Did you know that the word ‘shampoo’ came from Hindi? Or that ‘kiosk’ has its origins from Turkey?
In The Secret Life of Words, Henry Hitchings argues that English became English by borrowing from other languages. In its early history it was forced to borrow from invaders - Romans, Norse and French who came to Britain. Then it borrowed from people that the English traded with – Portuguese, Spanish, Italians and Arabs. Finally when the British Empire spread its wings it borrowed from communities it conquered.
With painstaking research (27 pages of footnotes and bibliography!), the author charts the journey of how several commonly used words were borrowed from another language. Some times the meaning would change while at other times the spelling would be modified to suit the local tongue. The format of the book combining history with culture and how they influence the growth of languages provides for fascinating reading.
The most interesting chapter for us would be the one of how words from India came to be used by the English. Sanskrit gave many words to English – mantra, avatar and yoga. But most new words introduced by the East India Company officials – jagir, nabob (nawab), pariah, baksheesh and shabbash – were from the language used in Mughal court of that day.
What is contentious is the thesis that the author puts forward that English is unique in how much it borrows from other languages. He argues that a speaker of Arabic or Hungarian will be able to trace most of its vocabulary to his ancestors rather than to other living languages. English is different in this regard. Most words of English today are borrowed from other languages.
Although my knowledge of languages is not as good as Mr Hitchings’ research, I find it difficult to believe this argument. In India we have many languages – Hindi is one example, Malayalam another - that have borrowed from languages that continue to exist today. Most languages from India have words that are brought into use either by travelers or conquests. In this context English is no different.
It would have been more interesting if the book had compared the growth of English with another language like Persian or Hindi that emerged at the crossroads of several cultures. Maybe then we could have better appreciated how English has a personality distinct from other languages.
One huge drawback is that there is no mention of the impact of new media, mobile SMSing and the Internet on English. As more and more people use English to communicate, they are changing the way the language is spoken and written today. Maybe that would the subject of another book someday.
The book The Secret Life of Words has been reviewed by Sudhesh Unniraman.
Sudhesh Unniraman is a filmmaker based in Delhi. He blogs at dillisilly.blogspot.com.
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