Hindavi (???????, ?????), Hindawi, or Hindvi is the mother language of modern standard Hindi and Urdu.^[1] It was formed as a result of the intermingling of Persian loanwords with the native Khariboli language spoken in Delhi, the cultural capital of the northern India. For this reason, Amir Khusro referred to this language of his writings as Dahlavi (meaning of Delhi) or Hindavi (meaning of India). During this period, the language was used by Sufis in promulgating their message across India.^[2] After the advent of the Mughals in India, the Hindavi language acquired more Persian loanwords and hence, Rekhta (meaning mixture) and Hindi (meaning Indian)^[3] became popular names for the same language, until the eighteenth century.^[1] Urdu, as a name for the language arose around 1780.^[1] During the British Raj, the term "Hindustani" came into use as a result of British officials identifying the country's former name as Hindustan.^[1] In 1796, John Borthwick Gilchrist published a "A Grammar of the Hindoostanee Language".^[4][1]

External Links and references

It is referred to as Kabir's language http://www.springerlink.com/index/KH4L8682146325N2.pdf

Persian texts refer to it http://www.unc.edu/~cernst/articles/goddesses.doc

Medieval Chishti Sufi http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1478-1913.2000.tb03698.x

UNESCO refers to it as Zuban-e-Hindawi http://www.unesco.org/most/p2vidal.htm

TDIL, Govt. of India refers to it here http://www.tdil.mit.gov.in/DesignGuidesJan02.pdf

Referred in a Springer publication http://www.springerlink.com/index/F221523134T58N14.pdf

See also

• Hindustani
• Khariboli
• History of Hindustani