# Punjabi: sayonee



## chrysalid

Salaam alaikum,

I have been listening to the Pakistani band Junoon for some time. They have a very nice song, "sayonee", and it is translated as "friend". I checked various dictionaries for that word but could not come up with anything. Could anyone help me with it?

Shukriya


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## bakshink

Yes Saiyo-nee means friends- but is used by girls for their buddies. Nee word in punjabi is used for girls- Aidhar aa nee- Ae girl come here- usually used by the mother when she is calls her daughter (to pull her ears)- Also used by girls when they indulge in friendly banter- Hai nee- kina sona munda- Hai nee can't be translated because it's an exclamation- Nee gal sun- Hey friend listen! Marja-nee Marja-nee is a very popular song these days from Shah Rukh Khan's movie Billu (Barber) and there is another word in it Khasma nu- khaani- Both Marjani and Khasmanukhani are absuses in Punjabi- Marjani literally means- Go die( can only be said to a girl) and khasmanukhani actually means "khasam- nu khani" literally meaning who's eaten/devoured her husband (probably like a black widow spider who eates her mate after mating!!) metamorphically but in sense I think who's (evil stars) caused his ruin- For scolding a boy the abuse will be Marja-Ve and surprisingly also used- khasman-u-khanya!! But these are abuses used rather dearly- like amny in Hindi/Urdu


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## BP.

Its not Urdu as far as I know. Punjabi maybe?


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## lcfatima

Yes just to be clear it is Punjabi, not Urdu.


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## chrysalid

Hello again. I would like to thank you all for your contributions. One more request, how would you write it in Gurmukhi script?

Thanks


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## bakshink

ਸੈਯੋ ਨੀ- I think it's how that it will be written- Can anyone please endorse it or correct it- Learnt Gurmukhi only at school level and have never written or read much written it either


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## panjabigator

Is <saiyo> like <sakhī> or <sahelī>?  Never heard it before, so I can't endorse your spelling.  I'll check a dictionary to see.


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## bakshink

Saiyo Nee means Aree Sakhiyo aur Aree Saheliyo. You may not find saiyo in Dictionary-you will need to check up with someone with rural punjab background


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## lcfatima

There is the Bulleh Shah poem Ao saiyo. It starts out "Aao saiyo ral deyo ni vadhaai
Men var paaya raanjha maahi..." (looked it up)


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## chrysalid

Thank you all again. That line "Aao saiyo ral deyo ni vadhaai, Men var paaya raanjha maahi" is also the beginning of the qawwali song "Mera piya ghar aayaa". In the song, they say something like "Aao nee saiyyo...", so "nee" comes before "saiyo".


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## bakshink

That's a keen eye or ear should I say- Chrysalid- It is used either way- like in the above Hindi translation- I wrote Aree Saheliyo where Aree is for "nee" and Saheliyo is "Saiyo"- the order is reversed. Avo nee Saiyo are the opening lines of another song "Taal se taal mila" from a movie "Taal". And Icf I don't have Bhulle Shah's book with me at present but in many of his poems he uses the word saiyo- many Sufi saints depicted Love for God as man woman relationship with the devotee imaginating himself (impersonation) as the beloved of God


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## lcfatima

Ah, yes he must Bakshi saheb, I am not at all an expert on poetry, it is just that this particular poem well know in qawaali and pop versions. That's interesting about Taal. I had not realized that this is what they were saying. The same with that marjaani-song!


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## bakshink

Dear Chrsalid and Icfatima
More on the order of "Nee" in a sentence.

In Avo nee Saiyo nee is in the middle of the sentnece.
Now see this:-
JeRRe passe vekhaN mainu disda ae yaar nee (last word is nee)- I
DuniyaN to kar gaya wakh mainu pyar nee (last word is nee)- II
Hoya ki je jag sara tanne marda (III)- Nee jeRRa pyar kare duniyaN toN naiyooN harda (IV) (first word of fourth line is nee) or you can say it is in the middle of the sentence too because when sung the there is no pause between the third and the fourth line...

Which ever direction I look, (Hay friend) I see my (friend/lover).
He loved me the love that was different from the one the world knows about.
What if the whole world taunts?
The one who loves (falls in  love) is not subjugated by the world.


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## panjabigator

And, in case anyone is interested, the masculine equivalent for <nī> is <ve>.


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## lcfatima

PG: I remember you asked about -ve in a long ago post in which someone queried about Hindi songs with -re. You mean adding that morpheme makes a word masculine, or is it some exclamation said in singing?


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## panjabigator

I don't really know how to use it, but it's used in the vocative.  Ve mundiya, nī kudiye.

I believe it's identical to <re>, except that it is gender specific (masculine: ve, feminine: nī).


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## bakshink

Yes! Ve and ni are gender specific. "Ni Kudiye" Hey girl, "Ve Mundya" Hey boy.
'Re' and 'Ri' are shorter forms of 'Arey' and 'Ari'. They too are gender specific but sometimes 'Re' is used for both genders.
"Main dekhoon jis ore sakhi-ri samne mere saanvariya". Which ever direction I look, I see my lover.
"Aaja re ab mera dil pukara". Both (male and female) singers in the duet sing the same line.


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## lcfatima

Ah okay, now all of those -ves make more sense to me.


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## Dib

So, will it be correct to say that "saiyo" is the Punjabi vocative plural of "sai"? Where "sai" is a "female friend" (< Skt. sakhii?).


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## Sheikh_14

Btw in Pakistani Punjabi is the word for husband commonly understood as khasm or xasm? Across the border it is obviously khasm but amongst Pakistani Punjabis I have heard both. I am not sure if the x is merely an Urdu based influence or the original pronunciation in the other part. In other words does Shahmukhi incorporate the x sound or not?


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