Old Hindi

Old Hindi (Old Hindi: ڐھلّی Ḍhillaī) was the earliest formstage of Hindustani language, and so the ancestor of Modern Standard Hindi and Modern Standard Urdu.[1]

Old Hindi

ڐهِلَّی
RegionDelhi
Era10th–13th centuries[2]
Early forms
Shauraseni Prakrit
  • Shuraseni Apabhraṃśa
Devanagari, Nastaliq
Language codes
ISO 639-3hiw
GlottologNone

It was spoken by the peoples of the Hindi belt, especially around Delhi, in roughly the 13th–15th centuries. It is attested in only a handful of literature, including some works by the poet Amir Khusrau, verses by the poet-saint Namdev, and some verses by the Sufi saint Baba Farid in the Adi Granth.[3][4] The works of Kabir also may be included, as they use a Khariboli-like dialect. Old Hindi was originally written in Devanagari and later in Nastaliq as well.[5]

Old Hindi poetry can be found as early as 769 AD.

References

  1. Mody, Sujata Sudhakar (2008). Literature, Language, and Nation Formation: The Story of a Modern Hindi Journal 1900-1920. University of California, Berkeley. p. 7.
  2. Alok Rai (2001), Hindi nationalism, Orient Blackswan, 2001, ISBN 978-81-250-1979-4, ... on one account, Khari Boli was contrasted with the mellifluousness and soft fluency of Braj Bhasha: khari was understood to refer to the rustic and stiff uncouthness of Khari Boli. The protagonists of Khari Boli returned the compliment: Braj Bhasha was called pari boli – ie supine! ...
  3. Masica, Colin P. (1993). The Indo-Aryan Languages. Cambridge University Press. p. 54. ISBN 9780521299442.
  4. Callewaert, Winand M. and Mukunda Lāṭh (1989), The Hindi Songs of Namdev, Peeters Publishers, ISBN 978-906831-107-5
  5. Hindi: Language, Discourse, and Writing. Mahatma Gandhi International Hindi University. 2002. p. 171.