I can tell if i concentrate hard… but sometime it is quite difficult to assess
Re: How to distinguish Arbi and Farsi words used in urdu ?
It is just because Urdu itself is the mixture of verious languages, it's incomplete without Arabic and Persian words.
Re: How to distinguish Arbi and Farsi words used in urdu ?
that is obviously true. But I am more interested in the technique to identify which word is taken from which language.
Dunya is arabic ?
Shabash is farsi
Parwardigar is Farsi ( obvious from the fact that there is no P sound in arabic)
SarZameen is farsi
Peghaam is farsi
Ghulaam is Arabic
Sarparast is Farsi
Jan’nat is Arabic
Firdos is Farsi
These words are so smilar in sound and style that it is very hard to asses their origin. I mean I can check with sources and tell but if i dont have any source then I can be mistaken and take Fridos as Arabic and Jannat as farsi or both arabic 
Re: How to distinguish Arbi and Farsi words used in urdu ?
I guess if you have basic language training in either of the two languages, you might be able to identify words in that language. The morphological features of a language become somewhat obvious with practice.
Are you sure though that Ghulam is Arabic and not Farsi? I just can't seem to pinpoint it's origin in Arabic while in Persian, there are more than one instances of use of the word e.g. ghulam as in boy/servant/youth ... ghulam baragi... ghulam gardish etc. while in Arabic, I can't remember reading it or using it in speech either.
Can you provide a reference for this if possible.
Re: How to distinguish Arbi and Farsi words used in urdu ?
I don't think there is any hard and fast rule, it just come from the instinct or if you know other languages too like Lucid Chaotic mentioned.
I think ghulam is a Persian word, Arabic for slave is abd.
Re: How to distinguish Arbi and Farsi words used in urdu ?
I would be interested to know why you want to identify their source ?
Share your reason behind your question, if you like, please.
Re: How to distinguish Arbi and Farsi words used in urdu ?
its a good question cause Urdu has some grammar rules, some of that came from arabic and should be used with arabic word while some came from perisan and should be used with persian words only
Like for message and messenger , you can say Risala and Rasool
But use Pegham and Peghambar , if using farsi terms
you cannot use Risal'bar or Peghoom for messanger in urdu
Re: How to distinguish Arbi and Farsi words used in urdu ?
other then grammar every thing is farsi or arabi
like 85% farsi 15% arabi.
Re: How to distinguish Arbi and Farsi words used in urdu ?
I don't think its 85% 15% because there is a bunch of Turkish as well and ofcourse there is English and Hindi even Sanskrit. The largest share is Farsi. I heard once from a linguist that all the Arabic comes to Urdu by way of Farsi and then there is the Quranic arabic. However, Farsi and Arabic themselves got tons of words from Greek, Latin and Spanish during the Islamic expansion, so those works also trickle down into Urdu for example Kameeez = Kamisa = Shirt in Spanish (shamees = Shirt in French). Annanas = Pineapple in Urdu, Arabic and Spanish. I love this topic! Urdu is such a facinating language so much flexibilty truely amazing!
Re: How to distinguish Arbi and Farsi words used in urdu ?
merci = thanks
in farsi
in french
saaet = time
in farsi
in arabic
Re: How to distinguish Arbi and Farsi words used in urdu ?
Shoponline, you said it right, that is the beauty of urdu, the adaptiveness that it has cause its made of so many languages thus we can apply the grammar rules of those languages ...
Re: How to distinguish Arbi and Farsi words used in urdu ?
Totally, if you read poetry in Urdu you see so many different words. The rule for "P" is pretty good in eliminating if a word came from Arabi also Arbi does not have a Chey but many arabic words have 'borrowed' these letters from Persian especially in places where people live in in close proximity with Farsi speakers. For grammer, for example Arabi adds an "a" to make a word female, Farsi adds "eh" I've seen both used in Urdu, especially for names....
Re: How to distinguish Arbi and Farsi words used in urdu ?
another rule is the use of Tarkeeb-e-Izaafi, like Gulshan-e-Iqbal yaa Sag-e-Lailaa ... this is Farsi Grammar and should not be used for Arabic words .. that is why we say Shab-e-Qadar but then we say Lailatul Qadar when using arabic words
although at moments I've seen it used for Arabic words too
Re: How to distinguish Arbi and Farsi words used in urdu ?
This is a very interesting thread. I guess if someone know either a arabic or farsi professor, they can be asked for some clarification.
Re: How to distinguish Arbi and Farsi words used in urdu ?
^^ Sure, love to have a great conversation in this thread.
Re: How to distinguish Arbi and Farsi words used in urdu ?
One more thing that I remembered .. Tota (parrot) shold be written with Tay and not Taw in URDU .. cause Taw is an arabic letter while Tota is a hindi word ..
Ashfaq Ahmed's ToTa Kahani has its title written with Tay
Re: How to distinguish Arbi and Farsi words used in urdu ?
Well that's the beauty of Urdu though, it takes from all sources and truly makes it its own! Case in point "qotta" or Kutta means Cat or Billi in Arabic where as Bakara is Cow, these words went to urdu but got lost in translation. Bakara stayed in the barnyard but got attached to the wrong animal where as Kutta (or qutta) became dog instead of Cat! btw Kutta is also used in Turkish for Cat.
Re: How to distinguish Arbi and Farsi words used in urdu ?
not just Arabic or Farsi, Urdo also has many Turkish and Sansikrat words.
Are you sure though that Ghulam is Arabic and not Farsi? .
Ghulam is Farsi.
Ghulam is Farsi.
that's what I thought...
I'm not an expert in Arabic but can usually tell if the origin is Arabic and it's morphological derivation.