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Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Punjabi words

Iss zaban main kuchh apni hi khoobian hain jo aur zabanon main kam hi milti hain
Masalan aaj meray zihin main yeh gana (folk song) aya

"Tairay bajray di raakkhi aRya main na behndi way" (I dont want to sit to watch (guard) your (field of) Bajra my darling.)
Note, the translation of the word "aRya" I have rendered ''darling'' because that is the intention here from the beloved (female) to the lover (male) who presumably is the "owner" of the field.
"aRya" is a brief of "bhaiRiya" which actually means "the bad one". This unusual expression is used only in Panjabi (may be some in other languages too but I am not aware of) where a"bad" is expressing not only good but also it contains the feelings of love and respect. Many women speak that word during their daily discussions amongst themselves mostly between close female friends. But when a girl speaks that word with a boy it infuses romanticism in its meanings also, as is apparant in the song verse I have quoted above. This is quite apart from the simple language of romance in some panjabi folk songs where a minimally impressive theme is used as a ground for expressing romantic feelings in some subtle and some not so subtle phrazes.
Men usually do not speak such words during their friendly discussions but of course they have a lot more frankly unparliamentry words (and yes Panjabi language is fertile for these) at their disposal to express their closeness of friendship.