है
Hindi
Etymology
There are similar words in Old Hindi to mean "is", आहि (āhi), है (hai)—the source of this word—, and होइ (hoi)—the source of the modern subjunctive हो (ho), among others. होइ (hoi) is clearly from Sauraseni Prakrit 𑀪𑁄𑀤𑀺 (bhodi). The first two are possibly from Apabhramsa *अहहि (ahahi) or *अहै, a thematic variant of the Prakrit root 𑀅𑀲𑁆 (as),[1] from अस् (as), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁es-, making it a cognate to English is and Spanish es. Though the s > h shift and the thematisation of Old Indo-Aryan roots was common in Middle Indo-Aryan, neither are noted by Prakrit grammarians for अस् (as), making this derivation dubious. They may otherwise be connected with Sauraseni Prakrit 𑀪𑁄𑀤𑀺 (bhodi) and Sanskrit भवति (bhavati), or at least influenced by this root.
Pronunciation
- (Delhi Hindi) IPA(key): /ɦɛː/
(file) Audio (file)
Verb
है • (hai) (Urdu spelling ہے)
Statistics
- Most common spoken Hindi words — #1 • के
References
- Jaroslav Strnad (2013) Morphology and Syntax of Old Hindī : Edition and Analysis of One Hundred Kabīr Vānī Poems From Rājasthān (Brill's Indological Library; 45), Leiden, →OCLC