‘Research on linguistic similarities must’

Gurvinder Singh

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Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, December 30

Many words in Punjabi considered to be colloquial are in fact derived from some other languages, including Finnish, says Punjabi scholar and retired Principal Tarlochan Singh Bedi.

Dr Tarlochan Singh Bedi, 90, who retired as Principal from Brijindra College, Faridkot, said during his research on the subject, he found that many words, which are considered to be colloquial, are in fact derived or directly taken from Finnish language. Some of the Finnish and Punjabi words have similar pronunciation as well as meaning, he claims.

Some of the words including Punjabi word ‘lau’ meaning light comes from Finnish word ‘ilo’, ‘koti’ meaning ‘home’ from which ‘kutiya’ is derived. Another Finnish word ‘karjna’ and Punjab’s ‘garjna’ means ‘to roar’ sound the same. Finnish word ‘koukka’, from which Punjabi word ‘koka’, meaning hook, is derived and ‘marka’ in Finnish meaning wet, from which word ‘murhka’ meaning wet or sweat is derived.

Finnish ‘aare’ meaning ‘edge’ has similar meaning for Punjabi ‘aari’. ‘Sataa’ in Finnish and ‘chhatta paina’ have the similar meaning of rain, while ‘saada’ in Finnish, from which Punjabi ‘sadda’ comes, means ‘to get’ or ‘call’. “There are several other words that sound and mean the same in Finnish and Punjabi,” he said.

He said this land was also inhabited by Finnish people at some point. Interestingly, Punjabi has a number of Tamil words as well. During research, he found that there is a lot of linguistic as well as cultural similarity of Tamil and Punjabi, for which he carried out a comparative study. Bedi, who has translated a book on Tamil poet and philosopher Thiruvalluvar, says Punjab was also inhabited by Dravidian races, including Tamilians before the advent of the Aryans in the Indo-Gangetic plains. But after the advent of the Aryans, they were pushed down towards the Southern peninsula. They, however, left the linguistic and cultural influence on people here. As a result, some of the words, including ‘patti’ specifying areas, which are part of Punjabi come from Tamil. Not just Tamil, several tribes and communities have inhabited this land of Punjab in earlier times and their words from their language are part of Punjabi. “Punjabi scholars must carry out research and find out the linguistic similarities. It is very necessary and important now to not only research history of the language, but also preserve the linguistic richness of this great language,” Bedi said.

Similar words

Punjabi word 'lau' meaning light comes from Finnish word 'ilo'. Another word is 'Koti' meaning 'home' from which 'kutiya' is derived. Another Finnish word 'karjna' and Punjab's 'garjna' means 'to roar' sound the same. A word 'koukka', from which Punjabi word 'koka', meaning hook, is derived and 'marka' in Finnish meaning wet, from which word 'murhka' meaning wet or sweat is derived.  Finnish word 'aare' meaning 'edge' has similar meaning for Punjabi 'aari'. 'Sataa' in Finnish and 'chhatta paina' have the similar meaning of rain, while 'saada' in Finnish, from which Punjabi 'sadda' comes, means 'to get' or 'call'.