Question

The word 'Punjab' is a combination of the two ________ words 'Punj' and 'Aab'.
A. Persian
B. Punjabi
C. Arabic
D. Sanskrit

Answer 1

Hint:
It is also known by its endonym Farsi. It is a Western Iranian language which belongs to the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages. This language refers to a pluricentric language that is predominantly spoken and used officially within countries like Iran,Afghanistan and Tajikistan in three mutually intelligible standard varieties.

Complete solution:
The word “Punjab” is a mixture of the combination of two Persian words- ‘Panj’ which means five and ‘Ab’meaning means water, providing the real meaning to the phrase “Land of Five Rivers”. The five rivers that gave Punjab its name are as follows- Beas, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, and Sutlej. All these rivers are tributaries of the Indus River, while the Chenab is the largest among them. These five rivers flow through the region of Punjab and constitute an important geographical feature of the state. The Greeks used to call Punjab a pentapotamia, and referred to it as an inland delta of five converging rivers; the name Punjab has been given to the region from the Central Asian Turkic conquerors of India, and popularised by the Turco-Mongol Mughals.

Hence, the correct answer is option A.

Note:
Give below is a brief description of the 5 rivers that play an important role in the name of Punjab:
 1.Sutlej: Sutlej (or Satluj) is an eastern-most tributary of the River Indus. It originates from the Rakshastal lake present in Tibet and then enters India, starting from Himachal Pradesh and afterwards in Ropar district of Punjab. It is about 1,500 km long and is considered the longest river in Punjab.
2. Beas: Beas river is highlighted in the Vedas from the name Arjikiya and is known as Vipasa in Sanskrit. It originates from the Beas Kund (also called Vyas Kund) in the state of Himachal Pradesh and enters Hoshiarpur district of Punjab. The entire length of the river is almost 470 Km.
3. Ravi: This river is named as Purushini in Vedas and Iravati in Sanskrit. This river enters in the Himalayas in the Chamba district of Himachal while it enters Punjab near Madhopur. Afterwards it flows along the international Indo-Pakistan border for a little distance before entering Pakistan and joining the Chenab river.