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The authors aimed to foster an understanding of language and culture beyond mere definitions by exploring the origins and evolution of Anglo-Indian colloquialisms [2, 5]. They sought to identify words that filled gaps in the English language when used by the English in India, either because no suitable English term existed or because speakers mistakenly believed no such term did [1]. The deeper context is crucial for Anglo-Indian colloquialisms because these words are constantly used in daily intercourse and become part of the common Anglo-Indian vocabulary [1, 2]. Tracing their origins and earliest literary occurrences reveals the history and cultural exchange between English speakers and their environment in India [2].
This deeper context is crucial for Anglo-Indian colloquialisms because many users are profoundly ignorant of the true origin of the words they hourly use [2]. Furthermore, the authors intended to trace not only colloquial words but also those that have disappeared from or never entered colloquial use but appear in old writings on the East [5]. They also investigated the pedigree of geographical names in familiar use in books on the Indies [5]. This approach moves…
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From the book
e to affect its distinctive character, in which something has been aimed at differing in form from any work known to us. In its original conception it was intended to deal with all that class of words which, not in general pertaining to the technicalities of administration, recur constantly in the daily intercourse of the English in India, either as expressing ideas really not provided for by our mother-tongue, or supposed by the speakers (often quite erroneously) to express something not capable of just denotation by any English term. A certain percentage of such words have been carried to…
lity, however vulgar they may be, neither vernacular nor profane, but phrases turning upon innocent Hindustani vocables. We proposed also, in our Glossary, to deal with a selection of those administrative terms, which are in such familiar and quotidian use as to form part of the common Anglo-Indian stock, and to trace all (so far as possible) to their true origin—a matter on which, in regard to many of the words, those who hourly use them are profoundly ignorant—and to follow them down by quotation from their earliest occurrence in literature. A particular class of words are those indigenous…
Vocabularies of Indian and other foreign words, in use among Europeans in the East, have not unfrequently been printed. Several of the old travellers have attached the like to their narratives; whilst the prolonged excitement created in England, a hundred years since, by the impeachment of Hastings and kindred matters, led to the publication of several glossaries as independent works; and a good many others have been published in later days. At the end of this Introduction will be found a list of those which have come under my notice, and this might no doubt be largely added to. Of modern…
which has been given to this book (not without the expressed assent of my collaborator), doubtless requires explanation. A valued friend of the present writer many years ago published a book, of great acumen and considerable originality, which he called Three Essays , with no Author's name; and the resulting amount of circulation was such as might have been expected. It was remarked at the time by another friend that if the volume had been entitled A Book, by a Chap , it would have found a much larger body of readers. It seemed to me that A Glossary or A Vocabulary would be equally…
1741). The Indian zoological terms were chiefly due to Dr. F. Buchanan, at the beginning of this century. Most of the N. Indian botanical words were introduced by Roxburgh." It has been already intimated that, as the work proceeded, its scope expanded somewhat, and its authors found it expedient to introduce and trace many words of Asiatic origin which have disappeared from colloquial use, or perhaps never entered it, but which occur in old writers on the East. We also judged that it would add to the interest of the work, were we to investigate and make out the pedigree of a variety of…
More questions about this book
- The opening quotes discuss challenges in translation, the acceptance of foreign words, and linguistic purity. What central dilemma or linguistic phenomenon do these diverse perspectives collectively highlight, and how does the existence of "Hobson-Jobson" itself offer a response to this?
- The 1617 quote from the Surat Factors expresses concern about the "growing use of 'Hobson-Jobsons'." How does this historical stance contrast with the later creation of a comprehensive glossary for these same terms, and what does this shift suggest about the evolving nature of language and cultural interaction?
- Iamblichus and Verstegan both touch upon the idea that perfect translation is impossible and that borrowing can lead to misunderstanding. How might the authors of "Hobson-Jobson" have used their glossary to mitigate these inherent linguistic challenges for their readers?
- If you were to explain the core purpose and significance of "Hobson-Jobson" to someone unfamiliar with its historical context, using only the insights gleaned from the introductory material, how would you articulate why such a glossary was not just useful, but perhaps essential, at the turn of the 20th century?