# Hindi/Urdu: उम्मीदवार	ummiidvaar



## Machlii5

Hi,
during the electoral battle in America, the candidates were referred to as  उम्मीदवार , obviously a word formed on the base of उम्मीद - ummiid,  hope.

I wonder about the affix - is it -dvaar or -vaar, what is its literal meaning, where does it come from, and are there many other words formed on the same pattern? Is it reserved for words from Persian origin? 

Thank you for your answers.


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## Qureshpor

From an Urdu perspective, "umiid-vaar" (ummiid is also used in Urdu, especially in poetry for prosodic reasons) means "candidate" and one could literally translate the word as "hopeful" in this context. 

umiid (originaly "umaid" and as such is still used by Lakhnaviis and Punjabis) is from Persian for hope and -vaar is a suffix with more than one meaning.

savaar (from asp-vaar....ghoRe vaalaa /rider) and now the word means "passenger".

xar-vaar = a donkey-load

ustuvaar =stable/firm/steady/resolute

buzurg-vaar = befitting the elderly

shah-vaar = befitting a king

mardaanah-vaar = in a manly manner

diivaanah-vaar = like the way of a mad man

ummiid-vaar-i-va3dah-i-diidaar mar chale
aate hii aate yaaro qiyaamat ko kyaa hu'aa

Mir Taqi Mir

As you can see from the word used in the shi3r, the word ummiid-vaar here does n't mean a candidate but one who is hoping/hopeful or expectant/expecting.. 

There will no doubt be other words with the original Persian suffix -vaar. Over to the Hindi speakers for the Hindi perspective.


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## greatbear

Why will a Hindi speaker's "perspective" be different from an Urdu speaker's "perspective," QP? 

To answer the question anyway, the word literally means "hopeful" (the suffix is "vaar"), but it is used to mean "candidate, contestant" (of course, in English, too, we use the word "hopeful" to mean the same, but in Hindi, "umeedvaar" is the most often used word for a candidate).


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## tonyspeed

Platts:

P وار _wār_ or _vār_ [Pehl. & Pārsī _var_; Zend _vara_ (or _vare_), rt.  _var_; S. वर, rt. वर् (वृ, वृणोति)], suff. Having, possessing, endowed with, full of (e.g. _umed-wār_, 'hopeful');—becoming, befitting, suiting, fit, suitable (for), worthy (of;—e.g. _shāh-wār_, 'befitting, or worthy of, a king'; _gosh-wār_, 'becoming or adorning the ear,' 'an ear-ring');—like, resembling, in the manner of, after the fashion of, according to; after or according to the details of (e.g. _ẕarra-wār_, 'like an atom';—in this sense it is often added to substantives to form adjectives, e.g. _mahīne-wār_, 'monthly'; _kisht-wār_, According to the fields or the crops);—enough or sufficient for, or a quantity sufficient for (e.g. _jāma-wār_, 'sufficient for a garment'; cf. _jāma bhar_);—the suffix is sometimes redundant, e.g. _sazā-wār_ = _sazā_, 'deserving,' &c.


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## marrish

Machlii5 said:


> Is it reserved for words from Persian origins?.


In Hindi, it isn't.

For example, for some reason, I thought of सप्ताहवार _saptaahvaar_ (weekly) and it appears that it exists, as can be read on the Himachal Pradesh government site here (third on the bar under the heading):
_
saptaahvaar bhaav_ (weekly rates). 

So the Hindi perspective seems to differ anyway.


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## Qureshpor

marrish said:


> In Hindi, it isn't.
> 
> For example, for some reason, I thought of सप्ताहवार _saptaahvaar_ (weekly) and it appears that it exists, as can be read on the Himachal Pradesh government site here (third on the bar under the heading):
> _
> saptaahvaar bhaav_ (weekly rates).
> 
> So the Hindi perspective seems to differ anyway.


Thank you marrish SaaHib for this insight into the “Hindi perspective”. [...] Here is a little more from the Urdu standpoint. The title of this thread is pronounced in several ways by Urdu speakers. 

umiid-vaar, ummiid-vaar; umed-vaar, ummed-vaar; umaid-vaar. Iftikhar Arif (Iftixaar 3aarif) was challenged by the producer of Radio Pakistan for his pronunciation of the word as "umaid" when he had read the news. On Youtube he quoted a Ghalib verse to back his stand although I didn’t quite understand his reasoning.


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## marrish

آپ کا بے حّد شکریه ،  (...)

(Edit: the text above was in response to a snipped fragment from the preceding post and as such is not relevant any more, so I snipped it too).


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## greatbear

Does the original poster of this thread, Machhlii5, understand the above script? I don't know; maybe you do? [...]


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## greatbear

marrish said:


> In Hindi, it isn't.
> 
> For example, for some reason, I thought of सप्ताहवार _saptaahvaar_ (weekly) and it appears that it exists, as can be read on the Himachal Pradesh government site here (third on the bar under the heading):
> _
> saptaahvaar bhaav_ (weekly rates).
> 
> So the Hindi perspective seems to differ anyway.



This is a different "vaar", which means "day" (and used as both standalone noun as well as suffix): e.g., "mangalvaar" (lit. "Mars day" - Tuesday). So, the Hindi perspective doesn't differ in any way, as far as the "vaar" under query here is concerned.

Thanks for the transliteration!


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## fdb

The word for “hope” is _ummēd_ in Middle Persian, _ummēδ_ in Classical Persian, _omid_ in Modern Western Persian, _umaid_ in Indo-Persian. _ummēd-wār_, “bearing hope, hopeful” occurs already in Middle Persian.


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## cherine

Hi everyone,

Allow me a quick moderating note: there's no rule pro or against any script in this forum, and no one is forced to use or not use any script. And we can't possibly ask everyone to transliterate what they want to post in at least 2 kinds of srcipt to suite everyone. It's not practical and takes too much time for a person to write the same post in 2 -or more- different scripts. Those who do it are thanks, but those who don't are not, and should not, be blamed or criticised.

Regards,
Cherine
Moderator


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## marrish

greatbear said:


> This is a different "vaar", which means "day" (and used as both standalone noun as well as suffix): e.g., "mangalvaar" (lit. "Mars day" - Tuesday). So, the Hindi perspective doesn't differ in any way, as far as the "vaar" under query here is concerned.
> 
> Thanks for the transliteration!


I disagree. The "vaar" you bring unto attention is different from the discussed one. -vaar in saptaah-vaar is the same suffix as in Platts' example above "mahiine-waar". My comment about the Hindi perspective being different holds stand.


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## Qureshpor

Machlii5, I hope you have been provided with sufficient food for thought. 
[...]
How is the script learning going? Here is how the word is written in its own language امیدوار


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## Machlii5

QURESHPOR said:


> Machlii5, I hope you have been provided with sufficient food for thought.
> How is the script learning going? Here is how the word is written in its own language امیدوار



This has been a very interesting discussion, and I want to thank all of you for your answers to my query and the consideration of different angles. 

I also promise to always transliterate any items of devanagari in my posts as I'm deeply grateful for transliteration from Urdu, without which I couldn't use the Urdu part of this site. I have indeed started learning the script but it will be a slow process, and to have the transliteration in parallel provides great help.


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## gagun

*vaar* [origin-persian](*adjective)*can be used in different perspectives

vaar

1)equivalent or equal
it is used in suffixes
example>majnu-vaar means =like Majnu
            >diivaanah-vaar means =lke a mad man

2)hopeful OR EXPECT
example>ummiid-vaar=امیدوار=उम्मीदवार=candidate or Nominee

3)according to time (end or installment)
example>maah-vaar=monthly=मासिक, माहवार, प्रतिमास=_mahīne-wār=__kisht-wār
_
            >hafte-vaar


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## Qureshpor

gagun said:


> *vaar* [origin-persian](*adjective)*can be used in different perspectives
> 
> vaar
> 
> 1)equivalent or equal
> it is used in suffixes
> example>majnu-vaar means =like Majnu
> >diivaanah-vaar means =lke a mad man
> 
> 2)hopeful OR EXPECT
> example>ummiid-vaar=امیدوار=उम्मीदवार=candidate or Nominee
> 
> 3)according to time (end or installment)
> example>maah-vaar=monthly=मासिक, माहवार, प्रतिमास=_mahīne-wār=__kisht-wār
> _
> >hafte-vaar



Firstly, I don't know if anyone has already said this but I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome you to the forum. I hope your regular participation in the forum allows us to benefit from your linguistic experiences.

I am not sure if I would classify the suffix "vaar" as an adjective in Persian. Also, did you mean "qist-vaar" (in instalments)?


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## marrish

QURESHPOR said:
			
		

> Also, did you mean "qist-vaar" (in instalments)?


in the meanwhile let me say that kisht-waar appears to be copied inadvertently from the Platts SaaHib's entry furnished above by tonyspeed SaaHib.


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## Qureshpor

marrish said:


> in the meanwhile let me say that kisht-waar appears to be copied inadvertently from the Platts SaaHib's entry furnished above by tonyspeed SaaHib.


In this case, "kisht-vaar" is fine marrish SaaHib. Thank you for pointing this out to me. "kisht", as you know, is a field.


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## gagun

Icopied _'mahīne-wār'_ from above post and i have not seen that _'kisht-wār".so,here it was actually _"QIST-VAAR" means in the form of installment.


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## marrish

gagun said:


> Icopied _'mahīne-wār'_ from above post and i have not seen that _'kisht-wār".so,here it was actually _"QIST-VAAR" means in the form of installment.


Thank you for the explanation ! By the way, _kisht-waar_ from the above is also correct and _qist-waar_ is different and its meaning is as you have submitted it.


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## gagun

QURESHPOR said:


> Firstly, I don't know if anyone has already said this but I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome you to the forum. I hope your regular participation in the forum allows us to benefit from your linguistic experiences.
> 
> I am not sure if I would classify the suffix "vaar" as an adjective in Persian. Also, did you mean "qist-vaar" (in instalments)?



I copied _'mahīne-wār'_ from above post and i have not seen that _'kisht-wār".so,here it was actually _"QIST-VAAR" means in the form of installment.


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