# Hindi, Urdu: dried methi



## lcfatima

Why is dried methi sometimes called kasturi methi and sometimes called kasoori or qasoori methi. 

My Urdu dictionary says kasturi is musk. In my humble observation, I have heard more Hindi speaking Indians say kasturi methi, and more Pakistan Urdu speakers say kasoori methi.


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## BP.

Never heard _kasturi_ mait.hi. Maybe it grows in_ QaSoor_ that's why the name.

In my knowledge, musk is called _mushk_ in Urdu/Farsi and probably also Arabic/Hindi.


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## Illuminatus

I have never heard Kasoori methi where I stay, but in a TV ad for MDH masaale, the song says: _Kasoori methi ya Deghi mirch, asli masaale sach sach, MDH!_


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## bakshink

It's called Kastoori methi ( I think) -possibly because of it's strong aroma though Kasturi smells different (bhinee-bhinee or so I think or God knows how it does).  We heard our Dadi(grand mother) had kasturi hidden somewhere in her store because whenever she opened, we got some sweet smell but today I think it was all a mixture of some (gifted) perfumes, sweets, creams and lot's of anticipation on our part (that now when she's opened her store we will get something- mitthaee or sweets). Even today that's what I think it smells like but now those anticipations are replaced with memories. "Mushak" is fragrance. This word is still used in Punjabi besides Khushbu and the word Musk in English is dervied from Mushak. "Musk deer" is known to have the gland where from Kasturi comes- Kasoori- I think is used for a tight Jutee (Punjabi Footwear)- There is an old song- Jutti kasoori- Pairee na pooree, Hai Rabba ve sanu turna paya- My footwear is tight- It doesn't fit my feet- Oh God, I had to walk- inspite of it.


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## Illuminatus

Also, the musk deer is called _Kastoori Mrug _in Hindi.


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## BP.

choukrïa à tous.


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## lcfatima

I asked my MIL about this and she says methi is famous from Kasoor (not Qasoor) in Pakistan, there are fields of it and it can be smelled from miles around.

Must be they have some kasoori jutee famous from their, too.

I wonder why people in India tend to say kastoori. They still say Multani miTTi and other city names of products originally from what is now Pakistan.


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## Illuminatus

In Hindi, the word MiTTi has both Ts unaspirated.


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## bakshink

Dear Icfatima
Your mother in law maybe absolutely right, Kastoori maybe distorted form of the original word as words do tend to change with time and distance especially if the memories of their origin are lost in to oblivion. And memories die with the people. We can't feel what our parents felt for the places in Pakistan where they were born, reminisced about and felt nostalgic often overwhelmed and tearful while speaking about their childhoods. We could only empathize but yet not live their emotions. I remember while selling grapes the vendors would say "Moti Chavan de" and my mother told me once that "Chavan" is a place in Pakistan where grapes grew in abundance. In older times when mediums of transportaion were scant, places were known for their specialities. Thus Amritsar/Hapur ke papad, Nagpur ke santre, Kohlapur ki chappal, Agre Ka Pettha, Moradabaad ke Tale (locks) may still have some meaning to those who migrated from India but what will it mean to the new generation or (don't mind my saying) to the immigrants (read Namesake by Jumpha Lahiri). I don't know how Multani Mitti is still known still(or their are no cliamants for the humble mitti) as such some names get stuck rightly or wrongly as (French.....) may not be French by origin, I heard the French call it (English!!). Cologne might not have been first made in Cologne. Coming back to the subject, I thought and so was kind of conveyed by the song- Jutti kasoori means- Jutti "kasveen" or tight that hurts. Kasoor could have been famous for some special kind of jutees like Patiale ki Jutee and Paraandhe How many girls now know what Prandha is or was?


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## lcfatima

In Pakistan women in Punjab still wear paraundey daily, and many girls and women of all backgrounds wear them on Eid or in weddings.  It would mark you as a muTiaran to wear one, though, if it isn't a holiday.


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## BP.

1st rule of learning: ask what you don't know even the question may look stupid. (author's name forgotten). So I'll ask away: what's a _paraunda_? Been hearing this word since childhood without knowing what it meant.


PS:
Bakshi ji, your information to words ratio is very high, which means its usually a good idea to read your posts at least twice. But reading those words fallen on top of each other demands a labour of love. Could you do something about it? Paragraphing sounds good to me.


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## BP.

> ... from Kasoor (not Qasoor) in Pakistan...



This is what my packet of _Qasoori mait-hi_ says. (see attachment, sorry for the bad quality)

I've always heard it that way. In fact I used to call it _Qusoor_ before I gathered the first vowel should be an _a_.

^ Not to be confused with the word _qusoor_.


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## bakshink

Dear BP and Illuminatus (as he too suggested some such thing in another mail).
Thanks for your compliments,will take care and paraphrase but thoughts come to me like flood waters.
I will start a new thread for Parandhaas.


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## lcfatima

BP: Yes the Shan box is the same, if recollection serves (not at home to check), that is why I included that possibility in the original query. But isn't the city in Pakistan Kasoor, not Qasoor? And of course qasoor has its own meaning which doesn't suit a box of methi.


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## BP.

lcfatima said:


> And of course qasoor has its own meaning which doesn't suit a box of methi.



I think the word you're talking about is _qusoor_-قصور-fault not _qasoor_.


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## BP.

The town of Qasoor and that of Lahore are named after two principle characters in the Mahabhaarata. I'm forgetting which. Could somebody refresh my memory?


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## bakshink

Intrigued! Will try to find out and revert.


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## bakshink

Dear PG Lahore and Kasur don't take their names from the Characters of Mahabharta but from the Legend of Ramayna which is the story of Lord Rama. He had two sons Lov and Kush and the names of the cities comes from their names:
Dear Icfatima this also answers your query about the origin of Kasuri Methhi
*Lahore's Name Origin?
*


A legend, based on Hindu oral traditions, states that Lahore was named after Lava, son of the Hindu god Rama, who supposedly founded the city. To this day, the Lahore Fort has a vacant temple dedicated to Lava (also pronounced Loh, hence "Loh-awar" or The Fort of Loh). Likewise, the Ravi River that flows through northern Lahore was named for the Hindu goddess Durga.[4]
*Source(s):*
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lahore

Source of above information: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081219001722AAj8t2E

*Kasur* (Urdu/Punjabi: *قصور*), the city of Bulleh Shah, located 55 km southeast of Lahore, is one of the oldest cities in Pakistan. Kasur is adjacent to the border between Pakistan and India. It is a major tourist attraction because of the famous guard changing ceremony. 

It is famous for its very spicy fish, a sweet dish called Andrassay, Falooda and Kasuri methi. Apart from that, it is also the birthplace of Noor Jehan, the famous Pakistani singer and actress who gained popularity in the 1950s. 

There are different traditions about the name of Kasur. One is that the town was founded by Kasur/ Kasu the son of Lord Ram and named after him as Kasurpur. (One of Kasu brother was Loh and the City of Lahore was named after him.) The other tradition tells us that the town was founded by Pashtun families of Kabul (The capital of, nowadays Afghanistan) during the period of Mughal King Akbar. The Pashtuns constructed 12 small forts known as Kot. There were about twelve Kots named after the heads of various families. These names still exist.
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Kasur


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## BP.

That was it. The tale of Ramayana. Thanks for the history refresh.


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## lcfatima

Very interesting. Thanks for the info.


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## panjabigator

Yes, thank you for the info.

Bakshink jī, Belligerent Pacifist's and my acronym are commonly confused, even by myself  !  Just letting you know that he is BP and I am PG.  I have to double check everytime I type that I get it right, but I'm sure I've missed it plenty of times.  

Cheers
PG


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## bakshink

Dear PG Isn't it strange that you chose an acronym which you yourself get confused with


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## Qureshpor

Another interesting thread.

I think the name of the city is more likely to be کسور but at some stage someone might have thought of writing it as قصور ! Just my hunch.

kastuurii indeed is the Indic word for mushk, the latter in TheTh Punjabi being synonoymous with "buu", not necessarily "xush-buu"...which I have heard pronounced as "xash-bo" (closer to the original Persian pronunciation). It is possible that the kasuurii methii has a musk-line smell (whatever that is supposed to be) and hence the reason for it being called "kastuurii methii". Another hunch! But again, it could just have been caught on wrongly and the wrong name stuck as Bakshink Jii has suggested.


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