Telugu and Italian languages are vowels ending languages. They are sweeter to listen. Nicolo de conte described the telugu as the ‘ Italian of the East ‘. Here, i am intended to write this article to reveal the Indian influences on Italian language.
Many telugu areas have trade relation with Roman empire through sea, river and land route. In Telangana, kotilingala dhulikatta and its adjoining areas had traded through river Godavari and sea route during the shatavahana period and later also. ( to be added other areas too)
On the other hand , the north western India had traded with Roman empire. It is believed that some scholars have migrated to Roman area during the period of Alexander. So, there is influence of the Indian languages on Italian, especially telugu.
During kakatiyas and Vijayanagara period also there was trade between Roman areas and telugu areas. During the period of Vijayanagara, nicolo de conte described the telugu language as ‘ Italian of the East’. The statement may be without verifying the historical and linguistic factors.
Indian languages have influenced the other languages throughout the world. The influence is due to education imparted by the ancient universities of takshasila, nalanda, vikramasila, kanchi, Nagarjunakonda, etc.
Also, foreigners were in direct contact with the Indians for their material needs. Romans were one of them. Pliny, the elder lamented about the drain of wealth in to India , due to the balance of trade was in favour of India. This reveals the dependence of Romans on india for various materials and richness of india at that perticular time.
Also, Indian scholars used to visit different places for various purposes. It is believed that some scholars were taken to roman areas. They may include the pupils of the panini.
Italian alphabet
The first letter in the Italian alphabet is Aa (అ) is influenced by Indian languages like russian. The sound of e(ఈ) , u&v(ఉ), i (ఐ) , o( ఒ) are also present in italian like many indian languages. The sounds of aa , u and v are like indian vovels. Most of the consonants were influenced by the near by Celtic languages like D, F, M, P, S, T, Z.
In consonants, the letters influenced by the indian languages with sounds are as follows;
C- chi
H- Ha (హ)
Q – ku (కు)
R- erre(ఎర్రె)
V – vi ( వి)
Italian numerals:
0- Zaro- Influenced by the zero.
1 – uno – influenced by latin uni means one
2 – due – influenced by sanskrit and telugu dwi , which means two
3- tre- influenced by sanskrit and telugu tri
4- tetra- influenced by latin tetra
5- Cinque
6- sei –
7-sette – influenced by sanskrit and telugu sapta, which means seven. It is corrupted on the lines of saath in Hindhi.
8- otto – influenced by latin octo, which means eight.
9-nove- influenced by sanskrit and telugu nava, which means nine.
10- diechi – influenced by sanskrit and telugu dasha, which means ten.
11- undieci
12-duedieci
13- tridiechi
14- quattordiechi
15- quindiechi
16- seidieci
17- diecisette
18- dieciotto
19- diecinovo
20 – venti
30 – trenta
40 – quaranta
50 – cinquanta
60 -sessanta
70 – settanta
80 – ottanta
90- novanta
100- cento
56- sinquanta sei
99 – novanta nove
21- ventuno
38 – trenta otto
All the above numbers from 11 -100 reveals that they are written in italian like sanskrit, telugu, english and Russian. The ten values are written first and one values are written later. The order is reversed from 17 to 20. Astonishingly, a few numbers , where vovels are repeated are merged like telugu. For instance ventuno (21) in italian. In telugu we see many instances like merger of letters in numerals like 19 panthommidi ( పంతొమ్మిది). It is ten + nine ( పది + తొమ్మిది = పంతొమ్మిది).
Formal and informal sentences
Pronouns:
Persons Singular Plural
1st. person io » I noi » we
2nd. person familiar tu » you voi » you
2nd. person polite* Lei » you Loro »You
3rd. person
Esso>>it(m)
Essa =it (f)
In Italian, the second person has familiar and polite words like telugu. In telugu neevu (నీవు )and meeru (మీరు )words are present .
The polite word in Italian in 2nd person Plural is loro is similar to meeru(మీరు), if we consider the the exchange of la(ల) and ma(మ). The singular in 2nd person lie is same as me(మీ) , considering the same principle above.
The 3rd person has unique features of male and female usage like telugu . In telugu athadu (అతడు), aame(ఆమె) are present. ( review it).
Adjectives:
Adjectives in Italian have feminine and masculine differences. We don’t find it in english, etc. Whereas, in telugu and sanskrit, we can find different words for feminine and masculine. More interestingly, telugu language has such words with vowel ending sounds like Italian.
Ex:-