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Old Bengali was the earliest recorded form of the Bengali language, spoken in the Bengal region of eastern Indian subcontinent during the Middle Ages. It developed from a Apabhraṃśa of Magadhi Prakrit around 900 AD, and the first early Old Bengali literary works date from the 10th century. Between 1200 and 1350 AD, no written form or literary work of Bengali language is found; during this period the Islamic invasion took place in Bengal. It is marked as the barren age, and also marks the end of the Old Bengali era, as the Middle Bengali language developed later.[1]
| Old Bengali | |
|---|---|
| Adi Bangla | |
 Page-39 of the Charyapada manuscript, a sign of the Old Bengali | |
| Region | Bengal region |
| Ethnicity | Bengalis |
| Era | Mostly developed into Middle Bengali by the 14th century |
Early forms | Proto-Gauda–Kamarupa
|
| Gaudi script | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
Old Bengali is an Eastern Indo-Aryan language that is one of the Magadhi languages, and its closest relatives are Old Odia and Kamarupi Prakrit. Like other Old Eastern Indo-Aryan languages, it is distinct from Modern Bengali and is not fully incomprehensible to Modern Bengali speakers without study. Within Old Bengali grammar, the verb evolved and a letter is omitted from a ligature formed by consonants.
Phonology
editSound changes
editSome of the major sound changes that took place in the history of Old Bengali were as follows:
- One of the consonants of the ligatures was lost, and the preceding vowel was lengthened to compensate for this loss. Exception to this rule is found in the Ardha-tatsama words. There is a loss of assimilative consonant but the preceding vowel is not lengthened. Ligatures formed by joining with nasal consonants are also often unassimilated; however, in Old Bengali the preceding vowel of such added consonants is lengthened.[2]
- The nasal consonant was lost in many cases, and as a result the preceding vowel became nasal.
- Widespread use of /s/ (স্) in place of (/ʃ/) (শ্).
- Multiple vowels located side by side were retained. But multiple vowels at the end of words were pronounced as compound vowel and eventually two together became a single vowel.
Literature
edit
The collection of Old Bengali literature is small but still significant, with only a few surviving manuscripts. Many of the written works of the Buddhist Tantric Sahajiyas mingle in Old Bengali, which is one of the richest and most significant bodies of literature preserved among the early language groups derived from Magadhi Prakrit.[3]
The most important surviving work of Old Bengali literature is the Charyapada, a collection of devotional song; which is considered as the best sign created in Old Bengali.[4] There are also some literary works, such as few Bengali songs compiled in Sekshuvodaya, some rhymes and poems of Bidagdha Mukhomandal.[3] Bandyaghatiya Sarbananda wrote the note on the Sanskrit lexicon Amarkosh by Amar Singh, which contains about 400 Bengali words which are considered to be traces of Old Bengali.[4]
References
editBibliography
edit- Shaw, Dr. Rameswar (21 February 1984). সাধারণ ভাষাবিজ্ঞান ও বাংলা ভাষা (in Bengali). Kolkata: Pustak Bipani. ISBN 81-85471-12-6. Retrieved 6 October 2024.