Listening
One of the joys of my day is driving to school. But the reason I enjoy it is not that I like to drive. In fact, I hate to drive-especially on Reykjanesbraut where almost everyone around me HAS to drive as fast as their car can go. No, I enjoy the drive because I get to listen to the BBC. For those of you in the U.S. who don't have the option of listening to the World Service all day, let me tell you, you're really missing out on a good thing. The programming, though repetitive (if you do, in fact, listen all day) is always thought provoking and interesting. Starting next Wednesday they're going to be examining the theme of domestic violence-an important topic for us to think about and try to solve.
But today, the most interesting part of the drive was listening to "Off the Shelf", a program where a book is chosen and read-somewhat dramatically-over the course of a week or so. The book this week is called A Suitable Boy. It's being read by an Indian actor because it's about an Indian family trying to marry off their youngest daughter. The little nugget that I took out of the story this morning is just a word whose origin I never thought about before today. I wonder if you, the reader, could guess what word it is. There is a word that all Americans and probably all people who speak English well will know that was originally part of the Hindu (Hindi?) language. It starts with the letter 'p' and is used by parents everyday.
Speaking English as a native language as I do, I'm very interested in finding the origin or etymology of words. English may be the most bastardized language there is considering how many words are taken directly out of other languages. Some lose their proper pronounciation (as do most Spanish words: Los Angeles, El Paso) and others (many French words: camouflage, reservoire, but not Montpelier or New Orleans). Then there are words in America that were taken from England that underwent a spelling change (programme, realise). English is a fun language full of lumps and juicy bits that could entertain me for life.
So, anyway, what's the Hindi word I heard this morning that is also a common English word?
But today, the most interesting part of the drive was listening to "Off the Shelf", a program where a book is chosen and read-somewhat dramatically-over the course of a week or so. The book this week is called A Suitable Boy. It's being read by an Indian actor because it's about an Indian family trying to marry off their youngest daughter. The little nugget that I took out of the story this morning is just a word whose origin I never thought about before today. I wonder if you, the reader, could guess what word it is. There is a word that all Americans and probably all people who speak English well will know that was originally part of the Hindu (Hindi?) language. It starts with the letter 'p' and is used by parents everyday.
Speaking English as a native language as I do, I'm very interested in finding the origin or etymology of words. English may be the most bastardized language there is considering how many words are taken directly out of other languages. Some lose their proper pronounciation (as do most Spanish words: Los Angeles, El Paso) and others (many French words: camouflage, reservoire, but not Montpelier or New Orleans). Then there are words in America that were taken from England that underwent a spelling change (programme, realise). English is a fun language full of lumps and juicy bits that could entertain me for life.
So, anyway, what's the Hindi word I heard this morning that is also a common English word?
posted by Our Hero, at 9:16 AM
4 Comments:
Probably you are talking of 'Pajamas'. Since you associated it with parents, it is not likely to be 'Pundit'. You might be interested to know that 'Pajama' in Hindi came from Persian. It is literally paa(legs)+jaamaa(cloth/cover) i.e. clothing that covers the legs.
BTW, Mahatma Gandhi is misspelled on your blog.
Hey, thanks for the information (and the correction on the spelling of Gandhi). As soon as Iread the word pundit I recognised it as a word that I realized was taken from Hindi while I was reading Th Life of Pi this summer. What a great book. I wonder how you got to this site. Do people just surf through pages and pages of blogs by unknown people as I occasionally do?
"I wonder how you got to this site."
I found you on Google blogsearch. No points for guessing what I was searching - Hindi.
Pundit, Pajama
Karma - This word is a hindi word. The meaning in English is a bit different. Karma in Hindi means duty.
Guru - I am not sure if you have come across this word.
Actually a lot of words have similar origins: (Sanskrit-Latin)
two - dho
three - theen
penta - panch
eight - aght
Me - Mein
Tu (in French) - Tu (in Hindi)
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