Sant Bhasha

{{short description|Language composed of vocabulary common to northern Indian languages, used in Sikh scripture}}

{{Infobox language

| name = Sant Bhasha

| familycolor = Indo-European

| script = Gurmukhi (including Anandpur Lipi)

| nativename = ਸੰਤ-ਭਾਸ਼ਾ

| ethnicity =

| fam1 = Indo-European

| fam2 = Indo-Iranian

| fam3 = Indo-Aryan

| image =

| imagecaption =

| altname =

| speakers = no native-speakers (liturgical language)

| region = Northern Indian subcontinent

| era = Medieval-period to present-day

| posteriori = *Punjabi (various dialects)

• regional Prakrits
• Apabhramsa
• Sanskrit
• Hindi languages (Braj, Kauravi, Bangru, Awadhi, Old Hindi, Deccani)
• Persian
• Arabic
• Bhojpuri
• Sindhi
• Marathi
• Marwari
• Bengali{{cite book |last1=Mansukhani |first1=Gobind Singh |title=Introduction to Sikhism : 125 basic questions and answers on Sikh religion and history |date=1998 |publisher=Hemkunt Press |location=New Delhi |isbn=9788170101819 |page=12}}{{cite book |last1=Dhillon |first1=Dalbir Singh |title=Sikhism, Origin and Development |date=1988 |publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Distri |pages=307–308}}{{cite book |last1=Kohli |first1=Surindar Singh |title=History of Punjabi literature |date=1993 |publisher=National Book Shop |location=Delhi |isbn=9788171161416 |pages=24, 48}}{{cite book |last1=Johar |first1=Surinder Singh |title=Guru Gobind Singh : a multi-faceted personality |date=1999 |publisher=M.D. Publications |location=New Delhi |isbn=9788175330931 |page=56}}{{cite book |author1=Sukhbir Singh Kapoor |author2=Mohinder Kaur Kapoor |title=Dasam Granth: An Introductory Study |publisher=Hemkunt Press |isbn=9788170103257 |page=39}}

| ancestor = Proto-Indo-European

| ancestor2 = Proto-Indo-Iranian

| ancestor3 = Proto-Indo-Aryan

| ancestor4 = Vedic Sanskrit

| ancestor5 = Classical Sanskrit

| ancestor6 = debated Prakrit{{efn|Paishachi, Saurasheni, or Gandhari Prakrits have been proposed as the ancestor Middle Indo-Aryan language to Punjabi.}}{{cite journal |last1=Singh |first1=Sikander |title=The Origin Theories of Punjabi Language: A Context of Historiography of Punjabi Language |journal=International Journal of Sikh Studies |date=April 2019 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/353680383}}

| ancestor7 = debated Apabhraṃśa

| ancestor8 = Old Punjabi{{cite book |last1=Haldar |first1=Gopal |title=Languages of India |date=2000 |publisher=National Book Trust, India |location=New Delhi |isbn=9788123729367 |page=149 |quote=The age of Old Punjabi: up to 1600 A.D. […] It is said that evidence of Old Punjabi can be found in the Granth Sahib.}}{{cite book |last1=Bhatia |first1=Tej K. |title=Punjabi: A Cognitive-Descriptive Grammar |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=9781136894602 |page=XXV |edition=Reprint |quote=As an independent language Punjabi has gone through the following three stages of development: Old Punjabi (10th to 16th century). Medieval Punjabi (16th to 19th century), and Modern Punjabi (19th century to Present).}}{{cite book |author1=Christopher Shackle |author2=Arvind Mandair |title=Teachings of the Sikh Gurus : selections from the Scriptures |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |location=Abingdon, Oxon |isbn=9781136451089 |edition=First |chapter=0.2.1 – Form |quote=Surpassing them all in the frequent subtlety of his linguistic choices, including the use of dialect forms as well as of frequent loanwords from Sanskrit and Persian, Guru Nanak combined this poetic language of the Sants with his native Old Punjabi. It is this mixture of Old Punjabi and old Hindi which constitutes the core idiom of all the earlier Gurus.}}{{cite book |last1=Frawley |first1=William |title=International encyclopedia of linguistics |date=2003 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=9780195139778 |page=423 |edition=2nd}}{{cite book |last1=Austin |first1=Peter |title=One thousand languages : living, endangered, and lost |date=2008 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley |isbn=9780520255609 |page=115}}{{cite book |author1=Braj B. Kachru |author2=Yamuna Kachru |author3=S. N. Sridhar |title=Language in South Asia |date=2008 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781139465502 |page=411}}

}}

{{Sikhism sidebar}}

Sant Bhasha (Gurmukhi: ਸੰਤ-ਭਾਸ਼ਾ; {{small|romanized:}} Sant Bhāṣā; {{lit|language of saints}}) is a liturgical and scriptural language composed of vocabulary common to northern Indian languages, which was extensively used by saints and poets to compose religious verses.{{cite book|last=Singh|first=Khushwant|title=A history of the Sikhs: Vol. 1. 1469-1839|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3i_htgAACAAJ|access-date=17 December 2011|year=1991|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=298}}{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/22243489 |title=Textual sources for the study of Sikhism |date=1990 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |others=W. H. McLeod |isbn=0-226-56085-6 |edition= |location=Chicago |pages=5 |oclc=22243489}} It can be understood by readers with a background in either Punjabi, Hindi-Urdu and its dialects.{{citation needed|date=June 2019}}