Synthesized answer
The glossary "Hobson-Jobson" serves as a collection of colloquial Anglo-Indian words and phrases [3]. Its purpose was to document words that recurred in the daily intercourse of the English in India, particularly those expressing ideas not covered by English or perceived as such by speakers [4]. This includes words that are either Oriental words highly assimilated into English vernacular, or corruptions of Oriental words and phrases that have taken on an English form [1, 2]. The glossary also notes that English words, often obsolete in Europe, have gained currency in India with a specific meaning, and that English has formed new compounds in India for new objects or nuances of meaning [5].
The passages suggest that "Hobson-Jobson" offers insights into the linguistic interactions between English and Oriental languages, showcasing how words are adopted, adapted, and transformed. It highlights the creation of new vocabulary and expressions within the context of Anglo-Indian life [2, 5]. While the passages explain the *types* of words included and the general purpose of the glossary, they do not explicitly detail deeper insights into cultural exchange, historical power dynamics, or…
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From the book
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…
ng; whilst in other cases our language has formed in India new compounds applicable to new objects or shades of meaning. To one or other of these classes belong outcry , buggy , home , interloper , rogue (-elephant), tiffin , furlough , elk , roundel ('an umbrella,' obsolete), pish-pash , earth-oil , hog-deer , flying-fox , garden-house , musk-rat , nor-wester , iron-wood , long-drawers , barking-deer , custard-apple , grass-cutter , &c. Other terms again are corruptions, more or less violent, of Oriental words and phrases which have put on an English mask. Such are maund , fool's rack ,…
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.…
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…
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…
More questions about this book
- How would you explain the core linguistic problem that the "Hobson-Jobson" glossary aims to address, as if you were teaching someone unfamiliar with the concept of language borrowing and transformation?
- The various historical quotes lament the unintelligibility or mixed nature of language. How do these diverse perspectives, from 17th-century merchants to ancient philosophers, collectively justify the significant "laboris opus" undertaken by Yule and Burnell in compiling a glossary like "Hobson-Jobson"?
- Ovid's adapted quote suggests language is fluid but retains its essence, like wax taking new forms. How does this view reconcile with or challenge the concerns expressed by the Surat Factors and R. Verstegan regarding the perceived degradation or confusion caused by the influx of "foreign" words?
- If the principles behind "Hobson-Jobson" were applied to contemporary English, what kind of modern "colloquialisms and kindred terms" stemming from global interactions or specific subcultures might warrant a similar glossary, and what unique challenges would arise in compiling it today?