Hindi-Urdu - Names

Names

The identity, and therefore the names, of Hindi-Urdu have long been tied up with the identities and aspirations of the people of India and Pakistan. The name "Hindustani" itself is linked in the minds of many people with the British colonial administration, and may not be preferred for that reason.

Amir Khusro ca. 1300 CE referred to this language of his writings as Dahlavi ('of Delhi') or Hindavi (हिन्दवी, ہندوی 'of Hindustan'). During this period, the language was used by Sufis in promulgating their message across the Indian subcontinent. After the advent of the Mughals in India, Hindustani acquired more Persian loanwords. Rekhta ('mixture') and Hindi (of 'Hindustan') became popular names for the same language until the 18th century. The name Urdu appeared around 1780. During the British Raj, the term Hindustani was used by British officials, from the country's former name Hindustan. In 1796, John Borthwick Gilchrist published a "A Grammar of the Hindoostanee Language". Upon partition, India and Pakistan established national standards which they called Hindi and Urdu, respectively, and attempted to make distinct, with the result that "Hindustani" commonly came to be seen as a mixture of Hindi and Urdu. More recently, Hindu nationalists have used the term Hindvi, derived from older Hindavi, as the name for the unified language.