Rum-Johnny (*The Barney-Book): 'Taken from Hind. Ramjani, this word had a wholly different connotation in English, for which see bayadère.'
+rye/rai (*The Barney-Book): Neel was right in predicting that this common Hind. word for 'gentleman' would appear in the Oracle in its English-gypsy variant rye, rather than in the usual Indian form.
sabar (*Roebuck): topgallant or t'gallant; see dol.
+sahib: This word was a source of bafflement to Neeclass="underline" 'How did it happen that the Arabic for "friend" became, in Hind. and English, a word meaning "master"?' The question was answered by a grandson who had visited the Soviet Union; on the margins of Neel's note he scribbled: '"Sahib" was to the Raj what "comrade" is to Communists – a mask for mastery.' See also Beebee.
+salwar/shalwar/shulwaur: See kameez.
+sammy (*The Barney-Book): 'The anglice of Hind. swami, from which sammy-house to mean "mandir": whether this is preferable to "pagoda" is a matter of debate.'
sammy-house: See above.
sawai (*Roebuck): staysail; see dol.
+seacunny/seaconny: On this word, meaning 'helmsman', Neel penned a note that covers the verso of the four of hearts: 'It is not uncommon to hear it said that the term seacunny/seaconny is derived from an old English word meaning "rabbit" – to wit: "cony" or "coney" (sea-cunny thus being interpreted to mean "sea-rabbit"). Beware anyone who tells you this, for he is having a quiet laugh at your expense: he probably knows full well that "coney" has a secret, but far more common, use (as when a London buy-em-dear says to a prospective customer, "No money, no coney"). This is why the more pucka ma'amsahibs will not allow the word seacunny to pass their lips, preferring to use the absurd expression sea-bunny. ("Well then, madam," I was once tempted to say, "if we are thus to describe a helmsman, should we not also speak of the Great Sea-bunny in the Sky?") If only one could find the words to explain to these ladies that no rabbit need fear the conning of seacunnies: the term is utterly harmless and derives merely from the Arabic sukkán, meaning "rudder", from which we get sukkáni and thus seacunny.' See also lascar.
+seersucker: Neel objected vehemently to the notion that the name of this cotton material was derived (as the Oracle was later to contend) from the Persian shir-o-shakkar, or 'milk and sugar'. 'By what stretch of the imagination could anyone imagine that a sweet, milky syrup would be pleasant to wear on the skin?' Instead, following Sir Henry, he derived the word from sir-sukh, 'joy of/to the head', on the analogy of turban (which he thought to be derived from Hind. sir-bandh – 'head-band'). He took the view that the terms were aptly paired since the latter was sometimes made of the former. As supplemental evidence he cited a maxim which he claimed to be common among lascars: sirbandh me sirsukh- 'a turban is happiness for the head'.
+sepoy/seapoy: 'The variant spelling, sea-poy, has caused much confusion over the ages (see charpoy). One ill-informed wordy-pundit has even espoused the theory that this term is a mispronunciation of "sea-boy" and was thus originally a synonym for lascar. This is, of course, an elementary misunderstanding and could be easily corrected if the English spelling of sepoy were to be altered to sepohy. This would have the dual advantage of advertising this word's descent from the Persian/Turkish sipáhi, while also making evident its kinship to the French spahi, which refers similarly to a certain kind of colonial mercenary.'
+serang: See lascar.
serh (*Roebuck): See dol.
+seth: See beparee. Neel was aware of the raging controversy that surrounds the question of whether the term seth is related to such words as chetty, chettiar and shetty. But lacking any expertise in the languages of southern India, he was unable to reach any conclusion on the subject.
+shabash/shahbash: '"Bravo!" to Sir Henry.'
+shampoo: 'Is it not a commentary on the relationship of England and India that most of the Hind. candidates for the Peerage of the English Verb pertain to grappling, grasping, binding, tying and whipping? Yet, of all the pretenders who have had their start in this domain -puckrow, bundo, lagow, chawbuck etc. – only one has risen to the rank of a true grandee of the Upper House; only one has claimed a dukedom for itself. This is, strangely enough, that humblest of terms chãpo/chãpna, in its corrupted form, shampoo. The reason for this, surely, is that the notion of chãpo-ing embodies some of the more pleasureable aspects of grappling, grasping and so on – that is to say of kneading, pressing, touching, massaging. Those who would seek to reduce this word to the rank of noun would do well to note that it will not meekly relinquish its active form, clinging to its animate energies even when forced into the Lower House (a case in point being the French le shampooing).'
+shamshoo/samschoo: 'The Admiral, who seems never to have tasted any shrob not made in Europe, described this Chinese wine as "fiery, fetid and very injurious to European health". But this was true only of the varieties sold on Hog Lane; elsewhere there were many very fine bottlings, no less precious than the finest French sharaabs.'
+shikar: See below.
+shikaree: 'The mystery of the hunt (shikar)'.
shoe-goose (*The Barney-Book): 'Not being a bird at all, but rather a kind of cat [in fact a lynx], this word is unlikely to enter the annals of ornithology.' In the margins, a note: 'From Persian syagosh'.
shoke/shauq (*The Glossary): 'In its English incarnation this Arabic word came to mean "whim", "hobby" or "penchant". In Hind. the existence of a shoke is often indicated by the addition of the suffix báz (sometimes Anglicized to buzz). The proper English translation of Hind. addá-báz is therefore buck-buzz. (The term launder- or laund'ry-buzz is a cant exception and does not always refer to the whims of dhobis). When misused, this particle can cause some curious misunderstandings. Thus, for instance, a self-styled pundit was once heard to speculate that buzz when added to bawhawder was a reference to a well-known shoke of Alexander the Great's (sometimes described as his taste for youthful bawhawdery). So wedded was the pundit to this view, that I was hard put to persuade him that he had got the matter completely oolter-poolter: Buzz Bawhawder was a medieval king of Malwa, famous for his shoke for the beautiful Rawnee, Roopmuttee. As for the matter he was speaking of, the correct zubben expression is of course udlee-budlee.'