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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
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O.Henry is writing about a humorist, who so annoyed his family by haunting them to pick up material for jokes that he became a "pariah". I knew what it meant, but didn't know the origin, so I looked it up:
Webster's 1913 Dictionary
Definition: \Pa"ri*ah\, n. [From Tamil paraiyan, pl. paraiyar, one of
the low caste, fr. parai a large drum, because they beat the
drums at certain festivals.]
1. One of an aboriginal people of Southern India, regarded by
the four castes of the Hindoos as of very low grade. They
are usually the serfs of the Sudra agriculturalists. See
{Caste}. --Balfour (Cyc. of India).
2. An outcast; one despised by society.
{Pariah dog} (Zo["o]l.), a mongrel race of half-wild dogs
which act as scavengers in Oriental cities.
{Pariah kite} (Zo["o]l.), a species of kite ({Milvus
govinda}) which acts as a scavenger in India.
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old hand
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old hand
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Hi Doc
Thanks for the etymology of pariah!
Regarding the bird, though, I think matters ornithological may have changed a bit since 1913. lol!
The late Dr Salim Ali's Handbook of Indian Birds (my copy, now lost, was bought in the mid-'70s, a couple of years before I had the honour of going birding one afternoon with the great man himself), lists the ubiquitous dark brown Indian kite as the Pariah Kite, scientific name Milvus migrans, not 'Govinda' as your Webster's has it. 'Govinda' would, of course, be interesting, since it is one of the favourite names used for the god Krishna by Hindus (most Indian gods of any stature having a number of names).
Other handbooks on Indian birds, these days, seem to think 'pariah' perhaps too strong or politically incorrect a phrase and I have seen Milvus migrans more usually referred to as the Black Kite.
What this means, alas, is that neither Pariah kite, nor Milvus govinda may be current any more.
If anybody has any more up-to-date info, I'd be glad to learn more.
cheer
the sunshine warrior
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
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Dear Shanks: I remember the word "untouchable". Were only pariahs included in that category?
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old hand
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old hand
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Doc
Untouchable comes, almost literally, from 'acchooth', which means the same thing in Hindi.
But the social system of caste was practised throughout South Asia, including places where Hindi is not, and was never, spoken. The idea, or religious group, that we lump together as Hinduism, pervaded virtually all of modern India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and bits of Tibet and Afghanistan. So each area may well have had its own word for untouchable, and pariah seems to be the Tamil version.
That's, I suppose, the best I can do by way of explication on this one.
cheer
the sunshine warrior
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