# Punjabi-Urdu-Hindi-Persian: Similarity of words with English



## Qureshpor

Only the other day there was mention of words having similarities. I think it started with the Arabic "banaa" (To build/He built) and the conversation moved onto Urdu/Hindi "banaanaa" (and somehow, I think to the fruit "banana"!). We know that the Arabic and Urdu/Hindi would be a pure coincidence. But there is the Arabic ardh (Earth), "kahf" (cave). Surely these can't all be coincidences.

Back to the subject at hand. I wonder if forum members can up with some not so familiar words from the languages mentioned in the thread which are similar to the words in English. I am of course aware of the Indo-European link. Let me start with a few.

Punjabi  ( A number of Urdu-Hindi words are also Punjabi words)

val/well

Urdu/Hindi

kona/corner
ghaas/grass
piilaa/pale
(baat)chiit/chit-chat
bulbulaa/bubble
joR/joint
ulluu/owl
saNgiit/song
madham/medium (?)
kaaTnaa/cut (Arabic qat3)

Hindi
sant/saint

Persian

chaanah/chin
muush/mouse

I have left out some more obvious words.


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## greatbear

There are many such words, some because of Greek connections, many because of Romance languages. More examples:

Gnosis / Gnaan / Ganesh (all related to wisdom) - in English from Greek

chamber / kamraa (room) - in both languages from Old French, and wherein from Latin

pal / bhraataa (all related to comradeship) - in English from Romany

An example of a loanword as well:

chemise / shamiz (the slip that a girl wears) - in English from Old French (wherein from Latin) and in Hindi from English or French, a much later borrowing


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## greatbear

QURESHPOR said:


> Persian
> 
> muush/mouse
> 
> I have left out some more obvious words.



In Hindi as well, mouse could be "mushak".


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## UrduMedium

_Urdu/Hindi:_
muuNchh / moustache
daant / dent*

_Persian:_
lab / lip, labial


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## Qureshpor

^ Thank you, gb. 

Punjabi

trai/three
kukkaR/cockeral
naas/nostril
miikar/micro (?)

Persian

sharm/shame
abruu/eybrow
bad/bad
bihtar/better
diiv/devil

Urdu-Hindi

koylaa/coal
patthar/peter (petroleum) 
aag/agni (Igneous rocks)
bail/bull
saaNp/serpent
suvraaj/sovereign
aaTh/eight
paidal/pedal
Topi/top (?)


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## greatbear

Ahem .. a curious one:

piss / peshab (urine, urinate)


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## Qureshpor

greatbear said:


> Ahem .. a curious one:
> 
> piss / peshab (urine, urinate)



I often wonder about this word because in Persian "pesh" means "front" and "aab" is "water". Front water!


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## greatbear

QURESHPOR said:


> aaTh/eight



In fact, some other numbers, too:
tri / tri (as in *tri*dev, *tri*nity)
nine / nau

And the other variant of eight in Hindi, "asht", looks (or is rather) even closer to "eight".


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## greatbear

QURESHPOR said:


> I often wonder about this word because in Persian "pesh" means "front" and "aab" is "water". Front water!



Technically quite correct, I would say!


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## BP.

QURESHPOR said:


> I often wonder about this word because in Persian "pesh" means "front" and "aab" is "water". Front water!


You've got corroboration here.


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## Qureshpor

BelligerentPacifist said:


> You've got corroboration here.



Great minds think alike!!!


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## tonyspeed

band / bind - bound
saaNp / serpent

of course, your borrowings:
thug / thag
loot / luuT
cummerbund 
jungle /jangal
camise/ kamees

in Jamaica we have even more:
ganja - gaaNjaa (direct borrowing)
colly bud - kalii
punaanii - phunnii, phuniyaa Hindi / nunni Marathi (suprised etymologists haven't figured this one out yet)


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## greatbear

tonyspeed said:


> band / bind - bound




Note that the close word to "bind" in Hindi is "baandh" ("baandhnaa" = to bind); "band" = closed. I don't think though that "baandhnaa" and "to bind" are related.


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## Qureshpor

greatbear said:


> Note that the close word to "bind" in Hindi is "baandh" ("baandhnaa" = to bind); "band" = closed. I don't think though that "baandhnaa" and "to bind" are related.



"band" is from the Persian verb "bastan" (to tie).

You will have come across "band-o-bast", no doubt. There does appear to be commonality between our "baandhnaa", Persian "band" and English "bind/bound" in the sense that there is "bnd" in all of them, in this order.


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## greatbear

QURESHPOR said:


> "band" is from the Persian verb "bastan" (to tie).
> 
> You will have come across "band-o-bast", no doubt. There does appear to be commonality between our "baandhnaa", Persian "band" and English "bind/bound" in the sense that there is "bnd" in all of them, in this order.



Seems tonyspeed had the right hunch and you're of course right: read here and here.

It's surprising to me as I always thought "bind" comes from Old English, wherein words are mostly having Germanic origins rather than Norman ones, and it's usually the Norman ones that you can closely identify with Persian or Sanskrit.


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## marrish

greatbear said:


> There are many such words, some because of Greek connections, many because of Romance languages. More examples:
> 
> Gnosis /* Gnaan* / *Ganesh *(all related to wisdom) - in English from Greek
> 
> chamber / kamraa (room) - in both languages from Old French, and wherein from Latin
> 
> pal / bhraataa (all related to comradeship) - in English from Romany
> 
> An example of a loanword as well:
> 
> *chemise / shamiz *(the slip that a girl wears) - in English from Old French (wherein from Latin) and in Hindi from English or French, a much later borrowing



It is a very interesting thread and nice contributions, on a bit lighter note.

Please do continue with other examples, and let me point out a couple of slips in the meantime:

As far as I know, a word like ''*gnaan*'' doesn't exist. I presume that the words given are supposed to be Hindi words, aren't they? The word about which I know it exists in Hindi is '_gyaan_', in Marathi '_dñyaan_', and continuing the movement roots-wards, in Sanskrit '_jñaana_'. All of them are written the same, though!

You are indisputably right as to the origin of the word in English and there is indeed link between Sanskrit root '_jña_' and the Greek '_γνω-/γνο-/γνου_', and they are all related to knowledge, not to wisdom.

A connection of _GaNResh_ to_ 'jñaana'_ is apparently misguessed.

For the origin of _kamraa_, you can have a look at an existing thread devoted solely to it here. Of course in Romance languages it is derived from Latin, I agree to this extent, but Latin, on its turn, borrowed it from Ancient Greek! Another Greek connection.

Could you please shed more light what is meant by *the slip that a girl wears? I've tried a lot, but I don't get it.*


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## tonyspeed

marrish said:


> As far as I know, a word like ''*gnaan*'' doesn't exist
> You are indisputably right as to the origin of the word in English and there is indeed link between Sanskrit root '_jña_' and the Greek '_γνω-/γνο-/γνου_', and they are all related to knowledge, not to wisdom.



I'm guessing this is a combination of the pronunciation gyaan and the actual Hindi spelling: jnaan . People from other regions such as Gujarat tend to pronounce this differently. I couldn't quite pick it up.


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## greatbear

tonyspeed said:


> I'm guessing this is a combination of the pronunciation gyaan and the actual Hindi spelling: jnaan . People from other regions such as Gujarat tend to pronounce this differently. I couldn't quite pick it up.



Yes, "gyaan" is pronounced in many regions, including Gujarat, as "gnaan".


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## greatbear

marrish said:


> It is a very interesting thread and nice contributions, on a bit lighter note.
> 
> Please do continue with other examples, and let me point out a couple of slips in the meantime:
> 
> As far as I know, a word like ''*gnaan*'' doesn't exist. I presume that the words given are supposed to be Hindi words, aren't they? The word about which I know it exists in Hindi is '_gyaan_', in Marathi '_dñyaan_', and continuing the movement roots-wards, in Sanskrit '_jñaana_'. All of them are written the same, though!
> 
> You are indisputably right as to the origin of the word in English and there is indeed link between Sanskrit root '_jña_' and the Greek '_γνω-/γνο-/γνου_', and they are all related to knowledge, not to wisdom.
> 
> A connection of _GaNResh_ to_ 'jñaana'_ is apparently misguessed.
> 
> For the origin of _kamraa_, you can have a look at an existing thread devoted solely to it here. Of course in Romance languages it is derived from Latin, I agree to this extent, but Latin, on its turn, borrowed it from Ancient Greek! Another Greek connection.
> 
> Could you please shed more light what is meant by *the slip that a girl wears? I've tried a lot, but I don't get it.*



For Ganesh, I always thought it meant ishwar of gaNR, which would mean lord of a tribe, but a well-known European philosopher well versed in Sanskrit, Latin and Greek once told me that there's a connection between gnosis and Ganesh. I will get back here if I am able to know from him about how did he arrive at his conclusions.

For chemise, see http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chemise 
In French, the word usually means a shirt!


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## marrish

greatbear said:


> For Ganesh, I always thought it meant ishwar of gaNR, which would mean lord of a tribe, but a well-known European philosopher well versed in Sanskrit, Latin and Greek once told me that there's a connection between gnosis and Ganesh. I will get back here if I am able to know from him about how did he arrive at his conclusions.
> 
> For chemise, see http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chemise
> In French, the word usually means a shirt!



I somehow can't believe this folk etymology. In case you are able to quote the reasoning behind it, do get back !

As for chemise, I wasn't asking for its definition but I asked what you understood by a slip.


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## Qureshpor

greatbear said:


> chemise / shamiz (the slip that a girl wears) - in English from Old French (wherein from Latin) and in Hindi from English or French, a much later borrowing



I wonder if "chemise" is the Urdu (ultimately Arabic) qamiis. The words are quite similar, as far as I can tell.


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## UrduMedium

*Urdu/Hindi*

lock / laakh (red material melted to seal)
mud / maTTii, miTTii


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## greatbear

marrish said:


> I somehow can't believe this *folk etymology*. In case you are able to quote the reasoning behind it, do get back !



It's not clear what do you mean here. "Gan" (retroflex n) does mean folk, hence Ganesh according to most opinions.



marrish said:


> As for chemise, I wasn't asking for its definition but I asked what you understood by a slip.



I mean what the word means; you could have again looked in a dictionary. Anyway, to quote from Webster's again, a slip is "an undergarment made in dress length and usually having shoulder straps", which is often the same as the English (and French) "chemise" ("a woman's one-piece undergarment") as well as "shamiiz" in Hindi.
Of course, "chemise" in French usually means a shirt, and we have the related "kamiiz" in Hindi for shirt.


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## Qureshpor

Hindi

Widow/Widower (vidhvaa/vidhhur)


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## greatbear

To me, there is an extraordinary similarity between चीन्हना (chiinhnaa = to know, to distinguish) and the German verb "*kennen/können*" (to know), the latter giving the English "know" (but in English pronunciation, "k" becomes silent).


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## marrish

greatbear said:


> To me, there is an extraordinary similarity between चीन्हना (chiinhnaa = to know, to distinguish) and the German verb "*kennen/können*" (to know), the latter giving the English "know" (but in English pronunciation, "k" becomes silent).


Well, *können means 'can'.*


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## greatbear

marrish said:


> Well, *können means 'can'.*



Also means "to be able to", but also often means "knowing" (hence the meaning of "can" as well). I would advise you to look into dictionaries before posting your comments, as this is not the first time that you have said something without looking there.
For your benefit, http://www.wordreference.com/deen/können


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## marrish

greatbear said:


> It's not clear what do you mean here. "Gan" (retroflex n) does mean folk, hence Ganesh according to most opinions.
> 
> I didn't mean gaNR. I meant that relating _GaNResh_ to gnosis is a ''folk etymology'' in my opinion. In case you are not familiar with this expression here is the link
> http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/folk%2Betymology?q=folk+etymology
> 
> I mean what the word means; you could have again looked in a dictionary. Anyway, to quote from Webster's again, a slip is "an undergarment made in dress length and usually having shoulder straps", which is often the same as the English (and French) "chemise" ("a woman's one-piece undergarment") as well as "shamiiz" in Hindi.
> *OK.*
> Can you write _'shamiiz'_ in Nagari, please?
> 
> Of course, "chemise" in French usually means a shirt, and we have the related "kamiiz" in Hindi for shirt.


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## marrish

greatbear said:


> Also means "to be able to", but also often means "knowing" (hence the meaning of "can" as well). I would advise you to look into dictionaries before posting your comments, as this is not the first time that you have said something without looking there.
> For your benefit, http://www.wordreference.com/deen/k%C3%B6nnen




Your advice is redundant. I speak German fluently so there is no need for me to look this word up. ''to be able to'', ''can'' is the primary meaning. ''to be able to'' and ''can'' are interchangeable. Only from the context you are able to understand when this word means ''to have a practical understanding of something'' (Hindi: _mujhe ... aataa hai_). It is not the kind of knowing you think which is related to ''to know''.


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## greatbear

In that case, it is you who should reread what "folk etymology" means, for the word Ganesh linked to gnaan is not a popular or folk thing: the popularly known etymology is "gan + ish" naturally, since both "gan" and "ish" are widely used words in themselves. It was a noted European philosopher and linguist who told me that gnosis and Ganesh are linked; one European philosopher's opinions hardly make a people!


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## greatbear

marrish said:


> Your advice is redundant. I speak German fluently so there is no need for me to look this word up. ''to be able to'', ''can'' is the primary meaning. ''to be able to'' and ''can'' are interchangeable. Only from the context you are able to understand when this word means ''to have a practical understanding of something'' (Hindi: _mujhe ... aataa hai_). It is not the kind of knowing you think which is related to ''to know''.



Your speaking German fluently or not doesn't change an iota of what all the word means; I also speak German, by the way. You are welcome to live in your own world; my contribution was for the thread's benefit.


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## marrish

Leave it. It was a figurative expression.

As I said previously, please do get back in case you are able to tell us something more about it, it sounds at least intriguing (I mean it).


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## UrduMedium

beat / piiT
tobacco / tambaakuu


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## lcfatima

fairy/pari


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## marrish

luuT- loot


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## Qureshpor

Persian

girift/grip


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## Qureshpor

marrish said:


> luuT- loot



I am not sure marrish SaaHib if luuT/loot would qualify because this is a relatively recent borrowing into English from the colonial days whereas other words we have been talking about in this thread are linked due through family relationships.


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## greatbear

gout/gaThiyaa
this/is
camphor/kapuur
cane/gannaa
(to) champ [also "to chew"]/chabaa(naa)
(to) chant/gaa(naa)
charisma/karishmaa (in English from GreeK; modern English meaning different from Greek and Hindi/Urdu meanings)


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## Qureshpor

greatbear said:


> gout/gaThiyaa
> this/is
> camphor/kapuur
> cane/gannaa
> (to) champ [also "to chew"]/chabaa(naa)
> (to) chant/gaa(naa)
> charisma/karishmaa (in English from GreeK; modern English meaning different from Greek and Hindi/Urdu meanings)



I could be wrong but these do appear somewhat far fetched.

"karishmah" from the original Persian at least in Urdu does not share the meaning of "charisma", the former having meanings such as wonder and miracle etc. In Urdu, "camphor" is mainly "kaafuur", but it appears that "kaapuur" also exists.


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## greatbear

QURESHPOR said:


> I could be wrong but these do appear somewhat far fetched.
> 
> "karishmah" from the original Persian at least in Urdu does not share the meaning of "charisma", the former having meanings such as wonder and miracle etc. In Urdu, "camphor" is mainly "kaafuur", but it appears that "kaapuur" also exists.



"ch"/"k" in English/French or Greek are often clues of a corresponding cognate word with "g" instead in Sanskrit, hence "chant" (especially when you consider the French form, where "t" is not pronounced) and "gaa" do not look to me far at all. You might also like to read up http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattle_in_religion#Sanskrit_term and http://latvian-sanskrit-cognates.blogspot.fr/ (of course the latter is about Latvian, thus outside of the immediate scope of this thread).

Of course, as I myself said, charisma has got a new meaning in English, but it did get into English through Greek "kharisma", where the word means divine gift, a meaning close to "miracle". As you can read at http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=charisma&allowed_in_frame=0 , the earlier sense in English was also that of something divine, and it was only by 1959 that the personal charm-related sense came into being in English.

I am sorry that I forgot to specify the language in my earlier post; my terms were from Hindi and "kapuur" is the word used for camphor in Hindi.


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## greatbear

As for the closeness between that/this/the and the Sanskrit "sa" (and Hindi "is/us"), I think it's a closeness that not only is quite high in degree but is also surprising, considering that these are some of the most commonly used words. You could read http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=the&allowed_in_frame=0 and http://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.0:1:2255.platts
From the Latvian page mentioned above, you could also see the similarity between the Hindi-Sanskrit "tadaa" and English "then". And that between Hindi "maanas" and English "man"; also Hindi "viir" (brave) and "virile". Also, Hindi-Sanskrit "yog" and English "yoke".
Also, Hindi "paad" (foot) and English "pedal".


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## greatbear

Hindi:
"sant" = saint


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## Qureshpor

greatbear said:


> Hindi:
> "sant" = saint



It seems it's been ages since post 1!


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## greatbear

QURESHPOR said:


> It seems it's been ages since post 1!



Oh, had completely missed seeing that! Thanks for pointing out


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## UrduMedium

http://www.clepk.org/oud/viewword.aspx?refid=57692

path (street) / Path


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## greatbear

Hindi/Urdu:

"behtar" (बेहतर) / better

Hindi:

"bad" (बद) / bad
"yauvan" (यौवन) / youth, juvenile (esp. if you read "j" as [j], not [dj])


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## greatbear

Hindi:

galaa / gullet
khaaT / cot
kaalimaa / calumny
koot [estimate of cost] / cost
jan / gent [sense: people, not gentleman]
prajanan / progeny
jhankaD / junk
jhak / joke
koN / corner
chakr / circle
antr / entrails
aapt [reliable] / apt
aart / hurt
aagam / augment
dubvaa / doubt
kaant [husband] / count
gundaa / goon
chitr / chit


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## greatbear

Hindi:

duvidhaa [dilemma] / dubious


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## hindiurdu

Some more exotic ones -

pati (lord, husband, eg karorpati) - des*pot*, *pot*ent (denotes power)
raja (king) - regis, regina, regime
maha - mega, major
koonj (Punjabi, from Skt kraunch) - crane
bhai/bhrah (praah)/biradar (Skt bhrata(r)) - brother
duhita (H) - duhitr (Skt) - doxtar (P) - daughter (E)
hardik (concerning the heart) - cardiac
dvaar - dar - door
dev - deity, divine
jwala - glow
antar (between, e.g. antar-rashtreey) - inter (inter-national)
vakya (sentence, from Skt vak - speech) - vocal
paar (across, away) - far
yauvan - javaan - young
jan (person or being) - jaan (life) - gene (generate, genetic)
manush(ya) - man
sam/ham (equal) - same
aankh (eye, from skt aksh) - ocular (btw chakshu/chashm between Skt and Pers)
daant/dand - dental
gaae/gau - cow
kauaa - crow
kriti - create
chaand (moon < radiant) - candle
saur - solar
vidhva - widow
vahan - vehicle, wagon
krodh - wrath
vela (hey, here it is again - time) - while
safed - shwet - white
dhruv (pole/fixed) - true
stambh (pillar or stalk) - stem
stabdh (stalled, rigid) - stop, stopped
katha - quote, quoth
ullu - owl
path - path (road, way)
upar (above) - over
munh - mukh - mouth
kat - cut
bhaaskar (name, = sun) - bask
laghu (small, light) - light
guru (big) - gravity, gravitas (H word for gravity is gurutv)
lagna, lagan (to attach with) - lock
ghaas - grass
shaalaa (e.g. paathshaalaa) - hall
usha (dawn) - east
dambh (pretence, deceit) - dupe
bharjaai (Punjabi, from skt bharjya) - bhaarya (H) - bride
kala (black) - kohl, coal
kapi (Sanskrit, Hindi-Urdu, Persian have identical word; cf Hanuman = Kapiish) - Ape
bhau (Punjabi, HU for brow, naak-bhau sikodna = disgust; from Skt bhru) - brow
bhu/bhoot (Sanskrit) = bood (Persian) - be (english) - this word in HU has come to mean 'ghost'!
bhikk (Punj) - bheekh (HU) - beg
bhadra (Skt, H - refined) - behtar - better

These are all legit cognates with common ancestors afaik. Probably thousands that we could find.


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## languageworld

Hi,
I have found this topic very interesting and have been intrigued by the similarity in languages we normally think of being so different.
I have a question to this forum:
Is there some linkage between the urdu word 'Kabaliyat' and the English word 'Capability'?
Thanks.


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## greatbear

languageworld said:


> Is there some linkage between the urdu word 'Kabaliyat' and the English word 'Capability'?
> Thanks.



I do think so; you can read about the etymology of "capable" here: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=capable&allowed_in_frame=0


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## hindiurdu

^ Careful though. I suspect that qaabil (قابل) is Arabic, i.e. of Semitic origin. It's apparently from a q-b-l root and related to qubool/qabool (accepted) and qabl (in front of, before). I saw that it is related to the Jewish religious term 'Kabbalah' (Hebrew for tradition, i.e. what came before). See http://www.worldwisdom.com/public/v...le-title=Kabbalah - from Essential Guenon.pdf - this makes sense as Hebrew and Arabic are sisters in the Semitic family. 

So this is likely an example of either what's called 'false friends' or 'false cognates' in linguistics. Thanks for the informative link GB, I didn't know that capable and capture were linked. That lists kapati as the Skt cognate - is there a descendant of this in HU? Is the HU kapat (deceit) related to this? q-b-l (face-to-face or before) and *kap- (grasp) are totally unrelated roots from totally different language families.


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## greatbear

Thanks, hindiurdu; they indeed seem to be false cognates.

No idea about "kapaT" (cunning, deception) - could be related. I do think that the word "kapaaT" (cupboard) could surely be related.


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## marrish

کیتلی _ketlii_ (a kettle). Is it a case of derivation?


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## greatbear

marrish said:


> کیتلی _ketlii_ (a kettle). Is it a case of derivation?



It's the English word used in Hindi and Urdu.


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## nineth

Not sure if someone has already posted this very basic one:

naam (Hindi) == name

and in perhaps most Indo-European languages; this is the first thing that comes to mind when I distinguish it from the Dravidian family - which use something completely different (at least the big four -  but the same/similar across themselves).


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## mundiya

Qureshpor said:


> Punjabi
> 
> trai/three
> kukkaR/cockeral
> naas/nostril
> miikar/micro (?)
> 
> Persian
> 
> sharm/shame
> abruu/eybrow
> bad/bad
> bihtar/better
> diiv/devil
> 
> Urdu-Hindi
> 
> koylaa/coal
> patthar/peter (petroleum)
> aag/agni (Igneous rocks)
> bail/bull
> saaNp/serpent
> suvraaj/sovereign
> aaTh/eight
> paidal/pedal
> Topi/top (?)



Quresh saahib, I have to admit that "suvraaj" is unknown to me.  Is this word used in Urdu?


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## Qureshpor

mundiya said:


> Quresh saahib, I have to admit that "suvraaj" is unknown to me. Is this word used in Urdu?


I think the word would most likely be known to you. It's just that I have mis-spelt it. "svaraaj" (self-rule).


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## MonsieurGonzalito

What would be the Urdu spelling of "_yauvan_" (as in "_youth, youthfulness, prime or life", _not as in_ "a young person_")?
Platts says يون but I am not so sure.

Perhaps يَووَن ?


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## aevynn

MonsieurGonzalito said:


> What would be the Urdu spelling of "_yauvan_" (as in "_youth, youthfulness, prime or life", _not as in_ "a young person_")?
> Platts says يون but I am not so sure.
> 
> Perhaps يَووَن ?



I expect the tadbhava _joban_ or _jauban_ (جوبن) would be much more common in Urdu in place of the tatsama loan _yauvan_. But I suspect your proposed spelling is correct, in analogy with the spelling for _jauvan_ (another tadbhava variant) found here.


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