APPENDIX I

Glossary of general and Andaman Indian terms

by George Weber

The terms listed here are limited to those that could appear in an Andamanese context. Some are of purely historical interest and have fallen out of use even before Indian independence 1947, while others are still in use, in mainland India as well as in the Andaman and Nicobar islands. A few have become universally used used - " coolie" is one such term.

anna - one-sixteenth of a Rupee in British India (a very small monetary unit)

Atta (attah, ottah) - ground corn with unsifted husks

ayah - native nurse or servant maid (elsewhere in the Far East, e.g. Hong Kong, also known as amah)

baba - term of respect for an old man

baba-log - affectionate term for children

babu (baboo) - title of respect for Hindus, also used by the British in a derogatory manner of Indian clerks who wrote a peculiarly Indian English

badmash (budmash) - hooligan, criminal

bagh - garden

baniya (baniah, bunya) - moneylender; grain dealer; sometimes used of any Hindu person

bara - big

batan - batten

batta - special allowance for soldiers and officials doing duty in dangerous areas or conditions, i.e. on active service

bibi (beebee) - lady, wife

bis - number (when a convict in the Andamans of the late 19th and early 20th century was called up he answered "bis 172", meaning "no. 172-B," the "B" being a second series of numbering introduced in the late 19th century. "Bis" itself is also the Hindi word for "twenty."

begum - Muslim lady of very high rank

bell of arms - in the army of British India a bell-shaped tent or brick building used for the storage of arms

bhang - infusion of Indian hemp

bhisti (bheesty) - water carrier

bildar (bildah) - digging laborer, navvy

boorao - old man

brahmin (brahman) - member of the highest Hindu caste

brinjal - aubergine, eggplant

cantonment - military station, permanent camp

caste - Hindu hereditary class with prehistoric roots; the principal castes are the Brahmin (priestly), the Kshatriya (warrior), Vaisha (trader) and Sudra (farmers and artisans). The untouchables are outside the caste system.
Each caste is split into countless sub-castes. Members of the same caste are socially equal, share the same religion and have little or no intercourse with members of other castes.

cess - tax, rates

chaprassi - doorkeeper; messenger

charpoy - bedstead

chillum - part of the hookah (smoking pipe) containing the tobacco and charcoal bails, sometimes loosely used for the hookah itself

chillumchee (chillumjee) - basin for washing hands

choga - garment like a dressing gown

chowki (chowkee) - shed, storage hut

chowkidar (chokidar, chakidar) - watchman, caretaker

chuddur (chudder) - sheet worn by north Indian women

chupatti (chapatti) - coarse, flat, unleavened bread

coolie - unskilled laborer

coss - measure of distance, varied in different parts of India but was usually around 3.2 km (2 miles)

cossid - runner

craore - one million (usually money, i.e. rupees)

cutcherry - court house

dacoit - armed robbers, murderous highway-men

dak (dawk) - transport by horse through a relay of stations; mail

dal (dhal) - split pulse, an Indian food

dhobi (dhobee) - washer-man

dhoti - (dhotee) - loin-cloth

din (deen) - the faith of a Muslim; his party cry

dirmat - the Forestry Department at Port Blair (convict term)

doolie (dholee) - covered litter, sedan chair

dudh - milk

durbar - royal court, levee; government

duree - rug

fakir - religious mendicant living on charity

firinghi (feringhee) - derogatory term for an European

ganga (ganja) - hashish, marihuana

gharry - carriage

ghat - quay, wharf

ghazee (ghazi) - murderous Muslim fanatic

ghee (ghi) - clarified butter

ghosulkhana - bathroom

ghurrah -water pot

ghurry (ghuree, gurree) - an instrument for measuring time with water

gingall (jingall) - a heavy musket fired from a rest, a swivel gun

godown - storage, warehouse

goojurs (gujars) - a predatory Hindu group

goonda - a bad character

goor (gur) - coarse brown sugar

gram - pulse, used as horse fodder

hackery - cart drawn by bullocks

hakim - Muslim physician

halpilet - wall-plate (convict-English at Port Blair)

havildar - non-commissioned Indian officer, equivalent to a sergeant

hawa patti - orchid (term used by convict labor at Port Blair)

jemadar - Indian lieutenant

kanbales - "convalescent," i.e. a member in a convalescent gang of Andaman convicts

kaffir - infidel, derogatory term used by Indian Muslims for Christians

khalassi - camp-follower, tent pitcher

khalsa - the Sikh community

khansaman - cook; house steward; servant waiting at table

khawasin - attendant

khidmatgar (khidmuttgar, kidmutgar) - butler, waiter

kotwal - police officer; town magistrate

kotwali - police station

kukri - curved Gurkha knife

lahaf - bedspread

lakh - one hundred thousand (usually money, i.e. rupees)

lascar -a low-ranking military or naval person or a servant

lathi (lathee, lattee) - bludgeon, heavy police baton

log - people

mahajan (mahajum) - banker, moneylender, merchant

mahal - house, palace; queen

mahout - elephant driver

mali (mally) - gardener

maulvi (moulvi) - learned Muslim scholar and teacher (usually of religion)

mehters - sweeper, scavenger

memsahib - European married lady (from: "madam-sahib")

messcott - mess, mess-house

misree - sugar-candy

mistree (mistri) - mason, artisan

mohalla - town quarter

mohur - gold coin

moturpha -Andamanese-English term used for house-tax (in this sense in the Andaman annual budget of 1900/01), originally meant a tax on the professions and trades in Madras until the 1870s

mujahideen - Muslims who take up arms for a religious cause

mulligatawny - highly spiced soup

munshi (moonshee) - secretary, writer

mushaqqati - a laburing convict in the Andamans

naik (naick) - non-commissioned Indian officer, equivalent to a corporal

nautch - display by professional dancing girls

nawab - nobleman, governor

nazrs - ceremonial gifts from inferior to superior

nullah - small stream, ditch, drainage channel

paddy - rice in the husk

paddy field - rice field

palanquin - covered litter or sedan chair, usually carried by four or six men

palka-ghari - covered wagon for woman in purdah

pan - betel leaf

pari - dancing girl

Pathans - warrior-like people from Afghanistan

patwari - village accountant and record keeper

pipal (peepul) - large fig tree (ficus religiosa) scared to Hindus

pice - a quarter anna, a very small coin

pilao (pilau) - a spicy Indian rice dish mixed in with meat etc.

puggree (puggaree) - a type of turban; a thin scarf

pukka - proper (e.g. pukka sahib, a proper or real sahib)

punkah - a large swinging cloth frame pulled by a string by the punkah wallah to help circulate air in stiflingly hot rooms (a predecessor of the ventilator)

purdah - a curtain or room used to shield women from strangers; the Indian system of secluding high-caste women from public view

raj - rule, sovereign government; the Raj is the British rule of India

Rajput - member of a Hindu soldier caste

risaldar - Indian officer in charge of a cavalry troop

rupee - an Indian coin; today the name of the main currency unit of independent India

sadr amin (sadeer ameen) - Indian court official

sahib - European spoken to or of by Indians

simin (simint, sirmit) - Portland cement

seer - measure of weight (ca. 2 lbs/1 kg) or of liquid (ca. 1 litre)

sepoy - private soldier of the Indian infantry

sirdar - leader, commander

sowar - private soldier of the Indian cavalry

subedar (subahdar) - Indian officer of a company of sepoy

subedar-major - senior Indian officer of a regiment of sepoy

suttee - self-immolation of Hindu widows

sice (syce) - groom

tahsil - tax, a tax district, a tax office

tahsildar - tax officer; cashier of a business

talukdar - a member of the landed gentry in the province of Oudh (today the state of Uttar Pradesh)

tank - artificial lake, storage pond

tatti - screen of scented grass, kept wet to reduce temperature of winds passing through them in hot weather

thannadar - police officer

tiffin - light lunch, snack

tika - red mark on foreheads of Hindu women

tindal - laborer

tope - grove of mango trees

tulwar - Indian sword

tykhana - underground room

vakil - businessman, business agent

wali - ruler, governor

zamindar - land owner

zenana - part of a Muslim house in which women are secluded

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Last changed 10 September 2005