Hobson-Jobson: A dictionary of English words adapted from the Indian language
Journalist: “Mr. Gandhi, what do you think of Western civilisation?”
Mohandas K. Gandhi: “It would be a good idea”
The period of British rule on the Indian subcontinent lasted between 1858 and 1947. In 1886, Sir Henry Yule and Arthur Coke Burnell first published Hobson-Jobson, “A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases, and of Kindred Terms, Etymological, Historical, Geographical and Discursive.” It is a collection of 2,000 Anglo-Indian words, imbibed through osmosis and habitual use, from Indian languages during this colonial British period in India.
Law of Hobson-Jobson
The term Hobson-Jobson itself referred to a festival or ceremony of mourning. The term is a corruption by British soldiers of “Ya Hasan! Ya Hosain!” which is repeatedly chanted by Shia Muslims as they mourn and beat their chests throughout a procession; this was then converted to Hosseen Gosseen, Hossy Gossy, Hossein Jossen and then ultimately Hobson-Jobson. It’s an archetypal use of English rhyming, that is normally either juvenile: such as Humpty Dumpty, hanky-panky or knitty-gritty, or it’s pejorative: namby-pamby, mumbo-jumbo, wishy-washy, willy-nilly or dilly-dally.
The term “law of Hobson-Jobson” is used in linguistics for the process of phonological change where loaned words are adapted into the dialect of the new language. Examples of this law are the Spanish cucaracha, which became the English “cockroach”, and the English riding coat becoming French “redingote.”
For your jovial contrafibularities, and for your rum johnny tip-top enjoyment, I interfrastically include some key words from the dictionary below.
“Words. Words. Words” – Hamlet
Avatar: From Hindi and Sanskrit, descent of a deity from heaven.
Blighty: “Britain” (term of endearment among British troops in colonial India): from Hindi-Urdu vilayati “foreign”, from Arabo-Persian “provincial, regional.”
Bungalow: from Urdu bangla, “(house) in the Bengal style.”
Chutney: from chatna or chantni, meaning ‘to lick’.
Cushy: from Khushi, originally from Persian “easy, happy, soft.”
Guru: from Hindi guru meaning “teacher, priest,” from Sanskrit guru “one to be honoured,” literally “heavy, weighty.”
Juggernaut: from Sanskrit: jagannatha, a form of Vishnu god worshipped at the Jagannath Temple, where during festival time thousands of devotees pull three temple carts 14m tall, weighing hundreds of tons through the streets. These carts seat three statues of the deities. They are fed by thousands of worshipers with holy food, as if the icons were living. Early European visitors witnessed these festivals and returned with reports of religious fanatics throwing themselves under the wheels of the carts. The word became a metaphor for something immense and unstoppable through institutional procrastination or physical inertia.
Jungle: from jangal of Persian origin, another word for wilderness or forest, which was borrowed from the Sanskrit jangala, meaning “uncultivated land, desert.”
Khaki: of dust colour, dusty, grey, Hindi Urdu.
Karma: from Sanskrit, the result of a person’s actions as well as the actions themselves. It is a term about the cycle of cause and effect.
Punch: from Hindi and Urdu panch, meaning “five”. The drink was originally made with five ingredients: alcohol, sugar, lemon, water, and tea or spices. The drink was initially named paantsch.
Pundit: from pandit, meaning a learned scholar or Priest.
Pukka: (UK slang: “genuine”) from pakka meaning cooked, ripe, solid.
Pyjamas: from Hindi and Urdu, (paijaamaa), meaning “leg garment”, coined from Persian “foot, leg” and “garment.”
Shampoo: Derived from Hindustani champo (verb imperative, meaning “rub!”), dating from 1762.
Thug: from Thagi / Thag in Hindi-Urdu, meaning “thief or con man.”
Tickety-boo: from Hindi (thik hai, babu), meaning “it’s all right, sir.”
Typhoon: from Urdu toofan. A cyclonic storm.
Veranda: from Hindi baramdaa, ultimately from Portuguese.
James Neophytou