Marathi

Marathi may refer to:

Nursery rhyme

A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for young children in Britain and many other countries, but usage only dates from the late 18th /early 19th century. In North America the term Mother Goose Rhymes, introduced in the mid-18th century, is still often used.

History

Lullabies

The oldest children's songs of which we have records are lullabies, intended to help a child sleep. Lullabies can be found in every human culture. The English term lullaby is thought to come from "lu, lu" or "la la" sound made by mothers or nurses to calm children, and "by by" or "bye bye", either another lulling sound, or a term for good night. Until the modern era lullabies were usually only recorded incidentally in written sources. The Roman nurses' lullaby, "Lalla, Lalla, Lalla, aut dormi, aut lacta", is recorded in a scholium on Persius and may be the oldest to survive.

Many medieval English verses associated with the birth of Jesus take the form of a lullaby, including "Lullay, my liking, my dere son, my sweting" and may be versions of contemporary lullabies. However, most of those used today date from the 17th century. For example, a well known lullaby such as "Rock-a-bye, baby on a tree top", cannot be found in records until the late-18th century when it was printed by John Newbery (c. 1765).

Konkani language

Konkani (Kōṅkaṇī) is an Indo-Aryan language belonging to the Indo-European family of languages and is spoken along the western coast of India. It is one of the 22 scheduled languages mentioned in the 8th schedule of the Indian Constitution and the official language of the Indian state of Goa. The first Konkani inscription is dated 1187 A.D. It is a minority language in Maharashtra, Karnataka, northern Kerala (Kasaragod district),Dadra and Nagar Haveli, and Daman and Diu.

Konkani is a member of the southern Indo-Aryan language group. It retains elements of Old Indo-Aryan structures and shows similarities with both western and eastern Indo-Aryan languages.

Appellations

It is quite possible that Old Konkani was just referred to as Prakrit by its speakers. Among the inscriptions at the foot of the colossal statue of Bahubali at Sravanabelagola in Karnataka are two lines reading thus: (i) Sri Chamundaraje Karaviyale and (ii) Sri Ganga raje sutthale karaviyale. The first line was inscribed circa 981 AD and the second line in 116-17 AD. The language of these lines is Konkani according to Dr. S.B. Kulkarni (former head of Department of Marathi, Nagpur University) and Dr. Jose Pereira (former professor, Fordham University, USA). Considering these arguments, these inscriptions at Sravanabelegola may be considered the earliest Konkani inscriptions in Devanagari script. Reference to the name Konkani is not found in literature prior to 13th century. The first reference of the name Konkani is in "Abhanga 263" of the 13th century Marathi saint poet, Namadeva (1270–1350). Konkani has been known by a variety of names: Canarim, Concanim, Gomantaki, Bramana, and Goani. It is called Amchi Bhas (our language) by native speakers (Amchi Gele in Dakshina Kannada), and Govi or Goenchi Bhas by others. Learned Marathi speakers tend to call it Gomantaki.