Online Encyclopedia  HINDOSTANI (properly Hindustani, of o...
Online Encyclopedia Originally appearing in Volume V13, Page 482
of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica. Spread the word: it!
HINDOSTANI (properly Hindustani, of or belonging to Hindostan'),
the name given by Europeans to an Indo-Aryan dialect (whose home
is in the upper Gangetic Doab and near the city of Delhi),
which, owing to political causes, has become the great lingua
franca of modern India. The name is not employed by natives of
India, except as an imitation of the English nomenclature.
Hindostani is by origin a dialect of Western Hindi, and it is
first of all necessary to explain what we mean by the term "
Hindi " as applied to language. Modern Indo-Aryan languages fall
into three groups,—an outer band, the language of the Midland
and an intermediate band. The Midland consists of the Gangetic
Doab and of the country to its immediate north and south,
extending, roughly speaking, from the Eastern Punjab on the
west, to Cawnpore on its east. The