Etymology is
the study of the origin and meaning of words. This word itself derives
from the Greek "etumon" meaning true and "logos" meaning word. Thus
etymology is the true meaning or literal sense of a word. Xenophobia
derives also from the Greek "xenos" meaning strange and "phobos" meaning
fear. We humans are a unique species that are the sole possessors of a
language instinct. Chomsky deserves the credit for clearly enunciating
this obvious fact that developmental neurologists and other scientists
including the social pseudo-scientists totally missed. Despite all the
hoopla that PBS, the National Enquirer, the New York Times, the
Washington Post, National Geographic science trash misinformation that
people receive, our cousins the gorillas, chimpanzees and parrots do not
have true linguistic ability. Have you ever wondered that a two year old
who cannot clean its rear end and pees in the worn clothes, can without
formal teaching pick up any language heard at home and communicate
meaningfully while unable to handle a knife and fork or tie shoelaces?
The other interesting fact is that a newborn or even a few months old
child has no fear of strangers. A few months later it is wary of
strangers and cries often no matter how gentle and caring the stranger’s
initial approach is. This xenophobia is a natural instinct and the cry
an alarm to attract the attention of parents to initiate a rescue. Thus
language and initial xenophobia are programmed in our genes. It is but a
short step from these self-preserving instincts to make the leap to
racism and bigotry. Once again the roots lie in language.
Ancient Hebrew and Arabic have two unusual features distinguishing them
from the Indo-European language family. First they are written from
right to left and second there is a conspicuous absence of notations for
vowels in the scripts that they use. Thus the ancient Canaanite god
Moloch (malek in Hebrew) to whom human sacrifices were offered is
written as MLCH in the letters of the two languages. The Sanskrit
speaking Indian Aryan culture found the language of the Middle Eastern
Semites incomprehensible and the absence of vowels suggestive of a more
primitive culture. They were unable to speak Sanskrit (Sanskrit means
perfectly made and thus Sanskriti denoted a superior culture) and thus
the chauvinists coined a derogatory word from their god by calling them
"mlechhas" by adding a few vowels to their word. Interestingly
after the Islamic conquest of India and the absorption of Arabic words
in the local languages, the word "malik" in North Indian
languages came to mean god or owner and now is a not uncommon Hindu
surname in the North.
Language was a common cause of discrimination the world over, but the
favorite tool of Indo-Europeans. The English word barbarian comes from
the Greek "barbarikos" meaning incomprehensibly foreign and in fact
North Indian languages still have the word "badbadaat" meaning
gibberish. What is amusing is that many Western women are given the name
Barbara proudly and without understanding its meaning. I am not
surprised because in India so-called educated people name their
daughters Urvashi, which literally comes from Uru meaning thighs and
Vashi the feminine gender word for conqueror. Thus Urvashi means a woman
who conquers with her thighs (by what is between them). Again prominent
persons name their sons Rahul which literally means impediment. Prince
Gautama, later Buddha wanted to renounce the world and when a messenger
brought him the news of the birth of his fist child and the male heir
and asked him how he should be named, the conflicted prince replied
Rahul meaning impediment or obstruction of his cherished goal of
renunciation. To me the diagnosis is obvious he was in the throes of
severe clinical depression that Prozac could have cured. Another
misguided individual of the same ilk was Nanak who abandoned his wife
and children and ran away possibly to Mecca with a band of Sufis. It was
an era when the Bhakti Marga was fashionable thanks to the superb poems
of Kabir, Surdas and Mira. Contrast that to other prophets who were not
satisfied with one wife but instead of abandoning her chose to have more
simultaneously as well as serially.
Islam was and is a religion of the Arabs. Thus prayer can be done only
facing Mecca. The Koran must be read and recited only in Arabic and it
is incumbent upon even non-Arab Muslims to make the Hajj to the Kaaba in
Mecca. Catholicism used to insist on saying the mass in Latin but they
changed with the times. A religion centered in specific geographic
locale that decides to proselytize and convert, often has a problem with
other ethnic and linguistic groups who succumb to the pressure. The
solution is to make them honorary members of the inclusive privileged
group. When apartheid South Africa needed Japanese commerce they made
them honorary whites. The Spanish Inquisition gave Sephardic Jews three
choices, convert, be burnt alive or emigrate stealthily. Many rich and
poor Jews converted to preserve their wealth or because they were
desperate just like similar Hindus in India after the Islamic conquest.
The Christians were reluctant to fully accept the new converts and often
insisted that these maranos would have to take distinctive surnames
derived from fruit trees - thus names like Pereira also seen amongst the
Indian converts by the Portuguese who ran their own inquisition. Anyway
the Arabs made these new Muslims honorary Arabs and called them "mawla"
whose plural is "mawalis". I don’t know whether the intention was like
that of the Spanish Christians to always remind them as in the movie
"Sujata", Tu hamaari beti jaisi hi hai. Anyway in the present
North Indian languages "mawali" has come to mean riffraff,
undesirable criminal or antisocial persons. I have been unable to
determine whether the discrimination was the original intent of the
Arabs who coined the category, or is the new meaning now attributed on
the basis of Indian Hindu prejudice towards Muslims in general or
converts in particular.
I find it fascinating to trace the genealogy of words as in Panini’s
Dhatupada and my old review of The Mendelian Genetics of English and
amusing that the meanings change with time as in from the gay nineties
to the gay today.
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