Maharashtri
(mɑːhəˈrɑːʃtriː)
Also Maharastri (-st-).
[Skr. Mahārāshṭrī f. Mahārāshṭra Great Kingdom.]
The Prakrit language of the Maharashtra region of India, the modern descendant of which is Marathi (Mahratti).
| [1803 H. T. Colebrooke in Asiatick Researches VII. 227 The Maháráshtra or Mahrátta is the language of a nation which has in the present century greatly enlarged its antient limits.] 1880 A. F. R. Hoernle Compar. Gram. Gaudian Lang. p. xviii, There are in reality only two varieties of Prákrit. One includes the Ṣaurasen{iacu} and the (so-called) Maháráshṭr{iacu}. 1900 R. B. Joshi Comprehensive Marathi Gram. i. 35 Our present Marathi is derived from the Maharashtri through the Apabransha form of that Prakrit language. 1903 Indian Antiquary XXXII. 189 It will be seen that Marâthî occupies exactly the same position within the modern Indo-Aryan vernaculars as Mâhârâshṭrî among the Prâkrits. 1968 Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 429/1 Later, Māhārāṣṭrī was especially used in composing lyric poetry, possibly on the basis of a popular oral lyric in the dialect; it began to flourish in the 3rd–4th centuries a.d. |