The Journey of Indian Words to Oxford English Dictionary
(It would not be any wonder if the British Prime Minister is found saying, “Britain needs some jugaad to end the terrorists’ dadagiri,” as the Hindi words ‘Jugaad’ and ‘dadagiri’ are now a part of English vocabulary as recorded in the Oxford English Dictionary. Linguistically speaking, the four centuries of British connection has, no doubt, enriched the wide varieties of Indian languages through the borrowing of hundreds of English words. Even the semi-literate and illiterate Indian users now use many of the English words so naturally in their own typical Indian ways with awful pronunciations that their use of English even sounds like a real threat to the original English language. Not surprisingly, Indian languages have also left an indelible mark on the English language. The present trend of globalization and India’s upward movement in the global power matrix has made the great Linguist David Crystal predict that in future we will all be using Hinglish. The recent addition of seventy words to the already existing nine hundred Indian words to the English vocabulary, identified as distinctive to Indian English, endorses his prediction. But, quite importantly, this also shows the invaluable contribution of former colonies in the shaping of English as a world language. The present paper tries to look into the criteria that decide an Indian word’s inclusion in The Oxford English Dictionary).
Dr. Swagat Patel
patel.swagat@gmail.com
The process of entry of words of Indian origin into the English language dates to the beginning of 17th century. As the authors, Henry Yule and A.C. Burnell in the very opening lines of their ‘Introductory Remarks’ to their classic work Hobson-Jobson: The Anglo-Indian Dictionary (1886: xv) records:
Words of Indian origin have been insinuating themselves into English ever since the end of the reign of Elizabeth and the beginning of that of King James, when such terms as calico, chintz, and gingham had already effected a lodgment in English warehouse and shops, and were lying in wait for entrance into English literature.
For the Europeans, India has always been a fascinating land of mysteries and miracles. Their fascination for the people with their multicultural, multilingual existence has resulted in the inclusion of a number Indian words in their languages. The English invaders came to India with a view to ruling and settling here permanently. With this psychological make-up, they started using Indian words to establish a sort of ‘ruler-and-ruled’ solidarity. Thus, by the year 1800 words like “rajah, curry, Brahman, bungalow, coolie, pundit, juggernaut, jute, toddy, jungle, chaukidar, verandah, etcetera had entered English ...” (Krishnaswamy and Krishnaswamy:2006:169).
By way of citing one or two examples we may mention here that the word ‘verandah’ in word never occurred in English before the British invaded India. The concept of a ‘verandah’ never existed in England as it was not necessary to have one because of its cold climate. But in India every house needs a ‘verandah’ to beat the heat and to enjoy cool breeze. Likewise, the word ‘jungle’ enters the English language sometime in the 18th century via Hindi from Sanskrit ‘jāṅgala’. It was used by English colonizers in India to refer to a place which is ‘rough and arid terrain’.
BANDANA: The English dictionary lent the word ‘Bandana’ from two Hindi words – ‘Badhnu’, which describes the process of tie-&-dye through which large handkerchiefs with colorful, distinctive designs were made, and ‘Bandhana’ meaning to tie something up.
PYJAMA, denoting loose fitting sleeping clothes worn by early European settlers, the English word pyjama was taken from the Hindi word payajama. Broken down, “pay” means leg and “jama” means clothing, thus referring to a pair of comfortable, loose and lightweight trousers fitted with drawstring waistbands.
CHIT has its origins late 18th cent.: Anglo-Indian, from Hindi ‘ciṭṭhī’ means word for a letter or post. Ciṭṭhī were a way to practice critical reading, self-expressive writing and also exchange ideas with like-minded others in India. No wonder this common Hindi word was assimilated into the English language.
JUGGERNAUT: Juggernaut means something that is very large and powerful force or thing that cannot be controlled. This word has its roots in the Holy Jagannath Rath (Chariot) Yatra – a religious procession in Puri in Odisha where three giant chariots carry the idols of Lord Jagannath, Balabhra and Subhadra is dragged through the streets in an annual festival. The British also use it to refer to very large lorry.
LOOT: The word derives from the Hindi word ‘lut’, meaning to plunder or steal, which until the 18th century was hardly used outside north India. The English word loot came to mean to ransack somebody, to steal from someone, or whatever is stolen by the act of looting.
CASHMERE: The word Cashmere is an old spelling of Kashmir, the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Cashmere means the fabric spun from the fine silky wool of the cashmere goat.
THUG: In Hindi Thug means ‘thag’, meaning a thief or a cheat. It made its entry to the English language early in the 19th century. The thug were organized gangs of thieves and conmen who would travel across India to loot people by befooling them.
BANGLES: The word ‘Bangle’ introduction in English dates to the late 18th century, which is derived from Hindi word ‘Bangri’. In English, it means a rigid ornament made from glass, metal, wood, or plastic ring ornaments worn on the wrist by Indian women.
SHAMPOO: The word shampoo is taken from the Hindi word Champo, means Head- massage. the term and concept was introduced by a Bengali trader, Sheikh Deen Mohammad, opened a shampooing bath in Brighton, England in 1814.
PUNCH: Punch is a Indian soothing drink made of paanch (five) ingredient- soda, sugar, lemon, water and spices. The drink was introduced to Britain by the employees of the East India Company in the early 17th century.
COT: The English word ‘Cot’ derived from the Hindi words ‘khat’ and ‘khatwa’, which means ‘Bed’. These ‘khats’ were traditionally made of jute and wood as Cot in Indian homes for people to relax in the open air.
BUNGALOW: Bungalow, first used in 17th century to describe houses constructed in the style of Bengal. It means the large mansion built for early British colonizers, the English term bungalow originally derives from the Hindi word ‘bangla’.
CUSHY: The word cushy originated from the Hindi term ‘khushi’ which means “Happiness’. It is entered the English language through British Army slang around the time of the First World War.
DADAGIRI: The word ‘Dadagiri’ is a noun which means- Intimidating, coercive, or bullying behaviour. It is originated from combination of two words dādā ‘older brother’ (used for a gang leader) + Urdu -gīrī, a combining form denoting activity.
JUGAAD: The word ‘Jugaad’ show Indian way of flexible approach to problem-solving that uses limited resources in an innovative way.
In a news article published in BBC Culture section on 22 June 2015, the writer Rahul Verma writes:
Ginger comes from Malayalam in Kerala, travels through Greek and Latin into Old French and Old English, and then the word and plant become a global commodity. In the 15th Century, it’s introduced into the Caribbean and Africa and it grows, so the word, the plant and the spice spread across the world.
He notes that the expansion of worldwide trade through European conquests of the East Indies, the flow of Indian words into English gathered thrust. Many words came via Portuguese.
The Portuguese conquest of Goa dates back to the 16th Century, and mango, and curry, both come to us via Portuguese – mango began as ‘mangai’ in Malayalam and Tamil, entered Portuguese as ‘manga’ and then English with an ‘o’ ending. (Ibid.).
Bristol-based author Nikesh Shukla, London born, conveys his feeling in news article published in BBC Culture section on 22 June 2015 that:
India’s significant contribution to everyday English reflects the symbiotic nature of Empire. “It was inevitable with colonialism that Britain would imbibe the local culture and it would have a lasting effect because colonialism flows two ways. Look at the things in British culture that have come from the Commonwealth that Britain calls its own like tea, and language is part of that too,” he says .(ibid)
Nikesh Shukla recent novel explores social media and smart-phones, writes that:
Empire reshaped the English language in the same way as technology is now. “One way of looking at it is these Indian words disrupted the English language because they just didn’t exist in English – for example veranda. The climate’s cold here so you wouldn’t have a veranda, or pyjamas – loose fitting cotton trousers, which again are perfect for a hot climate,” he says.
“Today, words such as Wi-Fi, Internet, Google, Email and Selfie have become universal, there aren’t other words for them, so they have infiltrated English and languages all over the world. Social media has also changed the way we talk, the meaning of a word such as ‘like’ has completely shifted, also ‘following’, or ‘lol’ – the new disrupter of the English language is technology. Shukla’s favourite Indian-English word – Blighty – shows how language is constantly evolving. “It’s usually used by expat Brits referring to Britain and the homeland as in ‘Good ol’ Blighty’ but it comes from the Urdu word for foreigner or European, ‘vilayati’. So it’s been subverted and used as a homage by the British and eventually has become part of the English language,” he says.
India’s influence on English language marks towards how language is dynamic, and highlights the importance of Europeans in the creation of the modern world.
“The four centuries that the English were present in India have left an indelible mark on the language. It is clear that the shared history between Britain and India has left behind a legacy of loanwords and other lexical innovations that have greatly enriched the English word stock. The seventy words newly added to the OED reflect not only the history of the country, but also the many and diverse cultural and linguistic influences which have shaped and changed the English language in India. (Ibid.)
The Online Oxford English Dictionary issues four updates a year i.e.in the months of March, June, September and December respectively. The latest list of inclusions, 70 new Indian words from Telugu, Urdu, Tamil, Hindi and Gujarati languages have been added to the dictionary. The September 2017 update adds to the 900 items already covered by the dictionary and identified as distinctive to Indian English. Here is the list words included in the year 2017.
HOUSE AND PLACE: Bhavan, Dhaba, Desh, Nivas, Qila, Haat, Jhuggi, Gully, Nagar.
CLOTHING: Churidar, Chappal
PERSON: Abba, Anna, Bachcha, Bahu, Chacha, Chamcha, Didi, Devi, Mata, Sevak, Sevika, Yaar.
EXPRESSION: Aiyo, Achcha, Bada, Bas, Blighty, Chup, Chusy, Funda, Jai, Ji, Nai, Pukka, Surya Namaskar, Timepass
PERSONALITY: Badmash, Chaudhuri, Dadagiri, Ganja, Jugaad.
FOOD: Bindi, Bhelpuri, Channa, Gulab Jamun, Jalebi, Keema, Mango, Mirch, Masala, Namkeen, Papad, Punch, Puri, Roti, Vada.
Being a multilingual nation, Mother Indian Languages have lent words to Oxford English Dictionary. Indian origin words have given a flavor of linguistic diversity in English. In recent addition Oxford Living Dictionary, India’s national language Hindi has given words like Bapu, Chup; Punjabi language has given: Jhuggi, Tappa: Urdu: Gosht, Abba; Tamil: Anna, Idli. Sankrit and Persian, two ancient languages of Medieval India has also great impact on the development of English Dictionary.
Every year, hundreds of new English words and expression emerge. Researchers of Oxford University Press keep track of new words and choose which ones to add to Oxford Dictionary. Oxford University Press has one of the largest and most wide-ranging language research programmes in the world. Their most important resources are the Oxford English Corpus and the Oxford Reading Programme.
Oxford Dictionaries harnesses fours ways to create the dictionary. The four approaches and processes are (i) Corpus, (ii) Reading Programme, (iii) User-generated content (iv) Appeals and submissions.
Corpus: A corpus is a collection of language data which OED use to track the contexts and uses of real life language use. Corpora include ten billion words in English, from specialist magazines to newspapers to social media.
User-generated content: some of OED dictionaries seek content directly from the language community; as a result we can see places to add content directly on some of OED language sites.
Reading Programme: The Reading Programme collects short extracts drawn from a huge variety of writing in English, from many different spheres of writing, found by recruited readers. This Programme has been in existence, in some form, since 1857.
Appeals and submissions: The Oxford English Dictionary has always sought contributions from the public, and OED Appeals continues to ask for evidence of early uses of a word. Submissions and antedatings are often sent in by dictionary users.
Oxford team of lexicographers determine priorities for inclusion, looking at each word’s evidence, and update or create definitions, translations, pronunciations, and etymologies.
The Corpus consists of entire documents, sourced largely from the world wide web, while the Reading Programme is an electronic collection of short extracts drawn from a huge variety of writing, from song lyrics and popular fiction to scientific journals. The team continually monitor the Corpus and the Reading Programme to track new words emerging in the language. They have evidence of a new term, like ‘Selfie’, being used in a variety of different sources, by many writers, it becomes an applicant for a dictionaries. For every new dictionary or online update, they assess all the recent words that have emerged, and select those that they feel to be the most significant or important, and those which they think are likely to stand the test of the time. It used to be the case that a new term had to be used over a period of three to four years, before OED could consider adding it to a print dictionary. In today’s digital age, the situation has changed, and word like ‘selfie’ can achieve vast popularity with a large population in a shorter space of time. Oxford Dictionaries Team update the Oxford Dictionary Online every three months. The selection of the new words involves monitoring the use of language so that the experts can identify and record the changes taking place. The team also accesses the vast databases of real-world language usage known as corpora, which includes more than 10 billion words from various sources such as magazines, newspapers and social media. After which the emerging words are tracked and patterns are analyzed. The analysis revolves around the idea that whether the words are becoming popular, and how they are used regionally.
Conclusion:
English has always been an integral part of Indian culture for centuries and is currently, the official language of the country. Danica Salazar, OED World English Editor said, “Lexical innovations in Indian English demonstrate how its Indian speakers alter an adopted language in order to accommodate the traditions, values, and norms of their local culture. For instance, Indian speech manner features a complex system of relationship terms and terms of address, in which age, gender, status, and family relationships are marked by a highly specific vocabulary with no direct equivalents in English”. This lexical gap is filled by borrowing such words from Indian languages. This new update has also taken the lingual diversity of India into consideration. Along with the most spoken language Hindi, other regional languages such as words from Bengali, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil and Urdu have also been added. Another interesting fact about the colloquial words of India is that these words are also commonly used in other countries of the Indian subcontinent such as in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
REFERENCE
Baral, Maitree. ‘Indian words newly added to oxford dictionary.’ Education:NDTV, October 29, 2017
Business Line. “70 Indian words added to Oxford dictionary.” The Hindu, October 29, 2017
Krishnaswamy, N. and Krishnaswamy, N. The Story of English in India. New Delhi: Foundation Books,Cambridge House 2006.
Mukti, Jain. “Hobson-Jobson: The words English owes to India.” Magazine: BBC, July 12, 2012
Pal, Sanchari. “‘Aiyo’! Did You Know These 12 Indian Words Are Now a Part of the Oxford Dictionary?” The Better India, January 9, 2017
Pal, Sanchari. “Did You Know These 17 Common English Words Were Borrowed from Hindi?” The Better India, June 11, 2016.
Verma, Rahul. “How India changed the English Language.” Culture: BBC, June 22, 2017
Yule, Henry and Burnell, A.C. Hobson-Jobson: The Anglo-Indian Dictionary Great Britain: Wordsworth Editions Ltd. 1886.
English.oxforddictionaries.com
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