Hindustani language

Lore & Background

Hindustani emerged as a contact language around the Ganges-Yamuna Doab (Delhi, Meerut and Saharanpur) during the Muslim period in the Indian subcontinent. Its early forms developed from the Middle Indo-Aryan Apabhraṃśa vernaculars of North India in the 7th–13th centuries. Amir Khusrau, who lived in the thirteenth century during the Delhi Sultanate period, used these forms in his writings and referred to it as Hindavi. Mughal patronage led to a continuation and reinforcement of Persian, which had gradually become the state language of the Mughal empire after Babur.

Reader's Guide

Hindustani's significance lies in its role as a unifying lingua franca across northern India and Pakistan, transcending communal and religious divisions. Its two standard registers, Hindi and Urdu, serve as official languages of India and Pakistan respectively, and the language is spoken by hundreds of millions. The conversion between Hindi and Urdu is generally achieved by transliterating between scripts, with translation only required for religious and literary texts. The language's core vocabulary is derived from Prakrit and Sanskrit, with substantial loanwords from Persian and Arabic. Hindustani became an expression of Indian national unity during the Indian Independence movement and continues to be spoken as the common language of the people of the northern Indian subcontinent, reflected in the Hindustani vocabulary of Bollywood films and songs. Its legacy includes the development of the Deccani dialect in South India and its use as a literary language in Muslim courts, Sufi circles, and Rajput Hindu courts.

Did You Know?

• Hindustani is also called Hindi–Urdu due to its two standard registers.
• The language's first written poetry, in the form of Old Hindi, dates to the Delhi Sultanate era around the twelfth and thirteenth century.
• Amir Khusrau, in the thirteenth century, referred to the language as Hindavi.
• The term 'Urdu' derives from the Chagatai word 'Ordū' meaning 'camp', due to its origin as the common speech of the Mughal army.