Vocabulary
Tajiki is conservative in its vocabulary, retaining numerous terms that have long since fallen into disuse in Iran and Afghanistan, such as арзиз (arziz), meaning 'tin,' and фарбеҳ (farbeh), meaning 'fat.' Most modern loan words in Tajik come from Russian as a result of the position of Tajikistan within the Soviet Union. Vocabulary also comes from the geographically close Uzbek language and, as is usual in Islamic countries, from Arabic. Since the late 1980s, an effort has been made to replace loanwords with native equivalents, using either old terms that had fallen out of use, or coined terminology. Many of the coined terms for modern items such as гармкунак (garmkunak), meaning 'heater' and чангкашак (changkashak), meaning 'vacuum cleaner' differ from their Afghan and Iranian equivalents, adding to the difficulty in intelligibility between Tajiki and other forms of Persian.
In the table below, Persian refers to the standard language of Iran, which differs somewhat from the Dari Persian of Afghanistan. Another Iranian language, Pashto, has also been included for comparative purposes.
Tajik | моҳ |
нав |
модар |
хоҳар |
шаб |
бинӣ |
се |
сиёҳ |
сурх |
зард |
сабз |
гург |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Other Iranian languages | ||||||||||||
Persian | ماه |
نو |
مادر |
خواهر |
شب |
بینی |
سه |
سياه |
سرخ/قرمز |
زرد |
سبز |
گرگ |
Pashto | myāsht | nəwai | mōr | khōr | shpa | pōza | dre | tōr | sur | zyarr | shin, zarghun | lewə |
Other Indo-European languages | ||||||||||||
English | month | new | mother | sister | night | nose | three | black | red | yellow | green | wolf |
Armenian | ամիս |
նոր |
մայր |
քույր |
գիշեր |
քիթ |
երեք |
սեվ |
կարմիր |
դեղին |
կանաչ |
գայլ |
Latin | mēnsis | novus | māter | soror | nox | nasus | trēs | āter, niger | ruber | flāvus, gilvus | viridis | lupus |
Greek | μήνας |
νέος |
μητέρα |
αδελφή |
νύχτα |
μύτη |
τρία |
μαύρος |
κόκκινος |
κίτρινος |
πράσινος |
λύκος |
Russian | месяц |
новый |
мать |
сестра |
ночь |
нос |
три |
чёрный |
красный, рыжий |
жёлтый |
зелёный |
волк |
Hindi | महीना |
नया |
माँ |
बहन |
रात |
नाक |
तीन |
काला |
लाल |
पीला |
हरा |
भेड़िया |
Read more about this topic: Tajik Language
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“One forgets words as one forgets names. Ones vocabulary needs constant fertilizing or it will die.”
—Evelyn Waugh (19031966)