Memories of Connor's Adventures

Orlando the Adventurer pulled a Scimitar from beneath his Robes and smiled...

Saturday 22 June 2019

Linguistic Archaeology: the word 'Road'

The translation for the English word 'Road' to Urdu/Pashto is an error that has crept into Pashto and Urdu language since the beginning of the local languages. The letters that make up the word (سړک) are read in right to left form (K<-B<-S) s->b->k or 'sbk'. This is pronounced as 'Uzbek'. Therefore the destination of the road was uzbek, and not necessarily the word for road as a concept. This might need to be explained to native speakers of urdu and pashto so that an inquiry into what the correctly pronounced word for 'road' is may be undertaken.
In Uzbek the word for road is Yo'l, and similarly in Turkish Yol. If these are the other end of the same road and not simply the concept, then the road leads between Usbek and Yol.

Yol is of course a province in India.

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