# Urdu-Hindi-Punjabi: Gardener/Garden



## Qureshpor

One comes across the common word "maalii" for a "gardener" in Urdu, Hindi and Punjabi. There is also of course "maalaa" for a "garland". I am wondering what the related word for "garden" is.

And here is a Punjabi couplet.

maalii daa kam paaNRii deNRaa p_har p_har mashqaaN paave
maalik daa kam phal-phul laaNRaa laave yaa nah laave

(MiyaaN Muhammad BaKhsh)

It is the gardener's job to irrigate (his garden) with bucket loads of water
And it is up to God to cause fruit and flowers to grow, if it is his desire


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## Faylasoof

QURESHPOR said:


> One comes across the common word "maalii" for a "gardener" in Urdu, Hindi and Punjabi. There is also of course "maalaa" for a "garland". I am wondering what the related word for "garden" is.


 Well, QP SaaHib, I always thought مالی _maalii _(= gardener) was related to مالا _maalaa_ (= a garland) either directly or via the now relatively rare term مالا كار _malaa kaar_ = a garland maker (flower vendor); a gardener. 

The derivation of مالی _maalii_ from مالا _maalaa_ appears to be the same standard way we derive terms for certain professions in Urdu from a related noun. For example, بہشتی _behishtii_ / _bihishtii_ [(often mispronounced as _bhishtii_) = a water carrier / waterman; one who draws water at the well, usually for payment; one who “irrigates” people!] from بہشت _behisht_ / _bihisht _= paradise.  

Of course in Urdu and Colloquial Hindi the other word used for a gardener is باغبان _baaghbaan_ (and in older Urdu the now extremely rare / obsolete term چمن بند _chamanband_).


QURESHPOR said:


> And here is a Punjabi couplet.
> 
> maalii daa kam paaNRii deNRaa p_har p_har mashqaaN paave
> maalik daa kam phal-phul laaNRaa laave yaa nah laave
> 
> (MiyaaN Muhammad BaKhsh)
> 
> It is the gardener's job to irrigate (his garden) with bucket loads of water
> And it is up to God to cause fruit and flowers to grow, if it is his desire


  Great lines from the poem _sayful muluuk_ of MiaN Mohammad Baxsh. We discussed this and more earlier though at the moment I can’t seem to find it!


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## greatbear

I am surprised though that maalaa and maalii are related!


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## Qureshpor

greatbear said:


> I am surprised though that maalaa and maalii are related!




I always had an inclination that these words would be related. However, I thought there might be another word linked to "maalaa"/"maalii" which would be equivalent to "garden". It would be interesting to know the basic meaning of the word "maal".

Most people would be aware of Iqbal's poem entitled "nayaa shivaalah". The following couplet was part of his original nazm but was not included in the final version found in "BaaNg-i-daraa".

  kuchh fikr phhuuT kii kar, maalii hai tuu chaman kaa 
buuToN ko phuuNk Daalaa is bis-bharii havaa ne


  (Iqbal)


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## Faylasoof

QURESHPOR said:


> I always had an inclination that these words would be related. However, I thought there might be another word linked to "maalaa"/"maalii" which would be equivalent to "garden". *It would be interesting to know the basic meaning of the word "maal"*.
> 
> Most people would be aware of Iqbal's poem entitled "nayaa shivaalah". The following couplet was part of his original nazm but was not included in the final version found in "BaaNg-i-daraa".
> 
> kuchh fikr phhuuT kii kar, maalii hai tuu chaman kaa
> buuToN ko phuuNk Daalaa is bis-bharii havaa ne
> 
> 
> (Iqbal)


 According to this,  *maal *means not only wealth, money etc. (this is from the Arabic-Persian *مال* maal, the most common usage for us ), but also has the meanings of _wrestler, prizefighter, athlete_ (from the Sanskrit मल्ल), and the third meaning: garland, wreath etc. from Sanskrit again: माल्यं or माला. 

The first two are not relevant to this thread but the third (*maal *= *maalaa* = wreath, garland) is very much what we are discussing. 

Platts, btw, confirms all this here, here and here.

So _maal -> maal*ii*_ may not be that difficult to imagine given the _behisht_ -> _behisht*ii*_ and دهوب धोब _dhob_ (wash; washing) -> دهوبي धोबी _dhob*ii *_(washerman) examples exist.


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## rahulbemba

greatbear said:


> I am surprised though that maalaa and maalii are related!



Are mala, mali and even mallu related?  next, are mulayam and malayalam related? 

Garden is baag, bagicha, or upvan in Hindi... 

Upvan उपवन came from Van वन which means a forest. I think since a garden is like a small forest, it becomes upvan...


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## Qureshpor

rahulbemba said:


> Garden is baag, bagicha, or upvan in Hindi...
> 
> "baaGh" is a "garden" and "baaGhiichah" is a "small garden".
> 
> Upvan उपवन came from Van वन which means a forest. I think since a garden is like a small forest, it becomes upvan...
> 
> I would n't go as far as this. A small forest would be termed as a "wood" and hence "upvan" might not be so accurate a word for a garden. What do you think of the following? None of them are linked to "maalii" or "maalaa" though.
> 
> 1. वाटिका
> 2. उद्यान
> 3. बाड़ी
> 4. फूलवाड़ी


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## greatbear

An upvan is certainly not a garden; it's just a smaller forest. Anyway, when we are discussing the word "maal" and its extensions, why are you bringing upvan in, rahul?
Thanks, Faylasoof, for the information; it had never crossed my mind that garland and gardener could be connected!


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## rahulbemba

greatbear said:


> Anyway, when we are discussing the word "maal" and its extensions, why are you bringing upvan in, rahul?



I did comment on some possible extensions of the word "mala" in my same post. But I guess you chose not to see it  I didn't "bring in" garden, it is there in the title of the thread too 



QURESHPOR said:


> A small forrest would be termed as a "wood" and hence "upvan" might not be so accurate a word for a garden.


and 


greatbear said:


> An upvan is certainly not a garden; it's just a smaller forest.



An upvan certainly can mean a garden too. Here are the references:

Upvan comes from the Sanskrit word which means, "A small garden." [Ref]

and:

उपवन - upavana - [upavana]
n (S A minor or diminutive wood.) A garden; a plantation; an orchard; a grove.
n (S A minor or diminutive wood.) A garden; a plantation; an orchard; a grove.

[Ref]


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## greatbear

Not everything is a reference; you must learn to know which are the credible ones.

Also, garden in the title is meant to discuss maali and maalaa, not for knowing the other possible words in Hindi/Urdu/Punjabi.


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## Qureshpor

greatbear said:


> Not everything is a reference; you must learn to know which are the credible ones.
> 
> Also, garden in the title is meant to discuss maali and maalaa, not for knowing the other possible words in Hindi/Urdu/Punjabi.




Here is at least one reliable reference. 

_upavana (p. 053) [ upa-vana ] n. little wood, grove: *-v*ri*ti,* f. garden hedge. (_*A Practical Sanskrit Dictionary-Arthur Anthony Macdonell)*. It does not appear to give the "small garden" meaning. 

My reason for starting the thread was to find out if there was a word directly linked to "maalii" (gardener) and "maalaa" (garland) that would mean "garden".


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## Faylasoof

QURESHPOR said:


> ....My reason for starting the thread was to find out if there was a word directly linked to "maalii" (gardener) and "maalaa" (garland) that would mean "garden".


 I have neither heard nor read such a word meaning "garden" and directly linked to _*maal*_ or _*maalaa*_. I still feel the derivation _*maalii *_is from these two words the way I mentioned above. The acquired meaning of "gardener" is, I guess, just by association with flowers and garlands! Incidentally, even we opt for _*maalii*_  rather than the Persian _*baaghbaan. *_In our house the former is used much more than the latter.


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## drkpp

The root verb in Sanskrit is मल् -1st conjugation Atmanepada [मलते], 10th conjugation Parasmaipada [मलयति]
It has two meanings: 1. Hold 2. Posses

From the first meaning [hold], the word माला [maa-laa = garland] is derived
as it holds together flowers of a garland by thread.
From the word माला, the word मालिन् is derived. माली is its nominative singular.
In Sanskrit, it means the one who wares a maa-laa NOT one who makes it.
पुष्पमालिन् [push-pa-maa-lin] is an epithet of Lord Krishna
as he is always seen with garlands of flower around his neck. 
There is also the famous story of angulimala and Lord Buddha.

From second meaning [possess], the word मल्ल [malla = wrestler] is derived
as wrestling involves possessing the opponent by hand and taking him down.


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## Qureshpor

drkpp said:


> The root verb in Sanskrit is मल् -1st conjugation Atmanepada [मलते], 10th conjugation Parasmaipada [मलयति]
> It has two meanings: 1. Hold 2. Posses
> 
> From the first meaning [hold], the word माला [maa-laa = garland] is derived
> as it holds together flowers of a garland by thread.
> From the word माला, the word मालिन् is derived. माली is its nominative singular.
> In Sanskrit, it means the one who wares a maa-laa NOT one who makes it.
> पुष्पमालिन् [push-pa-maa-lin] is an epithet of Lord Krishna
> as he is always seen with garlands of flower around his neck.
> There is also the famous story of angulimala and Lord Buddha.
> 
> From second meaning [possess], the word मल्ल [malla = wrestler] is derived
> as wrestling involves possessing the opponent by hand and taking him down.




Thank you. Your insight is much appreciated. So, the conclusion is that there is no word for "garden" based on the root "mal".


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## Faylasoof

drkpp said:


> The root verb in Sanskrit is मल् -1st conjugation Atmanepada [मलते], 10th conjugation Parasmaipada [मलयति]
> It has two meanings: 1. Hold 2. Posses
> 
> From the first meaning [hold], the word माला [maa-laa = garland] is derived
> as it holds together flowers of a garland by thread.
> From the word माला, the word मालिन् is derived. माली is its nominative singular.
> In Sanskrit, it means the one who wares a maa-laa NOT one who makes it.
> पुष्पमालिन् [push-pa-maa-lin] is an epithet of Lord Krishna
> as he is always seen with garlands of flower around his neck.
> There is also the famous story of angulimala and Lord Buddha.
> 
> From second meaning [possess], the word मल्ल [malla = wrestler] is derived
> as wrestling involves possessing the opponent by hand and taking him down.


 Thanks for your detailed reply! I looked up Macdonell's and Apte's Sanskrit lexicons and found what follows.

Here is what MacDonell’s Sanskrit Dictionary says:

_mali _(p. 227) [ *mâl-i* ] a. --°ree;=mâlin; -ika, m. gar land-maker, florist, gardener; -ikâ, f. gar land; necklace; row, series; -ita, den. pp. wreathed or surrounded with (--°ree; -in, a. wreathed, with (in.); gnly.--°ree;, having a gar land of, wearing a necklace of, encircled by; m. garland-maker, florist, gardener: -î, f. wife of a florist or gardener; N. of a celestial virgin; N.; N. of a town and of various rivers.

_malya_ (p. 227) *[ mâl-ya* ] n. garland: -gunâya, den. Â. become the string of a garland; -gîvaka, m. garland-seller; -dâman, n. garland of flowers; -pana, m. garland-market; -vat, a. wreathed, adorned with garlands; m. N. of a Râkshasa; N. of an attendant of Siva; -vritti, m. garland-seller.

_mala_ (p. 227) [ *mâlâ* ] f. garland, wreath; rosary (rare); necklace; line, row, streak, series: nâmnâm mâlâ, collected series of words, dictionary (excluding roots).

… and this is what Apte’s Sanskrit Dictionary has to say:

माला mālā
माला [मल् संज्ञायां कर्तरि घञ्] *1* A garland, wreath, chaplet; अनधिगतपरिमलापि हि हरति दृशं मालतीमाला Vās. *-2* A row, line, series, succession; गण़्डोट्टीनालिमाला Māl.1.1; आवद्धमालाः Me.9. *-3* A group, cluster, collection. *-4* A string, necklace; as in रत्नमाला. *-5* A rosary, chain; as in अक्षमाला. *-6* A streak; as in तडिन्माला, विद्युन्माला. *-7* A series of epithets. *-8* (In dramas) The offering of several things to obtain a wish. *-9* A vocabulary, dictionary. *-Comp. -**उपमा* a variety of Upamā or simile, in which one _Upameya_ is compared to several _Upamānas; e. g._ अनयेनेव राज्यश्रीर्दैन्येनेव मनस्विता । मम्लौ साथ विषादेन पद्मिनीव हिमाम्भसा K. P.1. *-**कण्टः* N. of a plant (अपामार्ग). *-**करः, -**कारः 1* a garland-maker, florist, gardener; कृती मालाकारो बकुलमपि कुत्रापि निदधे Bv.1.54; Pt.1.22. *-2* the tribe of gardeners. *-**गुणः* a necklace. ˚परिक्षिप्ता a marriageable woman. *-**गुणा* a species of venomous spider. *-**तृणम्* a kind of fragrant grass. *-**दीपकम्* a variety of दीपक; Mammaṭa thus defines it:-- मालादीपक- माद्यं चेद्यथोत्तरगुणावहम् K. P.1; see the example given _ad loc._ *-**धर* _a._ wearing a garland. *-**रम्* a kind of metre.


मालिकः mālikḥ
मालिकः [माला तन्निर्माणं शिल्पमस्य ठन्] *1* A florist, gardener. *-2* A dyer, painter. *-3* A garland-maker. *-4* A kind of bird.

Not quite sure why he has transliterated मालिक as _mālik*ḥ*_ and not just _mālik_.


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## Faylasoof

QURESHPOR said:


> Thank you. Your insight is much appreciated. So, the conclusion is that there is no word for "garden" based on the root "mal".


 Apte gives quite a few entries for garden in Sanskrit here which are unrelated to *maalaa / maalii*, i.e. no _*maal*_ root!

McDonell too has a list of words for garden in Sanskrit (here) and they too are not related to *maalaa / maalii*.


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## ihaveacomputer

Faylasoof said:


> मालिकः mālikḥ
> मालिकः [माला तन्निर्माणं शिल्पमस्य ठन्] *1* A florist, gardener. *-2* A dyer, painter. *-3* A garland-maker. *-4* A kind of bird.
> 
> Not quite sure why he has transliterated मालिक as _mālik*ḥ*_ and not just _mālik_.



Hello Faylasoof Sahib,

If I remember my brief training in Sanskrit, based on current convention, both "_mālikḥ" and "__mālik_" are incorrect! The Devanagari above includes the visarga, or final "ः". In Sanskrit, this reflects a slight echoing of the previous vowel with an "h" in between. Standard practice is to include that preceding vowel, meaning the ideal transcription of मालिकः would be "_mālikaḥ_".


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## Faylasoof

ihaveacomputer said:


> Hello Faylasoof Sahib,
> 
> If I remember my brief training in Sanskrit, based on current convention, both "_mālikḥ" and "__mālik_" are incorrect! The Devanagari above includes the visarga, or final "ः". In Sanskrit, this reflects a slight echoing of the previous vowel with an "h" in between. Standard practice is to include that preceding vowel, meaning the ideal transcription of मालिकः would be "_mālikaḥ_".


  ihaveacomputerjii you are right! Actually I do recall that in Sanskrit is the 'echo' ending with 'a' being very common, unlike in Hindi. The 'h' is also something I recall now that you mention it! 

BTW, I had a look at Coulson's Sanskrit and he specifically mentions that the that the visagra is transliterated as _*ḥ *_! So, it seems _mālik*ḥ *_is correct afterall as it should, by convention, be pronounced as _mālikah_!

Anyway, the other point that came out of this search was that the word _maalii_, according to MacDonell, also means a gardener (apart from florist / garland maker). So we in fact certainly use this Sanskrit word a lot more even in Urdu than the Persian word _baaghbaan_.


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## amiramir

Hello, above we are helpfully told that, in Hindi, baaGh is garden and baGheechaa is 'small garden.' If I have a small garden (UK parlance) / small backyard (US parlance) at the back of my house, is that a baaGh or a baGhichaa or entirely up to the speaker? If I have a fairly large backyard and call it a baaGh, is that pretentious, because I'm implying how big it is? Is baaGh just reserved for extremely big gardens like Hyde Park (London), Central Park (NY), Lodi Gardens (Delhi), etc.?

Also, while we're on the topic, I get confused by how to decline a word like baGheechaa, which has a 'h' thingie in Perso-Arabic script but just ends in 'aa' in devnaagari. In the oblique do we pronounce it baGheechaa or baGheeche? Ham abhi baGheecha ya baGheeche jaa rahe haiN?

Many thanks.


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## eskandar

amiramir said:


> Hello, above we are helpfully told that, in Hindi, baaGh is garden and baGheechaa is 'small garden.' If I have a small garden (UK parlance) / small backyard (US parlance) at the back of my house, is that a baaGh or a baGhichaa or entirely up to the speaker? If I have a fairly large backyard and call it a baaGh, is that pretentious, because I'm implying how big it is? Is baaGh just reserved for extremely big gardens like Hyde Park (London), Central Park (NY), Lodi Gardens (Delhi), etc.?


I think a small garden/backyard in one's home would be a baaGhiicha. Even calling a fairly large backyard a baaGh would be misleading (I wouldn't say pretentious, necessarily, just off)-- a baaGh calls to mind something larger, like the parks you mentioned or an orchard.



> I get confused by how to decline a word like baGheechaa, which has a 'h' thingie in Perso-Arabic script but just ends in 'aa' in devnaagari. In the oblique do we pronounce it baGheechaa or baGheeche? Ham abhi baGheecha ya baGheeche jaa rahe haiN?


The word-final 'h' in this word, when written in Urdu (باغیچہ) is orthographical and not pronounced, so the word declines normally as baaGhiiche (باغیچے).


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## amiramir

Thank you, eskandar, for your very clear response.

Two follow up questions/observations pls:

Yesterday I came across another word for garden-- bagiya. How does this fit in the baaGh-baGheechaa spectrum
I noticed what I think is an interesting difference between Hindi and Urde (it seems). In Urdu, baGheechaa is written with a long a in the first syllable i.e. b*aa*Gheechaa. In Hindi I see it written as a short a i.e. not baaGheechaa, but rather b*a*Gheechaa (i.e. बग़ीचा). 
Thanks.


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## littlepond

amiramir said:


> Yesterday I came across another word for garden-- bagiya. How does this fit in the baaGh-baGheechaa spectrum




For me, a small "baag": hence, <baag BUT >bagiichaa.


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## marrish

amiramir said:


> I noticed what I think is an interesting difference between Hindi and Urde (it seems). In Urdu, baGheechaa is written with a long a in the first syllable i.e. b*aa*Gheechaa. In Hindi I see it written as a short a i.e. not baaGheechaa, but rather b*a*Gheechaa (i.e. बग़ीचा).
> Thanks.


Good observation! There is this difference indeed but it is not only a spelling phenomenon, the words are pronounced differently (U. b*aa*Ghiichah), if Hindi follows its spelling.


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## Dib

marrish said:


> Good observation! There is this difference indeed but it is not only a spelling phenomenon, the words are pronounced differently (U. b*aa*Ghiichah), if Hindi follows its spelling.



The reduction of the first vowel certainly has a phonetic basis. It seems, pretonic syllables (i.e. the syllable just before the stressed one) in Hindi pronunciation regularly get their vowel shortened. The formal standard language may not have always accepted the shortened vowel, but I think, it is quite general in relaxed speech. In the case of baghiichaa, it seems to have been taken up by the standard as well. This is the same phenomenon that you see in bazaar ~ baazaar, etc.


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## amiramir

Dib said:


> The reduction of the first vowel certainly has a phonetic basis. It seems, pretonic syllables (i.e. the syllable just before the stressed one) in Hindi pronunciation regularly get their vowel shortened. The formal standard language may not have always accepted the shortened vowel, but I think, it is quite general in relaxed speech. In the case of baghiichaa, it seems to have been taken up by the standard as well. This is the same phenomenon that you see in bazaar ~ baazaar, etc.




That's quite interesting, thank you. It is also the reason I still don't know if the right word is baraat or baaraat for a wedding procession. I imagine it is canonically the latter but increasingly becoming the former.


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## Dib

amiramir said:


> That's quite interesting, thank you. It is also the reason I still don't know if the right word is baraat or baaraat for a wedding procession. I imagine it is canonically the latter but increasingly becoming the former.



It seems Hindi "baaraat" is a hypercorrected form of "baraat". Platts lists both, but shows "baaraat" as a variation of "baraat". Turner's etymological dictionary gives only "baraat", and all cognates in other languages seem to have a short a in the first syllable, including the proposed etymon "vara-yaatraa".


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## amiramir

Thanks, Dibji, that's interesting and helpful.


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