Dard
/dɑːd
/noun
1A member of a group of peoples inhabiting eastern Afghanistan, northern Pakistan, and Kashmir.In June 1994, three new regions were opened up to international travellers: the lands of the Changpah nomads; Nubra, a little patch of Indian land between China and Pakistan; and Dah-Hanu, inhabited by the last Dards of the Indus....
- After the Mon came the Dards from the Muslim Hunza district.
- He further claims that Dards were not an ‘Aryan ‘race but they were the original inhabitants of this area while Aryans came later.’
2 [mass noun] The group of Indic languages spoken by the Dards, including Kashmiri.
adjective
Relating to the Dards or their languages.Under the name of the Dard country, the whole mountainous track between the ‘Hindukush ‘and the northern frontiers of India proper has been included....
- The major nine social ethnic groups are Kashmiri, Dogra, Gujjar, Bakerwal, Dard (immigrated long ago from Dardistan, CentralAsia), Balti, Gaddi, Pothwari (both Muslim and non-Muslim) and Chibalis.
- Just five Dard villages belong to Ladakh; they present to our eyes an extraordinary world, which gives one a feeling of living through a meeting with the story of humanity.
Derivatives
Dardic
- Following the example of the extended connotation of the word ‘Dardistan ‘, it has been convenient to give the general name ‘Dardic ‘to all the ‘Aryan ‘languages spoken in this tract.
- Here, the refugees lived for a couple of generations or more and picked up some words and grammatical elements of Dardic which was added to their Sanskritic language from North-Central India.
- The Nuristanis, who speak Western Dardic, inhabit an area of some 5,000 square miles in Laghman, Nangarhar, and Konar provinces, north and east of Kabul.
Origin
The name in Dard.