HISTORY OF URDU

HISTORY:

Etymologically, Urdu is a Turkish word which means "Army encampment". There are different theories that have been proposed about the emergence of the Urdu language, but they all stand close and similar. The most prominent and established theory suggests that Urdu developed after the Muslim invasion of the Indian subcontinent by Persian and Turkic dynasties from the 11th century onwards.[20] For the first time Sultan Mahmud, the greatest ruler of the Ghaznavid empire, conquered Punjab in early 11th century. Later on, the Ghurids invaded the northern Indian subcontinent in the 12th century who were then followed by the Delhi Sultanate. Muslim armies comprised of soldiers of different origins and elasticities who spoke different languages. Interaction among these soldiers and with the locals led to the development of a new language, mutually comprehensible by all. Urdu, therefore, developed as a hybrid version of Hindustani language which borrowed extensively its vocabulary from Arabic, Persian, and Turkish languages.
Later on, during the Mughal Empire, the development of Urdu was further strengthened and started to emerge as a new language.[21] Under the reign of Shah Jahan, the term Urdu-i Mualla or Urdu-i Badshahi was employed to designate the language of Shahjahanabad.[22] Urdu scholars and poets then coined the term Rekhta (meaning scattered in Persian) to designate the Urdu language.
The official language of the Ghurids, Delhi Sultanate, the Mughal Empire, and their successor states, as well as the cultured language of poetry and literature, was Persian, while the language of religion was Arabic. Most of the Sultans and nobility in the Sultanate period were Turks from Central Asia who spoke Turkic as their mother tongue. The Mughals were also from Central Asia, they spoke Turkish as their first language; however the Mughals later adopted Persian. Persian became the preferred language of the Muslim elite of north India before the Mughals entered the scene. Babur's mother tongue was a Turkic language and he wrote exclusively in Turkish. His son and successor Humayun also spoke and wrote in this Turkic language. Muzaffar Alam, a noted scholar of Mughal and Indo-Persian history, asserts that Persian became the lingua franca of the empire under Akbar for various political and social factors due to its non-sectarian and fluid nature.[23] Urdu's vocabulary remains heavily influenced by the Persian language.[24] Since the 1800's, English started to replace Persian as the official language in India and it also contributed to influence the Urdu language. As of today, Urdu's vocabulary is strongly influenced by the English language.