[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) › c6.47 # Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases, and of Kindred Terms, Etymological, Historical, Geographical and Discursive c6.47 Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases, and of Kindred Terms, Etymological, Historical, Geographical and Discursive c6.47 - **Language:** English ### [c6.47](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.yule-burnell-1886.c6.47) \*Cooly\*, in its application to a carrier of burdens, or performer of inferior labour, is another example. The most probable origin of this is from a \*nomen gentile\*, that of the \*Kolis\*, a hill-people of Guzerat and the Western Ghats (compare the origin of \*slave\*). But the matter is perplexed by other facts which it is difficult to connect with this. Thus, in S. India, there is a Tamil word \*kūli\*, in common use, signifying ‘daily hire or wages,’ which H. H. Wilson regards as the true origin of the word which we call \*cooly\*. Again, both in Oriental and Osmali Turkish, \*kol\* is a word for a slave, and in the latter also there is \*kūleh\*, ‘a male slave, a bondsman.’ \*Khol\* is, in Tibetan also, a word for a slave or servant. - [Previous: c6.46](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.yule-burnell-1886.c6.46) - [Next: c6.48](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.yule-burnell-1886.c6.48) - [Up: c6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.yule-burnell-1886.c6) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.yule-burnell-1886.c6.47](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.yule-burnell-1886.c6.47) · Pramāṇa