# Hindi: Tashan



## Wolverine9

What is the exact meaning and etymology of _Tashan_?  I interpret it to mean 'style' more or less.  _Tashan _was also the name of a movie from a few years ago.


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## littlepond

I've personally never used the word, so I don't know its meaning. Caturvedi suggests this, whereas Internet पर "तशन" और "टशन" दोनों ही मिलते हैं|


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## Chhaatr

To me _Tashan__ maarnaa = duusroN ko impress karne ke lie style maarnaa, dikhaavaa karnaa.  _


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## Dib

It's not a part of my active vocabulary, but I understand it in the same meanings as stated above. It's quite an interesting word in having both ट and श, and apparently not being a Sanskrit loan.


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## Qureshpor

^ Dib Jii, it may be that I have misunderstood you but there is a word in Panjabi "Tiishi" which means the "peak", "summit" or "top" of a tree or a building. "Once upon a time" when I was looking at a book called "Teach Your Self Sanskrit" by Professor Coulson of Edinburgh University I believe, I do remember if I am not mistaken seeing a similar Sanskrit word there. You can well imagine my pleasure in seeing words that resembled Punjabi words closely.

I was, seemingly, already familiar with Sanskrit, at least from the vocabulary perspective!


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## Faylasoof

Chhaatr said:


> To me Tashan maarnaa = duusroN ko impress karne ke lie style maarnaa, dikhaavaa karnaa.


_ Tashan maarnaa_ is something I haven't used but डींग मारना / डींग हाँकना _DiingeN maarnaa_ / _haaNknaa_ is used in both Hindi and Urdu. I assume you use it as well to mean _Tashan maarnaa_.
*This thread* will be relevant to the discussion here.


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## Chhaatr

Jii haaN Faylasoof SaaHib jo kuchh aap ne apnii post meN kahaa hai mere mutaabiq "tashan maarnaa" kii definition (what would be urdu for this) meN kharaa utartaa hai.


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## Dib

Qureshpor said:


> ^ Dib Jii, it may be that I have misunderstood you...



What I meant is that retroflexes (including T) usually are a sign of Indic words, including native Prakrit-derived words and Sanskrit loans (though retroflex stops are not common at the initial position in Sanskrit), and "sh" in Hindi-Urdu is a sign of loanwords in general (or hypercorrection), i.e. Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic, English, etc. Thus "Tashan" doesn't easily fit any of these moulds. Maybe it is a loan from an Indic language that has "sh" natively ... Punjabi or some "Pahari" language? or maybe, the "sh" is a marker of mocking... In my Hindi-speaking friend circle, we do sometime even say "shtyle" to mock at wanna-be style conscious folks. I have heard "Tasan" too, though - sounds rustic East UP to my not so well-tuned ears.



> ... there is a word in Panjabi "Tiishi" which means the "peak", "summit" or "top" of a tree or a building. "Once upon a time" when I was looking at a book called "Teach Your Self Sanskrit" by Professor Coulson of Edinburgh University I believe, I do remember if I am not mistaken seeing a similar Sanskrit word there. You can well imagine my pleasure in seeing words that resembled Punjabi words closely.
> 
> I was, seemingly, already familiar with Sanskrit, at least from the vocabulary perspective!



I have no clue what Sanskrit word might be similar to "Tiishi", but I am not surprised that you found Sanskrit words similar to Punjabi. North-Western subcontinent was the land of the more conservative Prakrits (i.e. more similar to Sanskrit). Indeed, the IA languages closest to Sanskrit are still spoken in the N-W extremity, like Khowar, Kalasha, Shina, etc. (Well, "closest" is, of course, not quantitatively measurable - so please, take it with a pinch of salt)


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## Dib

Dib said:


> ...the IA languages closest to Sanskrit are still spoken in the N-W extremity, like Khowar, Kalasha, Shina, etc.



In hindsight, that was probably a rash statement. They do contain some very interesting archaic features unknown in other IA languages, but they also have a lot of innovations and "foreign" influences.


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## Wolverine9

Dib said:


> Maybe it is a loan from an Indic language that has "sh" natively ... Punjabi or some "Pahari" language? or maybe, the "sh" is a marker of mocking... In my Hindi-speaking friend circle, we do sometime even say "shtyle" to mock at wanna-be style conscious folks. I have heard "Tasan" too, though - sounds rustic East UP to my not so well-tuned ears.



I think a loan from another Indic language is a definite possibility.  It's also possible that the original word was _Tasan _and got modified to _Tashan_.  This must be a relatively new word because dictionary entries that list similar words to it have completely different meanings than the current meaning.

Platts: H ٿسن टसन ṭasan (see _ṭhās_), s.f. Bursting (as of anything  too full, or stretched, or tight), splitting, cracking; breach, split, dispute, contention, strife.

Chaturvedi: टशन ṭashan (_nm_) a favourable superstitious act/remedy.

Singh (Punjabi): ṬASSAṈ ਟੱਸਣ _s. m_. Conjuring, _hocus pocus_, a superstitious remedy; _c. w. karná, láuṉá_.


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## Qureshpor

Dib said:


> In hindsight, that was probably a rash statement. They do contain some very interesting archaic features unknown in other IA languages, but they also have a lot of innovations and "foreign" influences.


Just, as a matter of interest, this is the entry in the dictionary given below. Here it is given as "Tiisii" but I have always known the word as Tiishii


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## Sheikh_14

Tashan is used and understood just as much in Pakistan as it is in India. The connotations it holds is with regards to style i.e. having it, yeh meraa tashan hai, us ke tashan nahiin band hote etc. I would have thought that either it either derives from Punjabi, Urdu slang or from any other North Western Indian or Eastern Pakistani dialect. Even Ptv dramas from the early 90s do use it, which would indicate that its usage isn't too recent to Urdu and has some past precedent. I am not entirely sure of whether its usage derives from Bollywood influence or is an indigenous term that has caught on. Whats your take, given that plenty of time has passed since this thread was last under discussion and I am sure members would have had increased exposure to the term?


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## littlepond

Sheikh_14 said:


> Tashan is used and understood just as much in Pakistan as it is in India. ... I am not entirely sure of whether its usage derives from Bollywood influence or is an indigenous term that has caught on.



That's interesting, that you included India too, discounting opinions of 3 people from India: see posts 2, 4 and 6. Yes, the person in post 3 did know it, so of course the word is used by some people in India, but that's not generalisable! No, apart from that Bollywood film mentioned above, when many of us Indians heard this word for the first time in their lives, no Bollywood is behind it: and as the said film was not very successful, I don't think many Indians still know the word. In fact, I had even forgotten the meaning of this word till you revived this thread again, as I am didn't hear the word in the interim period a single time.

The word, btw, seems very, very Punjabi to me, so it would be no wonder if it may be common in Pakistan's Urdu.


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## Sheikh_14

Post 2 was the only one that declared complete ignorance of the word, the rest merely professed it wasn't an active part of their vocabulary, but they understood it. Faylasoof saaHib is not someone you would associate with slang in the first place and b) he is someone who can speak for both sides of the border and would speak as an Urdu-phone first and than for Hindi. That aside I would gladly accept Tashan to be an indigenous term, I merely ask for corroboration on that part, a dictionary entry is not necessary, merely personal hunches would suffice. As for tashan being used amongst Indians, yes perhaps it is infrequent but I have come across it especially by Indians who reside in the Gulf, which may be a direct result to exposure to Urdu and the Pakistani community in general. However, some differ in their pronunciation and refer to it as Tasan instead of Tashan a trend which is also noted when some Hindi-phones enunciate fashion in Hindi (must be dialectal- in some parts of Sindh this form of pronunciation can also be heard). You may well be right in Tashan being an Urdabi rather than Hindi term. In any case I welcome any fellow-member's input. It is widely understood across Pakistan though I am not aware of any dictionary entries, I shall have a look.


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## mundiya

Tashan is street slang common in major cities of India. I don't know which language it originates from, but most sites list it as Hindi slang usage.  It's found a place in the entertainment industry too. Besides the Bollywood film mentioned that flopped, it's used in a variety of serials and TV ads, both in the Hindi and Punjabi spheres.


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## marrish

For what it's worth, Urdu slang dictionary, Dr. Rauf Parekh, 2006, has this:

*Tasan karnaa*: khiNchaa'ii karnaa, DaaNTnaa, jhaaR pilaanaa. (This word is with "s" and has a separate entry).
*Tashan*: 1. shuguun 2. zaahirii ru3b, jhuuTaa ru3b; dikhaawaa, namuu-o-numaa'ish.
*Tashan baaz*: 1. shuguun lene waalaa 2. xwaah-ma-xwaah ru3b jamaane waalaa; jo jhuuTii shaan dikhaa'e.
*Tashan karnaa*: 1. shuguun lenaa 2. ru3b jamaanaa; apnii baRaa'ii kaa ta'assur denaa.


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