Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Hindi: aashirwaad and aashiiSH

Is there any difference between aashirwaad and aashiiSH in Hindi? Or both are same?

Both words are of Sanskrit origin and similar in meaning (meaning blessings). The root word in both cases is aashis (आशिस्) which literally means "blessing". When followed by the word waada (वाद) which means "speaking/uttering", last स् of aashis changes to र् and the short vowel preceding it 'इ' becomes long 'ई' according to rules of Sanskrit grammar making the compound word 'aashiirwaada" (आशीर्वाद) (it is called sandhi in grammar). 

aashiirwaada is more commonly used. Thus it literally means 'speaking/ uttering a blessing'.  Otherwise even aashish can be used as in below:

Pita ne use ashish diya. 

Or

Ham ashish ke prarthi hain.

No comments:

Post a Comment