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(B) REVIEWS
Gujaratı par Arabi Phārasini Asar : (In Gujarāti. The influence of the Arabic and Persian Languages on Gujarāti), Part I, by C. R. NAIK, Gujarat Vidya Sabha, Ahmedabad, 1954, pp. 12; 438. Price Rs. 4/8.
The modern Indian languages have been greatly influenced, particularly in vocabulary, by the Arabic and Persian languages due to the continuous Islamic rule in this country for several centuries. However, the number of words in the differ. ent Indian languages which could be traced to Perso-Arabic influence varies in different regions owing to various circumstances. In the present work Dr. NAIK makes an attempt to assess the degree of the influence exerted by these forcign languages on Gujarati. The Gujarat Vidya Sabha may be congratulated for having brought out this publication so valuable for the cultural study of Gujarat.
In the first three chapters of the book, the author describes the history, language and literature of Iran, and the arrival of foreigners in Gujarat-the topics which supply the background to the main subject. In the fourth chapter he gives his evaluation of the Perso-Arabic element in the language of Gujarat. While doing so he has not merely given the lists of borrowed words in Gujarāti. Instead, he has classified these words under suitable heads like words referring to Administration, Law, Revenue, Medicine, Agriculture, etc., and preceded each one of these lists with introductory remarks discussing at times the causes which led to these borrowings. A glance at these lists will enable the reader to appreciate the wide influence exert. ed by the foreigners on the life and culture of the people of Gujarat. In the last chapter we find the treatment of some topics of morphological interest such as the foreign influence on the noun-formation in Gujarati, the use of foreign indeclinables and suffixes. There we also get a discussion of the semantic aspect in so far as the
1. In course of time many of these words became difficult for understanding and attempts were made to compile lexicons of Persian words with Sanskrit equivalents. Efforts in the other direction viz. to avoid the use of foreign words in a language and replace them by old indigenous words were also not unknown. For a description of these Lexicons, cf. Infiltration of Persian words in Indian Languages by Dr. M. R. MAJUMDAR, Journal of Oriental Institute, Baroda, 1.89-92.
Madhu Vidyā/569
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