All the names are same in English, and also in Hindi, then why is ALEXANDER called SIKANDAR?
2006-06-23 00:06:16 · 15 answers · asked by acumenp5 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
Because when the name al-eks-an-der was borrowed into early Hindi (and also into many other languages of the region), the al- at the beginning was interpreted to be another grammatical element, perhaps a definite article "the". So these speakers did not "hear" Alexander, but "the Ksander". Since "ks" is an odd sequence at the beginning of a word in most languages, the two sounds were metathesized and a vowel inserted to break them up, thus "Sikander". These processes are common. For example, when the Powhatan word "apassem" was borrowed into English in the 17th century, it was heard as "a possum", so the correct English pronunciation of opossum is "possum". We spell the word as in Powhatan, but we pronounce it as if the first syllable is the indefinite article "a". The same thing happened when the Acadians went to Louisiana. The first syllable was interpreted as the indefinite article "a" and so "Acadian" became "a Cajun".
2006-06-23 01:19:21 · answer #1 · answered by Taivo 7 · 8⤊ 1⤋
The Greek name Alexander entered West Asian languages as al-Sikandar or Iskandar, which in turn was rendered into Indian languages as Skanda 'the wargod.' It later on changed to Sikander or Sikandar.
2006-06-23 00:13:15 · answer #2 · answered by Bond 000 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sikander, for Alexander, dates from Alexander the Great's excursion into India a millennium or two ago. Over that time Alexander was transformed to Sikander. There have been other transliterations - Kandahar was one of the Alexandrias that Alexander founded during his travels. Sikander is one of the transliterations of Alexander into Persian, and Hindi may have picked that up.
What is extraordinary is that the name of someone who died in 330 BCE remains in languages 2,400 years later.
2006-06-23 00:22:44 · answer #3 · answered by iansand 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Origin Of The Name Alexander
2016-11-16 14:39:17 · answer #4 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In the Muslim world, it is Iskanda. R u sure Hindi is Sikandar?
Anyway, this are all translation. What we have in English may not be the most accurate one.
Take the name of Jesus. There are so many translation. IN Hebrew, it is never Jesus. It is Yeshua. In Bahasa Malay, it is Yesus. In Arabic, it is Isa. In Chinese it was Ye-Shu. So, frankly, what we known as Jesus is actually not the most correct one.
Certain language have/ don't have certain pronunciation. Their phonic system may also be different. Thus it is different.
2006-06-23 00:20:00 · answer #5 · answered by Melvin C 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In Hindi "sikka" means currency, printing coins etc. Hence sikka plus ander can mean a rich man. By the time alexander came to India, he had won many battles, conquered many countries and obviously would have been holding a large treasure. If this was the intended meaning of the word sikander, then it was apt for the situation.
2006-06-28 02:07:52 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 3⤋
Whatever word is not available in Hindi, we can easily make use of the original words from other languages. That flexibility is there. In Hindi also you can say mobile phone. They generally say for phone, phone only.
2016-03-15 17:11:56 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Alexander is a Greek name . it consists of two words; " Alex" meaning "keeping away" and "Ander" meaning "man" in Greek, the word "man" is "Andras" . now, in Hindi, (that has many common roots with Greek language, you can notice that "Alexander" became "sikandar". i believe it also consists of two words, the one being "sik" and the second "andar" = "andras" = "man"so, the word "sik" must be meaning something similar to the Greek "alex" . a modern exact translation of the name "Alexander" in Greek would be "man proof". ask a Hindi guy/girl for the word "sik", and i can share the points with him-her.
I just saw what Taivo said, i tseems extremely right. I don't think he would be called "rich man", the option of the locals pronouncing him as Al exander= Al eksander= al eskander=al skander=Al sikandar makes much sence to me. So i rest my case and i believe taivo has to get the points.
:-)
2006-06-26 10:16:32 · answer #8 · answered by unknown u 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
no all names aren't same in english and hindi .and this name is not english or hindi name it comes from eskandar maghdoony that he was one of the iranian kings .
(we=iranian call it eskandar)
2006-06-23 00:45:05 · answer #9 · answered by nastaran 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Hindi name or Indian name is Alekshendra . Sikandar is a Persian derivative
2017-02-11 07:30:55 · answer #10 · answered by koushiksaha 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋