Incorporating foreign words
Katta G Murty (murty@engin.umich.edu)
Tue, 31 Oct 1995 01:17:02 -0500 (EST)
Some time ago there was discussion on this topic.
I remember hearing a long time ago that the word "bUchi" came
into Telugu from the last name of a Portugese (?) warrior
Debucchi. Apparently he defeated a Telugu king very badly.
The king's army was routed so badly that ever since that day
Telugu mothers frighten noisy (or crying) kids by warning
bUchi va-stu-nnA-du jA-gra-tta!
Can anyone enlighten me about the whole story, who that king
was, etc. I am meeting a Portugese joint researcher soon, I
would like to relate this story to him.
Also, another historical query. We have the Telugu word
bu-da-ta-kE-chu-lu for the Portugese. I do not know of
corresponding Telugized words for the british and french.
Why is that? Is it because the Portugese came into Andhra
long before the british and the French? For that matter
the Greeks (through Alexander) were perhaps the first large
group of europeans to come at a time into India. There is no Telugized
word for Greeks either. Maybe they did not come that far south.
Thank you for your attention.
Katta Murty.