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The word ammahiraya occurs in the sense of 'lullaby' in Apabhramsa poems of 9th and 10th century A.C.(?). For example in the description of a cowherds settlement it is said : कत्थइ डिंभउ परियंदिज्जइह, अम्माहीरउ गेउ झुणिज्जउ ।
(Svayambhu's Paumacariya, 24, 13,8) 'In some places a lullaby song is being sung while rocking the child (in a craddle)'. In the same poet's Harivamsapurāņa, Yaśodā is described in the following lines as rocking the child Krsna in the craddle (hallaru, Guj. hālardū) and sing a lullaby:
Heft 37TTUI, TRIGE F85 I (5,1,9)
In Puspadanta's Mahāpurāņa child Rsabha is described in the followng line as being rocked in a craddle while a sweet lullaby is being sung :
ufeigs 3 HERCUT, HCA $-fa HEERGUTI (4,4,13)
There, some initial lines of the lullaby are also given. Accordingly, it is suggested that Ambāhiri as the name of Bhāṣā (which as a class being related to the Grāmarāgas) may be the same as Ap. ammāhiraya 'lullaby'. ambaheri is called desyakhyā in BD. That qualifier can be also interpreted as 'the name of which is based on / derives from a regional dialect'.
Incidentally, Ap. ammāhiraya can be derived from ammā mummy' + hiraya 'diamond'. In the lullabies that were sung the child would have been addressed or referred to as 'O you mine - your mummy's diamond'. Hence a lullaby came to be called ammahiraya.
See my paper in Gujarati. Nalurdi. pärnù in Apabhramsa literature published in 1970 and later included in my collection Sabdaparišilan (!073). pp. 101-106.
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