The refuge of the world
Jahanpanah, a title used to address Mughal emperors, is Persian for Refuge of the World. It was earlier the name of a city in the Delhi Sultanate, established by Muhammad bin Tughlaq.
etymology
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The Pandy Mutiny
Pandy or Pandee was British slang for a mutinous sepoy. The derogatory term was derived from Mangal Pandey who shot two British officers in 1857.
Gymkhana
The word gymkhana is derived from the Hindi gend-khana (ball-house), but altered due to its association with and influence of the word, gymnasium.
Middle English Ynde
The Middle English spelling for India was Ynde. The word Indies is derived from this variant.
Free Tamil OC
The Tamil slang for something free of charge, oasi, is derived from the abbreviation, OC, which expands to On Company's Service. The company in question was the British East India Company which stamped its official mail with these letters to avoid having to pay postage.
Anaconda, the elephant killer
The name of the Anaconda, one of the most impressive snakes in the world, is said have its origins in Tamil where Anaikondran translates to something along the lines of elephant killer.
The Grave Guru
The Sanskrit word guru (गुरु) and the English word, grave, are both said to descend from the same Proto-Indo-European base, *gru-, meaning heavy or weighty.
Stepney
The word stepney is still used to refer to a spare tyre only in our part of the world. Stepneys are named after a street of the same name in Llanelli, Wales where they were manufactured in the early 1900s.
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