Punjabi language

Punjabi, also spelled Panjabi, belongs to the Indo-Aryan language family and originates in the Punjab region, which spans parts of Pakistan and India. It ranks among the world’s most widely spoken native languages, with roughly 150 million native speakers. In Pakistan, it is the most common first language, with 88.9 million native speakers recorded in the 2023 census; in India, it is the 11th most spoken, with 31.1 million native speakers according to the 2011 census. A sizable Punjabi-speaking diaspora exists abroad, especially in Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, and the Gulf states.

The writing system for Punjabi differs by country: in Pakistan, it uses the Shahmukhi alphabet, derived from the Perso-Arabic script; in India, it uses the Gurmukhi alphabet, based on Indic scripts. A distinctive feature of Punjabi among Indo-Aryan and broader Indo-European languages is its use of lexical tone.

The name “Punjabi” (or “Panjabi”) comes from “Panj-āb,” a Persian term meaning “Five Waters,” which refers to the five major eastern tributaries of the Indus River. Turko-Persian conquerors of South Asia introduced this name, translating the Sanskrit “Panchanada,” or “Land of the Five Rivers.” “Panj” is related to words for “five” in other Indo-European languages, such as Sanskrit “pañca,” Greek “pénte,” Lithuanian “penki,” and English “five”; “āb” is related to Sanskrit “áp” and the “Av-” in “Avon.” The historical Punjab region, now divided between India and Pakistan, is physiographically defined by the Indus River and these five tributaries, one of which—the Beas River—flows into another, the Sutlej.

Punjabi is part of the Indic branch of Indo-Iranian languages, tracing back to Old Indic, which lasted until 500 BCE. This was followed by regional Prākrits during the Earlier Middle Indic period (500 BCE–500 CE), then the Later Middle Indic period (500–1000 CE), which included later Prakrits known as Apabhraṁśa, such as Śaurasenī and Paiśachī. Modern Indic languages emerged from these Apabhraṁśas around 1000 CE onward, with no clear break between the Later Middle Indic and Early New Indic stages.

Scholars divide Punjabi’s development into four stages: Old Punjabi (1000–1400 CE), with surviving works by Addahmāṇ (Abdul Rahman) and others attributed to Fariduddin Ganjshakar (though this attribution is disputed, and his claimed works in Sikh scripture may be later, by a different author named Farid Sani or Ibrahim Farid); Medieval Punjabi (1400–1700 CE), featuring works by Farid Sani/Ibrahim Farid and the Sikh gurus; Middle Punjabi (1700–1850 CE); and Modern Punjabi (1850 CE to present). An alternative trifurcation groups the precursor stage (10th–16th centuries) as Old Punjabi, the 16th–19th centuries as Medieval Punjabi, and the 19th century onward as Modern Punjabi.

Punjabi developed from Prakrit languages and later Apabhraṃśa (Sanskrit for “deviated” or “non-grammatical speech”). From 600 BCE, Sanskrit became the standard literary and administrative language, while Prakrit languages evolved into many regional languages across India. Paishachi Prakrit, spoken in north and northwestern India, is the Prakrit from which Punjabi developed. Later, in northern India, Paishachi Prakrit gave rise to Paishachi Apabhraṃśa, a descendant of Prakrit. Punjabi emerged as an Apabhramsha in the 7th century CE and stabilized by the 10th century. According to Mangat Bhardwaj, the Western and Eastern Punjabi-speaking zones may have originally spoken different Apabhraṁśas: the Lahnda zone likely used Paiśāchī Apabhraṁśa, while the Eastern Punjabi area was a transitional zone of Śaurasenī merging into Paiśāchī, with Śaurasenī spoken in the neighboring Western Hindi zone.

The earliest writings in Punjabi date to the Nath Yogi era (9th–14th century). Their language is morphologically closer to Shauraseni Apbhramsa, but the vocabulary and rhythm are heavily colloquial and folkloric. Writing in 1317–1318, Amir Khusrau referred to the local language around Lahore as Lahauri. A long period of literary interaction between Western (Lahnda) and Eastern Punjabi followed, evident in the works of Muslim Sufis and Sikhs.

Arabic and Modern Persian influence in the historical Punjab region began with late first-millennium Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent. Persian replaced Sanskrit as the language for administration, secular writing, and religious-intellectual works (though Sanskrit retained some use in the latter). During the Mughal period, local Indo-Aryan languages saw increased use in literature, especially for spiritual poetry. Many Persian words (e.g., zamīn, śahir) entered Punjabi and are used freely. Through Persian, Punjabi also absorbed Arabic-derived words like dukān and ġazal, as well as Turkic words such as qēncī and sōġāt. After the fall of the Sikh empire, the British made Urdu the official language of Punjab (it remains the primary official language in Pakistani Punjab), and Urdu influenced Punjabi, replacing Persian.