Dear friends, Even a slogan must have a meaning. "Tench Konknnichem khaxeleponn" means "That alone or that itself is the speciality of Konkani". Perhaps Jose/SALU would care to explain what "that" is. It is plausible, as Domnic asserts, that the root of the expressions lies in Muslim influence. But Muslims ruled over a large part of India for much longer that they did over Goa. Do we find any such influence on other Indian languages, in spite of the fact that numerous Arabic/Persian words do exist therein? How did the emigrants who escaped Portuguese religious persecution remain immune from such influence? Why are such expressions absent in the Braga Library literature which is devoid of the influence of Portuguese language? Why are they literal translations of the equivalent Portuguese expressions, except for the addition of 'God' which is missing but implied therein? These facts definitely point towards Portuguese and clerical influence. I remember that in my childhood (late 1940s) an old beggar woman, called Rozmari, would visit our home once every week. On getting the alms from my mother, she never said "Dev borem korum" but always "Bore..m zaum, Bab zaum" i.e. "May you prosper, may you beget a baby boy." Perhaps, even at that time, the expressions had not percolated to the grassroot level.
Mog asum. Sebastian Borges On Sat, 6 Mar 2010 jose fernandes <[email protected]> wrote Tench Konknnichem khaxeleponn SALU On Sat, 06 Mar 2010 Domnic Fernandes <[email protected]> wrote: Prior to 1510, Goa was governed by different rulers, including Muslims. The Portuguese took over Goa from the Muslims. Islam uses the word 'Allah' (God) quite frequently. They, too, invoke God's name while thanking - 'Barak Allah-hu fik'. So, it's possible that we inherited 'Dev Borem korum' from our previous occupiers, the Muslims. On Sat, Mar 6, 2010 at 11:52 AM, Sebastian Borges <[email protected]>wrote: > Dear Fred, > I think you are right. Konkani is perhaps the only Indian language wherein > Dev is invoked. E.g. Dev boro dis dium, Dev bori sanz dium, Dev bori rat > dium. Such expressions are not found in the little pre-Portuguese Konkani > literature that is available to us. Neither do the Konkanis who migrated to > the South use these expressions. Clearly, these are 'padribhas' > translations of the Portuguese Bom dia, Boa tarde, Boa noite. Please note > that the equivalent of 'Good morning' is not 'Dev boro sokall dium' but 'Dev > boro dis dium' (Bom dia). > > Sebastian Borges The INTERNET now has a personality. YOURS! See your Yahoo! Homepage. http://in.yahoo.com/
