Indian words - 2017

Indian Origin words reign - 2017 OED

English in India is as old as 400 years. It offered a lot to Indian society. English is Indian’s official language. It was earlier practiced by merchants, missionaries, colonial administration and then attained official status in India. English today used as lingua franca in one of the world’s most linguistically diverse nations.

The practicing English Linguistics and Oxford English Dictionary works relentlessly for its development. This year OED has added seventy words from India.  They added new 900 entries in OED this year.

As 70 is a big number it is interesting to take a look at the scenario. India always practiced join family system and India is known for its hospitality, we easily find words like ‘Abba’ and ’Anna’ in daily life. This time they are added in OED they mean dad and big brother respectively.  The much diverse Indian cuisine is praised as gastronomical delights, some of the recipes like ‘gulab jamun’ ,‘vada’, Mirch Masala, Mirch, Dal are part of Indian daily diet. The OED has added them as regular words. It will give a relief to many Indians who are settled abroad and it will offer a goose bumps to Indian nationals as English is coming more close to their life.

The latest addition of OED team accepted many terms from Indian origin languages like Telugu, Urdu, Tamil, Hindi and Gujarati. It is much praiseworthy to see how English language is flourishing across globe and how English as a language is getting enriched from different languages.

A - Abba, Anna, Achha

B- Bapu, Bachcha, Bada Din, Badmash, Bhelpuri, Bhindi, Bhavan

C- Chup, Churidar, Chutney, Chacha, Chakka Jam, Chamcha, Chaudhuri, Chhi- Chhi, Chana Dal, Chana

D- Dadagiri, Desh, Devi, Dhaba, Diya, Didi, Dum

F- Funda

G- Ganja, Ghee, Gosht, Gulab Jamun. Gully

H – Haat

 J- Jai, Jhuggi, Ji, Jugaad

K – Keema, Kund

M – Maha, Mata, Masala, Mirch Masala, Mirch

N- Nagar, Nai, Namkeen, Natak, Nivas

P- Papad, Pukka, Puri

Q – Qila

S- Sevak, Sevika, Surya Namaskar

T – Timepass

V – Vada

Y – Yaar

I take this platform to express my gratitude towards language study. English is born out of the languages like Greek, Latin, French, Italian and some tribal languages of 15^th century.  The first lexicographer Samuel Johnson said, “Language is the dress of thought.”

          I remember when I was studying Prof. Umberto Eco, he once mentioned, “Translation is the art of failure.” This statement of him changed my life and I went on learning the nuances of language, culture, history, psychology and sociology. The attempt of OED is the same.

           Last year British linguist David Crystal gave on BBC interview on English and its development as a language. He said, “Language has no independent existence apart from the people who use it. It is not an end in itself; it is a means to an end of understanding who you are and what society is like.

In this same interview when asked about the different words added in English language and the ever changing English grammar rules. He answered firmly, “Languages like English, Spanish, and Chinese are healthy languages. They exist in spoken, written, and signed forms, and they're used by hundreds of millions of people all over the world. But most of the 6,000 or so of the world's languages aren't in such a healthy state.”

I became more serious on this comment. True, a language lives and when somebody use it. If the language is practiced at more places then it becomes the duty of language to adopt the culture as language reflects culture, sociology, economy, psychology and emotions. I wonder, how seriously OED is thinking about language.