dubash
English
Etymology
From Hindi दो (do, “two”) + भाषा (bhāṣā, “language”).
Noun
dubash (plural dubashes)
- (India, dated) An Indian translator or interpreter.
- 1844, Arthur Wellesley Duke of Wellington, John Gurwood, The Dispatches of Field Marshal the Duke of Wellington (page 1625)
- […] inhabitants complain to him, and as he does not understand the language he is obliged to call for his dubash to interpret what they say; […]
- 1844, Arthur Wellesley Duke of Wellington, John Gurwood, The Dispatches of Field Marshal the Duke of Wellington (page 1625)
- (India, dated) An Indian general household steward.
- 1808–10, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, Folio Society 1995, p. 90:
- This I learnt was the captain's dubash, a native man acting as general steward who provides every household article as well as of merchandise, and engages all inferior servants.
- 1808–10, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, Folio Society 1995, p. 90:
Alternative forms
- debash, dobash
References
- 1873, John Camden Hotten, The Slang Dictionary
- Henry Yule; A[rthur] C[oke] Burnell (1903), “dubash”, in William Crooke, editor, Hobson-Jobson […] , London: John Murray, […].