How we went from Ramzan to Ramadan: Is it just a linguistic shift or much more?

When we were kids, we used to refer to Ramadan as "Ramzan" – the sacred month observed by Muslims worldwide for fasting.

This term used to be quite prevalent within all devout households.

But if you look around now, you can hear people greet each other saying "Ramadan Mubarak."

You can even see ads everywhere replacing Ramzan with Ramadan.

And it doesn't stop just there.

Some even changed 'Sehri' to 'Suhoor'. There was even an outcry about the rebranding of "jilapi".

These newfound linguistic practices have sparked conversations among netizens.

Some embraced it with open arms, whereas others condemned it by saying people are changing our culture.

So, how did this linguistic shift occur?

"Words and phrases can go through changes in orthography, connotation, use, and popularity over time. The meaning doesn't necessarily have to change. For example, the phrase " 'Tis the season" is no longer popular and has been narrowed over time. "It is" is more of a "correct" way to phrase it now," said Nylah Shah, a linguistics graduate from North South University.

She adds how language from time to time goes through a cultural transmission among people, which means their language can be altered or impacted by the culture or society they're a part of.

"In this connection, Ramadan has grown popular. It's almost like we all forgot we used to say "Ramzan" back in the day. Most evidently, the word has gone through an orthographic shift, i.e. change in spelling and pronunciation," Nylah adds.

"In words loaned or derived from Arabic, 'z' and 'dh' are almost interchangeable. Eid-ul-Azha and Eid-ul-Adha, for example. But Arabic words are phonetically focused on 'd', whereas Urdu or Persian derivations focus on 'z' pronunciations."

According to an article published by The Juggernaut, Ramadan morphed into Ramzan when Farsi and Urdu-speaking populations in South Asia borrowed the term, replacing the "d" with a "z."

The shift likely began with the Muslim Umayyad Dynasty's conquest of Sindh in 711, coinciding with Urdu's early development.

Therefore in the sub-continent, we started saying "roza" instead of "sawm", "sehri" instead of "suhoor" and "azaan" instead of "adhan."

However, overtime we are witnessing another linguistic shift which takes us back to the Arabic spelling and pronunciation of the word.

"Ramadan is the word that's on the tip of our tongue nowadays. This also has to do with correctness and Standard or Received Pronunciation. We tend to follow the norm, which almost arbitrarily becomes part of our lingo," says Nylah.

Globalisation

The shift from Ramzan to Ramadan can be seen as a by-product of globalisation and extraordinary advances in science and technology.

Globalisation has brought languages and people in contact with each other in ways that were not possible earlier.

According to the Migration from Bangladesh and Overseas Employment Policy's website, 90% of Bangladesh's migration takes place in different countries in the Middle East.

This means more exposure to the lifestyle of the Middle East which eventually leads to adopting the traditions and costumes of those countries.

"The other big factor influencing such changes is in my opinion the rise of the Wahabism and Salafism in Bangladesh. These movements advocate for a return to a "purer" form of Islam and believe that holy scripture should be interpreted literally," said Nasif Tanjim, an editorial assistant working at an English daily.

Nasif mentioned the followers of these schools of thought want to strip local cultural associations from Islam.

"Leading to changes in how Islam is practiced, changes in how religious festivals are celebrated, and last but not the least religious terminology," he added.

"Expats living and working in the Middle East have helped propagate these brands of Islam. As they perceive the way Islam is practiced there as more correct. Partially because the Middle East hosts most of Islam's holiest sites including The holy Kaaba and the Prophet's final resting place," he said.

Even 10/15 years ago we were not as accustomed to the customs of the world as we are today.

People do not need to travel to learn about a new culture or adapt to new things.

Globalisation and developments in communication also brought people from different parts of the world into conversation with each other.

The rise of social media

Global platforms like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook keep us in touch with the entire world.

Through them, we get to see how the name of the month outside of the subcontinent, including the English-speaking world of the UK, US and Canada, has always been spelled Ramadan to reflect the d-like Arabic pronunciation in Arabic.

The evidence of this linguistic shift is apparent when analysing the usage frequency of the words 'Ramadan' and 'Ramzan' in English newspapers.

A cursory examination conducted on the database Lexis Nexis Academic specifically for the New York Times illustrates this trend vividly. Searching for the phrase "the month of Ramadan" yields an impressive 1,000 hits, highlighting the widespread adoption of the term.

A search for the same phrase with 'Ramzan' returns with only three documents all attributed to a single Pakistani writer.

The writer includes a noteworthy clarification: 'also known as Ramadan in the Middle East'.

Even though the Ramadan/Ramzan shift is only a linguistic change, in many ways, it has altered our culture from what it used to be.

The month became a consumerism paradise with Iftar and Sehri deals with excessive prices that take the essence of Ramadan away.

The month in which we were supposed to eat less and give back more to the community turned into the month of eating more and spending more.

Even though the extravagant Iftar parties and the Eid shopping frenzy bring back the feeling of community, it focuses more on the superficial than anything else.

The transition from 'Ramzan' to 'Ramadan' might just be due to the dynamic nature of language but overall globalisation has also impacted our traditions in many ways.