Origin
Maldivian is an Indo-Aryan language closely related to the Sinhalese language of Sri Lanka. Maldivian represents the southernmost Indo-Aryan language. Together with Sinhala, Maldivian represents a subgroup within the Modern Indo-Aryan languages which is called Insular Indo-Aryan. However, Sinhala and Maldivian are not mutually intelligible.
Maldivian is descended from Maharashtri, a Prakrit of ancient and medieval India. The Prakrit vernacular languages including Maharashtri Prakrit were originally derived from Vedic Sanskrit.
Whereas earlier it was believed that Maldivian was a descendant of the Sinhalese language, in 1969 Sinhalese philologist M. W. S. de Silva for the first time proposed that Maldivian and Sinhalese have branched off from a common mother language (a Prakrit). He says that “the earliest Indic element in Maldivian is not so much a result of branching off from Sinhalese as a result of a simultaneous separation with Sinhalese from the Indic languages of the mainland of India”. S. Fritz has recently reached the same conclusion in a detailed study of the language. De Silva refers to the Dravidian influences seen in the Maldivian language such as in the old place names. De Silva’s theory is supported by the legend of Prince Vijaya as told in the Mahavamsa because if this legend is to be believed, the migration of Indo-Aryan people to the Maldives archipelago and Sri Lanka from the mainland (India) must have taken place simultaneously.
Read more about this topic: Mahl Language
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