The surprising similarities between Urdu and Croatian language
Zdravo (hello in Croatian) and Adaab (hello in Urdu) everyone. Croatia may not be the winner of Football World Cup 2018 and may not be able to triumph in the final match of world cup against the French team but still the Croatian team was able to win the hearts of millions of football enthusiasts around the world and if not millions I can say without any doubt that their team must have won love and support of thousands just from Indo-Pak subcontinent. The reason why Croatia attained immense popularity and stardom through 2018 world cup and the reason they were able to break to the highly anticipated final match was primarily the laudable leadership skills of their team’s captain Luka Modric and the way he kept the unity of the whole team intact throughout the whole event. Croatian team’s well-disciplined and zealous attitude turned them into a popular team. Before World Cup 2018 and apart from whatever goes on in the world of football, many South Asian Urdu speakers may not have been aware of where exactly Croatia is located on the world map and if they may have been aware of this fact then they may not be aware of a connection which is indeed a fact that connects their country with this small but beautiful Eastern European EU member state and that fact revolves around the language which is being spoken by a large majority of the 4.5 million inhabitants of Croatia (Croatian) and Urdu. That fact comprises of the astonishing similarities Urdu and Croatian languages, despite being spoken in lands over thousand miles away from each other, do share with each other in the form of several common words (which may have been a bit different in their respective pronunciations, sometimes in their respective meanings and obviously in the manner in which they are being written).
This lingual connection between Croatian and Urdu speakers is being established through languages like Persian and Turkish, in the middle which have loaned many words to Urdu. In fact, it won’t be wrong to say that they have played a very cardinal role in constructing modern day Urdu.
Turkish is one of the foreign languages I have acquainted myself with and because of such comfortable acquaintance I have been able to easily discern the lingual bridge it has created along with Persian between my mother tongue Urdu and Croatian language. Since Turkish speakers have been the colonial rulers of the entire Balkans region of Eastern Europe (which include Croatia too) during the golden old days of Ottoman Empire so they had also imprinted their lingual footprints on not just Croatian but on other Slavic languages of the region like Serbian too. The words which Turks loaned to the Croatians are indeed the words loaned to their Ottoman Turkish in the first place by Iranians through their Persian language. Apart from the Ottoman colonial rule over Balkans, if we go with the Iranian theory about the origin hypothesis of the Croats we can see how they originated from the Sarmatians who were descending from Medes in North-Western Iran. This Iranian theory may cement the viewpoint that the words present in Croatian are of Iranian origin and are Persian.
I’ll be starting with a common word for a drink which is being consumed regularly in Indo-Pak and Croatia by millions — and of course many are addicted to it and can’t start their day without it. It’s every Desi’s very own Chai (tea) — and Croats also call it chay (Čaj as being written in Croatian language, č in Croatian sounds like ch in charm and match and j gives the sound of English y). A word in common for the “almond” comes with slight difference in pronunciation, with Desis calling it Badam (which has been perceived since a long time in our country as some sort of a booster of mental capabilities and brain) and Croats calling it Badem( in a more Turkish style). Then we also share the word for “target” though with a slight exception of an “Aa” sound used in the end of the Urdu common word which is Nishanaa and the Croatian word is Nišan (š in Croatian sounds like sh in “shoe”). Urdu and Croatian speakers also have the word for “liver” in common. People call it Jiger in Urdu and Croats call it with a slight difference as Džigerica (pronounced as Ji-gay-ritsaa as Dž is pronounced like j in “joy”, only slightly harder, and c here sounds like ts in English). For the word “pocket” we also have a common word though again with slight differences in pronunciation; Croats call it Džep and Desis call it Jaib with a b sound in the word not a p sound at the end like that of the Croatian word. We (Desis and Croats) also share a very lethal common word which is Barut (as both call it in their languages in a similar manner) which translates to “gunpowder” in English. Though Urdu speakers tend to end the word with a d sound rather than with a t sound like the way Croats do. And how can I forget that both languages also share the word for “pomegranate” in common though again with slight differences as Croats call it Nar (Turkish loanword) and Desis call it Anaar( Persian loanword). We also share the word for “market” as Croats call it Pazar (Turkish loanword which was further derived from the Persian word Bazaar) and South Asians call it Bazaar in their Urdu (Persian loanword). Croats use the word Parče (pronounced as P-ar-ch-ay) for the word “piece” and Desis use a greatly similar word Parcha in Urdu though not very often (usually used in the case of division of meat or of cloths though these are the only usages I have been hearing up till now and if someone else has got some other usage of this word in Urdu then they can feel free to share that with me). These two languages also share the word for “wrestler” and that word is Pelivan (Croatian) or Pahalwan (Urdu). We also agree on a similar word for “lemon” which is Limun (can be pronounced as lee-moon) in both languages. Moving on, both Croats and Indo-Pak Urdu speakers share another word though with not purely similar meanings. Croats call it česma and Urdu speakers call it Chashma but by česma Croats mean a fountain and not a water spring (that’s what Desis mean in their Urdu). Urdu speakers have borrowed this word directly from the Persian Chashma which means the same whereas Croats have borrowed this word directly from Turks who call it Çeşme (pronounced as Cheh-sh-may). And I would love to tell you all that whenever you visit Croatia , also pay a visit to Croatian capital Zagreb and especially to the Mandusevac česma situated at the heart of city’s central square. It is a common belief that dropping a coin in Mandusevac česma will make your wish comes true. On the other hand, another belief commonplace in Croatia is that drinking water from this česma puts a spell on you which make it almost arduous to forget Zagreb for the rest of your life. Though I myself hasn’t been to Croatia yet , I’m telling you all this from what I have heard from a friend of mine who lives in Zagreb and I also dream of visiting this famed česma of Zagreb at least once in my life whenever I will embark on a visit to Croatia. For a chest and for a trunk, Urdu and Croatian also have a similar word which is Sanduk with exactly same pronunciation without any differences.
For something fresh, we also have a common word which is Taze or Taza. For gravy or a traditional soup, people in subcontinent are acquainted with the word of Shorbaa and in Croatia there is a pretty similar word which is čorba (pronounced as cho-orbaa). How sweet it is that we even share the same word (though pronounced differently) for sugar which is Šećer (pronounced as Shay-Cher) in Croatian and Shakar in Urdu. We even shop the same way at least when it comes to uttering this common word from our mouths and that word is Dukaan (Urdu) and Dućan (Croatian , ć here sounds like t in British English “tune” which is pronounced as ty ). Pronunciations differ for this word but it has the same meaning and surprisingly in both languages it’s an Arabic loanword not a Persian or Turkish one like the aforementioned common words were.
I hope everyone reading this article will utterly relish it and will be able to realize as I realized how connected two different parts of the world (Croatia and Subcontinent) are, even though they don’t share any land or maritime border with each other.
This shows how our respective languages connect us despite different barriers between us.
Doviđenja(goodbye in Croatian) and Khuda Hafiz (goodbye in Urdu) everyone.