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NOTES AND QUERIES
heard in Hong Kong also before the Chinese, and the Chinese form in which they have come down to us is merely a disguise, just as the common modern Arabic effendi, borrowed from Turkish, conceals quite effectively the high Byzantine military title of Avthentis which is itself the same word as the English authentic; and just as the modern Cantonese abusive expression for an Indian Mo-lo-cha10 disguises the honourable title of Maharaja. And who, for another example, would identify the Malay title dato in its Cantonese form na-tuk? The task of a student of comparative language in identifying words borrowed from tangential cultures is often far from easy.
NOTES
1 'ama, (Arabic); 'âmâh, (Hebrew).
2 a-mraah, §, meaning father's mother,
3 Draaibhaano, A#, the head of a foreign business house,
4 Fhaabwronq, #£. That this was once used only of foreigners' gardeners is hinted by the fact that the old term frynn-dheng HT was never so used. Nowadays all gardeners are called fhaahwrong.
5 fhaann, ⭑.
6 Fhukgin-saarng, #44.
7 Gwuuradim,
A.
8 jribmroo-gwor, I#4. The San On Yuen Chi lists this as a native fruit and says it is so named because it is used by women in difficult pregnancies (anti-scorbutic?). But see note 12,
+
9 Irok-fhaah-sbaanq, ✯✯✯. The author of the San On Yuen Chi seems unaware that this plant was an importation, a fact he notes in several other cases.
10 Mho-lho-chaa, 44%, originally Я% ·
11 Nraabdhuk, **
12 nrenqmbung, #. However there are some facts about the lemon which are not easy to reconcile. The Britannica says it is a hybrid one of whose parents is probably a lime; and the Sanskrit for a lime is nimbu which looks a nearer relative of the modern than the ancient Chinese form. The commonest pronunciation in Cantonese is Irammbung. Also see 8.
13 sayyid, (Arabic).
14 shihnhaai, # like Madame, strictly correct only for the wives of foreigners, but in Hong Kong used now for any married woman.
15 sritrawy, $# "Boss", now used for all employers,
16 srizae, # a "house-boy" in a foreign family, Often mistakenly written 事仔,
17 Thih-thiw, NE.