# Hindi, Urdu: dēī, dēī-de



## MonsieurGonzalito

Could someone explain me what dēī-de, or especially dēī mean?
(Hindi देई, Urdu probably دےای)

In a song I am studying, it seems to be a non-standard future form of _dēnā:_

_ziṁdgī apnī ham tōkā dān _*dēī dē*_  .....  I will give (as a dān=gift) my life to you_

I could not find it in any "reputable" dictionary, but online I found at least _lēvā-dēī, which is apparently one of the ways of saying "transaction" (i.e. "give-take"), _and it also seems to be 
the title of several popular songs: _"dēī dē ō maula", "dēī dē nī dil", "tōrē hāth sē dēī dē nī jahar", _etc_._

In some contexts (admittedly, in videos and signs that look sort of low budget and substandard), I even saw the words together, i.e. "देईदे"

Thanks in advance


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## marrish

MonsieurGonzalito said:


> In a song I am studying, it seems to be a non-standard future form of _dēnā:_
> 
> _ziṁdgī apnī ham tōkā dān _*dēī dē*_ ..... I will give (as a dān=gift) my life to you_


In *the*  song you've been studying, it appears to be a form of _denaa _in the present subjunctive


marrish said:


> *zindagii apnii ham tokaa daan de'ii re
> muskuraa ke jo maaNge paraan de'ii re
> kal mile haa'e kal mile,
> kal mile, iih hamkaa bhuul ga'e aaj re
> زندگی ہم اپنی توکا دان دئی رے
> مُسکرا کے جو مانگے، پران دئی رے
> کل ملے، ہائے کل ملے
> کل ملے ایہ ہم کا  بھُول گئے آج رے*


I think I was wrong and it is *de'ii deN* (I/we would give ...) and I might still be wrong though


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## shah.turkan

I know the song, and the last word of the verses is definitely dē, not _re_.
From a quick search in rekhta.org, on the other hand, dē dē seems to be pretty common, for example

کیا خبر کس کو کب کہاں دے دے​اور دے دے تو دو جہاں دے دے
kya KHabar kis ko kab kahan de de
by NADIM NADEEM​

چھ کاریں ہیں دو کاروں کو خیرات میں دے دے اچھا ہے

تو قوم کے خدمت گاروں کو خیرات میں دے دے اچھا ہے​(a parody nazm)​
Maybe dēi dē is some dialectal variant of dē dē?​


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## MonsieurGonzalito

Thank you, @marrish and @shah.turkan.
Honestly, I thought it would be some expression perhaps vulgar but very common, immediately recognizable by a regular Hindustani speaker.

The fact that you hesitate to place it, tells me that it is not the case. It must be yet another obscure, very dialectal expression from "the" song .

I am sorry for having wasted your time.


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## shah.turkan

MonsieurGonzalito said:


> It must be yet another obscure, very dialectal expression from "the" song .


"The" song?


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## MonsieurGonzalito

shah.turkan said:


> "The" song?


Yes, "Dagaabaaz Re", from the Indian movie "Dabaang 2".

I grab songs and look for each word in the dictionary.
I thought this one song would be pretty standard in language (each video version in Youtube has, like, 15 million views), but it turned up to have so many perplexing regional, endearing, non-standard, perhaps even made-up words, that I wore people's patience thin asking about them.


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## marrish

It's not so obscure, there are only a few dialectical words here and there and two or three non-standard but quite easily understandable grammatical constructions. A greater confusion while finding answers to different pieces of this song's puzzle is because of faulty transcription/mishearing/clarity of enunciation. Not the song is very difficult but its lyrics or translations being spread on the internet is more to blame. However, for learning, you'd be better off with a standard language song; but it's too late! You're almost through it! It's interesting to discover how there is no single correct version of this lyrics on the internet, English, or otherwise. As I said the other day, these are only some Awadhi elements, nothing strange, and the lyrics are situated in a tradition of a blend of urban Urdu with rustic speech (i.e. puurbii "Eastern", today's UP and Bihar) used for particular music and dance. Other examples you gave are from other parts of India. "de de" is one of the basic verbs used in both Urdu and Hindi. denaa - de denaa, karnaa - kar denaa, likhnaa - likh denaa etc. etc.; it's a regular grammar feature.


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## shah.turkan

I found a video in Youtube that has what seems to be the "official" transcript of the song, and not merely some fan writing what he hears.
Apparently we can't link to videos here, but look for "Dagabaaz Re Full Song with Lyrics Dabangg 2 | Salman Khan, Sonakshi Sinha". 
It is the one having a "T-series logo", starting with some intro by Sonakshi, the song comes later.

To the point of this thread, they transcribe the word in question as "dayi", which is not only plausible, but perfect Urdu, I think.

Urdu lugat, 2nd entry, 1st sub-entry
Oxford Dictionary


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## desi4life

@MonsieurGonzalito I don't think you wore anyone's patience thin. I, for one, appreciate your curiosity and thread topics. As a matter of interest, you can compare the lyrics of the Hindi version of the song with the Bhojpuri version, which is also available on YouTube. Bhojpuri is not identical to Awadhi, but both are used in the eastern part of UP state and overlap to some degree. It will enable you to note some of the differences and similarities between the Hindi version, which incorporates dialectical elements from Awadhi, and the full-fledged Bhojpuri version.


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## MonsieurGonzalito

desi4life said:


> @MonsieurGonzalito I don't think you wore anyone's patience thin. I, for one, appreciate your curiosity and thread topics. As a matter of interest, you can compare the lyrics of the Hindi version of the song with the Bhojpuri version, which is also available on YouTube. Bhojpuri is not identical to Awadhi, but both are used in the eastern part of UP state and overlap to some degree. It will enable you to note some of the differences and similarities between the Hindi version, which incorporates dialectical elements from Awadhi, and the full-fledged Bhojpuri version.



Thank you for your concepts, @desi4life , and for the video reference.

Very interesting, the Bhojpuri version: it keeps many of the aspects we were discussing in previous topics (tohaare, ghatiyaaN, bhatiyaaN, raniyaaN), which I suppose must be standard for them.


I hear that they sing the "give you my life/ dayi de) part in a very different way, too.


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## MonsieurGonzalito

OK, so, apparently, we also have "dāyī" (spelled with a long aa) which is not a noun, but an adjectival suffix

Caturvedi:
"दायी (p. 312) da:yi: दायी da:yi:--a suffix meaning a giver or giving (as उत्तरदायी, फलदायी).
Platts:
1) دایي दायी dāyī (p. 505) S دایي दायी _dāyī_ , adj. (f. -_inī_), Giving, presenting, granting; communicating; causing, effecting (com. used as last member of Hindī compounds; see _dāʼī_).

And that would make the verse perfectly grammatical, albeit a little semantically redundant:


_*zindagii apnii ham tokaa daan daayii deN  ............  *_I shall grant you my life, a giving offer.


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## desi4life

_dāyī _is not used in the Hindi or Bhojpuri versions. It is different from _de'ī_ in meaning and pronunciation_._ In the Hindi song, the word is _de'ī._


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## MonsieurGonzalito

desi4life said:


> _dāyī _is not used in the Hindi or Bhojpuri versions. It is different from _de'ī_ in meaning and pronunciation_._ In the Hindi song, the word is _de'ī._


Argh ...
OK, rethinking ...


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## desi4life

MonsieurGonzalito said:


> Argh ...
> OK, rethinking ...



Actually, I agree with the transliteration _dayī_ (short /a/) that was mentioned in another post. I think it's more accurate than _de'ī_. Either way it's a different word from _dāyī._


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## MonsieurGonzalito

OK, new attempt:

Platts:
دئي दई daʼī (p. 554) H دئي दई, दय _daʼī_ [S. दाया, rt. _dā_], s.f. A gift.

دان dān [Pehl. dān; Zend dāna; S. धान], An affix denoting the receptacle, place, or stand (for a thing;—e.g.  pīk-dān; qalām-dān; shamʻ-dān, &c., qq.v.).",

_ziṁdgī apnī ham tōkā-dān daī dēṁ_ ....... I shall offer my life , a gift *containing* you?


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## littlepond

I haven't heard the song, but "daii" (short a, long i) is often "de" in Gujarati/Marathi-influenced dialects of Hindi. A Gujarati speaker could easily say "daii de ne" (in standard Hindi, "de de naa").


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## MonsieurGonzalito

Thank you @littlepond. 
Yes, all points towards it being some colloquial verbal phrase equivalent to "dē dēnā" in a variety of tenses or moods.
I realize that it is pointless trying to elucubrate grammatical explanations for _daī _in isolation, when used this way.


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