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OCTOBER, 1888.]
A.D. 1250, at about 18 gh. 10 p.; and the TulaSamkranti occurred on the same day, at about 22 gh. 1 p.
Here again, as in Nos. 18 and 19 above, we find that the given Kaliyuga year is evidently intended to give, not the basis of the computation of the details of the date, but simply the period from some point in which there commenced the first year of the reign, of which there is quoted the fifth year, with those details referred to it. But in this instance there seems to be a mistake, either in the regnal year, or more probably in the Kaliyuga year. For, by the record, (the natural) Aévayuja šukla 1 of Kaliyuga-Samvat 4352 current, was in the fifth year of the reign of Shashthadêva II. Consequently, Asvayuja sukla 1 of the first year of his reign, was in Kaliyuga-Samvat 4348 current. And the given expired Kaliyuga year ought, apparently, to be 4347 instead of 4348. J. F. FLEET.
MISCELLANEA.
ARABIC ORIGIN OF "BOSH."
SIR, This highly expressive English slang word, though in everyday use by all classes, is omitted in all the dictionaries which I have had an opportunity of consulting, except one. Nuttall, defines it:-"Outline; figure; in pop. lang, nonsense, folly," but he gives no clue to its derivation. In thinking over the origin of the word lately, it occurred to me that many years ago, in reading an English story, the scene of which was laid in Asiatic Turkey, I had seen the word bosh frequently used by a Turk, in Turkish sentences, and, apparently, in the same sense as in English. I then referred to a Turkish dictionary, in which the word bosh is defined as empty, useless. These meanings, though somewhat unsatisfactory, are not inconsistent with the idea that the word under discussion is borrowed directly from the Turkish language. I shall now endeavour to trace this Turkish word back to the Arabic.
Everyone (whether acquainted with Arabic or not) who has touched at any of the Egyptian ports or Aden must remember hearing the expressione má-fish, which is a contraction of ma fi shai, and means literally: "There is not any thing." Both in Yaman and Egypt the expression is frequently used as a simple negation,-"not," but when used in this sense in the Maghribi, or Egyptian, dialect it is usually corrupted into mush, while in
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Yaman it remains unaltered. Thus, an Egyptian
,hddha mash taib هذا موش طیب: would say
"
This is not good;" while a Yamani Arab would simply, hádhá mú tayib. say; las hddha md-fish tayib or,
While residing in Aden and in the Somâli Country I frequently noticed an interchange in the letters m and b, especially in proper names. I regret that I did not note examples at the time; but I remember one instance, which occurs in the name "Idris 'Umêsh," one of the leading citizens of Zaila' (). He always signed his name in Arabic characters: though he was commonly called in the town: "Idris 'Ubêsh." On questioning him and others about this difference, I was informed that both modes of spelling were correct, because m and b were often considered one and the same letter.
A similar interchange of these letters occurs in the name of the river Narmadd, which, 1 believe, is always so written in the vernacular languages of India, though better known to Europeans as the Nerbudda.
This completes the chain in the somewhat complicated derivation of the popular English word bosh from the Arabic má-fish. I offer the suggestion with some diffidence, and shall be glad to hear the opinions of others on the subject. The derivation here suggested has at least the merit of originality.
J. S. KING.
bosh, the New slang or col
As to the origin of the word English Dictionary, s. v., says loquial. A Turkish word bosh, empty, worthless; the word became current in English from its frequent occurrence in Morier's novel Ayesha (1834) which was extremely popular, especially in the Standard Novels Edition, 1846."
Thence the great Dictionary traces its use in the senses of "contemptible nonsense, stuff, trash; foolish talk or opinions" up to the present humbug! "it says that it was first heard of in day. And in the senses of "Stuff and nonsense!
Dickens, Bleak House, 1852.
Yule, Anglo-Indian Glossary, s. v., says "this is alleged to be taken from the Turkish bosh, signifying 'empty, vain, useless, void of sense, meaning, or utility' (Redhouse's Dict.). But we have not been able to trace its history or first appearance in English."
R. C. TEMPLE.
