# Urdu/Punjabi/Hindi: Rainbow



## lcfatima

What are some of the ways to say rainbow in these languages?


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## francois_auffret

According to my humble knowledge, in Urdu, we say : *Qaus e Qaza'* (the Arabic word, which by the way, I've heard) and *Dhanak *(The Desi word, never heard... I think it is a poetic word)... 
Punjabi, if I'm not wrong uses the same words *Qaus e Qaza'*  and *Dhanak* which is pronounced something like *tanak. *However, the only word I've heard in Punjabi is *Pîng / Pîngh*, used thus: *pîng pê gaî*...

Hindi, I think, has the word *Dhanush*... Of course, this is high (shuddh Hindi).... I don't know what would be the bol chal version...


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## panjabigator

Panjabi: /pingh/
Hindi: /indrdhanush/ and /megdhanush/, according to Shabdkosh.com

/dhanush/ and /dhanukh/ just mean 'bow.'


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## francois_auffret

Hello, Panjabigator,

Mc Gregor's Oxford Hindi-English dictionary gives rainbow as second meaning of *Dhanush* without any prefix, so I guess it must be used this way... But I'm no big expert in Hindi to be true...

However, the Urdu word *Dhanak* (with two '_zabar_', i.e. two *a*'s and no *h* at the end دهنك), obviously the 'desi' (do you call this forms tadbhava??? I'm not sure anymore, my Hindi is getting rusty, you see!) form of *Dhanush* means (1) bow and (2) rainbow...

In Shahmukhi Punjabi, both spellings are used *Pîng* and *Pîngh*, the word meaning *jhoola* (swing), which exists also in Urdu... That's an image quite different from other languages!

Do you have any idea what would be the spoken / colloquial form for it in Hindi???

Cheers


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## panjabigator

Responding real quickly, yes, the word would be a tadbhav.  A tatsam would be a word taken directly from Sanskrit without morphological changes that reflect the the modern language.

In Panjabi, the difference between ping and piingh is just tone, I think.  I think pingh is a little different from jhuulaa, but I don't remember how.  I think a piingh is just a one seater swing, but you'd probably be better off asking someone over there.

I think the colloquial word would be "rainbow," given the flare that English has in Hindi nowadays.  But I've heard indradhanush before, so I can't say for certain.  Let's wait for  some more responses.


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## francois_auffret

Yes, let's wait for more feedback... 

By the way, I meant *piing* and *piingh*, so it is almost the same word (you know that in Urdu and Pakistan's Punjabi a final H or a second H disappears almost systematically, as we have in *JhooT* for lie, *dhoka* and... *dhanak*).

*Piing(h)* is definitely a one seater... And the smaller version for children is called *piingâ*

_I guess we started digressing..._


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## BP.

A rainbow is called 'qaus-e-qazaa'. Maybe 'dhanak' too but hardly used in Urdu.


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## panjabigator

Is this the same <qazaa> as in death? <lā'ī hayāt, ā'ī qazā le chalī chale>


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## Cilquiestsuens

Not its not, death is *qaDa* (qaaf + Daad )... while *qaws-e-quzah* is (qaaf + zaa + He - called jeemi He by Farsi speakers)

The fact is that in Arabic, *Daad* is pronounced like an emphatic *daal*, while in Urdu it is the same sound as *Ze.*

And if you allow me a remark, the she'r of *Dhauq* reads as follows :

*lā'ī hayāt ā'e, qazā le chalī chale*

*(life brought us we came, death took us we went = bear with the litteral translation)*


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## BP.

I'm afraid I made orthographic mistakes in there that now confuse you.

The word is _qaos e quzaH_-قوس قزح- 'bow/arch of (colors)?' and has no relation with _qazaa_-قضا.


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## panjabigator

Cilquiestsuens said:


> *lā'ī hayāt ā'e, qazā le chalī chale*
> 
> *(life brought us we came, death took us we went = bear with the litteral translation)*



Thank you both. 

And if I may,

*apnī xushī na ā'e na apnī xushī chale*

And just for kicks and giggles

*ho 'umr e xizr, to kahe.nge bhī ba vaqt e marg
ham kyā rahe yahā.n, abhī ā'e abhī chale

*


> _quzaH_-قوس قزح- 'bow/arch of (colors)?' and has no relation with _qazaa_-قضا.



So they are not homophones - <quzaH> has a pesh and <qaZā> has a zer, in addition to two different z letters.


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## BP.

You mean to say a _zabar _I'd think.


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## panjabigator

I always confuse the terms - thanks!


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## Cilquiestsuens

panjabigator said:


> *apnī xushī na ā'e na apnī xushī chale*


 
At your service.

You will think I am picky... I have no book at hand but i am quite sure you have to remove the first *na* here.

*apnī xushī ā'e na apnī xushī chale.*

and change *bhii*'s position in the other verse

*ho 'umr e xizr bhii to kahe.nge ba vaqt e marg*
*ham kyā rahe yahā.n, abhī ā'e abhī chale*


this is Zauq at his best.


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## panjabigator

I ALWAYS mess this one up!  Thank you


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## Cilquiestsuens

The expected position of *bhii* in normal speech would be

* 3umr e xidhr ho to bhi kahe.Nge...*

Its simple change of position gives so much more power to the statement!


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## bakshink

Piing or pee.ng in Punjabi (Juulaa in Hindi) (Indian side) is used for rainbow. I haven't heard Dhanak. Pee.ng actually means a swing which is made by hanging long rope as loop from a mango tree. It has a small plank to seat as many as can sit on it. Pee.ng come up in North India on the on set of monsoon ( Saawan ke jhoole pa.De).Perhaps in Punjabi Rainbow is called pee.ng because the course of the swing corresponds to an arc as does the Rainbow.

In Hindi Indra Dhanush is the complete word and Dhanush is the short form. Dhanush means bow and for Indra see this text from Wikipedia
*Indra* (Devanagari: इन्द्र ) is the King of the gods or Devas and Lord of Heaven or Svargaloka in Hindu mythology, and also he is the God of War, Storms, and Rainfall.

for more see here:- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indra


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## panjabigator

BelligerentPacifist said:


> A rainbow is called 'qaus-e-qazaa'. Maybe 'dhanak' too but hardly used in Urdu.



Returning to an old thread here.  Is <dhanak> commonly heard in Indian Urdu?


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## BP.

Maybe. I heard it the first time on the tele, and that in an _adabii _programme _'...d.hanak ke rango.n...'_, which means it is quite understood in Pakistani Urdu, and so may also be in its Indian counterpart. But it may not be understood just as probably, for example I asked somebody and we guessed together it meant the same as _qausequzaH_.

I see I made a spelling error in my post you quoted. Its *qaus e quzaH*-قوسِ قزح.


Come to think of it, _d.hanak_ may be from the same root as _d.hanush_...Ss and Ks go all wibbly wobbly in the IE family.


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## BP.

Neology time! How does _quzHii meHraab_ or _meHraab e rang haa_ sound? They might catch on, you never know


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## Faylasoof

panjabigator said:


> Returning to an old thread here.  Is  <dhanak> commonly heard in Indian Urdu?



As BP has already mentioned, _dhanak_ is used in Urdu but not  sure how common it is now. Certainly in our family we use. Perfectly good word! Come to think of it, we use it a little more than _qaus e quzaH_قوسِ قزح.

It is also listed in all Urdu dictionaries I've seen. There are two pronunciations of the original: دهنك धनुक_ dhan*u*k_, धनक_dhan*a*k_

In Urdu it is always seen in the _latter_ form, _dhan*a*k_. Interestingly, I’ve seen it more in poetry and even high prose than in common speech! 

Here is the Wiki entry in Urdu for دهنك.




BelligerentPacifist said:


> Neology time! How does _quzHii meHraab_ or _meHraab e rang haa_ sound? They might catch on, you never know



BP, I think I can see why you chose _meHraab_ but wouldn’t _kamaan_ be better given that a  _meHraab_ has a general shape more different than a _kamaan_ to the rainbow. It (rainbow) actually doesn’t quite look like either, unless one is thinking of the fully-drawn Assyrian bow which made a perfect, smooth semi-circle; very much like a rainbow. 

Looking up Platts I came across a really curious alternative. It mentions:

_ʻ__alī-kī kamān_, 'The bow of ʻAlī,' the rainbow 

Now, even we never ever used this! I’m trying to remember if I’ve heard _anybody_ use this. To be honest can’t recall anyone.


Edit:
Just realised that the Wiki entry above mentions سترنگی کمان_ sathrang*ii* kamaan_! The only entry I found when I searched with سترنگ كمان_ sathrang kamaan_.


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## panjabigator

Thanks for your posts guys.  Curious, is قوسِ قزح used in Persian as well?


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## mundiya

The most common word in Hindi is "Indradhanush".  "dhanush" and "dhanuk" are also used in Hindi for rainbow, but the primary meaning is bow.

Platts lists "boro" for rainbow.  I haven't heard this word used for rainbow in Hindi or Punjabi.  Is it used at all in Urdu?


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## Qureshpor

mundiya said:


> [...] Platts lists "boro" for rainbow.  I haven't heard this word used for rainbow in Hindi or Punjabi.  Is it used at all in Urdu?


I am not aware of this word for a rainbow in Urdu.


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## marrish

Never heard it.


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## amiramir

mundiya said:


> The most common word in Hindi is "Indradhanush". "dhanush" and "dhanuk" are also used in Hindi for rainbow, but the primary meaning is bow.



Just returning to an older thread again.  In Hindi would urban speakers most likely say indradhanush or rainbow? What about satrangi? Basically the question is what word do I tell my daughter to use? My (Delhi) cousins kind of made fun of me the other day for using tohfaa instead of gift and kachhuaa instead of turtle, saying no one uses the Hindustani words...


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## mundiya

Urban speakers are more likely to say rainbow. English words are regrettably very commonly used in urban Hindi speech, and it's unfortunate your cousins made fun of you for using the right words. With all things considered, perhaps your Hindi is better than theirs. I would recommend that you teach your daughter the Hindi words, and as she gets older she could choose whether she wants to use the English or Hindi ones depending on her surroundings and who she's interacting with.


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