The British Council is marking its 70th anniversary in India in a special way — through 70 words chosen from the Oxford English Dictionary, that are of Indian origin.
“For the cashmere we drape and pyjamas we sleep in; the bangles we wear; the shampoo that cleans our hair; the cheetahs we watch whose speed we admire; the curry and kedgeree we might eat on a verandah — we thank the rich languages of India, and the people who have mixed and shared over the generations of those last four hundred years”, says Allen Gemmell, director, British Council, India.
The English may have made a large section of the world think and speak in their language, but English has assimilated words from a host of cultures and countries. As they colonised the world, they saw things and came across circumstances that were best described in the local speech, and so, they happily included these into their vocabulary.
The collection of 70 words that the British Council has chosen range from the expected — kedgeree, chutney, gymkhana, cummerbund and punch to some words whose Indian origins may come as a surprise to even people who've closely followed the evolution of the English vocabulary.
Mandarin, for instance, is used in the present day to refer to an official who commands considerable power or importance. According to British Council the word was first used in English language at the beginning of the 20th century. But, it was a word that had been applied to a senior official in the former imperial Chinese civil service more than 300 years ago. “Mandarin has enjoyed one of the most complex etymological journeys into English. It appears that the term was borrowed from Portuguese (mandari) or an older Dutch term mandorijn, which itself came from the Malay word menteri,'' says the British Council micro-site dedicated to this celebration. The origin of all these words comes from the Sanskrit term mantri.
The world lilac, which denotes a flower as well as a colour which is pink with a bluish tinge, comes from the Persian nilak. The Persian word itself comes from the Sanskrit root, nila or blue.
Then there is the very French sounding patchouli, which refers to a strong perfume made from the patch leaf or patchouli plant. The word came from the Deccan pacoli, which originates from the Tamil paccai, which means fragrant plant. Another French sounding word, shampoo, actually comes from the Indian word meaning champi or massage.
The cheetah has an unusual stylologcal family tree, according to the microsite. “Its great great grandparent is the Sanskrit chitra, which means spotted or distinctively marked.'' Cheetah, chit and chintx, all English words, originate from the same Sanskrit root.
Over the course of the celebrations, British Council will make these words come to life with illustrations by Indian and British artists.
