Monday 22 June 2015

English words from India


Anaconda - Sinhalese henakandayā perhaps ← Dravidian
Arhat - Sanskrit arhat ‘deserving’
Ashram - Sanskrit asrama ‘hermitage’
Atman - Sanskrit atmān ‘essence’
Ayurvedic - Sanskrit ayur-veda ‘science of life or medicine’
Baboo - Hindi bābū ‘father’
Bahasa (as in Bahasa Indonesia) - Malay ← Sanskrit bhasa ‘language’
Bandanna - Portuguese ← Hindi bāndhnū ‘tie-dyeing’
Bangle - Hindi baŋgrī ‘glass bracelet’
Basmati - Hindi basmati ‘fragrant’
Begum - Urdu begam ← Eastern Turkish bigim ‘princess’
Beryl - Greek ← Dravidian Vēlūr, a toponym
Betel - Portuguese ← Malayalam veṭṭila
Bhang - Urdu bhang ← Sanskrit bhanga ‘hemp’
Birka - Hindi burqa ← Arabic
Biryani - Hindi ← Persian biryan ‘fried, roasted’
Blighty- Hindi bilāyatī ‘foreign’ ← Arabic wilāyat ‘district’ ← wilaya ‘rule’
Bonze - Japanese bonsō ← Mandarin fánsēng ‘Buddhist monk’; fán ← Sanskrit brāhman.as ‘Brahmin’
Bo (tree) - Sinhalese bo ← Sanskrit bodhi- ‘perfect knowledge’
Bodhisattva - Sanskit bodhi ‘perfect knowledge’ + sattvā ‘being’
Bosh (fiddle) - Romani bosh- ‘crow, fiddle’ ← Sanskrit vas- ‘bellow’
Brahmin - Sanskrit brāhman.as ← brahman ‘praise, worship’
Buddha - Sanskrit buddha ‘enlightened’ ← budh ‘awake, perceive’
Bund - Hindi band ← Persian
Bungalow - Gujarati bangalo ← Hindi banglā ‘Bengali’’
Bandy - short for ‘sugar candy’ ← ‘sugar’ + Arabic qandi ‘candied’ ← qand ‘cane sugar’ ← Dravidian, cf. Tamil kan.ṭu
Carambola - Marathi karanbal
Cash (type of coin) - Tamil kācu ← Sanskrit karša, a measure of weight
Catamaran - Tamil katta-maram ‘tied wood’
Chakra - Sanskrit chakra (cognate to ‘wheel’!)
cheetah - Hindi cītā ← Sanskrit citrakāya ‘speckled-body’
cheroot - French ← Tamil shurutti ‘roll’
China - Sanskrit Chīna ← (probably) Mandarin Qín dynasty
China (ware) - Persian chīnī— the first (17th century) citations in English are apt to be spelled Chiney, cheney— ← Sanskrit Chīna (q.v.)
Chintz - Hindi chīn.t ← Sanskrit citra ‘many-colored’
Chit - Hindi chiṭṭha ‘pass’ ← Sanksrit citra ‘many-colored’
Chop - Hindi chhāp ‘imprint’
Chukker - Hindi chakkar ‘circle’ ← Sanskrit chakra
Chutney - Hindi chaṭni
Congee - Tamil kañji
Coolie - Hindi kulī (perhaps the name of a tribe)
Copra - Malayalam koppara ← Hindi khopprā ‘coconut’
Corundum - Tamil kurundam ← Sanskrit kuruvinda ‘ruby’
Cosh - Romani kosh ‘stick, skewer’
Cot - Hindi khat ‘couch, hammock’
Cowrie - Hindi kauri ← Sanskrit kaparda
Cummerbund - Urdu kamar-band ‘loin-band’
Curry - Tamil kari ‘relish for rice’
Cushy - Hindi khush ‘pleasant’ ← Persian
Dacoit - Hindi dakait, from daka ‘gang robbery’ ← Sanskrit dashtaka ‘crowded’
Dal - Hindi dal ‘split pulse’
Dharma - Sanksrit dharma ‘decree, custom’
Dhoti - Hindi dhōti
Dinghy - Hindi ḍīn.gī ‘small boat’
Dungaree - Hindi dungrī, a toponym
Eka- (chemical prefix) - Sanksrit eka ‘one’
Gadjo - Romani
Ganja - Hindi ganjha
Ghat - Hindi ghāt ‘quay’
Ghee - Hindi ghī ← Sanskrit ghr.ta ‘sprinkling’
Ginger - Sanskrit śr.ñ-gaveram ‘horn-body’
Godown - Malay gadong ←Telugu gidangi ‘place where goods lie’
Gondwanaland - Sanskrit gondavana, name of a forest
Guar (gum) - Hindi guar
Gunny (sack) ← Hindi gōnī ← Sanskrit gon.ī
Guru - Hindi gurū ‘venerable one’ ← Sanskrit guruh ‘heavy, venerable’
Gymkhana - Hindi gend-khana ‘ball-house’
Hare Krishna - Hindi hare ‘oh God!’ + ‘Krishna’
Harijan - Sanksrit harijana = Hari ‘Vishnu’ + -jana ‘person’
Hatha yoga - Sanksrit hatha ‘force, violence’ + yoga
Himalayas - Sanskrit hima ‘snow’ + alaya ‘dwelling
Hindi - Hindi Hindī ‘Indian’ ← Persian hind; cf. India
Hindu - Hindi Hindū ‘an Indian’ ← Persian hind; cf. India
Hookah - Urdu ← Arabic huqqah ‘vase, bottle’
Howdah - Urdu haudah ← Arabic haudaj
India - Greek Indía ← Old Persian hiñd’u ← Sanskrit sindhu ‘(Indus) river’
Indigo - Portuguese ← Greek indikón ‘of India’, cf. India
Juggernaut - Hindi Jagannath ← Sanskrit Jagannatha ‘lord of the world’
Jungle - Hindi jāngal ‘wasteland’ ← Sanskrit jāngala ‘desert’
Jute - Bengali jhōṭo ← Sanskrit jūṭa
Kama Sutra - Sanksrit kama ‘love’ + sutra
Khalsa - Urdu khaliçah ← Arabic khaliç ‘pure, real’
Kshatriya - Sanksrit kshatriya ← kshatra ‘rule, authority’
Lacquer - Hindi lākh ‘resin’
Lakh - Hindi lakh
Lama - Tibetan blama
Lascar - Portuguese ← Urdu lashkar ‘army
Lingam - Sanskrit liŋga ‘distinctive mark, penis’
Loot - Hindi lūṭ ← Sanskrit loptra ‘booty’
Maharajah - Hindi maharaja ‘great king’; maha is cognate to Greek mega-
Mahatma - Sanksrit mahatman ‘great-souled’
Mahout - Hindi mahaut
Mandarin - Hindi mantrī ‘counsellor’
Mango - Portuguese ← Malay maŋga ← Tamil mānkāy ‘mango fruit’
Mantra - Sanskrit mantra ‘prayer’
Maya - Sanskrit māyā
Mongoose - Marathi mangūs ← Telugu mangisu
Mullah - Urdu mulla ← Arabic mawla
Musk - Latin ← Greek ← Sanskrit muşka ‘scrotum’
Nabob - French ←Urdu nawwab ‘deputy governor’
Namaste - Hindi ← Sanskrit námas ‘bowing’ + te dative of ‘you’
Nan - Hindi nān
Narc - Romani nak ‘nose’
Nard - Latin ← Greek ← Sanskrit nalada
Orange - French ← Spanish ← Arabic naranj ← Sanskrit naranga
Pagoda - Portuguese ← Dravidian ← Sanskrit bhagavati ‘holy’
Pajamas - Urdu payjamah ← Persian pay ‘foot’ + jamah ‘garment’
Pal - Romani ← Sanskrit bhrātar- ‘brother’
Palanquin - Portuguese ← Javanese pēlangki ← Sanskrit palyanka ‘bed’
Pariah - Tamil paraiyar, a caste ← parai ‘drum’
Patchouli - Tamil paccilai ‘green leaf’
Pepper - Latin ← Sanskrit pippalī ‘berry’
Polo - Balti polo
Prakrit - Sanskrit prakrta ‘natural, vulgar’
Punch - perhaps from Hindi panch ‘five’; OED finds it unlikely
Pundit - Hindi panḍit ← Sanskrit panḍita ‘learned’ ← Telugu pan.ḍa ‘wisdom’
Purdah - Urdu pardah ‘veil, curtain’
Puttee - Hindi patti ‘band(age)’ ← Sanskrit patta ‘bandage’
Raga - Sanskrit raga ‘color, passion, melody’
Raj - Hindi rāj ‘realm’
Rajah - Hindi rājā ‘king’ ← Sanskrit rājan (cognate to Latin rex)
Rakshasa - Sanskrit rakshasa ‘demon’ ← rakshas ‘to be guarded against’
Rupee - Hindi rupaīyā ← Sanskrit rūpya ‘wrought silver’
Sadhu - Sanskrit sadhū ‘holy man’
Sahib - Urdu ← Arabic çahib ‘friend’
Sandhi - Sanskrit samdhī ‘junction’
Samosa - Hindi samosā
Sandalwood - Latin ← Greek ← Sanskrit candanah.
Sanskrit - Sanskrit samskrta ‘perfected, well-formed’
Sari - Hindi sār.ī ← Sanskrit śāṭī ‘cloth’
Sarong - Malay sarung ← Sanksrit saranga ‘variegated’
Satyagraha - Sanskrit satya ‘truth’ + graha ‘pertinacity’
Sepoy - Urdu sipahi ‘horseman’ ← Persian sipah ‘army’
Shaman - Russian ← Tungusic ← Sanskrit śraman.ás ‘ascetic’
Shampoo - Hindi chāmpo ‘press, massage’
Shawl - French ← Urdu ← Persian shal
Sherpa - Tibetan sharpa ‘easterner’
Shri - Sanskrit srī ‘Lakshmi’
Shrub (drink) - Urdu ← Arabic shurb ‘beverage’ ← shariba ‘drink’
Sitar - Hindi sitār ‘three-stringed’
Soma (Vedic liquor) - Sanskrit soma
Stupa - Sanskrit stūpa ‘tuft of hair’
Sudra - Sanskrit śūdra
Sutra - Sanskrit sutra ‘thread, string’
Sugar - French ← Arabic ← Persian ← Sanskrit śarkarā ‘gravel, sugar’
Suttee - Sanskrit satī ‘virtuous woman’
Swami - Hindi svāmī ‘master’ ← Sanskrit svāmin
Swastika - Sanksrit svastika ← Sanskrit svasti ‘well-being’
Tandoor - Urdu tandur ← Turkish tandir ← Arabic tannūr ‘oven’
Tank - possibly Gujarati tānkh 'water reservoir'
Tantra - Sanskrit tantra ‘loom, system, doctrine’
Teak - Malayalam tekka
Thug - Hindi ṭhag ← Sanskrit sthaga ‘robber’
Tikka - Hindi tikka
Toddy - Hindi tār.ī ‘palm sap’ ← Sanskrit tāla ← Dravidian
Tom-tom - Hindi ṭamṭam (imitative)
Upanishad - Sanskrit upa ‘near’ + nishad ‘lie down’
Veda - Sanskrit veda ‘knowledge’ (cognate to ‘wit’)
Veranda - Hindi varanda ← Portuguese
Vindaloo - Hindi ← Portuguese vin d'alho ‘wine with garlic’
Wallah - Hindi -wala, a nominalizer
Yak - Tibetan γyag
Yeti - Tibetan yeh-teh ‘little manlike animal’
Yoga - Hindi ← Sanskrit yoga ‘union’
Yogi - Hindi yogī ← Sanskrit yogin
Yoni - Sanskrit yōni ‘abode, womb’
Zen - Japanese ← Mandarin chán(nà) ‘meditation’ ← Sanskrit dhyāna



Resource - zompist.
Feel free to add if you know more!!

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