The more I learn Hindi, the more I see the link between Malay and this language.
Hindi originated from 3 main languages – Roman, Sanskrit and Urdu.
Malay’s origin I’m not that sure. What I remember from my sejarah is that it was influenced from Sanskrit, Portugese and Arabic…probably some more old languages that may not in use anymore.
For example, these are the links between Malay and Hindi.
Umur – umra
Sabun – Sabun
Kerusi – kurchi
Meja – Mech
Utara – Uttar
Coolness!
And from what I remember from Arabic, the days of the week in Malay (Isnin, Selasa, Rabu, etc) are all derived from there.
Oh yea, and from what I remember from sejarah and what was confirmed by Ayrton, garpu (fork) is garfu in Portugese. Lol.
And I see the link between Arabic and Hindi too…like thank you is Sukriyaa in Hindi, and Shukran in Arabic.
I’m sure there are more links between Arabic and Hindi. A lot of Arabic slipped out of my mind since I didn’t practice it last time, lol.
Malay is not that useless after all. Hee Hee Hee. Like how knowing Mandarin aids learning Japanese, and probably Korean. Knowing Bahasa aids in learning Arabic and Hindi. And probably Sanskrit, if that’s still in use somewhere in the world. And other languages that Malay derived its origin from. On that note, it’s interesting to note that short/small is chotaa in Hindi, and little bit is chotto in Japanese. I wonder whether there’s a link.
I’m so proud that I have three languages that I can say that I am competent at! :D