4.29.2010

glossary

Glossary of Terms in Story

Based on Mid-Late 1800 Usage


subaltern 124

 3. subaltern officer: an officer in the army of junior rank, i.e. below that of captain. Hence subaltern rank, etc. 


sahib 125 
[Urd ū , use of Arab. ç ā hib, orig. ‘friend’.] 
 1. a. A respectful title used by the natives of India in addressing an Englishman or other European (= ‘Sir’); in native use, an Englishman, a European. Also affixed as a title (equivalent to ‘Mr.’ prefixed) to the name or office of a European and to Indian and Bangladeshi titles and names. (See also MEM-SAHIB.) 


Hindostanee 125 
Also Hindustanee, -sthani, Hindostanee, -stani, -staunee.
1.A. adj. Of or pertaining to Hindustan (in the stricter sense), or its people or language

black men 125
 1.c. Having an extremely dark skin; strictly applied to negroes and negritos, and other dark- skinned races; often, loosely, to non-European races, little darker than many Europeans. 


lac of rupees 125 
Anglo-Indian 
 One hundred thousand: a. of things in general; occas. used for an indefinite number; b. spec. of coins, esp. in a lac of rupees. [editors note: alternative spelling—lakh] 


battue 126 
[F. (= Pr. batuda, It. battuta, L. type bat ū ta) ‘a beating, a beat-up,’ n. formed on fem. pa. ppl. of battre to beat. 
 2. transf. a. A beat up, a thorough search. b. Wholesale slaughter, esp. of unresisting crowds. 


Sorr 126 
 Repr. Ir. pronunc. of SIR n. (sense 7a). [editor's note: OED also notes Rudyard Kipling's use of this slang] 


Hibernian 126 
[f. L. Hibernia, a corrupted form of Iverna (Iuuerna, Iuverna, Iuberna) = Gr. Ίғέρνη,Ίέρνη = OCeltic *Iveriu (acc. *Iverionem, abl. *Iverione), whence Ir. Eriu, acc. Eirinn, Erinn Erin, later MIr. nom. and acc. Eri (whence OE. Yra-, Iraland) Ireland. See HYPERLINK "http://dictionary.oed.com.resources.library.brandeis.edu/cgi/crossref?query_type=word&queryword=hibernian&first=1&max_to_show=10&single=1&sort_type=alpha&xrefword=-an" HYPERLINK "http://dictionary.oed.com.resources.library.brandeis.edu/cgi/crossref?query_type=word&queryword=hibernian&first=1&max_to_show=10&single=1&sort_type=alpha&xrefword=-an" - AN.] 
 B. n. A native of Ireland: an Irishman. 


Hindoo 127
[a. Pers. hindu, Urd ū hind ū , adj. and n., Indian; f. Pers. hind, India, Zend heñdu, Achæmenian hiñd'u = Skr. sindhu river, spec. the Indus, hence the region of the Indus, Sindh; gradually extended by Persians, Greeks, and Arabs, to northern India as a whole.]
A. n. An Aryan of Northern India (Hindustan), who retains the native religion (Hinduism), as distinguished from those who have embraced Islam; hence, any one who professes Hinduism; applied by Europeans in a wider sense, in accordance with the wider application of Hindustan.
Source: The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989. OED Online. Oxford University Press. 23 March 2010. .
LW