# Persian, Urdu, Hindi: autobiography



## Alfaaz

*Background:* Autobiography: a history of a person's life written or told by that person

Guess: خود نوشت (رودادِ / تاریخِ / سوانحِ) (حیات / زندگی) نامہ ؛ سیرت 

*Question:* What words/phrases are or can be used for an autobiography?

Edit: What about a biograhpy?


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## searcher123

In modern Persian:

Biography = زندگي‌نامه
Autobiography = زندگي‌نامه‌ي شخصي، زندگي‌نامه‌ي خودنوشت


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## UrduMedium

Another Urdu term: Aap Beeti


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## marrish

In Urdu it is indeed _aap biitii آپ پیتی. 
_In Hindi, आत्मचरित्र.
Biography (because there is no further context in the OP)-  _siirat nigaarii سیرت نگاری_


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## BP.

khud nawisht is another synonym you often read, even though it doesn't convey the entire meaning.


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## Faylasoof

To concur with those above, we do indeed use _aap biitii_ آ*پ* بیتی for *auto*biography but for biography we tend to go for سوانح عمری _sawaaniH 3umrii_, while we also have حیات / زندگی نامہ _Hayaat / zindagii naamah_ - and not forgetting  سوانح ِ حیات _sawaaniH-e-Hahaat._ We use this too.


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## BP.

^ but maybe incomplete since we're missing the self- aspect.


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## Faylasoof

BelligerentPacifist said:


> To concur with those above, we do indeed use _aap biitii_ آ*پ* بیتی for *auto*biography but for biography we tend to go for سوانح عمری _sawaaniH 3umrii_, while we also have حیات / زندگی نامہ _Hayaat / zindagii naamah_ - and not forgetting  سوانح ِ حیات _sawaaniH-e-Hahaat._ We use this too.
> 
> 
> 
> ^ but maybe incomplete since we're missing the self- aspect.
Click to expand...

 The "self" aspect is there in *aap biitii آپ بیتی for autobiography*_._ The rest we use for_* biography*_ (no "auto" here) and our choice tends to fall on* سوانح عمری sawaaniH 3umrii.*

BTW, we generally reserve _*siirat / siirah*_ for the biography of religious figures and "holy" persons, esp. our Prophet.   I just noticed this mentioned above. Normally we wouldn't use it for others.


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## flyinfishjoe

आत्मकथा _aatmakathaa_, आप बीती _aap biitii_, and स्वजीवनी _svajiivanii_ can all be found in Hindi. Please see this interesting video on the subject: Rupert Snell - Autobiography is Another Story: "Lives" in Hindi - on Youtube


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## Alfaaz

Thanks for the replies!


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## marrish

flyinfishjoe said:


> आत्मकथा _aatmakathaa_, आप बीती _aap biitii_, and स्वजीवनी _svajiivanii_ can all be found in Hindi. Please see this interesting video on the subject: Rupert Snell - Autobiography is Another Story: "Lives" in Hindi - on Youtube


Please, what is your opinion about my response for Hindi आत्मचरित्र? Is it used at all?


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## Qureshpor

I believe there is "jag-biitii" too for "Biography". This nicely goes with "aap biitii". (Dib SaaHib, here is another use of "aap" for your Sanskrit aatmaa.)

I think we have missed out "sar-guzasht".


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## Chhaatr

marrish said:


> Please, what is your opinion about my response for Hindi आत्मचरित्र? Is it used at all?



Marrish SaaHib the Hindi word for autobiography which comes naturally to me is _"aatmakathaa".  bachpan meN mez, kursii, gauraiyaa, titlii vaGhairah kii bahut sii aatmakathaa'eN likhii thiiN.
_
Web search reveals _aatmacharitra_ is also used for autobiography in Hindi.  _lekin Haqiiqat yeh hai kih maiN aaj tak is lafz se naa waaqif thaa._


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## Dib

Qureshpor said:


> Dib SaaHib, here is another use of "aap" for your Sanskrit aatmaa.



kyaa baat hai, QP saahib. bahut bahut shukriyaa. 
"aap biitii" lafz bhii baRaa hii sundar hai!!


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## desi4life

Isn't there a difference between आत्मकथा vs. आपबीती_, _and जीवनी vs. जगबीती_? _I interpret आत्मकथा to mean autobiography (a complete description of one's life) and आपबीती to mean a description of one's experience (could be a particular experience and therefore not an autobiography). Likewise, I interpret जीवनी to mean biography (a complete description of another person's life) and जगबीती to mean a description of another person's experience (could be a particular experience and therefore not a biography). Are my interpretations correct, or does आत्मकथा = आपबीती and जीवनी = जगबीती? @Maharaj, @Englishmypassion, @aevynn, @Dib, @littlepond, and others are welcome to weigh in.

Thanks


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## Maharaj

@desi4life You're spot on!


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## Dib

No idea. My grasp of formal Hindi vocabulary is not up to the mark. But @desi4life, please add transliteration/transcription to your post. The post languages also include Urdu and Persian, and two of the words you discussed came initially as suggestions for Urdu.


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## desi4life

Dib said:


> No idea. My grasp of formal Hindi vocabulary is not up to the mark. But @desi4life, please add transliteration/transcription to your post. The post languages also include Urdu and Persian, and two of the words you discussed came initially as suggestions for Urdu.



I thought it was fine to use any script since the opening post and some of the other responses don't include Roman transliteration either. My post concerned the Hindi usage of the four words so that's why I didn't bother transliterating. But anyway ...

आत्मकथा = aatmakathaa
आपबीती = aap-biitii
जीवनी = jiivanii
जगबीती = jag-biitii


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## Dib

Thank you. Maybe, Hindi was added to the description after the first few posts? Anyways, I feel it's a useful practice to add the Romanization, given the peculiar relationship that Hindi and Urdu find themselves in.


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## desi4life

A forum member sent me a response about the usage of these terms. Here is the information that was provided ...



> Aatmakatha = autobiography
> Aapbeeti = whatever one suffered/things one suffered. Please note "aap" means "oneself/self" here and "beeti" is derived from "beetna" which means to befall or to suffer (e.g. Tum soch bhi nhi sakte mujh pr kya beeti" = You cannot even imagine what I faced/suffered/went through or what I had to face/suffer/go through). So aapbeeti is an account of bad things one went through and is usually used for all kinds of sufferings and (psychological) trauma.
> Jeevni= biography.
> 
> Found this in a dictionary for *jagbeeti*: 1. जग में घटित कोई बात या घटना का ब्योरा 2. संसार या सुख-दुख का अनुभव 3. लोकवृत्त 4. किस्सा; कथा-कहानी।
> I'll define them in English: 1. the description of an incident that happened in the world
> 2. (one's) exeperiences of miseries and joys or of the world
> 3. Common business of the world
> 4. anecdote; tale/story


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## Alfaaz

desi4life said:
			
		

> I thought it was fine to use any script since the opening post and some of the other responses don't include Roman transliteration either.





			
				Dib said:
			
		

> Thank you. Maybe, Hindi was added to the description after the first few posts? Anyways, I feel it's a useful practice to add the Romanization, given the peculiar relationship that Hindi and Urdu find themselves in.


 (If I remember correctly, I had myself included Hindi in the title as well (as done for many of my other threads made around that time). However, this was one of my _earlier threads_ when I guess I hadn't developed the current style I use and the forum rules were also a bit relaxed - in terms of quoting no more than 4 lines, having a set/preferred transliteration system, including transliterations in multilingual threads, etc. - so I probably forgot to include transliterations in the opening post!)

Thanks for all of the informative contributions and once again please excuse the lack of transliterations (included below) in the opening post!


			
				Alfaaz said:
			
		

> خود نوشت (رودادِ / تاریخِ / سوانحِ) (حیات / زندگی) نامہ ؛ سیرت


_ xud-navisht; (ru-daad-e-/taariix-e-/sawaaniH-e-) (Hayaat/zindagii) naamah; siirat_


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## littlepond

You are right in post no. 15, @desi4life. However, though "aapbitii" does come from "kuchh biitnaa" (something that has befallen someone), even good luck does befall someone sometimes, and similarly "aapbitii" is not necessarily about bad events.


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## aevynn

Another related word that could be thrown into the mix is परबीती _parbiitii_, which is used in contrast with आपबीती _aapbiitii_ sometimes and seems mean something like "a story about something that happened to someone else."


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## desi4life

It seems _parbiitii _means the same as _jagbiitii_.


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