Dogri Language - Theories On Name Origin

Theories On Name Origin

Intellectuals in the court of Maharaja Ranbir Singh s/o Gulab Singh of Jammu and Kashmir, described 'Duggar' as a distorted form of the word 'Dwigart,' which means "two troughs," a possible reference to the Mansar and Sruinsar Lakes.

The linguist George Grierson connected the term 'Duggar' with the Rajasthani word 'Doonger,' which means 'hill,' and 'Dogra' with 'Dongar.' This opinion has lacked support because of the inconsistency of the ostensible changes from Rajasthani to Dogri (essentially the question of how Doonger became Duggar while Donger became Dogra), and been contradicted by some scholars.

Yet another proposal stems from the presence of the word 'Durger' in the Bhuri Singh Museum (in Chamba, Himachal Pradesh). The word Durger means 'invincible' in several Northern Indian languages, and could be an allusion to the ruggedness of the Duggar terrain and the historically militarized and autonomous Dogra societies. In himachal, Dogri is majorly spoken in Una, Chintpurni, Kangra, and Bilaspur regions.

In 1976, the experts attending the Language Session of the 'All India Oriental Conference' held in Dharwar, Karnataka could not reach consensus on the 'Dwigart' and 'Durger' hypotheses, but did manage agreement on a Doonger-Duggar connection. In a subsequent 'All India Oriental Conference' held at Jaipur in 1982, the linguists agreed that the culture, language and history of Rajasthan and Duggar share some similarities. It was also suggested that the words 'Duggar' and 'Dogra' are common in some parts of Rajasthan. Specifically, it was asserted that areas with a large number of forts are called Duggar, and their inhabitants are accordingly known as Dogras. The land of Duggar also has a large number of forts, which may support the opinion above. An article by Dharam Chand Prashant in the literary magazine Shiraza Dogri suggested that "the opinion that the word 'Duggar' is a form of the word 'Duggarh' sounds appropriate."

Doger written in Turkish as Döğer is also the name of a Turkmen Oguz tribe originating from Central Asia, also found amongst the Kurds. In Turkey one of the towns named after them is written as Doker, Duger, Döker and Düğer.