History of the Nepali language
Origin and History of Nepali Language
Nepal, a country with diverse culture, has its own origin and history of its Nepali language. The origin of the language takes form in the ancient era, which diversified with descent of time. Nepali language is the native language of Nepal, which is spoken by nearly 17 million people around the globe. It is mostly spoken in Nepal by different Nepalese communities and it is also the official language of Nepal. Besides Nepal, it is also spoken in India (mainly Sikkim & Darjeeling), Bhutan, Myanmar and parts of Tibet inhabited by Nepalese people.
Origin of Nepali Language
The root of origin of Nepali language is considered to be in the 10th A.D. During this era, Nepal was not a single country. There were many small counties which were ruled by different kings belonging to different cultural origins. The main inhabited parts of Nepal in those era was Sinja valley (present day Jumla district, Karnali Province) which was spread to Mansarovar in the north and Kumaon Gadwal in the west. It was known as Sinja Kingdom. The northern region of Sinja was called Jadan and the southern region as Khasan. The official language of Sinja was Sinjali and was spoken dominantly in the Khasan region, which was also known as Khas or Khaskura.
Khas language was also known as Khas Prakrit. Khas language was the combination of Nepali, Kumaoni, Garhwali, Doteli and Jumli language which is spoken by respective Nepalese community people of present day.
Due to comparable similarity in pronunciation and meaning in Khas and Nepali language, Khas language is known as the ancestor of Nepali language. Sinja Kingdom is known as the birthplace of Nepali language.
History and Diversification
The development and use of Nepali script in the spoken and written forms are found in different archeological evidences. The early Nepali script dated between 1000-1500 BC can be found in the famous ancient Hindu Script known as “Vedas”. But there is also evidence of the history of Nepali language from Sanskrit language. Many words used in Nepali script have Sanskrit origin. Thus, it is considered that Sanskrit script has greater influence in the development of Nepali language/script.
During Shah Dynasty, it was declared as an official language of Nepal. The language can be found to face different modification and adjustments in both written and spoken forms till modern day.
Modern day Nepali language has a definite tone throughout the country. Only certain parts of hilly and Himalayan regions are found to have been using the traditional (Khas Prakrit) Nepali language. The modern script is typed in Unicode and commonly used as official typing purposes and translation of English text to Nepali.
External links
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