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==History== | ==History== | ||
[[File:East-magadhan-proto-languages.png|thumb|left|The descent of proto-Gauda, the ancestor of the modern Bengali language, from the proto-Gauda-Kamarupa line of the proto-Magadhan(Magadhi Prakrit).<ref>{{harvcol|Toulmin|2009|p=220}}</ref>]] | [[File:East-magadhan-proto-languages.png|thumb|left|The descent of proto-Gauda, the ancestor of the modern Bengali language, from the proto-Gauda-Kamarupa line of the proto-Magadhan(Magadhi Prakrit).<ref>{{harvcol|Toulmin|2009|p=220}}</ref>]] | ||
===Ancient=== | |||
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 | |||
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== References == | == References == | ||