Guest guest Posted July 30, 2001 Report Share Posted July 30, 2001 >ymalaiya >INDOLOGY >INDOLOGY >[Y-Indology] Word "Babu" >Sun, 29 Jul 2001 16:38:13 -0000 > >What is the origin of the word "babu" in Hindi? > >I have heard an explanation that it means ba-bu (farsi: >literally "with smell".) The story says that the British >found their clerks in Calcutta smelly (fish and musterd >oil diet - as the story says), and hence the word was born. > >I never believed in the story, but recently I have heard it >from someone with some familiarity with old Hindi texts. > > I do not know the origin, but the word in the meaning it is used even today was coined and used by the brits. It was intended for a man belonging to an effeminate and non martial race fit only for clerical work and the first hindu peoplpe were the dwellers of calcutta! Bala Umasankar Source: " The forgotten army" ( don't remember the author..) _______________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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