# All Indo-Iranian Languages: Melons



## Qureshpor

Muskmelon is called "Kharbuuzah" in Urdu. In Punjabi it is "khakhRii". The watermelon is known by two names, tarbuuz and hindvaanah. Kharbuuzah, tarbuuz/hindvaanah are from Persian. Are there seperate Hindi words for these two fruits?


----------



## greatbear

Tarbuuz and kharbuuza are very much Hindi words; I fail to understand your question. Do you want to ask "Are there even more Hindi words for these two fruits"?


----------



## Qureshpor

greatbear said:


> Tarbuuz and kharbuuza are very much Hindi words; I fail to understand your question. Do you want to ask "Are there even more Hindi words for these two fruits"?




Yes, this is exactly what I mean. As I said, in Punjabi, Kharbuuzah (xarbuuzah) is khakhRii whilst tarbuuz(ah) is known as (hin)dvaaNRaa. Do Hindi speakers always use Kharbuuzah and tarbuuz(ah) or are there other words too?


----------



## rahulbemba

greatbear said:


> Tarbuuz and kharbuuza are very much Hindi words; I fail to understand your question. Do you want to ask "Are there even more Hindi words for these two fruits"?



Very much agree. 

....

Tarbooj / kharbooj are Hindi words. If one wants to study their etymology, one should mark the title of the thread accordingly.


----------



## Qureshpor

rahulbemba said:


> Tarbooj / kharbooj are Hindi words. If one wants to study their etymology, one should mark the title of the thread accordingly.


  ....


Welcome back. The forum was getting rather stale!


----------



## mundiya

Is hindvaanah a common word for watermelon in Urdu? With the exception of my family, I don't hear hindvaanaa used much by Hindi speakers.

Does anyone know why the word for watermelon (tarbuuz) ends with a consonant (z) while the word for muskmelon (xarbuuzaa/xarbuuzah) ends with a vowel? I know tarbuuzaa/tarbuuzah also occur less commonly, but is xarbuuz considered correct?


----------



## Dib

mundiya said:


> I know tarbuuzaa/tarbuuzah also occur less commonly, but is xarbuuz considered correct?



Interestingly, in Bengali they are most commonly tormuj and khormuj, respectively - yes, with an "m"! khormuja, khorbuja, khorbuj also occur, I believe. But I have heard torbuj only dialectally. Bengali has another word - "phuTi". I believe "phuTi" and "tormuj" are both called watermelon in English; but in Bengali, the first one is oblong, with light green-white patterns on the skin, the other one in spherical with dark green skin. Is there a word similar to "phuTi" in Hindi, or any other way to distinguish the two fruits?

The Punjabi word "khakhRii" brought the Bengali word "ka~kuR" to my mind, which is an obsolete word for both cucumber and unripe watermelon (phuTi).


----------



## mundiya

Dib said:


> Interestingly, in Bengali they are most commonly tormuj and khormuj, respectively - yes, with an "m"! khormuja, khorbuja, khorbuj also occur, I believe. But I have heard torbuj only dialectally.



The use of "m" is surprising indeed!



> Bengali has another word - "phuTi". I believe "phuTi" and "tormuj" are both called watermelon in English; but in Bengali, the first one is oblong, with light green-white patterns on the skin, the other one in spherical with dark green skin. Is there a word similar to "phuTi" in Hindi, or any other way to distinguish the two fruits?



Yes, there is "phuuT" in Hindi, except it's used for muskmelon (xarbuuzaa). For watermelon Hindi has another word: "kalindaa". Is this used in Bengali too? In addition, "matiiraa" also means watermelon, but I believe this word is local to Rajasthan and Punjab.



> The Punjabi word "khakhRii" brought the Bengali word "ka~kuR" to my mind, which is an obsolete word for both cucumber and unripe watermelon (phuTi).



There is "kakRii" in Hindi ("kakkRii" in Punjabi), which is used for a type of cucumber.


----------



## Dib

mundiya said:


> For watermelon Hindi has another word: "kalindaa". Is this used in Bengali too? In addition, "matiiraa" also means watermelon, but I believe this word is local to Rajasthan and Punjab.



Thank you for these words. I guess, they (including phuuT) finally answer Qureshpor's original 5 year old question.  I never heard any of these before, though.



> There is "kakRii" in Hindi ("kakkRii" in Punjabi), which is used for a type of cucumber.



To be frank, I also knew only the cucumber meaning for Bengali "ka~kuR". But since it is an obsolete word and not part of my active vocabulary, I looked it up in the dictionary, where the additional meaning of unripe "phuTi" (watermelon) appeared.


----------



## nikmahesh

That's funny, I always thought "matiira" was the other word for watermelon. My family only ever uses that word.


----------



## littlepond

For me, "phuuT" and "kharbuuj" are different fruits, though. By the way, many, including me, do say "kharbuuj" (without the -aa ending). "kalindaa" is new to me.


----------



## mundiya

^ How would you describe a "phuuT"?


----------



## littlepond

^ "phuuT" is elongated (not round), and bland (not sweet): one puts "buraa" often on it to eat it. There is also "sendaa/saindaa": much smaller, sweet-ish, full of seeds, used to make a kind of "chaaT". Maybe, English has "melon" for everything (I don't know), but they are very different fruits, enjoyed in very different ways!


----------



## mundiya

^ Thanks for the description. My conclusion is that "phuuT" (and its variants) can refer to different fruits in different areas.


----------



## Sheikh_14

Hi there Mundiya, I can't say for Urdu as I have never heard an Urdu speaker say Hindwaanah, but it is most certainly used in Pashto. How would you in Punjabi/Hindi pronunce Hindwaanah exactly as such or in the manner that QP saaHib had transliterated earlier? I believe you can read and write in Nastaliiq, if so writing Hindwaanah down in nastaliiq would alone suffice so far as pronunciation is concerned. Otherwise, roman is absolutely fine.


----------



## mundiya

I don't know how to write retroflex NR in Nastaliiq. There isn't a consensus about how to write it. The Punjabi pronunciation I'm familiar with is hadvaaNRaa, but in Indian Punjabi tarbuuj is more common. Which is the common word in Pakistani Punjabi?


----------



## KAILASH SEHGAL

mundiya said:


> Is hindvaanah a common word for watermelon in Urdu? With the exception of my family, I don't hear hindvaanaa used much by Hindi speakers.
> 
> Does anyone know why the word for watermelon (tarbuuz) ends with a consonant (z) while the word for muskmelon (xarbuuzaa/xarbuuzah) ends with a vowel? I know tarbuuzaa/tarbuuzah also occur less commonly, but is xarbuuz considered correct?


My father and grandparents often used word hadwana in our childhood for watermelon .I think it is from Pakistan as my father hailed from sheikupura Pakistan.


----------

