Hobson-Jobson : Being A Glossary Of Anglo-Indian Colloquial Words And Phrases, And Of Kindred Terms, Etymological, Historical, Geographical And Discursive

Hobson-Jobson A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases, and of Kindred Terms, Etymological, Historical, Geographical and Discursive is a historical dictionary of Anglo-Indian words and terms from Indian languages which came into use during the British rule in India. The book originated in a correspondence between the present writer, who was living at Palermo, and the late lamented Aethur Burnell, of the Madras Civil Service, one of the most eminent of modern Indian scholars, who during the course of our communictions was filling judicial offices in Southern and Western India, chiefly at Tanjore. We had then met only once—at the India Library; but he took a kindly interest in work that engaged me, and this led to an exchange of letters, which went on after his return to India. About 1872—I cannot find his earliest reference to the subject.