Synthesized answer
The diverse perspectives highlight a central dilemma in language: the inherent difficulty of translating concepts and idioms between languages, leading to a challenge in maintaining linguistic purity and accepting foreign words [3]. This is exemplified by the observation that "every nation has some idiomatic expressions which it is impossible to render perfectly in the language of another" [3]. The passages also note that the English language has absorbed words from other languages, sometimes to the point where they are not understood by other English speakers [3], and that new compounds have been formed in India for new objects or shades of meaning [4].
The existence of "Hobson-Jobson" itself offers a response to this by serving as "a typical and delightful example of that class of Anglo-Indian argot which consists of Oriental words highly assimilated, perhaps by vulgar lips, to the English vernacular" [2]. It functions as a glossary of colloquial Anglo-Indian words and phrases [1], indicating a process of linguistic assimilation and adaptation where foreign terms are integrated into the English language, often with altered pronunciation or meaning [2, 4]. This work acknowledges…
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From the book
dem est; VOCEM sic semper eandem Esse, sed in varias doceo migrare figuras." Ovid. Metamorph. xv. 169-172 (adapt.). "... Take this as a good fare-well draught of English-Indian liquor ."— Purchas , To the Reader ( before Terry's Relation of East India), ii. 1463 (misprinted 1464). "Nec dubitamus multa esse quae et nos praeterierint. Homines enim sumus, et occupati officiis; subsicivisque temporibus ista curamus."— C. Plinii Secundi , Hist. Nat. Praefatio, ad Vespasianum . "Haec, si displicui, fuerint solatia nobis: Haec fuerint nobis praemia, si placui." Martialis , Epigr. II. xci.…
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…
αθ' ἕκαστον ἔθνος ἰδιώματα ἀδύνατα εἰς ἄλλο ἔθνος διὰ φωνῆς σημαίνεσθαι "— Iamblichus , De Mysteriis , vii. cap. v. i.e. "For it is by no means always the case that translated terms preserve the original conception; indeed every nation has some idiomatic expressions which it is impossible to render perfectly in the language of another." "As well may we fetch words from the Ethiopians , or East or West Indians , and thrust them into our Language, and baptize all by the name of English , as those which we daily take from the Latine or Languages thereon depending; and hence it cometh, (as by…
ts which have been imported, such as loquot , leechee , chow-chow , cumquat , ginseng , &c. and (recently) jinrickshaw . For it must be noted that a considerable proportion of words much used in Chinese ports, and often ascribed to a Chinese origin, such as mandarin , junk , chop , pagoda , and (as I believe) typhoon (though this is a word much debated) are not Chinese at all, but words of Indian languages, or of Malay, which have been precipitated in Chinese waters during the flux and reflux of foreign trade. Within my own earliest memory Spanish dollars were current in England at a…
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…
More questions about this book
- 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?
- Considering the "Etymological, Historical, Geographical and Discursive" scope of the glossary, what kind of understanding of language and culture do you think the authors were trying to foster, beyond merely defining words, and why is this deeper context crucial for Anglo-Indian colloquialisms?
- 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?