Kebab Hindi?

[Arpa]

Kebab Hindi?

Does any one know the etymology and the meaning of “kebab“?

Btw, look what “shampoo” means in Hindi.

Can I “massage” your ego! J J

http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/wftwarch.pl?063006

 

June 30, 2006 Broadcast

Topic: Shampoo and other Hindi words



A friend's question about shampoo—surely, she asked, the presence of poo plus sham in that coinage is indicative of neither ingredients nor intention?—sent us scuttling away from the Health and Beauty Aisle and straight to the Reference shelf.

When we pulled down the book on shampoo we were reminded of its Hindi origin. Shampoo entered English from Hindi, where it meant "massage," the original, and now archaic, meaning of shampoo in English.

Interested in other words that traveled into English from Hindi? Some terms (think food) are fairly obvious. We came up with chapatti, ghee, and kebab, for example, plus chutney, from the Hindi word meaning "to be licked; tasted." On the other hand, we found two drinks whose Hindi origin may be a bit surprising. Punch, which is a combination of ingredients, may have an ancestor in the Hindi word for "five," after the original number of ingredients, and toddy derives from the Hindi name for "juice of the palmyra palm."

We'll close with a quiz. Can you identify which of the following terms are believed to have entered English from Hindi? Cheetah or jungle? Both. Bungalow, veranda, or cot? All three. Cummerbund, seersucker, dungaree, or pajama? It's getting easier, isn't it? All four came into English from Hindi. And we'll end with this fine pairing: thug and pundit.

Questions or comments? Write us at wftw@aol.com. Production and research support for Word for the Wise comes from Merriam-Webster, publisher of language reference books and CDs including Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition.

And finally. What is the etymology of “yoghurt/yeghurt”.

Yes, yes, I know when the Colombosians brought that delicacy to American, not knowing a word of Armenian, characterized that word to be “turkish”. And that is what the Websters and other dictionaries base their definitions on.