[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Reference works](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference) › [Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases, and of Kindred Terms, Etymological, Historical, Geographical and Discursive](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.yule-burnell-1886) › c10.9278 # Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases, and of Kindred Terms, Etymological, Historical, Geographical and Discursive c10.9278 Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases, and of Kindred Terms, Etymological, Historical, Geographical and Discursive c10.9278 - **Language:** English ### [c10.9278](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.yule-burnell-1886.c10.9278) The origin of the word is obscure, if indeed it has not more than one origin. Some have supposed it to be taken from the English word in the sense of comrade, &c.; whilst Wilson gives metti as a distinct Malayālam word for an inferior domestic servant, \[which the Madras Gloss. derives from Tamil mel, ‘high’\]. The last word is of very doubtful genuineness. Neither derivation will explain the fact that the word occurs in the Āīn, in which the three classes of attendants on an elephant in Akbar’s establishment are styled respectively Mahāwat, Bhoī, and Meth; two of which terms would, under other circumstances, probably be regarded as corruptions of English words. This use of the word we find in Skt. dictionaries as metha, mentha, and menda, ‘an elephant-keeper or feeder.’ But for the more general use we would query whether it may not be a genuine Prakrit form from Skt. mitra, ‘associate, friend’? We have in Pali metta, ‘friendship,’ from Skt. maitra. - [Previous: c10.9277](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.yule-burnell-1886.c10.9277) - [Next: c10.9279](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.yule-burnell-1886.c10.9279) - [Up: c10](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.yule-burnell-1886.c10) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.yule-burnell-1886.c10.9278](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.yule-burnell-1886.c10.9278) · Pramāṇa