1
Stage 1 of 4
ghazal
Arabic · ancient
"to flirt, love-talk"
meant "to sweet-talk, to flirt," related to ghazaal, "young gazelle"
2
Stage 2 of 4
ghazal
Persian · medieval
"love poem form"
developed into a lyric poetic form of rhyming couplets on love and loss
3
Stage 3 of 4
ghazal
Urdu/Hindi · 1600s
"lyric poem of couplets"
flourished further as a major poetic form in Mughal India
4
Stage 4 of 4
ghazal
English · 1800s
"poetic form of rhyming couplets"
entered English literary criticism and was later adopted by English-language poets
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