Afghani pulwar: old and ( perhaps) revealing

ariel · 29th December 2019, 01:51 PM

There is a small twist of purely English spelling:-)

Correct spelling and pronounciation of the word Tulwar is Talwar:From Hindi तलवार (talwār). Pronunciation (UK) IPA: / ˈtʌlwɑː/; (US) IPA: /ˈtʌlwɑɹ/.

Spelling Tulwar is a purely English phenomenon : sometimes -u is pronounced as -a; see “dust”, “rust”, “lust” , “ugly”, “umbrella” etc. It largely depends on the initial linguistic origin, but sometimes it is messy and defies logic: see study and student. British colonizers heard the word as tAlwar, but spelled it differently, each to his own liking.

Some of us in writing still spell it as “ Tulwar”, some as “Talwar”, but no matter what pronounce it as tAlwa(r).

Thus, one cannot derive word Phul from it. Moreover, the word “phul”, flower, is pronounced as “Ful”, not “Pul”, and “ pAlwar” has nothing to do with “flower”.

Apparently, there is a Hindi word “pAlwar” ( also spelled with “-u”), but it has nothing to do with swords:
pul·war | \ (ˌ)pəlˈwär \
plural -s
Definition of pulwar
: a light keelless riverboat used in India.

The bottom line: there are no flowers in pulwars:-)

G.B. Shaw made fun of English spelling, saying that word “ fish” should be spelled as “ghoti”: gh pronounced “f” as in laugh, o as “i” as in women, and ti as “sh” as in nation.

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search
Display Modes
Switch to Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Threaded Mode

29th December 2019, 01:51 PM	#22
ariel Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 5,503	There is a small twist of purely English spelling:-) Correct spelling and pronounciation of the word Tulwar is Talwar:From Hindi तलवार (talwār). Pronunciation (UK) IPA: / ˈtʌlwɑː/; (US) IPA: /ˈtʌlwɑɹ/. Spelling Tulwar is a purely English phenomenon : sometimes -u is pronounced as -a; see “dust”, “rust”, “lust” , “ugly”, “umbrella” etc. It largely depends on the initial linguistic origin, but sometimes it is messy and defies logic: see study and student. British colonizers heard the word as tAlwar, but spelled it differently, each to his own liking. Some of us in writing still spell it as “ Tulwar”, some as “Talwar”, but no matter what pronounce it as tAlwa(r). Thus, one cannot derive word Phul from it. Moreover, the word “phul”, flower, is pronounced as “Ful”, not “Pul”, and “ pAlwar” has nothing to do with “flower”. Apparently, there is a Hindi word “pAlwar” ( also spelled with “-u”), but it has nothing to do with swords: pul·war \| \ (ˌ)pəlˈwär \ plural -s Definition of pulwar : a light keelless riverboat used in India. The bottom line: there are no flowers in pulwars:-) G.B. Shaw made fun of English spelling, saying that word “ fish” should be spelled as “ghoti”: gh pronounced “f” as in laugh, o as “i” as in women, and ti as “sh” as in nation.