Origin of origins

One can’t be certain whether there is a god or not but there is something else we must strongly assert by. Words. The way they evolve over time — can we find a parallel in Darwin’s Theory of Evolution here? — compels us to understand ourselves better. Go to any part of the world where humans inhabit and you’d be mesmerized by what we can do with our tongues. It’s a pleasant reality of a species blessed with a piano inside its mouth. The sounds generated would mean so much more to a peculiar group compared to others because they relate words to what they hear. For instance, “Yo!” won’t mean anything in a traditional Mangalorean household other than a distress call but is a sign of agreement in Americanized workplaces. Sounds attain deeper meaning because signals of common knowledge are attached to a set of words. That’s where the web of language sets into motion. But the most admirable bit about a spreading language is it changes too along with its vocabulary. Exchange of ideas demand so. Which might explain why ‘falsafa’ — a term often thrown in Bollywood songs —shares its roots in the Greekness of ‘philosophy’. Notice the fuh syllable in both the words. Thoughts travel with the travelers, leaving behind a trail of undistortable pieces of history. That’s how word ‘rice’ has its roots in Tamil while ‘miracle’ has its in Norman. That’s also how the Spanish-speaking women of Americas have Indic names like Sheela, Sanchita and Anita. Or why the Czech word for taste is chut, giving eating an altogether different perspective. Agreed it’s difficult to pinpoint chronology of languages because of the different versions of pronunciations but one thing is for sure: words have a (shelf) life of their own but they generally outlive the speaker. There is a clear transition of identities whenever words are traded without distorting its meaning to a large extent. Speaking of trade, the Turkish word for spice is ‘baharat’ which is an obvious reference to the nation Turks received it from. Intriguingly, many a so-called modern Indians cringe at hearing the word ‘Bharat’ because of its maternal association with India. Fortunately, the power yielded by words go far beyond narrow-mindedness. What comes out of mouth can’t possibly beat what goes on inside our head. Imagine why ignorance can only breed more ignorance? If we pay attention to our past, we’d have had a better clarity of our future. A language helps bridge the distance between the two spots. Words, to be precise. No wonder they have a hold on us the way God can only dream of.