# Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi: Merry Christmas



## marrish

Hello,

Since it is Christmas, why not have a seasonal thread in the Indic languages. As far as my searching abilities can reach, there is no separate thread devoted to this subject here, but there is a multilingual thread elsewhere and some relevant post managed to get found which I'm reproducing below (by clicking on the links inside the quotation you will be taken to the thread in question):


am5786 said:


> *Urdu
> **Merry Christmas:*
> *کرسمس مبارک*
> (Chrismas Mub'arak)
> *Happy Holidays:*
> *عید مبارک*
> (Eid Mub'arak)
> *Happy New Year:*
> 
> *نيا *
> 
> *سال مبارک *
> (Naya Saal Mub'arak)





macta123 said:


> In Hindi
> Bada Din mubarak ho!! = Merry Christams!!
> Nav varsh ki shubh kamnayey!! = Happy new year!!



There is also a Wikipedia page with a list of these wishes in several languages here. For Hindi, it offers शुभ बड़ा दिन (hi) (śubh baṛā din), शुभ क्रिस्मस (hi) (śubh krismas), मेरी क्रिसमस (hi) (merī krismas), क्रिसमस मुबारक (hi) (krismas mubārak), while for Urdu it has:کرسمس مبارک (ur) (krismas mubārak), میری کرسمس (ur) (merī krismas).
Punjabi is not included.

The word for Christmas is _krismas _and I believe it reflects the reality, i.e. that both Urdu and Hindi use a loan-word with its roots in English, but I remember having heard _بڑا دن مبارک baRaa din mubaarak_ in Urdu many Christmases ago.

I'm curious if there are other instances/forms of this greeting?

Merry Christmas!


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## lcfatima

Saw this for Christmas on Facebook today from an Urdu speaker: "Eid E Miladun Eesa Nabi" 

I know in Bangla 'boRodin' is used for Christmas-shubbho boRodin is Merry Christmas. Interesting to know that it was once used in Urdu. I wonder what happened to that expression?


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## greatbear

Christmas is also called as naataal in Hindi, so naataal mubarak or shubh naataal could also be used. Of course, what's actually used is "Merry Christmas" even when speaking Hindi.


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## Wolverine9

naataal is of Portuguese origin, and I knew it was used in Gujarati and Marathi, but I didn't know it was used in Hindi/Urdu too.  I've never seen it listed in any dictionaries.  Not even Platts.


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## marrish

lcfatima said:


> Saw this for Christmas on Facebook today from an Urdu speaker: "Eid E Miladun Eesa Nabi"
> 
> I know in Bangla 'boRodin' is used for Christmas-shubbho boRodin is Merry Christmas. Interesting to know that it was once used in Urdu. I wonder what happened to that expression?


Thanks for Bengali, Icfatima! The FB quote you shared is fine although it is from a Muslim perspective. Not really what I was looking for, but it enriches the interreligious palette, for which Urdu has been famous of, very nicely. Thank you very much.


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## UrduMedium

Here's a recent news report that references _baRaa din_ as a name used in India for Christmas (as quoted by a Punjabi Christian).

http://www.npr.org/2012/12/25/168014344/christmas-in-india


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## marrish

Wolverine9 said:


> naataal is of Portuguese origin, and I knew it was used in Gujarati and Marathi, but I *didn't know it was used in Hindi/Urdu too*.  I've never seen it listed in any dictionaries.  Not even Platts.


Thank you, it sounds very Portuguese. *Perhaps you included Urdu out of courtesy but there is need to add Urdu after the slash as there is no mention of it in the post about naataal and also it is not applicable on Urdu.*


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## Wolverine9

^ I figured if a Portuguese word like naataal is used in Hindi, it's probably used in Urdu too.  That seems to be the case for all the other Portuguese borrowings I can think of (eg. girjaa, kamraa, baalTii, santaraa, kaajuu, chaabii, almaarii, etc.).

Btw, there's a typo in the thread title (Urud instead of Urdu).


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## fdb

lcfatima said:


> "Eid E Miladun Eesa Nabi"



miladun ?? with -un ??


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## Qureshpor

fdb said:


> miladun ?? with -un ??


Perhaps "3iid-i-miilaadu_nnabii 3iisaa" was meant.


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## fdb

That is a possibility.


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## marrish

Wolverine9 said:


> ^ I figured if a Portuguese word like naataal is used in Hindi, it's probably used in Urdu too.  That seems to be the case for all the other Portuguese borrowings I can think of (eg. girjaa, kamraa, baalTii, santaraa, kaajuu, chaabii, almaarii, etc.).
> 
> Btw, there's a typo in the thread title (Urud instead of Urdu).


Thank you and sorry for the typo (another one is the lack of 'no' before 'need'). I hope the mods can fix it.


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## Qureshpor

May I take this opportunity to wish all our friends a very Happy Christmas. I hope the cooking and the eating is going/has gone according to plan, unlike our poet Naziir Akkbarabadi who was cooking for his beloved but..

کدھر ہے آج الٰہی وہ شوخ چھلبلیا
جس کے غم سے مرا دل ہؤا ہے باولیا

اِدھر تو قرض ہؤا اور اُدھر نہ آیا  یار
پکائی تھی کھیر قسمت سے ہو گیا دلیا

My lord, where is that mischievous fraudulent lady
In whose sorrow my heart has gone totally crazy

In debt I am, beloved is not here, I am short of courage
I had rice pudding in mind but, alas, it is now porridge!

​This is padding for the pudding!


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## HZKhan

In a nineteenth century Urdu book, I've seen *یومِ کلاں/yaum e kalaaN* being used for Christmas.


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## HZKhan

Arab christians use iidul miilaad for this day, so taking cue from them, we can also say 'iid e miilaad e masiih' in Urdu.


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## Sheikh_14

Does Urdu have no alternative to Happy and merry besides Mubaarak? Arabic quite often uses sa'iid, would it be criminal for us to use a word like Xush, baa-xair or xuub? In Italian they use buon Natale which means merry/happy christmas. Considering Hindi phones use Nataal what do you follow it up with? As for HZ Khan's suggestion I am quite amenable to it however I would like to add that the 1st izaafat is quite often considered redundant and instead is hyphenated I.e. Eid-milaad u'n Nabii rather than E'id e milaad.  It could also be E'id-milaad-eeswii mubaarak, Roz e Nataal/Eeswii, Eesaa.


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