Muhammad Abbas Saqib Jul 1, 2009:

Para and Parah are different words or same? I think this argument is getting interesting.Urdu Thesarus by Rafiq Khawar includes word" Paarah" as particle and "Paara" as Mercury or Mercurial.Another authentic dictionary Feroz-ul-lughat says "Paarah" is a Persian meaning Particle etc.while Paara is Hindi word meaning Mercury,and we should understand that no Hindi can end on alphabet as a rule.Iqbal's Bange Dara is written in Urdu/Hindi, so Sipaara is written with Alif.But when we find meaning Paarah in persian dictionary, alongwith meanings like particles,interestingly it also suggests Quicksilver i.e, so we conclude that perhaps Hindi adopted this from Persian.So we can't be rigid on meanings.Thank you.

Qudsia Lone (asker) Jun 30, 2009:

پارہ vs پارا I think both spellings are valid and can be used as preferred. This seems like the case where an alternate spelling of the original word was used frequently enough to make it a valid variation, as was the case with the term براہِ مہربانی. The "incorrect" spelling برائے مہربانی was so used so often that now both spellings are contained in Urdu dictionaries and are considered valid. My guess is پارہ was the original word.

abufaraz Jun 30, 2009:

پارا Here are my comments for this word:

This word has been spelled as پارا in فیروز اللغات and the meanings given are سیماب، ایک رقیق دھات and بے چین.
In Shan ul Haq Haqqi's Oxford English to Urdu Dictionary, the meanings of the word 'Mercury' are as under:
پارہ، سیماب، سفید روپہلی بھاری مائع عنصر جو شنگرف میں قدرتی طور پر موجود ہوتا ہے اور حرارت پیما یا دوسرے پیمائشی آلوں میں استعمال ہوتا ہے۔

Another authentic use of this word has been done in Allama Iqbal's famous poem 'خطاب بہ نوجوانانِ اسلام' in the following verse:

مگر وہ علم کے موتی، کتابیں اپنے آبا کی
جو دیکھیں ان کو یورپ میں تو دل ہوتا ہے سیپارا

- بانگ درا

Please note the word 'سی پارا' in this word.

I, myself am unable to ascertain which spellings are correct.

Qudsia Lone (asker) Jun 30, 2009:

پارہ/پارا Thank you for the clarification. I do know the different meanings of "paarah" you mention. In the English-Urdu dictionary by Dr. Abdul Haq "mercury" in Urdu is present both as پارہ and پارا. In fact, from English>Urdu the translation just says پارہ, but in the Urdu>English section both پارا and پارہ translate into "mercury." In Urdu>English, all the other common meanings that you mentioned are also given.

I don't know the history of the translation of this word for mercury, but I think maybe it is called "پارہ/پارا" since it is present as a small "blob" in thermometers, that can break into more "blobs"/pieces. So, it may be reflective of the regular meaning of "parah."

Muhammad Abbas Saqib Jun 30, 2009:

Mercury is " Paara" not Paarah! Good point Qudsia but Paare is plural of Paarah, written with Urdu alfabet hey which means A bit, a fregment, a scrap and Paara i.e Mercury is Paara, written with alphabet Alif.Thank you for appreciating my effort.

Qudsia Lone (asker) Jun 26, 2009:

پارا/paara Sorry...just realized...پارا is not "rising" of the mercury...it just refers to mercury...or the blob of mercury inside a thermometer.

Qudsia Lone (asker) Jun 26, 2009:

Barq Paare I like the translation. Perhaps it can be discussed with Urdu physycists to debate the merits of this term and bring it into use. ذرہ though, has a specific and probably singular meaning. "paara" is also referred to the rising of mercury in a thermometer and is thus used figuratively as اس کا پارہ چڑھ گیا۔

Muhammad Abbas Saqib Jun 25, 2009:

Barq Paare Urdu needs newly derived words,merely literal meaning will do no good.

Qudsia Lone (asker) Jun 15, 2009:

Current electricity and charged particles Electric current is the flow of electric charge.[1] The electric charge that flows is carried by, for example, mobile electrons in a conductor, ions in an electrolyte or both in a plasma.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_current]
So, the reason the term "charged particles" has been used instead of just "electrons" is because electricity can also flow by the movement of charged ions as well, in an electrolyte medium. Although I've learnt from everyone's answer, I used Aburiaz sahib's answer for it seems sufficient. It was also the first one proposed in that direction.

abufaraz Jun 15, 2009:

While appreciating the explanation by Chaman Sb., I would like to say that the source term has probably been used in some lesson of basic physics of primary/secondary classes and the asker has only asked the translation of this particular term to make the students understand it and all the answers hitherto are somewhat directly related to the source term except the word ‘electron’. Changing the word entirely to a technical term while translating it, will open another discussion which will expand to vast and detailed interpretation of physics terminology which, in my opinion, is not required here. Comments from other respectable members and the asker are invited please.

chaman4723 Jun 15, 2009:

Current electricity... Dear Irshad Saheb. since the above context refers to "charged particles" flowing "from one place to another" in current electricity, these particles are electrons. We can speak of positive charge flowing from one place to another, but that is different. There it is charge alone and not charged particles that flow from one place to another.