Sea of Poppies (80 page)

begaree (*Roebuck)
: ‘So, according to Lt. Roebuck, were the lascars accustomed to speak of those of their number who had been shanghaiied or impressed into service. Could it be that the word is a curious crossing of the English “beggar” and the Bengali
bhikari
(of the same meaning) and the Hind.
bekari
, “unemployed”?'

+begum
: See
BeeBee
.

beparee (*The Glossary)
: Neel believed that this Hind. word for ‘trader', like
seth
, had found its way into English because the extraordinary proliferation of the meanings of
banyan
had rendered the word unusable in its originary sense.

beteechoot (*The Glossary)
: For the import of this expression see
banchoot/barnshoot
, but bearing in mind that it substitutes
betee
, daughter, for
bahin
, sister. ‘Sir Henry illustrates his definition of this term with some extremely apt quotations, among them the following: “
1638: L'on nous monstra à une demy lieue de la ville un sepulchre, qu'ils apellent
Bety-chuit
,
c'est à dire la vergogne de la fille decouverte
” [Mandelsle, Paris, 1659].'

bhandari (*Roebuck)
: ‘This is the name that lascars use for cooks or storekeepers. I imagine that it may well be their word for “quartermaster” as well'. This sentence is taken from the most unusual of Neel's notes – a set of jottings scribbled on the verso side of few playing cards. From the tiny handwriting, no less than the liberal splashes of seawater, it would appear that these notes were compiled in the course of a voyage on which paper was not easily obtained. Within the family these notes are known as the
Jack-Chits
, after the first of the cards to be found (a knave of clubs). Generally speaking the chits are Neel's earliest attempt to make sense of the shipboard dialect of the lascars: at the time of their writing he does not appear to have known of the existence of the
Laskari Dictionary
, but on acquiring a copy of Roebuck's lexicon, he immediately acknowledged the superiority of that great lexicographer's work and discontinued his own attempts to decode this dialect, which were undeniably of an unscientific and anecdotal nature. The chits are not wholly without interest, however; for example, this excerpt from the eight and nine of spades: ‘To set sail is to find oneself foundering not just in a new element, but also in an unknown ocean of words. When one listens to the speech of sailors, no matter whether they be speaking English or Hind. one is always at sea: not for nothing is the English argot of sail known as a “sea-language”, for it has long slipped its moorings from the English one learns in books. The same could be said of the ties that bind the tongues of Hind. to the jargon of the lascars: why, just the other day,
we heard the tindals of our ship racing about on deck, shouting in the greatest agitation –
hathee-soond! hathee-soond!
That an “elephant's trunk” had been sighted at sea seemed miraculous to all present and we went hurrying up to bear witness to this extraordinary visitation – but only to be disappointed, for the excitement of our lascar friends was occasioned by nothing more miraculous than a distant column of water, raised by a whirlwind. Evidently this phenomenon, known in English as a “water-spout”, has in their eyes the appearance of an elephant's trunk. Nor was this the only time that day that I was to be deceived by the fancifulness of their usages. Later, while taking the air near the stern, I heard a lascar imploring another to
puckrow
his
nar
. I confess I was startled: for although it is no uncommon thing to hear a lascar speaking casually of the appendage of masculinity, it is unusual nonetheless to hear them referring to that organ in such high Sanskritic language. My surprise must have caused me to betray my presence, for they looked at me and began to laugh. Do you know what we are speaking of? one of them said to me. Placed on my mettle, I replied in a fashion that I thought would amply demonstrate my ship-learning. Why indeed I do know what you are speaking of, I said: it is the thing that is known as a “jewel-block” in English. At this they laughed even harder and said no, a jewel-block was a
dasturhanja
in Laskari, while the thing they had been speaking of was a rudder-bolt known to the Angrez as a “pintle”. I was tempted to inform them that the great William Shakespeare himself had used that word –
pintle
– in exactly the same sense as our Hind.
nar
. On consideration, however, I thought it best to refrain from divulging this piece of information. My
shoke
for the words of the greatest of dramatists had already gained for me the reputation of being an incorrigible “Spout-Billy”, and offensive as this sobriquet was, I could not help reflecting that to be known as a “Billy-Soond” would be worse still'.

+ bheesty / bheestie / beasty / bhishti
: ‘The
mysteries
of water-carrying, the instrument of which trade was the
mussuck
. In the south, according to Sir Henry, the terms are
tunny-catcher
or
tunnyketchi
.'

bichawna/bichana (*The Glossary)
: ‘Bedding or bed, from which
bichawnadar
, or “bed-maker”, an expression that must be used with some care because of the possibility of innuendo.'

bichawnadar
: See above.

bilayuti (*The Glossary)
: ‘Strange that we should have become accustomed to using a version of the Turkish/Arabic
wilayat
to refer to England; even stranger that the English should adapt it to their own use as
blatty
. In its
bilayutee
form it was often attached, as Sir Henry correctly notes, to foreign and exotic things (hence
bilayati-baingan
for “tomato”). Sir Henry was however gravely in error on another such compound, namely
bilayuteepawnee
. Although he correctly glosses this as “soda-water”, he is wrong in his contention that the people of Hind. believed
bilayutee-pawnee
could confer great strength to the human body by reason of its gaseous bubbles. As I remember the matter, our wonder was
occasioned not by the power of the bubbles as they were imbibed, but rather by the explosive detonations with which they were expelled.'

biscobra (*The Glossary)
: Neel took issue with Sir Henry's suggestion that this was the name of some kind of venomous lizard. ‘Here is another example of a beautiful marriage of the eastern and western lexicons. The word “cobra” comes of course from a Portuguese contraction of a Latin root meaning “serpent”. “Bis”, on the other hand, is certainly a derivative of the Bengali word for poison, which has been absorbed into English as
bish
, although with the sense of a “blunder” or “mistake”. It is impossible that such a term could be applied to a lizard, no matter how vengeful. In my opinion, it is none other than an English colloquialism for the hamadryad or King Cobra.'

+bish
: See above.

b'longi/blongi (*The Linkister
^ε
): ‘Frequently mistaken as a contraction of the English “belong”, this word is actually an elegant and economical copula, doing duty for the verb “to be” in all its many forms. Imagine then the embarrassment of the
griffin
who pointed to his wife's dog and said: “Gudda
blongi
wife-o massa.”'

+bobachee
: ‘As a barkentine is to a country boat, a
Kaptan
to a
Nacoda
, a vinthaleux to a
dumbpoke
, so in the kitchen is a
bobachee
to a
consummer
. Each a potentate in his own way, they rule over a vast
lashkar
, consisting of spice-grinding
masalchies
,
cabob-
grilling
caleefas
, and others whose titles have mercifully lapsed from use. The
bobachee
, however, is the only culinary
mystery
to lend his name to the kitchen.'

bobachee-connah/bawarchee-khana (*The Glossary)
: ‘On this latter term I am at odds with every authority who has given the matter any thought: whereas they derive it from Hind.
khana
, “place” or “room”, it is my intuition that it comes from the Bengali element
kona/cona
, meaning corner. This seems self-evident to me, for if the meaning of
bobachee-connah
were indeed “cook-room”, then surely the proper locution would be “
bobbachy-camra
”. That this variant does sometimes occur, is to me the exception that proves the rule. Similarly
goozle-coonuh/goozul-khana
appears to me to be often wrongly rendered as “bathing-room”: when applied to a place where a bathtub is kept, it must surely mean “bathing-corner”. But so far as other
connah/khana
compounds are concerned, I will concede that it is often used in the sense of room: e.g.
karkhana
,
jel-khana
,
babkhana
and the like.'

+bobbery/bobbery-bob
: ‘This word for “commotion”, so much used in southern China, was nothing but an adaptation of our common
baap-rébaap
.' The
Oracle
's translation of this as ‘oh my father!' is surely a rendition rather of the equally common
baap-ré
, for the full expression would be rather: ‘father oh father!' An alternative derivation, from the Cantonese
pa-pi
– a noise – is, as the
Barney-Book
rightly observes, extremely doubtful.

bolia/bauleah/baulia (*The Glossary)
: ‘One of Bengal's lighter river-craft, usually equipped with a small cabin.'

bora (*The Glossary)
: ‘A large manyoared boat, commonly used in Bengal for the transportation of cargo.'

bowla (*The Glossary)
: ‘These were, as I recall, portmanteaux or trunks, which were made to order by a few of our most skilled
moochies
.'

bowry/bowly (*The Barney-Book)
: ‘In Hind. this generally referred to step-wells known as
baolis
. But after its passage into English it often came to be applied to pavilions that stood upon the banks of waterways large and small. Every
nullah
and
nuddee
could boast of a few. It was sometimes used interchangeably with
chabutra/chabutter
.'

boya (*Roebuck)
: ‘Laskari for “buoy”.'

+buck
: ‘A good example of the subtle shifts of meaning that occur when words leap between languages. For in Hind. this expression conveys more a sense of idle chatter than of the boastfulness that attaches to it in English (no doubt because of the purported demeanour of that animal for the name of which it is a homonym). The extended form
buckwash
(from Hind.
bakwás
– “prattle”, “idle talk” or “nonsense”) has a sense similar to the cant expression “hogwash”.'

budgrook (*The Glossary)
: ‘A Portuguese coin of low denomination, the circulation of which is said to be restricted to Goa.'

+budmash/badmash
: ‘Like
budzat and hurremzad
a term which causes more grief to lexicographers than to anyone to whom it was ever addressed as a term of abuse. What purpose is served by breaking it into its constituent Arabic and Persian elements when the whole forms a neat equivalent of the English “rascal”?' Neel was undoubtedly right to choose
budmash
over the now defunct
budzat
as fortune's favourite.

budzat/badzat (*The Glossary)
: See
budmash
.

+buggalow/bagala
: ‘A species of Arab dhow that was once a common sight on the Hooghly.'

bulkat (*The Glossary)
: ‘As I recall, the name for a certain kind of large boat from the Telegu country.'

bullumteer (*The Glossary)
: ‘An adaptation of the English “volunteer”,
used generally for sepoys who served overseas.'

buncus (*The Glossary)
: ‘Malay cheroots that were greatly prized by some.'

+bunder/bandar
: See
+bandar
.

+bunder-boat
: See
+bandar
.

+bundook/bunduk
: This common Arabic-derived word was much dictionarized even in Neel's day, usually being glossed as ‘musket' or ‘rifle', and it is in this form that it takes its place in the
Oracle
. This belies Neel's predictions, for this was another instance in which he accepted a questionable derivation from Barrère & Leland, who trace the Arabic original back to the the German name for Venice, ‘Venedig'. The implication is that
bundook
was introduced into Arabic by German mercenaries of the Venetian Republic, and was first used in the sense of ‘crossbow'. Neel was mistaken in his belief that the word would revert to its original sense, except that it would come to be applied to the fine chandeliers and other articles of Venetian manufacture that were then much in vogue among wealthy Bengalis.

bungal (*Roebuck)
: ‘This word refers to the nautical “speaking-trumpet” – the instrument of amplification which permits ships at sea to communicate. Curiously, the usual Laskari pronunciation of it is
byugal
– which would seem to suggest that they discern in this object some mysterious kinship with the bugle'.