An examination of the origin of "Hobson-Jobson" - the title of Yule and Burnell's famous dictionary

What is it about?

Yule and Burnell's well-known 1886 dictionary of Anglo-Indian English was famously entitled "Hobson-Jobson". The choice of this odd name was explained by the authors in the Preface, and their explanation has been copied and repeated by later commentators time and again - eventually becoming the accepted etymology. However, what Yule and Burnell explain is only half the story. In fact, the origin of the title is a thinly veiled racial slur directed at Indians and their religious practices. This article re-examines the contemporary evidence for the term and proves a detailed explication of exactly how unsavoury the title actually is.

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Why is it important?

The importance of this research is that it bring together for the first time a plethora of new evidence about the origin of this term and in doing so unravels an age-long but somewhat cryptic mystery. The etymologies of the term Hobson-Jobson in all major dictionaries will need to be rewritten in light of this new evidence. The detailed documentary evidence and careful drawing together of separate threads serve to highlight the nature of the Anglo-Indian experience and scholars of Orientalist leanings will find much empirical material that supports the critique of the overall colonial enterprise.

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