Firangis: Difference between revisions
Allenwalla (talk | contribs) No edit summary |
Allenwalla (talk | contribs) No edit summary |
||
| Line 3: | Line 3: | ||
Strangely enough the word arrived in India with Arab traders who had since the crusades used the word for all Europeans, not to their faces of course, as the crusaders had been made up largely by Franks or people from France. | Strangely enough the word arrived in India with Arab traders who had since the crusades used the word for all Europeans, not to their faces of course, as the crusaders had been made up largely by Franks or people from France. | ||
The current writer, or me, less formally had the unusual experience of shopping in an Indian clothing store | The current writer, or me, less formally had the unusual experience of shopping in an Indian clothing store in an Indian mall north of Atlanta with my wife, looking for some bangles, when a senior woman was heard to say several times what are those ferangies doing here and keep an eye on the ferangis. She had of course no idea that we knew what she was saying and was pretending to be unaware that she was now the farengi. | ||
In the USA TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation, the character name of the | In the USA TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation, the character name of the always profit seeking '''ferengies''' who were always out to swindle anyone they traded with and whose topi (top of their heads) have the same cleft as Indian elephants are based on the Arabic/Indian word. | ||
Revision as of 08:50, 7 February 2008
Ferengies a word cognate with French and frank and Frankish are related to the word widely used in India for foreigners—feringi, ferangi and various spellings. It is best heard voiced in the tone of contempt which many Indians had for the English (their attitudes towards the Indians being the source of the contempt) in the film Lagaan, Once upon a time in India when Rajesh Vivek as Guran, the fortune teller utters, rather growls, the word as some British Soldiers marched by.
Strangely enough the word arrived in India with Arab traders who had since the crusades used the word for all Europeans, not to their faces of course, as the crusaders had been made up largely by Franks or people from France.
The current writer, or me, less formally had the unusual experience of shopping in an Indian clothing store in an Indian mall north of Atlanta with my wife, looking for some bangles, when a senior woman was heard to say several times what are those ferangies doing here and keep an eye on the ferangis. She had of course no idea that we knew what she was saying and was pretending to be unaware that she was now the farengi.
In the USA TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation, the character name of the always profit seeking ferengies who were always out to swindle anyone they traded with and whose topi (top of their heads) have the same cleft as Indian elephants are based on the Arabic/Indian word.
