Hobson-Jobson

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Hobson-Jobson refers to a dictionary and lexical reference work from 1886 for Anglo-Indian terms and words of the early modern and colonial times .

In 1903 the work by William Crooke was reissued under a slightly changed title with corrections, extensions, additional quotations and an index . It is reprinted in this version to this day and has never been out of print since then .

It is quoted in India as well as worldwide: Authors like Amitav Ghosh (* 1956), Daljit Nagra (* 1966), Tom Stoppard (* 1937) or Salman Rushdie (* 1947) refer in their works to the statements of the Hobson Jobson.

Origin and name

Originally developed in 1872 from a correspondence between the retired colonial official and Orientalist Henry Yule and the judge and Sanskritist Arthur Coke Burnell , who worked in South India, the work quickly grew in size and received its powerful, distinctive title for marketing reasons . This represents a corruption of the cry that Shiite believers shouted at the Muharram festival in honor of their imams and martyrs Hassan and Hussein : "Ya Hasan! Ya Hosain!" and who was understood by British soldiers as "Hobson-Jobson" - a typical example of the sometimes distorted adoption of foreign language terms in other languages ​​(in linguistics therefore sometimes referred to as the "Law of Hobson-Jobson").

Structure of the keywords

The more than 2,000 articles provide information on the part of speech, the original language from which the lemma (keyword) comes, the original spelling (in italic Latin transcription), a word description (in single quotation marks), phonetic parallels in other languages ​​with etymological derivation, notes on everyday usage (often in anecdotal breadth), quotations and sources in chronological order as well as in the original spelling, as well as references to related and further articles.

meaning

The knowledge of the two authors Yule and Burnell has never been disputed. Due to its extraordinary spatial and temporal range - the work encompasses all of India from north to south, spans the period from antiquity to 1903 and cites the original historical evidence in more than two dozen, in some cases extinct, Indo-European and Asian languages ​​-, The Hobson-Jobson quickly became an archive of past language states and an important source of information about previous attitudes and circumstances, especially in the area of ​​the now partially completely changed or extinct material culture (material culture: textiles, shipping, luxury goods, food, weapons, clothing ).

As a document of a cultural encounter, the Hobson-Jobson is a must for Indologists and Asian scholars. Because of its numerous anecdotal insertions, it is also considered a source of inspiration for the literatures of India and England.

Quotes

criticism

  • "The writer Amitav Ghosh is ... sure that he would not have wanted to meet Yule and Burnell: 'No, definitely not,' he said, 'I like the book, but it is completely ruled by the idea of ​​racial segregation. I wanted to never been a guest at one of their dinner parties. ' "

literature

  • Kate Teltscher (ed.): Henry Yule. AC Burnell: Hobson-Jobson. The Definitive Glossary of British India. A Selected Edition. - Oxford: Oxford University Press 2013, especially the introduction by Kate Telscher.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Henry Yule. Arthur Coke Burnell: Hobson-Jobson being a glossary of Anglo-Indian colloquial words and phrases and of kindred terms etymological, historical, geographical and discursive. Glossary of Anglo-Indian colloquial words and phrases. XLVIII, 870 S. London: John Murray 1886.
  2. ^ Hobson-Jobson. A glossary of colloquial Anglo-Indian words and phrases, and of kindred terms, etymological, historical, geographical and discursive . XLVIII, 1021 S. London: Murray 1903 digitized
  3. ↑ Last edited and with a foreword by Kate Teltscher at Oxford University Press 2013
  4. ↑ Kate Teltscher, foreword to the new edition (Oxford University Press 2013), also the interview with her in the BBC of July 13, 2012; www.bbc.com/news/magazine-18796493
  5. ^ Hobson-Jobson, Preface, pp. Vii
  6. ↑ Burnell, who died in 1882, had expressly agreed to this title; Preface, S.ix.
  7. ^ Hobson-Jobson, p. 419.
  8. ↑ Besides English , these are mainly French , German , Italian , Portuguese , Dutch , Sanskrit , Pali , Latin , ancient Greek , Persian , Arabic , numerous Indian national languages such as Hindustani (now Hindi and Urdu ), Marathi , Bengali , Malayalam , Assami , Tamil , Telugu , Kannada , but also Austronesian ( Malay ), Tibetan Burman or Sino- Tibetan languages such as Chinese , Mongolian , Tibetan and Turkic languages , to name just the most important
  9. ↑ Articles with such insertions may be a. "Ram-Ram!", P. 756 f., "Pilau", p. 710 and "Upper Roger", p. 959 ("this happy example of Hobson-Jobson")
  10. ↑ Quoted in an interview with Kate Telscher in the BBC on July 13, 2012; www.bbc.com/news/magazine-18796493
  11. ↑ Quoted from www.lehmanns.de/shop/geisteswissenschaften/24929713-9780199601134-hobson-jobson
  12. ↑ http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-18796493