চিরকুট। বাংলা

Bangla 2nd paper · Class 9-10 · Chapter 1 · Language · First section

The vocabulary.

Bangla words are grouped by where they came from, and by whether the coming changed their shape. Those two questions raise five classes between them: tatsama, semi-tatsama, tadbhava, indigenous and borrowed.

1. Three roads out of Sanskrit

The first three classes come from one place, Sanskrit; they differ in the road and in the shape. Of tatsama the book says: words that came straight into Bangla from Sanskrit and whose form is unchanged. The name is the definition: তৎ and সম, the same as that, the same as the Sanskrit. The book's examples are চন্দ্র, সূর্য, নক্ষত্র, ভবন, ধর্ম, পাত্র and মনুষ্য.

Of tadbhava the book says: words whose root is found in Sanskrit, but which came into modern Bangla changed, by way of Prakrit. The name says it too, তৎ and ভব, born of that. The book gives two: Sanskrit হস্ত giving Bangla হাত, and Sanskrit চর্মকার giving চামার.

On the semi-tatsama the book takes one line: some Sanskrit words are used in Bangla in a slightly altered form. They came from Sanskrit directly, not through Prakrit, but the shape has given a little. The book's examples are জ্যোছনা, ছেরাদ্দ, গিন্নী, বোষ্টম and কুচ্ছিত.

Telling those three apart is the hardest work in this note, and the difference fits in a line. The form unchanged is tatsama; the form a little broken but come by the direct road is semi-tatsama; the form much changed and come by way of Prakrit is tadbhava. That middle stage is the identity card of a tadbhava word.

Take the book's example a stage at a time and it stops being an abstraction. Four panels.

step by step go on to the next

How হস্ত became হাত

It sets out from the Sanskrit হস্ত. Notice the conjunct স্ত; that is what gives way at the next stage. Had this form stayed as it was in Bangla, the word would be tatsama.

In the middle there is a Prakrit stage, and it is there that the conjunct gives way. That stage is the mark of a tadbhava word: the book's definition says changed by way of Prakrit. Without it, the word is not tadbhava.

In Bangla the conjunct is gone altogether and the vowel has lengthened; the word stands as হাত. In the book's words it found its place in modern Bangla changed by way of Prakrit, and so it is tadbhava.

The curious thing is that হস্ত is in Bangla as well, as a tatsama word, in হস্তক্ষেপ and হস্তান্তর. Two words out of one Sanskrit root: one by the direct road, which is tatsama, and one round by Prakrit, which is tadbhava. The book's second example, চর্মকার to চামার, travelled the same way.

The spelling of that middle Prakrit form is not given here, the printed form not having been checked. What the book states plainly, that the word came by way of a Prakrit stage, is what the panels show.

2. The indigenous words

The fourth class does not come from Sanskrit. The indigenous words came from the languages of the earliest inhabitants of this land, the Kol, the Munda and others. The book's examples are কুঁড়ি, পেট, চুলা, কুলা, গঞ্জ, চোঙ্গা, টোপর, ডাব, ডাগর and টেঁকি. Read the list once and something shows: nearly all of them are things about a house and words of the everyday body and its living.

Now sort the chips. Every word is from the book's own lists.

sort them a chip, then a bin

Tatsama or indigenous

Pick up a chip, then drop it in a bin. Four go in each.

These signs are not stated in the book; they are patterns read off its lists. There are exceptions, so a sign will let you guess but not prove.

3. The borrowed words

The fifth class is the largest. The book gives the reason: through political, religious, cultural and commercial contact with people of other languages, Bangla took in their words. More than seventy of them are listed, and learning that by heart is next to impossible. It is also unnecessary, because the words did not arrive at random.

History settled what would come from where. The terms of religion came from Arabic and Persian; Persian was for a long time the language of government, so the words of the office came from Persian; the Portuguese came with trade, so from them came the names of goods and of food; and the words of schooling and modern life came from English. Tap the twelve and see.

from where tap a word

Out of which language

Persian. Among the Persian words of religion: খোদা, গুনাহ, দোজখ, নামাজ, পয়গম্বর, ফেরেশতা, বেহেশত, রোজা. Part of that vocabulary came from Arabic and part from Persian.

See the whole grid at once and it is the empty cells that say the most.

grid tap a cell

Which language, which field

languagereligionruleschoolgoodscards
Arabic✓✓✕✕✕
Persian✓✓✕✓✕
English✕✓✓✓✕
Portuguese✕✕✕✓✕
Dutch✕✕✕✕✓
Turkish✕✓✕✓✕
The book shows the Arabic words in two groups, those of religion and those of administration and culture. Both groups are the book's own.

This division by field is not wholly the book's. The book groups only the Arabic and the Persian words, as those of religion, of administration and the rest; the other rows are grouped here by reading its lists. The words themselves and the languages they came from are the book's.

4. Five classes in one sentence

Words of all five classes can stand together in one sentence, and that is ordinary Bangla. No class is more Bangla than another. Pick the class of each of the six words below; they are given with their inflections on purpose, because that is where the mistake is usually made.

your turn tap a word, then pick its class

The word scanner

check yourself

One question

In স্কুলের আলমারিতে চন্দ্রের ছবি, what class does স্কুলের belong to, and what does the inflection do to it?

check yourself

Another question

Sanskrit হস্ত came into Bangla as হাত by way of a Prakrit stage. What class does হাত belong to, and why?

5. Keeping the five to hand

Six cards: the definitions of the five classes, and one card for nothing but the difference between the three that come from Sanskrit.

cards tap a card to turn it

The five classes

classতৎসম
what it isStraight from Sanskrit, the form unchanged. চন্দ্র, সূর্য, নক্ষত্র, ভবন, ধর্ম, পাত্র.
classঅর্ধ-তৎসম
what it isA Sanskrit word used in a slightly altered form. জ্যোছনা, ছেরাদ্দ, গিন্নী, বোষ্টম, কুচ্ছিত.
classতদ্ভব
what it isThe root in Sanskrit, but come into modern Bangla changed, by way of Prakrit. হস্ত to হাত; চর্মকার to চামার.
classদেশি
what it isFrom the languages of the earliest inhabitants, the Kol and the Munda and others. কুঁড়ি, পেট, চুলা, কুলা, ডাব, টেঁকি.
classবিদেশি
what it isWords taken from other languages through political, religious, cultural and commercial contact: Arabic, Persian, English, Portuguese, French, Dutch, Turkish, Chinese, Japanese, and from Myanmar.
classStop confusing the three
what it isAll three come from Sanskrit. Tatsama, the form unchanged. Semi-tatsama, the form a little broken, come directly. Tadbhava, the form much changed, come round by Prakrit.
check yourself

Last question

In which of these groups is every word Portuguese, by the book's lists?

At a glance

Tatsama. Straight from Sanskrit with the form unchanged: চন্দ্র, সূর্য, নক্ষত্র, ভবন, ধর্ম, পাত্র, মনুষ্য.

Semi-tatsama. A Sanskrit word slightly altered: জ্যোছনা, ছেরাদ্দ, গিন্নী, বোষ্টম, কুচ্ছিত.

Tadbhava. The root in Sanskrit, come by way of Prakrit: হস্ত to হাত, চর্মকার to চামার.

Indigenous. From the languages of the earliest inhabitants, the Kol and the Munda and others: কুঁড়ি, পেট, চুলা, কুলা, গঞ্জ, চোঙ্গা, টোপর, ডাব, ডাগর, টেঁকি.

Borrowed. Words that came with political, religious, cultural and commercial contact. Religion and rule from Arabic and Persian, goods from Portuguese, schooling from English, cards from Dutch.

Inflections. The class is settled by the root word. A Bangla inflection goes on a word of any class and changes none of them.

Source: Bangla Grammar and Composition, Classes 9-10 (NCTB), Chapter 1 “Language”, this part of the first section: the vocabulary of Bangla.