Iron in Ancient India c9.s1: Derivation of "Wootz"
Iron in Ancient India c9.s1
- Language
- English
Derivation of "Wootz"
c9.s1.1
The word "wootz," by which name Indian steel was and is still known in Europe, is a curious word meaning steel made in Southern India. The name seems to have originated in some clerical error or misreading very possibly for "wook" representing the Canarese word "ukku" meaning steel, and first appears in a paper read by George Pearson, M.D., before the Royal Society of England in June 11, 1795, and entitled "experiments and observations to investigate the nature of a kind of steel manufactured at Bombay and there called wootz."¹ Mr. J. M. Heath is evidently wrong in thinking "wootz" to be the name for steel in the Guzerattee language in use at Bombay. Dr. Edward Balfour suggested that the word "wootz" perhaps was "uchcha," meaning "of superior quality," in the Canarese language, as distinguished from "nicha" or "of inferior quality." This suggestion does not appear to be satisfactory at all.
c9.s1.2
¹ Hobson-Jobson, "Glossary," p. 972.