LINGUIST List 21.3535 Sun Sep 05 2010 Disc: Re: Etymology of 'Urdu' Editor for this issue: Elyssa Winzeler <elyssalinguistlist.org> To post to LINGUIST, use our convenient web form at http://linguistlist.org/LL/posttolinguist.cfm. Directory         1.    Nicholas Kontovas, Re: Etymology of 'Urdu' Message 1: Re: Etymology of 'Urdu' Date: 03-Sep-2010 From: Nicholas Kontovas <kontovasgmail.com> Subject: Re: Etymology of 'Urdu' E-mail this message to a friend Syed-Mohsin Naquvi wrote: 'The word Urdu itself is a word from the Turkish language akin to the English word Horde. However, the word Urdu which means an army, in Turkish,is actually spelled Ordu in modern Turkish with an umlaut on the initial O. I am trying to ascertain as to how and when this vowel-shift has taken place. ' Actually, the word in Turkish is just 'ordu' -- no umlaut on the 'o'. As for how the sound changed from Turkish 'o' to Urdu 'u', I'm not too sure. The Ottoman script version of this word ('elif-re-del-vav') would similarly be read in (Iranian) Farsi 'ordu', which would normally correspond to Tajiki and Urdu 'urduu' ('uu' = long 'u'). Not sure what that means, but it's a start. Linguistic Field(s): Historical Linguistics Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issue Page Updated: 05-Sep-2010       About LINGUIST    |   Contact Us       While the LINGUIST List makes every effort to ensure the linguistic relevance of sites listed on its pages, it cannot vouch for their contents.