XIX 



BORROWED INDIAN WORDS 



Of the results of the Roman supremacy in Britain 

 none have been so permanent as their influence on 

 our language. No doubt this was less due to any 

 direct effect that their residence among the Britons 

 had at the time on vernacular speech than to the 

 fact that, for many centuries after their departure, 

 Latin was the language, throughout Europe, of 

 literature and scholarship. Our supremacy in India 

 is acting on the languages of that country in both 

 ways, and though it has scarcely lasted half as long 

 yet as the Roman rule in Britain, English already 

 bids fair to become one day the common tongue of 

 the Hindus. But there is also a current flowing 

 the other way, comparatively insignificant, but 

 curious and interesting. 



Few persons in England are aware how often they 

 use words of Indian origin in common speech. In 

 attempting to give a list of these I will exclude the 

 trade names of articles of Indian produce or manu- 

 facture, which have no literary interest, and also 

 words which indicate objects, ideas or customs 

 that are not English, and therefore have no English 



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