Two-way traffic

AHMEDABAD: As the world celebrates International Mother Language Day on February 21, it is worth recalling what the 17th century French traveller Franco Pyrard had to say about Gujarati in his book, ‘East India and Persia’. Pyrard’s account of his travels covers nine years — 1672 to 81.He mentions in his account that ‘Guzeate’ (Gujarati) was a language understood by all countries around the Indian Ocean as “it is …useful as a business and account language being understood in more places than any other Indian tongue.” Historians say that a mix of Gujarati and Kutchi once formed a significant part of the lingua franca — a common language spoken by speakers of different languages — that was once in use around the Indian Ocean, from Indonesian islands in the east to Africa in the west.City-based historian Makrand Mehta said that the coast of Gujarat was at the intersection of the ancient spice route. Due to this, ports such as Surat and Khambhat attracted a number of traders from across the globe as early as 8th century.“Gujarati was the language of trade and commerce among both seafarers and traders,” he said.Books of accounts were kept in Gujarati as also in the official languages. A British doctor, John Fryer, visited Surat in 1672, said Mehta.“He mentions that while in other regions children started school with alphabets, Gujarati kids started their education with numbers!” said Mehta. Hasmukh Shah , chairman of Darshak Itihas Nidhi, said that the spread of Gujarati in the countries around the Indian Ocean was an important phenomenon for the language. Gujarati spread by trade and not by conquests or religious proselytizing.Shah further said that there are reports of more than 10,000 Gujaratis living in places such as Isphahan (today’s Isfahan) in Iran. Then there are accounts of traders settled in east Africa, Burma and Java (in Indonesia), he said.“Seafarers spread their language along with culture in these places but they also picked up the culture and language of the countries they visited,” said Shah.The impact of seafarers can be seen in Gujarati language even today. Several foreign words such as ananas (pineapple), kaju (cashew) and vahivat (administration) have come into Gujarati from languages such as Portuguese and Persian.The reverse is also true. Swahili, the official language of six African nations and the African Union, has a number of words including duka (derived from dukaan/shop, plural maduka), gari (gadi/car) and seirkali (sarkari/official) that trace their origin to Gujarati.