| Also Known As: Devehi,Mahl,Divehi,Divehli,Divehi Bas,Malikh,Malki,Maldivian
Description:
Dhivehi, Divehi or Mahl is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by about 350,000 people in the Republic of Maldives and also in the island of Minicoy (Maliku) in neighbouring India, where it is known by another name, the Mahal language or Mahl (މަހަލް). In the Maldives, it is the official national language.
Dhivehi is closely related to Sinhala. Many languages have influenced the development of Dhivehi through the ages, most importantly Arabic. Others include Malayalam, Hindi, French, Persian, Portuguese, and English.
H. C. P. Bell was one of the first transliterators of this tongue. Bell called the language Divehi, which was consistent with Maldives, the name of the country, for the -dives of Maldives and the word Divehi have the same root, Sanskrit dvīpa "island".
Wilhelm Geiger was a German linguist who undertook the first research on Divehi linguistics in the early 20th century. He called the Maldivian language Divehi, without an "h". In 1976, when a semi-official Latin transliteration was developed for the Maldive language, an "h" was added to the name of the language, but not to the name of the country. This inconsistency has yet to be resolved.
English words such as atoll (a ring..... full article at Wikipedia |
