-ji: Difference between revisions

The origin of the ''ji'' honorific is uncertain.<ref name="ref04lepup">[http://books.google.com/books?id=lPItAQAAIAAJ Archiv Orientální, Volume 75], Československý orientální ústav v Praze, Orientální ústav (Československá akademie věd), 2007, ''... Artur Karp is concerned with the etymology of the honorific —ji, which belongs to the basic vocabulary of Hindi. Its etymology is unclear and the author points out several possibilities ...''</ref> One suggestion is that it is a borrowing from an Austroasiatic language such as Sora.<ref name="ref15civum">[http://books.google.com/books?id=ma5YB0cIJ_kC Sora-English Dictionary], Giḍugu Veṅkaṭarāmamūrti, Mittal Publications, 1986, ''... Is honorific -ji used in the neo-Aryan languages of India borrowed from Sora? ...''</ref> Another is that the term means 'soul' or 'life' (similar to the ''jān'' suffix) and is derived from Sanskrit.<ref name="ref40jahev">[http://books.google.com/books?id=gjKv1IhDoMgC Perfecting Women: Maulana Ashraf ʻAlī Thanawi's Bihishti Zewar: a Partial Translation with Commentary], Ashraf ʻAlī Thānvī, Barbara Daly Metcalf, pp. 165, University of California Press, 1992, ISBN 9780520080935, ''... Seemingly used interchangeably, the terms qalb, dil, and ji are, respectively, Arabic, Persian, and Hindi in origin, the linguistic universalism suggesting the comprehensiveness the term "heart" is meant to convey; in all three cases, the meaning spills over to "self", "mind," and "soul" ...''</ref>