Indian Roots of English Words

chillibreeze writer — Ankit Kandpal

Having ruled India for hundreds of years, the British were not immune to a cultural backlash from the indigenous people. In no sphere is this influence more evident than in language and literature.

Succumbing to the pulls of an exotic land and egged on by the lure of adding fancy words into their lexicon, the British earnestly made many Indian words their own. One would surmise that with the departure of the British, the process of Anglicization of Indian words would have stopped. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Post independence, with large scale movement of Indians into the U.S. and Europe, the generosity of the Indian languages was greatly indulged, with the result that we now have words of Indian origin making their way into the English dictionaries every year.

The title of the recent Hollywood blockbuster Avatar is derived from the Sanskrit ‘avataara’, except that the Western tongue prefers to enunciate the hard ‘t’ instead of the softer ‘Indian’ ‘t’ sound. If one were to delve a little deeper into the world of these Indo-English words, one would unearth a trove of knowledge waiting to be lapped up by students of etymology.

English words with desi origins
One is filled with awe when one absorbs the entire gamut of meanings conveyed by words derived from Indian roots. From shampoo, which comes from ‘champi’ to bandicoot, from ‘pandikoku’ and catamaran from ‘ka??umaram’ these words lend English a vibrancy sans which it would have been left the poorer.

Some words have particularly interesting etymologies. Doolally, an offensive term meaning irrational is derived from the boredom and stress felt by the English soldiers at the Deolali British Army transit camp where they awaited their return home. There is a contested theory that the word God is derived from the Sanskrit ‘go’, meaning cow, because cows were considered to be representations of the Gods. During the British era it used to be said, apocryphally, that worshippers of Krishna threw themselves under the wheels of the Jagganath Yatra wagon in religious frenzy. This led to the creation of the word juggernaut, which came to mean an irresistible crushing force.

Perhaps a true sense of this globalisation of language can be made when one considers the American slang word Bangalored. To be Bangalored is to lose one’s job because it has been outsourced to India!

More examples!
For the amateur etymologist it is a favourite pastime to trace roots for words that have retained their basic sound structure. Bandanna comes from ‘bandhna’ – to tie around. The Sanskrit word ‘dvaara’ may be the precursor to door, just as mouse comes from the Sanskrit ‘musaka’. Mongoose could have different roots, all Indian though. It may have come from the Telugu ‘mungeesa’, the Marathi ‘mangus’ or the Kannada ‘mungusi’! Teapoy, a three-legged stool, is a product of folk etymology having been derived from the Hindi ‘tipai’ though its ultimate roots may be Persian. Cushy, meaning well-paid and easy, comes from the Hindi word ‘khushi’. Mandarin comes from the Sanskrit ‘mantri’, which means ‘an advisor’. Indeed, it would make for a great learning experience if Indian students of English are asked to identify words that are similar in sound and meaning to words from their local languages.

Direct borrowings
One also finds words that seem to have been directly lifted out of their Indian roots and copied into the English dictionary. Words such as jungle, karma, khaki, guru, loot, chutney, thug, Brahmin, are commonplace. Where the English lexicographer saw an ease in pronunciation and the appeal of novelty, he mostly included the words without tinkering with them.

Globalization and language exchange
Due to globalisation and the immigration of a large number of Indians into the Western world, it is possible that in the future many such words may find their way into English. This would indeed be a marriage of convenience as indigenous speakers of English would be gifted with an extensive lexis and Indians would just have to say what they have been saying all along in their local languages.

What is it that drives this generous borrowing? One reason stands out. It is the endeavour of the linguist to infuse fresh life into a staid language, and what better way to do it than sprinkle it with words loaned from exotic lands. India, with a rich culture and many great languages, fits the bill, more so because of its erstwhile position as a British colony. Now, many years after independence, one feels proud that English is left richer by its contact with Indian languages. Of greater significance is the fact that this contact first took place because of the proclivity of the British to make money out of a rich country and continued through the years when India reeled under foreign domination. Thus, language could not be shackled by the enmity between cultures.

To those endowed with the gift of perception it is very clear that in the future, many more Indian words will find their way into the English language. For, on the one hand is the wont of the English speaker to find words to keep his idiom in high flavour and on the other is the lively language that an ancient land has to offer.

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Chillibreeze's disclaimer: This is a contributed article and was published on Chillibreeze in May, 2010. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of Chillibreeze as a company. Chillibreeze has a strict anti-plagiarism policy. Please contact us to report any copyright issues related to this article. The relevance of the facts and figures cited (if any) could change after a period of time.

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