DefinePK

Abstract

Urdu is the third largest language spoken in the world. Many traditional theories were in vogue, as for as its origin is concerned, before the advent of modern linguistics. Mir Aman Dehlvi in the foreword of his famous "Bagh -o-Bahar" claimed that Urdu orginated in "army camp or Bazar" for which it was termed as "Urdu zaban or Lashkari zaban (language of army camp)" and used for communication in the era of Mughal empror Akbar. This theory misled many a scholars and various traditional theories were presented by them based on Mir Aman’s formula of language construction. This article is a critical analysis of traditional theories of origin of the Urdu Language.