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Old Dhivehi

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Earliest form of Maldivian language
Old Dhivehi
Dhanbidhoo Loamaafaanu (1195 CE) is written in the Old Dhivehi language
RegionMaldives
Era12-13th century CE
Language familyIndo-European
Writing systemEveylaa akuru (older variant of Dhives Akuru)
Language codes
ISO 639-3–
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Old Dhivehi is the earliest attested form of the Maldivian language, recorded in Loamaafaanu in the 12th and 13th centuries CE and various Buddhist texts beginning from the 6th century CE. It is the ancestral form which gave rise to the modern northern dialect of the Dhivehi language. Old dhivehi belongs to Indo-Aryan branch of wider Indo-European language family.

No endonym for the language is known. However the language may have been called "Dhuvesi" or "Dhivesi" meaning "Islander", which has evolved into the endonym for the modern language.

History

Old Dhivehi descends through Proto Dhivehi-Sinhala or Elu spoken in 3rd century BCE. Around 1st century BCE, the unattested Proto-Dhivehi, the direct ancestor to all Maldivian dialects, started to separate from Elu prakrit. Proto-Dhivehi came to be influenced by subcontinental Middle Indo-Aryan dialects and Dravidian languages.

Phonology

Vowel inventory of Old Dhivehi is mostly identical to that of modern dhivehi. Like Sinhala and Dravidian and unlike most Indo-Aryan languages, spoken Old Dhivehi distinguished between long and short forms of and . However these were not distinguished in writing.

Vowels
Front Central Back
short long short long short long
Close i iː u uː
Mid e eː o oː
Open a aː
  • Modern developed as an independent phoneme from the Old Dhivehi diphthong /ai/.
Consonants
Labial Dental/
Alveolar 		Retroflex Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ɳ ɲ
Stop/
Affricate 		p
 		 b
ᵐb 		t̪
 		 d̪
ⁿd̪ 		ʈ
 		 ɖ
ᶯɖ 		k
 		 ɡ
ᵑɡ
Fricative s̪ h
Approximant ʋ l̪ ɭ j
Tap ɽ

Old Dhivehi vowel inventory was more limited compared to that of modern dhivehi as ,,, and did not exist. OIA sibilants had and merged into prehistorically.

Old Dhivehi consonant clusters /dy/ and /ty/ evolved into later and respectively.

Prenasalized consonants existed in the spoken form of old dhivehi, however were not rendered orthographically.

Modern dhivehi ށ is a reflex of OIA and Old Dhivehi rather than OIA .

Old Dhivehi contrasted between retroflex nasal ޱ and dental nasal ނ.

Old Dhivehi /p/ shifted to /f/ after 17th century

Vowel backing of Old Dhivehi /e/ to /o/ before retroflexes occurred after 13th century.

Grammar

Comparison of case suffixes between Old Dhivehi, Modern Standard Dhivehi (Male'), Addu and Fuvahmulah dialects

Vocabulary

Old Dhivehi Modern Dhivehi English
Puʈi ޕުޓި Fuʂi ފުށި Islet
Pavuru ޕަވުރު Fāru ފާރު Wall
Ateɭu އަތެޅު Atoɭu އަތޮޅު Atoll
Malu މަލު Mā މާ Flower
Raʈu ރަޓު Raʂ ރަށް Island/Country
Keɭu ކެޅު Koɭu ކޮޅު end/piece
Simu ސިމު In އިން Border
Saᶯdu ސަނދު Haᶯdu ހަނދު Moon
Doruveʈi ދޮރުވެޓި Dorōʂi ދޮރޯށި Gate

References

  1. Fritz, Sonja (2002). "The Dhivehi Language: A Descriptive and Historical Grammar of Maldivian and Its Dialects" (PDF). Beiträge zur Südasienforschung. 191: 32, 61 – via TITUS.
  2. Dwayne., Cain, Bruce. Dhivehi (Maldivian): A synchronic and diachronic study. pp. 163–167. ISBN 978-0-599-50452-3. OCLC 841782150.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. Ahmed., Maniku, Hassan (1986). Isdhoo loamaafaanu. Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka. p. iv. OCLC 30815973.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ Disanayake, J.B.; Wijayawardhana, G.W. (1986). "SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE MALDIVIAN LOAMAAFAANU COPPER PLATES OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Sri Lanka Branch. 31 – via JSTOR.
  5. ^ Dwayne., Cain, Bruce. Dhivehi (Maldivian): A synchronic and diachronic study. pp. 154, 155. ISBN 978-0-599-50452-3. OCLC 841782150.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. Fritz, Sonja (2002). "The Dhivehi language : a descriptive and historical grammar of Maldivian and its dialects" (PDF). Beiträge zur Südasienforschung. 191: 38–39 – via TITUS.
  7. Dwayne., Cain, Bruce. Dhivehi (Maldivian): A synchronic and diachronic study. p. 182. ISBN 978-0-599-50452-3. OCLC 841782150.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. "2. The Dhivehi Language", Dhivehi, De Gruyter, p. 21, 2016-12-05, retrieved 2023-04-05
  9. Ofitsch, Michaela; Zinko, Christian (2002). 125 Jahre Indo-Germanistik in Graz: Festband anlässlich des 125jährigen Bestehens der Forschungseinrichtung "Indogermanistik" an der Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz. p. 149.
  10. Dwayne., Cain, Bruce. Dhivehi (Maldivian): A synchronic and diachronic study. p. 212. ISBN 978-0-599-50452-3. OCLC 841782150.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  11. Dwayne., Cain, Bruce. Dhivehi (Maldivian): A synchronic and diachronic study. pp. 209–210. ISBN 978-0-599-50452-3. OCLC 841782150.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  12. Fritz, Sonja (2002). "The Dhivehi Language: A Descriptive and Historical Grammar of Maldivian and Its Dialects" (PDF). Beiträge zur Südasienforschung. 191: 54–64 – via TITUS.
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