the _Panjtan_.

I wonder if these extend into South Asian languages that lack a profound Persian lexical presence.  How does one convey "jigri dost" in Bengali, Oriya, and Marathi?


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## lcfatima

Actually in Arabic you can use also use heart in that sense, not just liver. I don't know if this is a modern usage from English influence or not though. i.e. Inta kibdi wa qalbi.


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## BP.

Shukran katheer


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## panjabigator

BelligerentPacifist said:


> Shukran katheer



Many thanks?  I like it!  Is this Urdu too?


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## BP.

I'm afraid this one is Arabic gator.


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## cherine

The correct Arabic is shukran jaziilan شكرًا جزيلاً .


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## BP.

Thanks cherine.


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## Faylasoof

Yes BP, we always use the accusative form (شكرًا ) with جزيلاً, also in the accusative. 
This has the same meaning as the Urdu بے حد \ بہت بہت شكریا  - one of the meanings of  جَزَلَ (from which we get  جزيلاً), being <abundant, numerous>.

Anyway, back to <jigar etc.>. I read some while back as to why we in the East have these expressions concerned with this  organ. Most accounts tell us that our traditional (Graeco-Arabic) medicine placed a huge importance on the liver! It is a very important organ - functions as the main detoxifying organ in the body. Hence its importance. 

For very different reasons heart <dil / qalb> is also used in this figurative manner. But in no language so far have I seen other organs mentioned in this way including, say, the brain, or the kidneys or the pancreas and the gall bladder!! 

English is even more restrictive. While we do say: My dear heart, my dear love! But it would be comical to say: My dearest liver / pancreas / brain! 

How culture and history affect a language is very interesting.


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## cherine

BelligerentPacifist said:


> Thanks cherine.


You're welcome BP :--)

Regarding the liver, if we look at the Arabic poetry, we'll see that it was used as the "place" for feelings along with the heart. They even sometimes refer to the heart as the "thinking" tool.
A person can have a broken heart, and also a broken liver:
تفطَّر قلبه حزنًا
تمزّق كبده حزنًا


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## UrduMedium

The following shi3r from Ghalib clarifies the metaphorical usage of dil (heart) and jigar (liver)

‎عاشقی صبر طلب اور تمنّا بیتاب
دل کا کیا رنگ کروں خونِ جگر ہو نے تک

Love demands patience, while desire/passion is unwilling to wait
What to do with my heart while my liver bleeds to death?

To me that means the liver to be a metaphor for endurance and perseverance, while the heart is a symbol of desire/passion which is inherently impatient.


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## Faylasoof

UrduMedium said:


> The following shi3r from Ghalib clarifies the metaphorical usage of dil (heart) and jigar (liver)
> 
> ‎عاشقی صبر طلب اور تمنّا بیتاب
> دل کا کیا رنگ کروں خونِ جگر ہو نے تک
> 
> Love demands patience, while desire is unwilling to wait
> What to do with my heart while my liver bleeds to death?
> 
> To me that means the liver to be a metaphor for endurance and perseverance, while the heart is a symbol of desire which is inherently impatient.


 UM SaaHib, here (and elsewhere) heart metaphorically may be a symbol for desire but not always since we do say _qawii dil_ to mean _strong-hearted / full of endurance_. As far as I know _qawii jigar_ is used less, if at all, especially in reference to _bravery/ stamina_ etc. Similarly, we say _sher-dil_ but I’ve never heard _sher-jigar_! 

Equally, we do say _laxt-e-jigar_ = _jigar kaa TukRaa_ to mean ‘dearest / darling’. So to an extent, heart and liver can be used interchangeably in a metaphoric sense for these, same ideas but not other organs. 

Of course we do say _aaNkh kaa taaraa_ in the same sort of way as _laxt-e-jigar = jigar kaa TukRaa_, but we’d never express the same idea by using expressions like: _mere gurde / __pheph__R__e_ _/ pitte kaa tuKraa_ or _meraa laxt-e-maGhz/ damaaGH_! That was the point I was trying to make.


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## Abu Talha

UrduMedium said:


> To me that means the liver to be a metaphor for endurance and perseverance, while the heart is a symbol of desire which is inherently impatient.


UM Saahib, there is some support for this view here: 





> In ghazal physiology, the liver is the organ that makes fresh blood; thus it's an emblem of fortitude, steadfastness, endurance over time. The heart, by contrast is always consuming blood: bleeding constantly, pumping blood to the eyes so the lover can weep tears of blood, and then tearing itself into fragments as a sign of its proper lover-like self-destruction. For the heart to be done for is an initial state of passion, since more blood can be sent along from the liver. But when the liver is finished, the game is up.
> Source: http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00ghalib/030/30_02.html?#fwp


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## Faylasoof

Abu Talha said:


> UM Saahib, there is some support for this view here:


  The metaphoric usages I was referring to above go beyond poetry and so are broader!


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## UrduMedium

Abu Talha said:


> UM Saahib, there is some support for this view here:



Thanks AT saahab. Very good resource. It lists a number of other places both _dil _and jigar are referenced. Very interesting.



Faylasoof said:


> The metaphoric usages I was referring to above go beyond poetry and so are broader!



Faylasoof saahab- I agree with you about the broader usage. The word _dil_ is used in many expressions and in many varieties. I should have limited my comment to traditional Urdu poetry symbolism.


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## Aryaved

Can we trace the etymology of jigar and kaleja to Sanskrit or Avestan/Old Persian to find a cognate?

Interesting to note how both words mean liver in both languages & are used metaphorically to mean heart in both languages! There must be a connection!

Or is the Arab culture influence the explanation for this phenomenon?


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## Dib

Aryaved said:


> Can we trace the etymology of jigar and kaleja to Sanskrit or Avestan/Old Persian to find a cognate?



We can. Persian "jigar" has the Sanskrit cognate "yakṛt", which - as far as I know - is not used as a seat of feelings, etc. It is a well-established Indo-European word found accross many branches.
"kalejaa", according to Turner's Comparative Dictionary of Indo-Aryan Languages, derives from Sanskrit "kāleyaka-" which Suśruta has used to mean a part of the intenstine.



> Interesting to note how both words mean liver in both languages & are used metaphorically to mean heart in both languages! There must be a connection!
> 
> Or is the Arab culture influence the explanation for this phenomenon?



It is indeed the Persian literary/cultural influence (which may itself have been influenced by the Arabic one), that explains this commonality. Incidentally, Bengali doesn't use jigar, but "kolija/kolje" is refered to as a seat of courage rather than of tender feelings (Cf. koljer jor = "strength of liver" > courage).


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## Aryaved

Dib said:


> We can. Persian "jigar" has the Sanskrit cognate "yakṛt", which - as far as I know - is not used as a seat of feelings, etc. It is a well-established Indo-European word found accross many branches.
> "kalejaa", according to Turner's Comparative Dictionary of Indo-Aryan Languages, derives from Sanskrit "kāleyaka-" which Suśruta has used to mean a part of the intenstine.
> 
> 
> 
> It is indeed the Persian literary/cultural influence (which may itself have been influenced by the Arabic one), that explains this commonality. Incidentally, Bengali doesn't use jigar, but "kolija/kolje" is refered to as a seat of courage rather than of tender feelings (Cf. koljer jor = "strength of liver" > courage).



Interesting anecdote regarding Bengali. Never heard anything similar for Marathi...


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