Some booty from the East

All this looting with the riots in England and the municipal workers strike in South Africa, took us on an interesting voyage of discovery, starting in the heart of the West – France to be more precise – but ending with  rich language booty from the East. There was also an ironic South African twist in the tail.

It turns out that the word riot (a noisy, violent public disorder caused by a group or crowd of persons … in the streets) where this voyage of ours started,  is really an old French word (rihoter) meaning debate, dispute, quarrel.

In defence of the word riot it has to be mentioned that it does not always have a negative connotation.  We can also talk of a riot of colour or to describe something that was a huge success, as in last night’s show was a riot.

In the United Kingdom of the 18^th century the authorities were not troubled by rioting youths, but were threatened by Jacobite mobs which opposed the government of king George I. Magistrates of the day had the responsibility of controlling local communities and could read The Riot Act of 1714 to any gathering of 12 or more people that was deemed to be a riotous and/or tumultuous assembly.

Once the Riot Act was read to them, they had to disperse within an hour or face the possibility of penal servitude of not less than three years, or imprisonment with hard labour for up to two years. Judging by the response of the UK-government to the present-day riots, that country might soon be stepping back almost two centuries.

Somewhere in the 19^th century the reading of the riot act became used in a figurative sense -- when the rules of expected behaviour are laid down, as for instance where we battle to get the kids to settle down, especially when they have friends  staying over for the weekend.

As it turns out the first recorded figurative use of the phrase is in William Bradford’s Letters of 1819, in which he wrote: “She has just run out to read the riot act in the Nursery.”

Heading East

It was when we went looking for the origins of the word looting, which so often accompanies rioting, that our voyage took a turn towards the East.

The root word of loot (as the booty or spoils of plunder or pillage) comes from the old Indo-Aryan language Sanskrit, from where the word lunthati found its way into Hindi as lüt. It came into the English language as loot during the late 18^th century.

This led us to the discovery that Sanskrit has richly contributed to our modern-day vocabulary. Amont these are words like:

• Bandanna from dandhna, meaning to tie a scarf around the head;
• Bangle from bängrl, indicating a specific type of bracelet;
• Bungalow from banglA and Urdu, meaning a house in the Bengal style;
• Chutney from chatni, meaning to crush
• Cushy from khushi, easy, happy, soft – although some sources claim it comes form the word cushion;
• Cot from Khät, meaning a portable bed;
• Dinghy from Dinghi, meaning boat;
• Jungle from jangal, meaning wilderness of forest; and
• Pundit from Pandit, meaning learned scholar or priest.

And there are many more, like juggernaut, guru, gymkhana, khaki, pyjamas, shampoo, shawl and thug.

There is however also some deep irony in the fact that the

Free State rugby team call themselves the Cheetahs. It turns out that it also comes from the Sanskrit word cïtä, which means variegated, or multi-coloured.

Those of us who are old enough would remember a time from our apartheid past when Indians were not allowed to even overnight in the Free State, never mind live or conduct a business there.