Amusing Stories Behind the 12 Words of Indian Origin That Made It to the Oxford Dictionary
One of the many languages that had spiced up the English language is Indian. In fact, some of these Indian words have become so much part of the language that it is quite easy for us to forget their Indian origin.
The history of English language traces back thousands of years ago. The English language has brought in influences of other languages through Britain’s history of world trade, overseas exploration and expansion. One of the many languages that had spiced up the English language is Indian and in fact some of these Indian words have become so much part of the language that it is quite easy for us to forget their Indian origin.
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Bungalow
This word actually came from a Hindi word which basically means “something belonging to a Bengal”. During the British ruling in India somewhere around the 17th century, bungalows were usually referred to cottages built in Bengal area for the British settlers.
-
Pyjamas
Originally, this word was from Urdu words “pay” or leg and “jama” or clothing. “Payjama” or leg clothing was a common, loose pair of trousers made of cool cotton or silk worn by men and women in countries like India and Turkey. However, because the loose garments are pretty comfortable, the Europeans who were living in these countries at that time wore them to bed.
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Horde
This word now refers to a large crowd of people. However, it was originally the name of a tribe of nomads who lived in tents and migrated from one place to another. This word came from the Urdu word “ordu” or royal camp.
-
Jungle
This word actually came from a Hindi word which originally meant wasteland or uncultivated land. The root word was taken from Sanskrit language which means rough and arid. However, now this word refers to an area of tropical forest where trees and plants grow very thickly.
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Chit
The word came from Hindi “chitthi” or a note or a pass. Now, it refers to a short written note, signed by somebody, showing an amount of money owed.
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Shampoo
This word was from a Hindi word “campoo” or press. This word was used during the 18th century by the Europeans who were in the Turkish baths. This is basically a word to give instruction to the masseur to press and massage. Somehow or rather along the way, the word became shampoo and it refers to the liquid soap used to clean hair, furniture, carpet and so on or the act of washing hair using shampoo.
-
Thug
This word came from a Hindi word “thag” or thief or swindler. The thags at that time were professional robbers who pretended to be travelers in the deep forests of India. They robbed and killed whoever came along the way. The thug now refers to similar type of violent person, usually a criminal.
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Loot
The word came from Sanskrit “lut” or to rob. During the British ruling in India, the soldiers would usually take away all the valuables from the enemy after winning a battle. Basically the meaning of the word remains and it also now refers to the act of stealing from anyone.
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Cushy
This was originally an Urdu word “kushi” or pleasure. It basically refers to easy job or pleasant situation.
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Kedgeree
This word was from Hindi word “kichri” or a dish of rice. Now, this word refers to hot dish of rice, fish and egg cooked together.
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Juggernaut
This word came from Sanskrit “Jagannatha” or Lord of the World. This word refers to the Hindu God Krishna who will be worshipped by the followers and each year there will be a procession to drag his huge image on a large chariot. The word was unconsciously borrowed by the English in the 19th century to refer to heavy vehicles like large lorry and a heavy-duty truck.
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Jodhpurs
This word came from the word Jodhpur which is a city in west India. The men in this city wore a type of garments. In late 19th century, the English used similar type of garments, i.e. trousers that are loose above the knee and tight from the knee to ankle, worn when riding a horse.
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77 Responses to “Amusing Stories Behind the 12 Words of Indian Origin That Made It to the Oxford Dictionary”
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May 27th, 2008 at 8:04 am
Very interesting information!
May 27th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
I agree with MindIt, very interesting reading!
May 27th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
I learn new things today..Learning is good for my brain!
May 27th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
very interesting and informative,thanks Sher
May 27th, 2008 at 7:47 pm
gud way to learn new things from history…well done.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
I was interested to learn about “cushy”—I always thought it was from “cushion” (which is French, I found out).
Another example of back-formation from an Indian word is “cheesy,” which is from Urdu chiz (a thing) and not from cheese. (from the online etymology dictionary)
Does anyone know of any other Indian words in English?
May 27th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
Wabby brings up a good point: “A very boring and uninteresting read.” Now I mean no offense to Sher D Fly, but Wabby is right. First, there were no “Amusing Stories” as stated in the title, only short anecdotes or stated facts. Storytelling is another thing entirely. Second, “THE 12 words?” Are you telling me that there are only 12 words “spicing up” our language from Indian Origin? What about yoga? Chutney? Dungaree, bangle, punch, cot, bandana, pundit, dinghy, cheetah, tom-tom, tamarind, parcheesi, cummerbund, rook, veranda, meerkat, guru, nark? All of those are words of Hindi origin, only one of the languages spoken by Indians.
My advice: take a creative writing class. Even reporting boring old etymological facts you can be fun and exciting with the right attitude.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:37 pm
Dan,
other words would be
curry, vindaloo, gymkhanna,popadum, sahib and mem sahib, Raj….
May 27th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
So, if you drink shampoo, will you be able to blow bubbles when you cut the cheese?
Answere only in sanskrit, pleez.
Thank You!
May 28th, 2008 at 12:02 am
I’m from Sri Lanka myself (close enough?) and what Wabby says is pretty true (Russel Peters makes fun of how Indian people don’t like deodorants himself).
May 28th, 2008 at 3:40 am
A very informative and interesting piece. I learned from it. There is only one thing I have to say. At number 8 you said,
“During the British ruling in India, the soldiers would usually take away all the valuables from the enemy after winning a battle.”
I think it should’ve been: “During the British ruling in India, the soldiers robbed or looted all the valuables from the people living there.” The Indians weren’t enemies as all they were doing was living in their own country. The British were the perpetrators(the robbers) as they went into someone else’s country and robbed THEM. “Take away” seems so mild. And no, I’m not Indian at all.
When it’s expressed in the former way, (making the Indians the ‘enemy’ it gives the impression that the right is on the side of the British just because they are British.
It’s the equivalent of me saying that the British went to North America and they would usually take away all the land and other valuables from the enemies (Native Americans). Or that the Spaniards went to South America and took away all the wealth from the enemies (Incas).etc etc…I hope you see what I mean.
I did enjoy the rest of the article, it was a fine piece
May 28th, 2008 at 11:49 am
Wabby you gave DjGrandPrix a good spank. You could not be any more right in your explanation. Now who is waiting for ding the bell, huh? I guess BJGrand (yes BJ is intentional)
May 28th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
Isn’t it amazing? the words we use every day have such an interesting beginning.
May 28th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
Informative article. Im an Indian, but didnt know a few of the words mentioned here. I agree with Anne Lyken-Garner, maybe if you could ‘fix’ that in your article, it would be really nice.
@wabby, your stupid comment did nothing better than get you a few letdowns and get Sher D Fly (the author) a lot more hits for the article.
May 28th, 2008 at 9:18 pm
Good info about etymology..:-)
May 28th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
Interesting read. Always nice to read your articles.
May 30th, 2008 at 11:49 am
Nice article… even more nice that some more words were highlighted by way of responses
Wabby & his sympathizers… that’s not the Indians smelling, ’twas just you, I guess… ‘coz ye all stink!
May 30th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
Sher,
Interesting post by the way.
May 31st, 2008 at 9:13 am
Regarding “the 12 words” – I suggest it should read “12 of the words..”
try reading Hobson Jobson
http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/hobsonjobson/
May 31st, 2008 at 10:11 am
Actively,
I wonder that you are “actively experiencing disdain” towards me. It must be that I have pointed out the hypocricies of yours and the statements of those you apologize for. How sad that instead of “tolerating” (I assume “tolerance” is one of your big fluff words) behavior you find unacceptable, or respectfully pointing out why you found it offensive, you choose to congratulate yourself for your “justified” hatred. At the same time, you would expect me, who you believe to be some sort of ignoramous, to “tolerate” all sorts of behavior I find unacceptable, simply because it is not PC to disagree or find fault with it. You should take a long, hard look at yourself, my friend. Your anti-”hatred” campaign is mortally weakened when you advocate the “hatred” of those who disagree with you.
Oh, and here’s a little tip from a professional writer, don’t use a big word where a small one will do. It makes you sound like a pompous bore, and no one will care what you have to say.
Hugs and Hearts…
May 31st, 2008 at 6:58 pm
I believe “thug” comes from the word “thugee”, a quasi-religious organization whose members were all trained in the deadly arts. Their specialty was assassination. And for the record I think all the Wabbys are actually just one wabby amusing him/herself.
May 31st, 2008 at 7:43 pm
Crikey, some of these comments got way off the track. It’s a pity to make a well-illustrated article ‘famous’ on triond because a few people can’t stop insulting each other – and Indians. But it seems to be that a few people only go on the Net to vent their irritation at the world.
June 4th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
useless information…
June 4th, 2008 at 10:00 pm
have you ever noticed that it is virtually impossible to make jokes while commenting on blogs? there will always be someone who takes it seriously. it could be something totally nonsensical like, “i enjoi diddling froggies” and someone will not only correct your grammer, but also reprimand you for bestiality. Foolish. It’s just feeding the trolls.
it might well be “useless info”; I doubt I will need to know the history of the word bungalow outside of Jeopardy or cocktail parties, but it was something I didn’t know and *giggle* knowledge is power.
June 4th, 2008 at 10:13 pm
Someone’s Mom,
You’re right. Point taken.
June 5th, 2008 at 10:13 am
i see that ignoance is now celebrated and not knowledge and distastful behavour allowed to rule. Frankly i liked the content rather informative but lacking in exceptional genius, entertaining but not so funny, memoriable but not the best work of all time.you can still do better.
oh by the way guys thats how to maturely comment on a content not like uneducated chiildren with acess to a computer. thank you keep the peace y’all.
June 5th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
ahem…back to the article. Good job of writing your explanations, the pics were great.
June 5th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
Right on ragga1loveda world!
June 5th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
Daddycool,
Careful! Some of these villagers are going to come after you with their torches and pitch forks because of your “hate speech”…
June 6th, 2008 at 3:39 am
Wabby succeeded to get all the attention he needed, just with a stupid comment – In the future guy, just ignore as spilling oil onto a stupid spark does not really prevent a fire.
I liked this interesting article along with the pictures. Some people mentioned a series of Indian words, like curry, however these are known to come from India, so there is no surprise. Like the word Pasta, will still remain an Italian word obviously.
June 6th, 2008 at 11:34 am
I am also an Indian and according to me all the explanations are right………Keep it up….Best of luck
June 7th, 2008 at 1:16 am
interesting choice of graphic for the word ‘juggernaut’
June 7th, 2008 at 10:30 am
Though I am familiar with most of the words, I didn’t know that ‘chit’ came from a hindi word!
June 7th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
These comments are more like YouTube than Triond! It’s really best not to rise to the bait, you know. It’s obvious that a lot of people get a kick out of winding others up (I know, I’ve had a lot of fun doing it myself!)
By the way, since when has there been a language called ‘Indian’???
June 8th, 2008 at 7:46 am
i love the photo chosen for cushy. how freakin adorable.
i found bungalow pretty interesting
June 8th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
I can just say this –> AMAZING!!!! Superb collection.. !!
June 8th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
I am always intrigued by people who want to equivocate a bigoted act or remark with Nazis and the Knights of the Klu Klux Klan. White racist organizations are always fair game while the opposite is true for non-white racist organizations. You never hear or see an equivocation like the “congressional black caucus” or the “united Negro college fund” or “La Rasa”. All are openly racist organizations.
Wabbie’s real mistake was expressing an opinion as fact.
June 9th, 2008 at 2:04 am
I am a linguist and philosopher from the University of Michigan, in the United States, though I am of Irish birth. I happened to stumble upon this article by chance, and was rather surprised to find that the most amusing thing about it was indeed the comments posted. I enjoyed a great deal reading through them all, base in content or not. While I enjoyed them all, two most valid opinions stuck out to me, mind you that this in itself is only an opinion. The first being that of Stephanie: her commentary is quite wise and points out quite accurately the fallacies of using a hated word to combat another, is anything ever truly learned? At the same time, Actively points out that sometimes a hated word is indeed what is needed to teach. I have found in my great many travels that in many instances the greatest lesson is a lesson hard learned. After all a child does not learn a fear of fire by not sticking it’s hand into the flame. Also, Savage is quite correct in that the only mistake made was in expressing opinion as fact. I would like to extend that observation to the whole lot of people commenting here. Opinion, needs a tested example to be turned to fact, and nowhere did I notice any instance of example.
The word horde is derived from the Czech or Polish word Horda of the same modern definition. (According to the Oxford English Dictionary)
June 9th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
I wonder if all these are true or not, Noway i can verify it
However Jagernaut…. the naut part is greek meaning sailor – traveler in a broad sense, so goes Argonaut astronaut ….
This mistake alone makes me doubt your sayings
June 9th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
The monkey pyjamas are cool
June 10th, 2008 at 6:04 am
Some more Indian( Tamil-YES TAMIL IS INDIAN AND NOT SRILANKAN) Words in English
Mulligatawny – means Milagu Thanni( Blackpepper Soup boiled in stewy hot water)
Catamaran – Kattumaran( A string of wooden planks tied together to make a seafaring boat)
Coir – Kayiru(Rope)
Cash – Kaasu( Money)
Cheroute – Suruttu(Cigar in Tamil)
Corundum(Ruby) – Kurundam in Tamil
Mantra – Mandiram(Tamil)
Orange(English)
June 10th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
After all said and all done….. after the philosophers and university professors have come, enlightened us, killed the racist topic, taken their bows, and left the stage…. I somehow am still not convinced…. because as an Indian citizen, no amount of reason in the world is really going to diminish the impact of such a foul, ignorant and pathetic yet enraging comment….. So wabby….. here’s something for you to think about…
India is the economically fastest growing democracy on the planet, and also among the last to succumb to the present worldwide recession…
A majority of medical and scientific professionals (including engineers, not only scientists) globally are Indian… Indian software engineers practically run Silicon Valley…
The winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for inventing microfinance = Indian
India gave the world the 0….. the chief breakthrough in the development of mathematics….
PS… when your people were sitting butt-naked in a bloody cave, mine were forging empires…..
Think about when the manager of your french-fry shift at Burger King gives you your lunch break….
June 10th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
PPS…. Sri Lankan guy….. RUSSEL PETERS IS A COMEDIAN…. not the bloody World Book…. anybody with above average intelligence would not take him seriously…
Then again… you sided with wabby…. I think that says enough..
June 10th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Sher…. gud job… didnt know most of these….
However some of these can be corrected….
Chitti is a letter… not a short message…
Shampoo… i think its “champi”… which means head massage
Cushy… im quite sure dis one is wrong… Khushi means happiness…. rather off the mark… i agree with the guy who said it comes from cushion… that seems more like it….
June 11th, 2008 at 7:57 am
Hi to Sher D Fly,
Nice article.
I liked the pictures you’ve used.
I think there are lot more words of similar origin say – mantra, guru, karma etc.
June 11th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
Just enjoying the read. Had anybody thought that the article is written in a way so people (we) can give a responce to it? Good or bad ……. -No need to get personal-
June 12th, 2008 at 2:57 am
Jute – comes from the indian word Jata, the hair
Sugar – comes from the Kannada/Indian word Sharkara, for sugar
Bandicoot – comes from Telugu/Indian word pandi-cokku
June 13th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
Jhooth Madarchod
June 13th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
Hello
Ordu is a Turkic word even if it came from Urdu. Actually the word “Urdu” itself means “ordu”
June 14th, 2008 at 1:09 am
Thank you for this very interesting article
June 16th, 2008 at 7:37 pm
A great article, I enjoyed it very much.
June 18th, 2008 at 7:54 pm
Interesting piece of information.
June 19th, 2008 at 11:52 am
being an indian, i really found it very interesting
June 19th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
Interesting article!
Wabby grow up! your comments sound absolutely childish!
June 20th, 2008 at 1:58 am
Interesting article and great subject to tackle. I am not here to correct you publicly, just to read. The Triond writers who have asked for my help in private already understand that I will not comment publicly the way Wabby, so did.
You wrote a fine piece of useful information about word origin and meanings in the Indian language and I learnt something new too tonight.
Thank you for that by-the-way.
God Bless,
Nelson Doyle
June 20th, 2008 at 8:01 am
Hahaha!
This from Urban Dictionary:
Wabby is a word used to describe mexicans that are from mexico and dont speak that good of english and who dont match…you know the ones that scream and whistle and stare at you but if you went to talk to them you wouldnt be able to communicate cause they dont speak english? yeah…those are the ones
Love it.
Bod
June 20th, 2008 at 9:07 am
Hey,
I enjoyed this, just wanted to let you know.
Thanks
June 20th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
Wabby-S., I think cummerbund came to English through Urdu and from Persian, “komor” (waist) “band” (binding).
June 20th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
and “sarband”, “sar” (head), could have evloved into “turban”.
June 21st, 2008 at 7:56 pm
All those facts are truly interesting. Where did you find them?
June 23rd, 2008 at 8:34 am
Now i see the world is becoming a better place. A place where people can appreciate things and value each others opinion fact or no fact.There is a lot of death, hunger and war in the world let’s not make an intellectual world become a world of celebrated hatred and racisim because in truth we are just a furray of beautiful colors that God loves to see and smile at.LOVE CULTERS AND LOVE PEOPLE. I love all your comments they are wonderful. thank you ann donavan.keep the peace you all
June 23rd, 2008 at 4:33 pm
Very interesting. Thank you. Just when you think you know a little about something there’s a whole lot more to know;)Life is amazing!
June 24th, 2008 at 8:17 am
Good enough for me, either way. Thumbs up on StumbleUpon.
June 24th, 2008 at 7:46 pm
As a wordsmith myself, well done.
June 25th, 2008 at 7:36 am
may i add
cummerbund – worn around the waist (usually tuxedos)
comes from hindi ‘kamar’(waist) ‘band’(something wound)
June 25th, 2008 at 11:17 am
Sher,
Enjoyed reading both the article and the comments.
Everyones clicks are good
June 28th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
Good grief… I don’t know where you get your facts, but you are in error in soooo many places.
Try finding out about thuggees. Then you will know where ‘thug’ comes from. I won’t waste my time correcting your errors.
July 14th, 2008 at 7:15 pm
Dear Passer-by,
I have checked out the fact…The word “thug” came from Hindi word “THAG” OR THIEF. In fact, Thuggee (or tuggee, ठग्गी) came from the same Hindi thag ‘thief’, from Sanskrit sthaga ‘scoundrel’, from sthagati ‘to conceal.Don’t insult the Indians because they are one of the first initial point of civilization on Earth.You should be ashamed of your shallow knowledge.
August 13th, 2008 at 8:24 am
http://www.unexplainedstuff.com/Secret-Societies/The-Thuggee.html
Please dont waste people’s time trying to ‘correct their errors’.
August 14th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
You are the one wasting my time correcting your errors, referring people to some unofficial sites created by God knows who. At least I argued based on facts I got from ethymology dictionaries.
By the way, I am Indian and I know my language. What about you? Is this your language?
August 31st, 2008 at 6:58 am
…..and one could hear a pin falling…..
August 31st, 2008 at 10:59 am
Sher,
A really good collection, must I say, but to be more specific with the veracity of your information, there isn’t a language called Indian.
October 10th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
Interesting article…
I also want to add the work ‘chai’(meaning tea) to the list…
A common misconception is that the word “chai” shares a root with the word “China”, as well as the Chinese word for tea, “cha”. However, this is a mistake. The Chinese word for China is transliterated as “jonghua” (meaning “middle kingdom”). “Jonghua” does not share any roots with “cha”. Accordingly, although there is a marked correlation between the words “cha” and “china”, there is no relation between the two.
October 15th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Thanks SDF ; The article could have been more comprehensive.
However , it is not for us to force our opinion regarding the evolution of the English language . Hailing from India , I profess that I would never refer to a cushion as “happiness” or “khushi” !! (that should be a heavy wallet , right?? )
But all said , let the great language fashion itself with the times, and may we forvever enjoy the debate of the origin of words .
sasine , anyone ???
October 29th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
And the fifty idiots repeatedly commenting under different aliases is exactly why I don’t read comments. Thanks for wasting my life.
Good article by the way.
November 12th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
interesting
June 25th, 2009 at 8:59 pm
HORDE=Mongol Ordu, from which Urdu got the word..thanks