Kipling Sahib

by Charles Allen

  Bursat – The rains, which set in about the middle of June – the first of them is known as the ‘chota bursat’, or small rains – after which there is generally a break before the regular monsoon sets in.

  Butcha, batcha – Baby, thus tum soor ka butcha – ‘you son of a pig’, phrase much favoured by Tommies.

  Byle – A bullock.

  Calcutta–Simla – Axis of the Government of India until 1912, with Calcutta the seat of government during the Cold Weather and Simla in the Hot Weather.

  Cantonment – Military quarter of the Station, usually found some distance outside the Native town and separated from it by a Maidan or exercise ground, pron. ‘cantoonment’.

  Chaprassi, chuprassi – Office peon, so called because of the brass chapras or buckle worn.

  Chela – Young disciple, der. ‘house slave’.

  Cheroot – Short Indian cigar.

  Chick – Split bamboo screen.

  Chief – Boss.

  Chirag – Simple lamp.

  Chit – Note or certificate, der. chitti, thus ‘chit up’ – ‘approach someone in authority’ (poss. der. of ‘chat up’).

  Chokra – Boy, often applied to inexperienced junior sahib – see Chukkeroo.

  Chowk – Wide central street, der. chauk, equivalent to the English mall.

  Chota – Small or junior, thus chota sahib – junior sahib or sahib’s son, chota hazri – little breakfast or morning tea, chotee bolee – small talk or children’s talk, chota bungalow – assistant’s house, chota peg – single tot of whisky or brandy.

  Chuckeroo – Youngster, der. chokra.

  Chummery – Shared household, usually of bachelors, der. chum.

  Civil and Military – the two ruling castes of British India, officers of the Government of India’s civil, political, police and other services and of the British Army and Indian Army.

  Civilian – Government of India administrative officer, see ICS, Heaven-Born.

  Civil List – Warrant or Order of Precedence, otherwise known (confusingly) as the Green, Red or Blue Book.

  CMG – The Civil and Military Gazette, printed in Lahore.

  Civil Lines – The official quarter of a Station, built outside the Native town, comprising government offices and the residences of senior government officials.

  Club – Private sports club owned by its members and thus exclusive, usually taken to mean the Station club exclusive to the Civil and Military.

  Cold Weather – The winter months from October to mid-March. Collector – Chief administrator of a District, one of whose duties was the collection of revenue, formerly a Tahsildar, also known in some regions as Deputy Commissioner, see District.

  Commissioner – Senior administrator presiding over a Division comprising several Districts.

  Competition-Wallah – Indian Civil Servant after entry by competition was introduced in 1856.

  Compound – Enclosed ground or garden surrounding a residence, der. Portuguese.

  Congress – The Indian National Congress formed in 1873, afterwards becoming a political party.

  Coolie, Cooly – Hired labourer or burden carrier, der. Koli caste in Western India.

  Country – Term used to describe people and objects of Indian origin, often with pejorative overtones, thus ‘country-born’ – European born in India, ‘country-bred’– European educated in India, ‘country-made’ – ‘goods made in India’, by definition inferior.

  Covenanted servant – Civil officer entered into a formal contract with the Secretary of State for India, specifically the ICS.

  CP – Central Provinces

  Curry and Rice – Popular book of this title published in 1858, thus ‘curry and rice days’ of mid-nineteenth-century India.

  Dak, dawk – ‘Post’, i.e., properly, transport by relays of men and horses; and thence the mail or letter post, as well as arrangement for travelling or for transmitting articles by such relays.

  Dak-bungalow – A rest house for the accommodation of travellers. Deodar – The ‘Cedrus deodarus’ of the Himalayas; lit. ‘tree of God’.

  Dhaee, dhai – Wet nurse.

  Dhal, dhall – Lentils.

  Dhangi – Small rowing boat, thus dinghy.

  Dhobi, dhoby – Washing, thus dhoby-wallah – washerman, dhobi itch – skin irritation, supposedly derived from excessive use of starch.

  Dhoolie, doolie – Covered litter suspended from a pole.

  Dibs – A slang term for money – rupees.

  Din, deen – Faith (Muslim), thus religion.

  District – Main administrative unit in British India, 250 in number, administered by a District Magistrate.

  Duftar, dufter – Book, journal, record – sometimes used instead of duftar khana for ‘the office’, see also Cutcherry.

  Durbar – Court or levee held by ruler.

  Durzee, darzi – Tailor, thus ‘durzee-bird’.

  Eid – Muslim festival marking the end of Ramadan.

  Ekka – Unsprung cart pulled by one pony, der. ek – one.

  Englishman – Calcutta newspaper, rival to the Pioneer.

  Eurasian – Person of mixed British and Indian ancestry, replaced in 1900 by ‘Anglo-Indian’.

  Fakir – Ascetic or holy man.

  Ferash – A species of date tree, der. faras

  Frontier – The Frontier was always India’s North-West Frontier, also known as NWF.

  Furlough – Leave of absence, usually taken as Home leave.

  Gallibat – Small sailing boat, thus jolly-boat.

  Ganja – Indian hemp or cannabis.

  Gareeb parwa – ‘Protector of the poor’, phrase much used by beggars and supplicants.

  Gentleman-ranker – Gentleman enlisted in the British Army as a private soldier.

  Ghat – A mountain pass, a landing place or a ferry; thus ‘burning-ghat’, where the Hindu dead are cremated.

  Ghari, gharry – Carriage, thus ghora ghari – horse-drawn sprung hackney carriage.

  Ghora – Horse.

  GIP – Grand Indian Peninsula railway.

  Gora logh – White men.

  Grass widow – Wife temporarily separated from her husband, usually in the Hills.

  Griff, griffin – Newcomer to India, orig. obscure.

  Great Game – Anglo-Russian rivalry and espionage played out on and beyond India’s northern frontiers.

  Gup – Gossip.

  Gymkhana – Sports meeting or sports club, der. gend-khana – ball-house or squash racket court.

  Hafiz – A guardian, governor, preserver.

  Hakim – Muslim doctor.

  Half-caste – Person of mixed Indo-European origins.

  Hathi – Elephant.

  Hazur, hazoor – Presence, term of respect.

  Hawa-khana – ‘To eat the air’, to take an evening stroll.

  Heaven-born – Term used to describe Brahmins, thus ICS.

  Hills – Mountains of India, thus Hill-station – British settlement and sanatorium established mainly in the Himalayan foothills.

  Hindustan, Hindoostan – Land of the Hindus, but originally northern and central India east of the Indus.

  Hindustani – ‘More properly Urdu … the language of the educated people of all Central and Northern India … lingua franca left by all the conquering Moslem invaders from Central Asia … the one language in which the mercenary conquerors of many languages could communicate … It grew up on the basic language of Aryan India with a vocabulary that is largely Persian and Arabic, but with a grammar that is Hindi … normally written in the Devanagri character which reads from left to right.’ Sir George MacMunn, from ‘Kipling’s Hindustani’, Kipling Journal, April 1941.

  Home – Anglo-Indian term for Britain.

  Hooka, hookah – Pipe by which tobacco smoke is drawn through a coolant of rose water, also known as ‘hubble-bubble’.

  Hot Weather – The summer months from mid-March to the end of September.

  Hubshi – Ethiopian, derog. term for bl
ack man.

  IA – Indian Army.

  ICS – Indian Civil Service, see Heaven-Born, Brahmins.

  IFS – Indian Forestry Service.

  IMS – Indian Medical Service.

  IP – Indian Police.

  IPS – Indian Political Service.

  Izzut, Izzat – honour, reputation.

  Jadhoo, jadhu – Magic, thus Jadhoo-ghar – magic house, name allegedly given by Indians to Masonic Lodges.

  Jakko – A mountain peak in the Punjab – one of the highest of the Himalaya on which Simla is situated.

  Jat – Cultivator people of Punjab.

  Jemadar – The second native officer in a company of Sepoys.

  Jezail – A heavy Afghan rifle, fired with a forked rest.

  Jampan, jhampan – Open litter on wheels, thus jhampani – litter or rickshaw puller.

  Jinriksha – see rickshaw.

  John Company – Nickname of Honourable East India Company, der. jehan kampani – ‘honoured company’.

  Jungi Lat Sahib – Lord of the Army, Commander-in-Chief.

  Jungle – Forest, or other wild growth; thus, jungli – wild; also, jungli-wallah – forest officer, jungle-morgi – Jungle fowl, see also Rukh.

  K – Knighthood, ideally a KCB rather than a KCSI (Knight Companion of the Order of the Star of India) or a KCIE (Knight Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire), infinitely preferable to a CIE (Commander of the Indian Empire) or CSI (Companion of the Order of the Star of India).

  Kafila – Camel caravan.

  Kafir, kaffir – An unbeliever in the Moslem faith, hence Kafiristan in north-eastern Afghanistan.

  Kala jugga – ‘Dark place’, secluded corner of dance hall.

  Kalka – A village in the Punjab, at the foot of the Himalays, on the road from Umballa to Simla.

  Kerani – Old-fashioned term for clerk used in Punjab, see Babu.

  Khana – House or room, thus khansamah – chief servant at table, house steward, usually a Muslim, but in Bengal a cook.

  Khan – Muslim tribal chief or headman, honorific title.

  Kharif – Harvest after the summer monsoon.

  Khitmatgar – Table servant – a Mahommedan who will also perform the duties of a valet; senior servant, butler, often referred to as ‘khit’.

  Khud – A precipitous hill side, a deep valley.

  Khyberee – An Afghan tribe inhabiting the Khaibar pass, in Afghanistan.

  Koel, Köil – The Indian nightingale; more properly Indian cuckoo, Eudynamys orientalis.

  Koi hai – ‘Who’s there?’, thus term used for an old India hand.

  Kutcha – Raw, unripe, thus unfinished, substandard.

  Lakh – One hundred thousand, usually of rupees, see Naulakha.

  Lal gora – ‘Red white [face]’, Indian term for British ordinary soldier.

  Lama – Religious superior in Tibetan Buddhism, usually taken to mean any Tibetan monk.

  Langur – The great white-bearded ape, much patronised by Hindus, and identified with the monkey-god Hanuman. More correctly, a species of long-tailed monkey larger than the more common Rhesus macaque. According to Sterndale’s Natural History of Mammalia of India, 1884, ‘an animal of very developed social instincts’.

  Lat Sahib – Lord Sahib, usually the Governor-General and Viceroy.

  Log, loghe – Species, people, thus sahib-logue – sahibs, bandar-log – monkey people.

  Loot – Plunder, der. lut.

  Lunkah – Prized cheroot from South India.

  Ma-Bap – ‘Mother-father,’ thus ‘ap mai ma-bap hai’ – ‘you are my mother and father’, honorific form of address used by supplicants.

  Maharaja – Hindu ruler of an Indian state entitled to a gun salute.

  Mahratta – The name of a famous Hindu race, now spelled Maratha, hill people of the Deccan and Western Ghats, today Maharashtra.

  Mahout – Elephant driver.

  Maidan – Green, area of open land usually sited between Native city and Station.

  Mali, Malli – Gardener.

  Masher – Man who forces himself on women.

  Masjid – Mosque.

  Memsahib – ‘Madam sahib’, commonly used for European lady.

  Minar – Tower of mosque, used for call to prayer.

  Moorgi khana – ‘Hen house’, ladies’ area of Club.

  Mela – Fair, festival.

  Mehta, mehtar – Prince, term used ironically to address sweeper of low or untouchable caste.

  Mlech, mleccha – One without caste. Name given to Huns and other foreign invaders by early Indian chroniclers.

  Mofussil – Rural interior of India, thus ‘mofussilite’ – inhabitant of mofussil, also name of the Mofussilite newspaper, founded in Agra in 1845, succeeded in 1865 by the Pioneer.

  Mohurram – Shia Muslim month of fasting to commemorate martyrdom of Hussain, grandson of Prophet Mohammed.

  Mohur – Mughal gold coin.

  Moulvie – Muslim cleric more learned than a Mullah.

  Muezzin – Muslim caller to prayer.

  Mulki Lat Sahib – ‘Lord of the Land’, the Viceroy of India.

  Mullah – Muslim cleric.

  Munshi – Language teacher, writer of letters.

  Mussulman – ‘One who submits’, thus Muslim.

  Nag, naag – Snake, spec. cobra, snake-god.

  Naik – Indian Army equivalent of corporal.

  Native – Native Indian, but excluding Europeans born in India, thus Native quarter or Native city.

  Nauker-log – House servants.

  Naulakha – Nine lakhs, name given to marbled pavilion in Lahore Fort; The Naulahka, written jointly by Rudyard Kipling and Wolcott Balestier, misspells the word.

  Nullah – Ditch, ravine.

  Nungapunga – Naked, from nunga – unclothed.

  NWF – North-West Frontier.

  NWP – North-Western Province, with Agra as its capital, which in 1858 became the North-Western Provinces and Oude, later shortened to United Provinces, with Allahabad as its capital.

  Om mane padme/i hum – Tibetan Buddhist mantra usually translated as ‘Hail, jewel in the lotus’.

  Oont – Camel.

  Padre – Name given to all Christian ministers in India, regardless of sect.

  Pagal – Mad, thus pagal-khana – picnic, pagal-nautch – fancy-dress party.

  Pahari – Hillman.

  Pariah – Outcaste, thus pi-dog.

  Pathans – Muslim tribes of Afghan origin inhabiting North-West Frontier.

  Peg – A term used for a brandy (or other spirit) and soda.

  Pendal, Pandal – Shed.

  Peliti – A well-known confectioner, with branches in Calcutta and Simla.

  Pi – The Pioneer, founded 1865, leading newspaper of North India.

  Poodle-faker – Womaniser, esp. in the Hills; thus ‘poodle-faking’.

  Pop – Popular social event held in Simla on Mondays with tea and musical turns.

  Postheen, poshteen – Afghani wool-lined coat with a tendency to smell in hot weather.

  Pugri, pagaree – Turban.

  Punjab – ‘Land between five rivers’, thus the land between the five rivers that fed the Indus, a Sikh kingdom incorporated into British India as a Province; thus ‘Punjabi’, native of Punjab.

  Pukka – Ripe, complete, finished, first-class.

  Punkah – A large swinging fan suspended from the ceiling and pulled by a cooly or punkah-wallah.

  Purdah – Curtain, thus the screening of women from public view in Indian households, thus purdahnashin – to take the veil.

  Rabi – Crops sown after the spring rains.

  Raj – Rule, sovereign government, thus British crown rule in India from 1857 to 1947.

  Raja, Rajah – A native chief; more accurately, a Hindu ruler, demoted by the British to the status of princes or chiefs.

  Rains – Summer monsoon, breaking in eastern India in about late May or early June.

  Ranken – Ranken & Co., a
well-known firm of tailors, with a branch in Simla.

  Ressaldar, rissaldar – native cavalry officer.

  Rest house – see ‘dak bungalow’.

  Rickshaw – A contraction of ‘Jinny rickshaw’, a two-wheeled conveyance drawn by a cooly – imported from Shanghai; more accurately, introduced from Japan as the ‘jin-rick-sha’ in about 1880.

  Roti – Bread.

  Rukh – Forest, as opposed to jungle.

  Rupee – Silver coin, Indian equivalent of shilling.

  Ryot – A tenant of the soil; an individual occupying land as a farmer or cultivator – a native agriculturist.

  Sahib, saheb – Lord, master, companion, gentleman, commonly used to denote a European.

  Salaam alaikum – ‘Peace be unto you’, standard Islamic greeting.

  Salwar-kameez – Blouse and baggy trousers worn in Punjab by (mostly) Muslim women.

  Samadh – Hindu/Sikh cenotaph.

  Sangar, sungar – Stone breastwork.

  Sanyassi – Hindu ascetic.

  Sat-bhai – (lit. The seven brothers), a species of thrush, so called from the birds being gregarious, and usually seven of them are found together.

  Sarai, serai – A place for the accommodation of travellers, a khan, a caravansary. Satrap – Governor, orig. of a Persian province.

  Screw – Pay.

  Season – British India enjoyed the Cold Weather Season in winter and the Simla Season in summer.

  Sepoy, sipahi – Indian infantry soldier.

  Shah – Ruler.

  Shaitan – Satan, devil.

  Shamiana – Decorated awnings or screens.

  Shauk, shoke – Hobby or pursuit.

  Shere – Tiger, but see also Bagh.

  Shikar – Sport, hunting, chase, prey, game; thus Shikari – hunter.

  Sikh – A ‘disciple’, the distinctive name of the disciples of Nānak Shāh, who in the sixteenth century established that sect, which eventually rose to warlike prominence in the Punjab, and from which sprung Ranjāt Singh, the founder of the brief kingdom of Lahore.

  Simkin – A Hindustani corruption of the word ‘champagne’.

  Sircar, Sirkar – The Government of India.

  Sirdar – Commander, honorific title partic. among Sikhs.

  Siris – The tree Acacia, a timber of moderate size, best known in the Upper Provinces.

  Snider – rifle.

  Sowar – Indian cavalry trooper.

  Spoon – To make love in a sentimental manner, also used as a noun. Station – A district or divisional headquarters, also wherever British officials gathered and worked, usually sited outside Native town or city; see Hillstation.