# बोहनी
## Hindi
### Pronunciation

* (Delhi) IPA: /boːɦ.niː/, [boːʱ.niː]
* Rhymes: -oːɦniː
* Hyphenation: बोह‧नी

### Etymology 1

Inherited from Prakrit 𑀩𑁄𑀳𑀡 (bohaṇa) + Middle Indo-Aryan -𑀇𑀓𑀸- (-ikā-), from Sanskrit बोधन (bodhana, “waking, awakening”), from the root बुध् (budh).
However, some trace it to other (and less likely) origins:
* From Sanskrit पूर्वाह्ण (pūrvāhṇá, “the earlier part of the day, forenoon”), from पूर्व (pū́rva, “earlier”) +‎ अह्न (ahna, “day”).
* From an unattested Sanskrit *विभान (vibhāna, “shining”). If so, possibly a doublet of बिहान (bihān, “dawn, daybreak”).
* From ब्योहार (byohār), बेवहार (bevhār), बेहवार (behvār), from Sanskrit व्यवहार (vyavahāra, “business, trade, transaction”).
* From भवानी (Bhavānī, a name of goddess Durgā), because of the money earned from a bohnī being ascribed by some to the auspices of the goddess.
* From the Sanskrit root वृध् (vṛdh, “to increase, grow, prosper, succeed”).

#### Noun

बोहनी • (bohnī) f (Urdu spelling بوہْنی)
* first sale for ready money early in the day; handsel (regarded as a good omen and as determining the seller's luck for the day)
** 1880 – 1936, Premchand, बोहनी :बुरा न मानिएगा बाबू जी, आपके हाथ की बोहनी अच्छी नहीं है। कल आपकी बोहनी हुई थी, दिन में कुल छः आने की बिक्री हुई। परसों भी आप ही की बोहनी थी, आठ आने के पैसे दुकान में आये थे। इसके पहले दो दिन पंडितजी की बोहनी हुई थी, दोपहर तक ढाई रुपये आ गये थे।burā na māniegā bābū jī, āpke hāth kī bohnī acchī nahī̃ hai. kal āpkī bohnī huī thī, din mẽ kul chaḥ āne kī bikrī huī. parsõ bhī āp hī kī bohnī thī, āṭh āne ke paise dukān mẽ āye the. iske pahle do din paṇḍitjī kī bohnī huī thī, dopahar tak ḍhāī rupye ā gaye the.Don't get me wrong, mister, but handsel from your hand is not very good. Yesterday's handsel was from you (literally, “your handsel had happened yesterday”) and in all, six annas worth of sales took place throughout the day. The day before that, too, the handsel was yours and eight annas worth of money came into the shop. Before that, for two days it was panditji's handsel and by noon, two and a half rupees had come in.
** 2003, Vidyasagar Nautiyal, उत्तर बायां है, Radhakrishna Prakashan, →ISBN, page 81:होटल वाले जब तक नकद पैसा देकर बोहनी करने वाले एक-दो ग्राहक चाय नहीं पी लेते, सुबह-सुबह किसी उधार वाले ग्राहक को चाय नहीं देते।hoṭal vāle jab tak nakad paisā dekar bohnī karne vāle ek-do grāhak cāy nahī̃ pī lete, subah-subah kisī udhār vāle grāhak ko cāy nahī̃ dete.Until one or two customers have made the day's handsel transaction in cash money and had their tea, the hotel staff don't serve tea to any customer on credit in the morning.
* (figurative) start, beginning, initiation, entry, opening (generally an auspicious one)
    Synonyms: शुभारंभ (śubhārambh), आरंभ (ārambh), प्रारंभ (prārambh), शुरुआत (śuruāt)
** 2024 April 4, Hindustan‎, Fatehpur, Uttar Pradesh:मध्यावधि चुनाव में अशोक पटेल ने की भाजपा की बोहनीmadhyāvdhi cunāv mẽ aśok paṭel ne kī bhājpā kī bohnīAshok Patel gave BJP a start in midterm elections
** 2024 April 13, @yadavakhilesh, Twitter‎, archived from the original on 30 August 2024:पश्चिमी उप्र भाजपा की बोहनी ख़राब कर देगा।paścimī upra bhājpā kī bohnī xarāb kar degā.Western UP will ruin BJP's entry.

##### Alternative forms

* बुहनी (buhnī)
* बोनी (bonī)

##### Derived terms

* बोहनी-बट्टा (bohnī-baṭṭā)

##### Descendants

* → Marathi: बोहणी (bohṇī), बोहनी (bohnī)

#### Further reading

* Bohni on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

### Etymology 2

From बोहना (bohnā, “to sow”) +‎ -नी (-nī).

#### Noun

बोहनी • (bohnī) f (Urdu spelling بوہْنی)
* Synonym of बोनी (bonī, “sowing”).
** 1971, Mahendra Bhanawat, लोकरंग [lokraṅg]‎, Bharatiya Lok Kala Mandal, page 98:महाराष्ट्र में खेत की बोहनी या पौधे लगाने की क्रिया को ‘लावणी’ कहते हैं।mahārāṣṭra mẽ khet kī bohnī yā paudhe lagāne kī kriyā ko ‘lāvṇī’ kahte ha͠i.In Maharashtra, a field's sowing or the act of planting saplings is called लावणी (lāvṇī).
** 2000, Vrindavan Lal Verma, कीचड़ और कमल [kīcaṛ aur kamal], Prabhat Prakashan, →ISBN, page 5:[…] शिवसागर नामक झील से कुछ दूरी पर खेत थे, जिनमें बोहनी हो चुकी थी।[…] śivsāgar nāmak jhīl se kuch dūrī par khet the, jinmẽ bohnī ho cukī thī.There were fields at some distance from the lake named Shivasagar, where the sowing had been done.

##### Declension
### References

* ↑ Turner, Ralph Lilley (1969–1985) “bōdhana”, in A Comparative Dictionary of the Indo-Aryan Languages, London: Oxford University Press, page 528
* ↑ Dāsa, Śyāmasundara (1965–1975) “बोहनी”, in Hindī Śabdasāgara [lit. Sea of Hindi words] (in Hindi), Kashi [Varanasi]: Nagari Pracarini Sabha, page 3578
* 1 2 3 Platts, John T. (1884) “बोहनी”, in A dictionary of Urdu, classical Hindi, and English, London: W. H. Allen & Co., page 176
* ↑ Verma, Shyam Bahadur (2010) “बोहनी”, in प्रभात बृहत् हिन्दी शब्दकोश (in Hindi), New Delhi: Prabhat Prakashan, →ISBN, page 1834
* 1 2 S. W. Fallon (1879) “बोह्नी”, in A New Hindustani-English Dictionary, Banaras, London: Trubner and Co., page 283