Hobson-Jobson
Hobson-Jobson is a funny-sounding phrase that is used to describe when people borrow words from other languages and then change them to fit their own language better. It often happens when people from one culture interact with people from another culture and need to explain things to each other using language.
For example, let's say some traders from England were in India a long time ago and they saw a fruit that they had never seen before. The traders wanted to tell people back in England about this new fruit, but the English people wouldn't understand the Indian name for it. So, the traders would come up with a new name that sounded more familiar to English speakers. This might result in the Indian word "amra" becoming "mango" in English.
This process of borrowing and changing words is called Hobson-Jobson. It doesn't just happen with fruit names – it can happen with any word, from any language. Over time, these borrowed and changed words can become so common in a language that people forget where they originally came from.
The phrase "Hobson-Jobson" itself is actually an example of Hobson-Jobson! It comes from a corruption of the Indian word "hajj," which refers to the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca. The British wrongly thought the word was "Hobson-Jobson" and used it as a humorous term to refer to any situation where two languages were mixed together.
So, to sum up: Hobson-Jobson is a term used to describe when words from one language are borrowed and changed to fit another language. It's a fancy way of saying "mixing languages."
For example, let's say some traders from England were in India a long time ago and they saw a fruit that they had never seen before. The traders wanted to tell people back in England about this new fruit, but the English people wouldn't understand the Indian name for it. So, the traders would come up with a new name that sounded more familiar to English speakers. This might result in the Indian word "amra" becoming "mango" in English.
This process of borrowing and changing words is called Hobson-Jobson. It doesn't just happen with fruit names – it can happen with any word, from any language. Over time, these borrowed and changed words can become so common in a language that people forget where they originally came from.
The phrase "Hobson-Jobson" itself is actually an example of Hobson-Jobson! It comes from a corruption of the Indian word "hajj," which refers to the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca. The British wrongly thought the word was "Hobson-Jobson" and used it as a humorous term to refer to any situation where two languages were mixed together.
So, to sum up: Hobson-Jobson is a term used to describe when words from one language are borrowed and changed to fit another language. It's a fancy way of saying "mixing languages."