Etymology Posted by Nitin Kumar on Dec 22, 2011 in Hindi Language
Etymology (शब्द – विचार) is study of words’ history, their origins as well as modification in their forms and meanings.
Today, I will focus on the classification of Hindi words based on their construction, origin and meaning.
A. बनावट के आधार पर (Based on Construction)
1. रुढ़ शब्द (Elementary Words)
Those words which can not be divided and they will not make any sense, if divided.
Examples: आग (Fire), आम (Mango), हाथ (Hand)
2. यौगिक शब्द (Compound Words)
Those words which are made of one or more than one words
Examples: राजकुमार (Prince) = राजा (King) + कुमार (Young man/Bachelor)
3. योगरुढ़ शब्द (Combined Words)
Those words which are made of two or more words but their meaning deviate from their literal meaning and their meanings represent a person or thing from a common culture.
Example: गिरिधर (Lord Krishna) = गिरि (Mountain) + धर (Carrier)
B. उत्पत्ति के आधार पर (Based on Origin)
1. तत्सम शब्द (Derived Words)
These are the words which are derived from Sanskrit language.
Examples: आग्नि (Fire), हस्त (Hand), आम्र (Mango)
2. तदभव शब्द (Modified Words)
These are the words which were originally from Sanskrit language but after going through Prakrit (प्राकृत) , Apbhransh (अपभ्रंश) and finally to Hindi have been modified. (Note : Hindi came from Apbhransh which came from Prakrit. Prakrit came from Sanskrit.
Examples: आग (Fire), हाथ (Hand), आम (Mango)
3. देशज शब्द (Indigenous Words)
These are the words which come into language through vernacular use.
Examples: लड़की (Girl), चिड़िया (Sparrow), जूता (Shoe)
4. विदेशी शब्द (Foreign Words)
Those words which have foreign origins and used in Hindi as loan words.
Examples: चाबी (Keys), किस्मत (Destiny), आराम (Rest), अनानास (Pineapple)
C. अर्थ के आधार पर (Based on Meaning)
1. सार्थक शब्द ((Meaningful Words)
Those words which have some meaning.
Examples: रोटी (Bread), भवन (Building), पुस्तक (Book)
2. निरर्थक शब्द (Meaningless Words)
Those words which are meaningless.
Examples: खाना – वाना, सोना – वोना, बोलना – चालना
वाना in खाना (to eat) , वोना in सोना (to sleep), चालना in बोलना (to speak) are meaningless words
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About the Author: Nitin Kumar
Nitin Kumar is a native Hindi speaker from New Delhi, India. His education qualification include Masters in Robotics and Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering. Currently, he is working in the Research and Development in Robotics in Germany. He is avid language learner with varied level of proficiency in English, German, Spanish, and Japanese. He wish to learn French one day. His passion for languages motivated him to share his mother tongue, Hindi, and culture and traditions associated with its speakers. He has been working with Transparent Language since 2010 and has written over 430 blogs on various topics on Hindi language and India, its culture and traditions. He is also the Administrator for Hindi Facebook page which has a community of over 330,000 members.