coolie

The story

1. Mandarin · borrowed from苦力“hard labor”
2. Persian · borrowed fromکول“shoulder [upon which goods are hauled]”
3. Bengali · borrowed fromকুলি
4. Gujarati · borrowed fromકોળી
5. Proto-Turkic · derived from*kul
6. chg · derived fromقلی“servant, slave”
7. Urdu · borrowed fromقلی“hired laborer”
8. Hindi · borrowed fromक़ुली
9. Hindustani · borrowed from
10. English todaycoolie

Borrowed from Hindustani (Hindi क़ुली (qulī) / Urdu قلی (qulī, “hired laborer”)), from Chagatai قلی (quli, “servant, slave”), ultimately from Proto-Turkic *kul. Another theory says that it is named after Gujarati કોળી (koḷī), a Gujarati tribe or caste. Other forms occur in Bengali কুলি (kuli) and Tamil கூலி (kūli, “daily hire”). Possibly also influenced by Hindustani (कोली (kolī) / کولی (kolī, “weaver; low-class”)), or Persian کول (kūl, “shoulder [upon which goods are hauled]”). In Kurdish Koile (کۆیلە) and Quli (قولى): Slave, Servant. Kawli (Keweli): Low-Class, Gypsy. Mandarin 苦力 (kǔlì, “hard labor”) may also have been influenced by cognates of the above Hindi word in other languages and may have further influenced English.

Words from the same roots