This page collects English glosses with Kashmiri infinitives and phrasing, plus related nouns and register notes. Loans are common in modern speech and writing; glosses avoid false precision on English polysemy (especially buckle) and favour periphrasis where a single native verb is not stable. Confirm spoken variants with native speakers when possible.
Verbs (English → Kashmiri infinitives / phrasing)
| English | Kashmiri | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| to burn | dazun دَزان | Some bilingual lists also place “burn” beside zōl — verify locally. |
| to break | tothun | Common “snap / break” sense. Transitive “break something” often uses a causative (e.g. tothāvun, “make break”) depending on the sentence; the pattern is grammar-dependent. |
| to bend | dogun karun (fold / double); hōl karun (turn / bend) | mōṛ appears as “bend / turn” (also noun “a bend”). Spoken munzun (“fold / bend”) is reported — confirm with native speakers. |
| to buckle | — | Knees giving way, metal buckling, warping: often paraphrased, not one fixed verb — e.g. kamzōr gatshun (“become weak / give way”), jukun (“stoop / bend down”), or bend wording (dogun karun / hōl) depending on the image. |
| to bow (body, respect) | jukun, nemun | Dictionary-style pairing. Real respect may also involve namaskār / namastē and gesture, not only one verb. |
| to scream | chikhun | Cognate with the Urdu / Hindi chīkh family. |
Problem, issue, trouble — nouns & phrasing
- masla مَسْلَہ
- Problem / issue — a good general match for “issue.”
- mushkil مُشکِل
- Difficulty; often used like “problem” (mushkil chu).
- mushkilāt
- Plural difficulties (e.g. difficulties facing someone).
- pareshāni پَریشٲنی
- Worry; trouble; vexation (state of being bothered).
- dushwāri دُشوٲری
- Hardship / difficulty — overlaps with pareshāni / mushkil.
- taklīf تَکلیف
- Trouble; harm; inconvenience (Urdu register).
Having a problem with X
There is no single special verb that always maps English “have a problem with.” Usually the construction is nominal plus copula, for example … sith / peth / naal masla chu (“there is a problem with …”). The postposition varies by dialect (sāth, peth, nāl, etc.). You may also hear mushkil chu, pareshāni chu, and similar.
Existentialism & related philosophical register
- Existentialism (school name)
- Often wujūdiyat وجودیت in scholarly Urdu; sometimes elaborated with wujūdiyat pasandī-style phrasing.
- Existence / being
- wujūd; mawjūd (“existent”); hastī (being — Persian register).
- Essence vs existence
- zaat for essence / self; contrasts with wujūd in Urdu explanations (e.g. existence “precedes” essence in Sartre).
- Individual
- fard, shakhṣ
- Freedom
- azādī / āzādī
- Choice
- ikhtiyār, intikhāb, pasand
- Responsibility
- zimmedārī, zimmah
- Meaning / meaningless
- maʿnī / maānī; be-maʿnī, bī-mānī
- Anxiety / dread / unease (“angst”)
- pareshāni, fikar, bechainī, kurb (more literary Urdu).
- Despair
- māyūsī, nā-ummīdī
- Death
- maut
- Alienation
- ajnabiyat; tanhāī (loneliness); inhirāf depending on context.
- Absurd (Camus sense)
- Often periphrastic (bī-mānī duniyā, lā-maʿniyat) or English absurd.
Everyday Kashmiri in the same conversations
- asun
- “to be.”
- panun
- “own” — self / identity talk.
- duniyā / ālam
- “world.”
- maeni
- “meaning.”
Cautions
Wujūd is central in Islamic metaphysics and Sufism (e.g. waḥdat al-wujūd) — not the same discursive object as European existentialism. Context matters.
Kashmir Shaivism uses its own technical vocabulary (e.g. Prakāśa, Vimarśa, Cit) — a different system from “existentialism” as a modern European label.