English words from India
An addition to my similar pages on words from Chinese, Arabic and Amerindian languages. The main sources are the OED and the AHD. Any word from the subcontinent is fair game, but not Persia.
Language family color-coding:
Indo-European;
Dravidian;
Semitic;
Sino-Tibetan;
Austronesian;
Altaic;
Japanese.
--M.R.
anaconda - Sinhalese henakandayā perhaps ← Dravidian
arhat - Sanskrit arhat ‘deserving’
ashram - Sanskrit asrama ‘hermitage’
Atman - Sanskrit atmān ‘essence’
Ayurvedic - Sanskrit ayur-veda ‘science of life or medicine’
baboo - Hindi bābū ‘father’
Bahasa (as in Bahasa Indonesia) - Malay ← Sanskrit bhasa ‘language’
bandanna - Portuguese ← Hindi bāndhnū ‘tie-dyeing’
bangle - Hindi baŋgrī ‘glass bracelet’
basmati - Hindi basmati ‘fragrant’
begum - Urdu begam ← Eastern Turkish bigim ‘princess’
beryl - Greek ← Dravidian Vēlūr, a toponym
betel - Portuguese ← Malayalam veṭṭila
bhang - Urdu bhang ← Sanskrit bhanga ‘hemp’
birka - Hindi burqa ← Arabic
biryani - Hindi ← Persian biryan ‘fried, roasted’
blighty- Hindi bilāyatī ‘foreign’ ← Arabic wilāyat ‘district’ ← wilaya ‘rule’
bonze - Japanese bonsō ← Mandarin fánsēng ‘Buddhist monk’; fán ← Sanskrit brāhman.as ‘Brahmin’
bo (tree) - Sinhalese bo ← Sanskrit bodhi- ‘perfect knowledge’
Bodhisattva - Sanskit bodhi ‘perfect knowledge’ + sattvā ‘being’
bosh (fiddle) - Romani bosh- ‘crow, fiddle’ ← Sanskrit vas- ‘bellow’
Brahmin - Sanskrit brāhman.as ← brahman ‘praise, worship’
Buddha - Sanskrit buddha ‘enlightened’ ← budh ‘awake, perceive’
bund - Hindi band ← Persian
bungalow - Gujarati bangalo ← Hindi banglā ‘Bengali’’
candy - short for ‘sugar candy’ ← ‘sugar’ + Arabic qandi ‘candied’ ← qand ‘cane sugar’ ← Dravidian, cf. Tamil kan.ṭu
carambola - Marathi karanbal
cash (type of coin) - Tamil kācu ← Sanskrit karša, a measure of weight
catamaran - Tamil katta-maram ‘tied wood’
chakra - Sanskrit chakra (cognate to ‘wheel’!)
cheetah - Hindi cītā ← Sanskrit citrakāya ‘speckled-body’
cheroot - French ← Tamil shurutti ‘roll’
China - Sanskrit Chīna ← (probably) Mandarin Qín dynasty
china (ware) - Persian chīnī— the first (17th century) citations in English are apt to be spelled chiney, cheney— ← Sanskrit Chīna (q.v.)
chintz - Hindi chīn.t ← Sanskrit citra ‘many-colored’
chit - Hindi chiṭṭha ‘pass’ ← Sanksrit citra ‘many-colored’
chop - Hindi chhāp ‘imprint’
chukker - Hindi chakkar ‘circle’ ← Sanskrit chakra
chutney - Hindi chaṭni
congee - Tamil kañji
coolie - Hindi kulī (perhaps the name of a tribe)
copra - Malayalam koppara ← Hindi khopprā ‘coconut’
corundum - Tamil kurundam ← Sanskrit kuruvinda ‘ruby’
cosh - Romani kosh ‘stick, skewer’
cot - Hindi khat ‘couch, hammock’
cowrie - Hindi kauri ← Sanskrit kaparda
cummerbund - Urdu kamar-band ‘loin-band’
curry - Tamil kari ‘relish for rice’
cushy - Hindi khush ‘pleasant’ ← Persian
dacoit - Hindi dakait, from daka ‘gang robbery’ ← Sanskrit dashtaka ‘crowded’
dal - Hindi dal ‘split pulse’
dharma - Sanksrit dharma ‘decree, custom’
dhoti - Hindi dhōti
dinghy - Hindi ḍīn.gī ‘small boat’
dungaree - Hindi dungrī, a toponym
eka- (chemical prefix) - Sanksrit eka ‘one’
gadjo - Romani
ganja - Hindi ganjha
ghat - Hindi ghāt ‘quay’
ghee - Hindi ghī ← Sanskrit ghr.ta ‘sprinkling’
ginger - Sanskrit śr.ñ-gaveram ‘horn-body’
godown - Malay gadong ←Telugu gidangi ‘place where goods lie’
Gondwanaland - Sanskrit gondavana, name of a forest
guar (gum) - Hindi guar
gunny (sack) ← Hindi gōnī ← Sanskrit gon.ī
guru - Hindi gurū ‘venerable one’ ← Sanskrit guruh ‘heavy, venerable’
gymkhana - Hindi gend-khana ‘ball-house’
Hare Krishna - Hindi hare ‘oh God!’ + ‘Krishna’
harijan - Sanksrit harijana = Hari ‘Vishnu’ + -jana ‘person’
hatha yoga - Sanksrit hatha ‘force, violence’ + yoga
Himalayas - Sanskrit hima ‘snow’ + alaya ‘dwelling
Hindi - Hindi Hindī ‘Indian’ ← Persian hind; cf. India
Hindu - Hindi Hindū ‘an Indian’ ← Persian hind; cf. India
hookah - Urdu ← Arabic huqqah ‘vase, bottle’
howdah - Urdu haudah ← Arabic haudaj
India - Greek Indía ← Old Persian hiñd’u ← Sanskrit sindhu ‘(Indus) river’
indigo - Portuguese ← Greek indikón ‘of India’, cf. India
juggernaut - Hindi Jagannath ← Sanskrit Jagannatha ‘lord of the world’
jungle - Hindi jāngal ‘wasteland’ ← Sanskrit jāngala ‘desert’
jute - Bengali jhōṭo ← Sanskrit jūṭa
Kama Sutra - Sanksrit kama ‘love’ + sutra
khalsa - Urdu khaliçah ← Arabic khaliç ‘pure, real’
Kshatriya - Sanksrit kshatriya ← kshatra ‘rule, authority’
lacquer - Hindi lākh ‘resin’
lakh - Hindi lakh
lama - Tibetan blama
lascar - Portuguese ← Urdu lashkar ‘army
lingam - Sanskrit liŋga ‘distinctive mark, penis’
loot - Hindi lūṭ ← Sanskrit loptra ‘booty’
maharajah - Hindi maharaja ‘great king’; maha is cognate to Greek mega-
mahatma - Sanksrit mahatman ‘great-souled’
mahout - Hindi mahaut
mandarin - Hindi mantrī ‘counsellor’
mango - Portuguese ← Malay maŋga ← Tamil mānkāy ‘mango fruit’
mantra - Sanskrit mantra ‘prayer’
maya - Sanskrit māyā
mongoose - Marathi mangūs ← Telugu mangisu
mullah - Urdu mulla ← Arabic mawla
musk - Latin ← Greek ← Sanskrit muşka ‘scrotum’
nabob - French ←Urdu nawwab ‘deputy governor’
namaste - Hindi ← Sanskrit námas ‘bowing’ + te dative of ‘you’
nan - Hindi nān
narc - Romani nak ‘nose’
nard - Latin ← Greek ← Sanskrit nalada
orange - French ← Spanish ← Arabic naranj ← Sanskrit naranga
pagoda - Portuguese ← Dravidian ← Sanskrit bhagavati ‘holy’
pajamas - Urdu payjamah ← Persian pay ‘foot’ + jamah ‘garment’
pal - Romani ← Sanskrit bhrātar- ‘brother’
palanquin - Portuguese ← Javanese pēlangki ← Sanskrit palyanka ‘bed’
pariah - Tamil paraiyar, a caste ← parai ‘drum’
patchouli - Tamil paccilai ‘green leaf’
pepper - Latin ← Sanskrit pippalī ‘berry’
polo - Balti polo
Prakrit - Sanskrit prakrta ‘natural, vulgar’
punch - perhaps from Hindi panch ‘five’; OED finds it unlikely
pundit - Hindi panḍit ← Sanskrit panḍita ‘learned’ ← Telugu pan.ḍa ‘wisdom’
purdah - Urdu pardah ‘veil, curtain’
puttee - Hindi patti ‘band(age)’ ← Sanskrit patta ‘bandage’
raga - Sanskrit raga ‘color, passion, melody’
raj - Hindi rāj ‘realm’
rajah - Hindi rājā ‘king’ ← Sanskrit rājan (cognate to Latin rex)
rakshasa - Sanskrit rakshasa ‘demon’ ← rakshas ‘to be guarded against’
rupee - Hindi rupaīyā ← Sanskrit rūpya ‘wrought silver’
sadhu - Sanskrit sadhū ‘holy man’
sahib - Urdu ← Arabic çahib ‘friend’
sandhi - Sanskrit samdhī ‘junction’
samosa - Hindi samosā
sandalwood - Latin ← Greek ← Sanskrit candanah.
Sanskrit - Sanskrit samskrta ‘perfected, well-formed’
sari - Hindi sār.ī ← Sanskrit śāṭī ‘cloth’
sarong - Malay sarung ← Sanksrit saranga ‘variegated’
satyagraha - Sanskrit satya ‘truth’ + graha ‘pertinacity’
sepoy - Urdu sipahi ‘horseman’ ← Persian sipah ‘army’
shaman - Russian ← Tungusic ← Sanskrit śraman.ás ‘ascetic’
shampoo - Hindi chāmpo ‘press, massage’
shawl - French ← Urdu ← Persian shal
sherpa - Tibetan sharpa ‘easterner’
shri - Sanskrit srī ‘Lakshmi’
shrub (drink) - Urdu ← Arabic shurb ‘beverage’ ← shariba ‘drink’
sitar - Hindi sitār ‘three-stringed’
soma (Vedic liquor) - Sanskrit soma
stupa - Sanskrit stūpa ‘tuft of hair’
Sudra - Sanskrit śūdra
sutra - Sanskrit sutra ‘thread, string’
sugar - French ← Arabic ← Persian ← Sanskrit śarkarā ‘gravel, sugar’
suttee - Sanskrit satī ‘virtuous woman’
swami - Hindi svāmī ‘master’ ← Sanskrit svāmin
swastika - Sanksrit svastika ← Sanskrit svasti ‘well-being’
tandoor - Urdu tandur ← Turkish tandir ← Arabic tannūr ‘oven’
tank - possibly Gujarati tānkh 'water reservoir'
tantra - Sanskrit tantra ‘loom, system, doctrine’
teak - Malayalam tekka
thug - Hindi ṭhag ← Sanskrit sthaga ‘robber’
tikka - Hindi tikka
toddy - Hindi tār.ī ‘palm sap’ ← Sanskrit tāla ← Dravidian
tom-tom - Hindi ṭamṭam (imitative)
Upanishad - Sanskrit upa ‘near’ + nishad ‘lie down’
veda - Sanskrit veda ‘knowledge’ (cognate to ‘wit’)
veranda - Hindi varanda ← Portuguese
vindaloo - Hindi ← Portuguese vin d'alho ‘wine with garlic’
wallah - Hindi -wala, a nominalizer
yak - Tibetan γyag
yeti - Tibetan yeh-teh ‘little manlike animal’
yoga - Hindi ← Sanskrit yoga ‘union’
yogi - Hindi yogī ← Sanskrit yogin
yoni - Sanskrit yōni ‘abode, womb’
Zen - Japanese ← Mandarin chán(nà) ‘meditation’ ← Sanskrit dhyāna
