Vernacular of any country is peek into its past, more so for a complex and large civilization like India. Through the list of Prakrit (colloquial) & Sanskrit words in India we attempt to unravel the layers of her history.
Food
| Phrase | Meaning | Origin | Context |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ananas | Pineapple | Spanish | The Pineapples were introduced in India by Portuguese settlers. In Spanish pineapples are called ananá ("ananás", in Spain and Argentina) or piña, principally in Hispanic American countries. Many languages, including Hindi use the native term ananas. In Malay, pineapples are known as "nanas" or "nenas" |
| Cheeni | Sugar | Chinese | White sugar imported from China; Cheeni being the Hindi word from Chinese people |
| Chai | Tea | Chinese | Words for tea come either from the Fukienese, which is te, or from the Cantonese, which is cha. Around the world, cultures took them and turned them into either tea or chai. |
| Samosa | India Fried Snack | Chinese | It's actually from the Turkic Uighur Xinjiang area and comes from samsa, a Xinjiang dish |
Animals & Objects
| Phrase | Meaning | Origin | Context |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ashva | Horse | Sanskrit | A derived word in Sanskrit for horse: a-shva(dog) - one that is not dog i.e horse. Out of thousands of seals found in Indus Valley Civilization(IVC), not a single seal consists of picture of horse which was an important constituent in the later Vedic age. The absense of horse in IVC is the single biggest contributer in Aryan invasion or migration theory. Horses are not native to Indian subcontintent and hence had to be introduced from outside. |