Couloir Couturier in the French Alps
Perhaps my father's account of his 1944 Kashmir adventure requires a glossary. I have had to type out a number of words that were previously unfamiliar to me. Some of them are technical words connected with climbing and some are drawn from the British experience of living and working in India.
couloir - a snow-filled gully on a mountainside (French origin)
arΓͺte - a ridge on a high mountain ( French origin)
tiffin - a snack or light meal in India - often a packed lunch
pony-wallah - the fellow who looks after the ponies. The Hindi term "wallah" may be applied to many other roles and duties. Hence a rickshaw-wallah is a person who operates a rickshaw.
charpoy - a bedstead of woven webbing or hemp stretched on a wooden frame on four legs. This kind of bed is common in India and the word is of Urdu origin.
chota hazri - Chhota haazri or Chota hazri was a meal served in households and barracks, particularly in northern British India, shortly after dawn. It preceded breakfast by an hour or two.
shikari - The shikara is a type of wooden boat found on Dal Lake and other water bodies of Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir, India. Shikaras are of various sizes and are used for multiple purposes, including transportation. A usual shikara seats six people, with the driver paddling at the rear.
doonga - In Kashmir - a long, narrow boat, the base of which is constructed with thick planks of cedar. The superstructure consists of a wooden frame supporting matted curtains. The roof is of wooden planks covered with rushes.
π’π’π’π’π’π’π’π’
There are as many as a thousand Hindi words that were absorbed into English long ago and are testament to the British presence in the Indian subcontinent during the days of Empire. They include:-
thug
jungle
juggernaut
bungalow
punch (drink)
pyjamas
bandana
chutney
shampoo
I really love word origins and so your list was very interesting to me.
ReplyDeleteThe word "debby" is an informal adjective meaning - having the characteristics of a debutante.
Delete...and verandah; something any decent kiwi or aussie house wouldn't be without. We have really enjoyed your chosen extracts from your father's record of what must have been a truly amazing journey. Let us know when (and where or how) the entire account is available as i know a young, enthusiastic and well travelled climber who would love to read it all.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your support and interest Tigger. One can publish e-books for free and that is what I plan to do.
DeleteYou know how fascinated I am by all things language, and this post is no exception - thank you!
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, several of these originally Hindi words have become common in German, too: Dschungel, Pyjama, Punsch, Shampoo (spelled like the English term), Bungalow, Bandana, Chutney are all familiar terms here. I wonder how many more!
The German language has given English bratwurst, angst and dachshund. Thank you.
DeleteVerandah is another Indian word in our language. Aside from bungalow, I didn't know any of those words had Indian origin. Maybe jodhpurs too.
ReplyDeleteI knew tiffin, charpoy and of course we are blog wallahs.
Ha-ha! I love that term Andrew - "blog wallahs"!
DeletePukka is another Hindi word.
ReplyDeleteAre you pukka Northsider? I like the way you pucker your lips and the scarlet lipstick really suits you.
DeletePukka pies. I prefer Hollands pies.
DeleteEy? I thought you liked Fray Bentos!
DeleteI do. Snooker was an English army word and the game was invented during the monsoon in India. Billiards was originally played outside. That's why the maize is green to look like grass.
DeleteLanguage is fascinating. I enjoy discovering how words and names evolved. A few years ago the British Library held an exhibition on the evolution of the English language. I spent hours in there!
ReplyDeleteI would have loved that exhibition too JayCee but never heard about it.
DeleteLoved this post! What about khaki?
ReplyDelete"Khaki" is indeed from the Indian subcontinent but of Urdu origin I believe.
DeleteI knew some of those words were from India, but others caught me by surprise, like thug and juggernaut
ReplyDelete"The juggernaut drove over the thug and flattened him."
DeleteI knew five out of the eight! The last three were new to me.
ReplyDeleteAlso a "chit" is a note or memorandum.
DeleteWe don't think so much about the words we have adopted from India but you are right- they are here and in use every day. As is their food, fairy tales, philosophies.
ReplyDeleteIndia is far away but very close.
DeleteInteresting how words were exchanged. The British experience in India is Interesting. Rudolph Kipling describes what the life was like.
ReplyDeleteMany British people were born in India. The singer Cliff Richard is just one of them.
DeleteCouloir a snow-filled gully is as evocative as anything in Proust.
ReplyDeleteCouloir Couturier is the Magic Mountain, the summit of which we can only ever glimpse from afar.
Chota Hazri a meal after dawn is a discovery, and evokes the aroma of Turkish coffee, and the many kinds of bread they bake in Istanbul.
Chutney has an interesting etymology and seems to have been assimilated into Roman cuisine as early as 500 B.C.
Mango chutney is de rigueur with any dish served in Mother India (an inexpensive restaurant not far from where I live). Their Spiced Haddock starter is a main course in itself, and I always order a second dish of mango chutney.
I keep a jar of Waitrose Lime Chutney in my fridge, just because its aroma is so astringent.
The lime flavour fires the nasal passages and makes me want to recite Rimbaud in loud ringing tones.
Food and poetry belong together. We could link great poets with certain dishes.
A future post?
Haggerty
Food and poetry...Dylan Thomas was partial to a meat pie and it is said that Philip Larkin liked cod and chips. "Mother India" is a great name for a curry house for through the centuries she has been like a mother.
DeleteMother India Cafe is just around the corner from me. Mother India (separate place) is a walk of about ten minutes. Near the latter is The Ox and Finch:
DeleteI like their duck leg in plum sauce which goes well with their pumpkin.
Not far away is an authentic Spanish tapas restaurant, Rioja.
Recommended: *The Importance of Elsewhere - Philip Larkin's Photographs* by Richard Bradford. published by Frances Lincoln of London.
I can just see Larkin sitting down to cod and chips.
Ted Hughes would be tucking into Yorkshire stand pie, Seamus Heaney would order Irish soda bread with farm eggs and rashers of bacon, and for Sylvia Plath a gigot of lamb with wild mint from her garden ...
Haggerty
Does that make us blogger-wallahs? And other things too when the bloggering is done. You are a grandpa-wallah.
ReplyDeleteI am a wallop-wallah so watch out Davie.
DeleteURGENT REQUEST!!!
ReplyDeletePlease let me have info re the pattern for Phoebe's pink jacket shown on your previous post. My nephew and his wife have just had a longed-for baby boy (Oliver Archie) so its time to start knitting. The jacket looks easy yet stylish.
Sorry - I've just read the comments on the earlier post and found the answer to my question. What a pity: I really wanted to knit that cardigan.
ReplyDeleteSorry Margaret... I expect that you will find another simple pattern for Oliver Archie. How lovely to have a child when you have tried so hard and so long to have one.
DeleteAs much as you love language, and variations in language, this must be a fun task for you. In India some surnames are a variation on "-wallah," no doubt stemming from the occupation of an ancestor.
ReplyDelete