Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases, and of Kindred Terms, Etymological, Historical, Geographical and Discursive c10.13025

c10.13025

**SAMPAN**, s. A kind of small boat or skiff. The word appears to be Javanese and Malay. It must have been adopted on the Indian shores, for it was picked up there at an early date by the Portuguese; and it is now current all through the further East. [The French have adopted the Annamite form *tamban*.] The word is often said to be originally Chinese, *‘sanpan,’* = ‘three boards,’ and this is possible. It is certainly one of the most ordinary words for a boat in China. Moreover, we learn, on the authority of Mr. E. C. Baber, that there is another kind of boat on the Yangtse which is called *wu-pan*, ‘five boards.’ Giles however says: “From the Malay *sampan* = three boards”; but in this there is some confusion. The word has no such meaning in Malay.