746
edits
add early
(Ancient) |
(add early) |
||
| Line 55: | Line 55: | ||
Although [[Sanskrit]] was practised by Hindu [[Brahmins]] in [[Bengal]] since the [[first millennium BCE]], the local [[Buddhist]] population were speaking in some varieties of the [[Prakrit|Prakrita languages]]. These varieties generally referred to as "eastern [[Magadhi Prakrit]]", as coined by linguist [[Suniti Kumar Chatterji]],{{citation needed|date=December 2019}} as the [[Middle Indo-Aryan languages|Middle Indo-Aryan dialects]] were influential in the [[first millennium]] when Bengal was a part of the [[Magadha]]n realm. The local varieties had no official status during the [[Gupta Empire]], and with Bengal increasingly becoming a hub of [[Sanskrit literature]] for Hindu priests, the vernacular of Bengal gained a lot of influence from Sanskrit.<ref>{{cite Banglapedia|article=Bangla Script|author=Shariful Islam}}</ref> [[Magadhi Prakrit]] was also spoken in modern-day [[Bihar]] and [[Assam]], and this vernacular eventually evolved into [[Ardha Magadhi]].<ref name=jain>{{Harvnb|Shah|1998|p=11}}</ref><ref name=keith>{{Harvnb|Keith|1998|p=187}}</ref> Ardha Magadhi began to give way to what is known as [[Apabhraṃśa]], by the end of the first millennium. The Bengali language evolved as a distinct language by the course of time.<ref name="tb">{{Harv|Bhattacharya|2000 | Although [[Sanskrit]] was practised by Hindu [[Brahmins]] in [[Bengal]] since the [[first millennium BCE]], the local [[Buddhist]] population were speaking in some varieties of the [[Prakrit|Prakrita languages]]. These varieties generally referred to as "eastern [[Magadhi Prakrit]]", as coined by linguist [[Suniti Kumar Chatterji]],{{citation needed|date=December 2019}} as the [[Middle Indo-Aryan languages|Middle Indo-Aryan dialects]] were influential in the [[first millennium]] when Bengal was a part of the [[Magadha]]n realm. The local varieties had no official status during the [[Gupta Empire]], and with Bengal increasingly becoming a hub of [[Sanskrit literature]] for Hindu priests, the vernacular of Bengal gained a lot of influence from Sanskrit.<ref>{{cite Banglapedia|article=Bangla Script|author=Shariful Islam}}</ref> [[Magadhi Prakrit]] was also spoken in modern-day [[Bihar]] and [[Assam]], and this vernacular eventually evolved into [[Ardha Magadhi]].<ref name=jain>{{Harvnb|Shah|1998|p=11}}</ref><ref name=keith>{{Harvnb|Keith|1998|p=187}}</ref> Ardha Magadhi began to give way to what is known as [[Apabhraṃśa]], by the end of the first millennium. The Bengali language evolved as a distinct language by the course of time.<ref name="tb">{{Harv|Bhattacharya|2000 | ||
}}</ref> | }}</ref> | ||
===Early=== | |||
Though some claim that some 10th-century texts were in Bengali; it is not certain whether they represent a differentiated language or whether they represent a stage when [[Eastern Indo-Aryan languages]] were differentiating.<ref>"Within the Eastern Indic language family the history of the separation of Bangla from Oriya, Assamese, and the languages of Bihar remains to be worked out carefully. Scholars do not yet agree on criteria for deciding if certain tenth century AD texts were in a Bangla already distinguishable from the other languages, or marked a stage at which Eastern Indic had not finished differentiating." {{harvcol|Dasgupta|2003|pp=386–387}}</ref> | |||