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Chapter-1 Development Trend of The Name of Bangladesh
Chapter-1 Development Trend of The Name of Bangladesh
Anthropologists agree that Bangladesh has historically been a land of many races. Long before the arrival of the Aryans in the 5th and 6th centuries B.C. the Bangalees were already racially mixed. It is said that the origin of human !eings is "frica but that some of them at first moved into the northern part of the Middle East and then dispersed across the world. The main reasons for coming to Bengal were first the eal to con!uer and occupy a new region" and the second was to do business in the wealthy and prosperous Bengal and third was environmental. The groups of the people who went to #outh$East Asia had crossed the land of Bangladesh more than fifty thousand years ago. These people developed languages" %nown as "ustric Languages with their name "ustric or "ustro-"siatic people. These people entered Bangladesh several thousand years ago from #outh$ East Asia. &ear about the same time or later some other people" whom we now classify as #ongoloid also entered the territories of Bangladesh from the East and spread mainly into the uplands and hilly areas.
Bangladesh Studies Lecture: 1-2 up to #ena regime that means from ./0 A.'. up to 1234 A.'. it was recogni ed as )Bengal-.
denoting the
territory which now comprises the modern independent state of Bangladesh and the Indian state of 6est Bengal. 9iauddin Barani was the first Muslim historian who used the terms iqlim-i-bangalah or diyar-i-bangalah 7by which he meant eastern Bengal8. Shams-i-Sira4 "fif '1*55 "D+ mentioned Iliyas #hah as :Shah-iBangalah' :Sultan-i-Bangalah' under his sole control. and :Shah-i-Bangali1an: after he had and consolidated his power over whole of Bengal by bringing
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66. #ughal regime: The Mughals after establishing their supremacy over the region included Bangalah as a subah 7province8 which came to be %nown as Subah-i-Bangalah. "!ul 2a?l" the Mughal historian explained the origin of the name thus9 The original name of Bangalah @as Bang. Its former rulers raised mounds measuring ten yards in height and twenty in breadth throughout the province" which were called ,al. ,rom the suffix" this name Bangalah too% its rise and currency. -ne may not agree with the explanation of Abul ,a l" but it is obvious that he meant that :Bangalah: originated from :Bang: ie :/anga: of the pre$Muslim period.
Bangladesh Studies Lecture: 1-2 1<3/" it was officially made in the middle of the nineteenth century. After 1<5." on the basis of the ) <@o $ation <heor1- it was recogni ed in the world as ) &ast %a0istan* up to 1<.1 A. '. in the record of ;a%istan Bovernment. 'uring the ;a%istan period firstly" the people as well as politicians of East ;a%istan decided to use the name of our country as ,Bangladesh- on /th 'ec* 1<0<. -n the other hand on 13th April$1<.1" we declared the ) =overnment of Bangladesh- and seven days later this Bovernment too% its oath as )<he %eoples 3epu!lic of Bangladesh- . ,inally the day of >ictory and on 10th 'ec*1<.2" constitutionally we established the name of our country as )Bangladesh*.
7a%al" a%hir" amdani8 and !hasi 7ator" ain" babo" bis%it8 !+ Sino-<i!eten li%e !achhari 7a%a@"a@ala means foolish8" "aro# $ri%uri etc. c+ Dravidian and ;ol 2. 6ndo-"r1an Language '0entumB&urope C satamB6ndo-6ranni+ 9 Li%e other Eastern Indo$Aryan languages" Bengali arose from the eastern Middle Indic languages of the Indian subcontinent. Magadhi ;ra%rit 7233 B=8 and ;ali" the earliest recorded spo%en languages in the region and the language of the Buddha" evolved into Ardhamagadhi. Ardhamagadhi" as with all of the ;ra%rits of &orth India" began to give way to what are called Apabhramsa languages .The local Apabhramsa language of the eastern subcontinent" ;urvi Apabhramsa or Apabhramsa Abahatta"
Bangladesh Studies Lecture: 1-2 eventually evolved into regional dialects" which in turn formed three groups9 the Bihari languages" the -riya languages" and the Bengali$Assamese languages Csually three periods are identified in the history of Bengali9 >ld Bengali 70/3D<33$12338Etexts include Charyapada" devotional songsF emergence of pronouns Ami" tumi" etc.F verb inflections $ila" $iba" etc. Assamese branch out in this period and -riya @ust before this period 7Gth century$14338. #iddle Bengali 714/1H1G338 E ma@or texts of the period" Arittivas: ?amayan has been credited to be a classic. -ther narrative poems include #ri%rishnavi@aya by Maladhar >asu and #ri%rishna%irttan by Baru =handidas which #pread of compound verbsF ;ersian influence. $e@ Bengali 7since 1G318Eshortening of verbs and pronouns" among other changes 7e.g. tahar tar IhisIDIherIF koriyachhil korechhilo heDshe had done8. +istorically closer to ;ali" Bengali saw an increase in #ans%rit influence during the Middle Bengali 7Chaitanya era8" and also during the Bengal ?enaissance. -f the modern Indo$European languages in #outh Asia" Bengali and Marathi maintain a largely ;aliD#ans%rit vocabulary base 7use of #ans%rit words by some Bengali poets such as &ayde'# (ma%atidhara and "o'ardhan )charya* while +indi and others such as ;un@abi" #indhi and Bu@arati are more influenced by Arabic and ;ersian.
*. Contri!ution of #uslim people: ,rom the 14th century to 1/th century 7)rabic +ords li%e -%il" Aalam" 'alal" Lo%san" Aha@na" +aloa" Masla etc. ,ersian +ords$ Ain" A@ad" Abdar" ?omal" Bagan" Boanda and some $urkish +ords li%e Tosha%" Balicha" 'aroga" Bibi" Lash" =ha%or8. D. Contri!ution of %ortuguese: 'uring the 10th =entury ;ortuguese people came in our region and the development of our language. At present some language li%e$ Almary" Al%athra" Alpin" #aban" Bosal" Balti" &ilam etc. contributed for ;ortuguese words used in our
Bangladesh Studies Lecture: 1-2 5. Dutch 2rench and &nglish: In the 'utch" ,rench and English started arriving in Bengal. As a result" words from these languages started entering Bangla vocabularyF for example" from English. table" chair" lordDlat" generalDjadrel, etc. the -rench. cartouche" coupon" caf, restoraF /utch. hartan, iskaban, iskurupF
#atam
Indian Aryan
>edic
;ra%rit #ans%rit
;ali
Apabramsa
Bihari
-ld -riya
Ahania
Aamrupi Bangla
Assamese
Bangla
6. Contri!ution of Eilliam Care1: 6ith the start of British rule in the 1Fth centur1 and the spread of English education" Bangla started absorbing increasing numbers of English words. 6n
6ILLIAM =A?EJ"
and his
associate Bengali
scholars" made Bangla department. 5. 3ole of some 0e1 persons: 'uring the 01th century" the efforts of Bengali writers contributed to the further growth of the language. Among them were and
MI? M-#+A??A, +-##AI&. ?A(A ?AMM-+C& ?-J" B+ABA&I=+A?A& BA&'J-;A'+JAJ" I#6A? =+A&'?A >I'JA#ABA?" BA&AIM=+A&'?A =+ATT-;A'+JAJ" MI=+AEL MA'+C#C'A& 'CTT
elevation of collo!uial Bangla to a written literary medium through the wor% of many talented writers such as
?ABI&'?A&AT+ TAB-?E
and
Bangla has /1.5/ per cent tadbhava words" 55.33 per cent tatsama words" 4.43 per cent ;erso$Arabic words and 1.2/ per cent from English" ;ortuguese and other languages where (nanendra Mohan 'as:s lexicon has around 1/3"333 words.
Bangladesh Studies Lecture: 1-2 language spea%ers were a mostly a Caucasoid people" which means in hair form and other physical features they resemble the people of the Middle$East more than they resemble the people of East$Asia. +owever they are generally dar%er than the different peoples to the East and 6est of #outh$Asia. The latest arrivals were a people well %nown as the "r1ans. They spo%e a language of the Indo$European family of languages and they are said to have originated from the &orthern parts of the Middle East and the Eastern parts of Europe. -ver the centuries they mixed with the 'ravidians and moved into the Bengal Basin sometimes after 033 B. =. They in turn mixed with the Austric and Mongoloid peoples already in Bangladesh and produced the physical types which are so common nowadays. Later other immigrants$ "ra!s <ur0s and %athans also came to this land. These people too added their physical stoc% to the melting$pot" so that today we have in Bangladesh a great variety of physical features. The Bengali ancestry" therefore" includes the Austric$spea%ers the Mongoloids" the 'ravidians" the Aryans" the "ra!s and the <ur0s and %athans. 6ithin the polity of Bangladesh there are also some groups of people" %nown as tribal people" who retain their distinct cultural entities and have not merged into the mainstream of Bangla$ #pea%ing group.
east
,inally" in the poem of )Bharat Tirtha* ?abindranath Tagore articulated that the origin and identity of the people of Bangladesh is a mixed one. According to him" the blood
Bangladesh Studies Lecture: 1-2 which one contains in our body" it*s circulated from various groups of people li%e +un" pathan" Mughal etc.