Origin of the Bengali Language
Bengali belongs to the Indo-European language family. Its line of development runs from Indo-European to Indo-Iranian to Indo-Aryan, then Vedic and Sanskrit, then Prakrit, then Magadhi Prakrit and Magadhi Apabhramsha, and finally Bengali. Assamese, Odia and Maithili are related languages that also come from Magadhi Apabhramsha.
Styles of Bengali
Shadhu style is heavy with Sanskrit-origin words and uses full verb and pronoun forms such as koriyachhi and tahar. Cholito style uses short forms such as korechhi and tar. Pramatha Chaudhuri was the chief champion of the cholito style through the journal Sabujpatra. Today's standard cholito is based on the speech of Kolkata and Nadia.
Bengali Vocabulary
Tatsama words come unchanged from Sanskrit, such as chondro, surjo and dhormo. Ordho-tatsama words are slightly changed Sanskrit words, such as ginni from grihini, jyochhna from jyotsna and keshto from krishno. Todbhabo words are changed Sanskrit words that came through Prakrit, such as chand from chondro, hat from hosto and shona from sworno. Deshi words are native and not from Sanskrit, such as dhol, dhenki and kula.
Foreign words come from many sources. Arabic gives kolom, kitab, adalot and ain. Persian gives karkhana, dokan, bajar, shohor and shorkar. Turkish gives baburchi, begum and top. Portuguese gives chabi, almari, anarosh, balti, peyara, janala and shaban. Dutch gives iskabon, horoton, ruiton and turup. English gives table, school and train. French gives cartridge and restaurant.
Shortcut
Household items such as almari, chabi, janala and balti are Portuguese. Card suits such as iskabon and horoton are Dutch. Administration and law words such as adalot and ain are Arabic or Persian.
Worked Examples
Example 1: Is 'chand' a tatsama or todbhabo word?
Solution: Todbhabo, changed from the Sanskrit chondro.
Example 2: From which language does 'almari' come?
Solution: Portuguese.
Quick Check
Question 1: From which Prakrit did Bengali develop?
Answer: Magadhi Prakrit and Magadhi Apabhramsha.
Question 2: Who championed the cholito style?
Answer: Pramatha Chaudhuri.
Question 3: What is 'ginni' called?
Answer: Ordho-tatsama, from grihini.