192 BORROWED INDIAN WORDS 



There are two words of doubtful derivation, 

 which may be mentioned in this connection. Cot, 

 in the sense of a light bed, or cradle, is not much 

 used in England, but is given in Webster's and other 

 dictionaries, with the same Saxon derivation, as 

 the " cot beside the hill " which the poet Rogers 

 sighed for. If this is correct, then it is at least 

 curious that the word should have almost gone out 

 of use in England and revived in India from a dis- 

 tinct root. There it is the term in every-day use 

 for any rough bedstead, such as the natives sleep 

 on and call a khat. The average Englishman cannot 

 aspirate a K, and never pronounces the Indian A 

 aright unless it is followed by an R, so khat becomes 

 " cot " by a process of which there are many illus- 

 trations. 



The other doubtful word mentioned above is 

 Teapoy. It is defined in the dictionaries as an 

 ornamental table, with a folding top, containing 

 caddies for holding tea, but in India, where it is in 

 much more general use than it is in England, it 

 signifies simply a light tripod table and almost 

 certainly comes from "teenpai" (three-foot), corre- 

 sponding to another common word, " charpai " 

 (four-foot), which means a native bedstead. The 

 fact that it is sometimes spelled Tepoy confirms this, 

 but the other spelling is commoner, and appears to 

 have led to its getting a special meaning connected 

 with tea among furniture sellers. 



Cheroot, Bangle, Curry and Kidgeree are examples 



