Talk:dood

RFV discussion: May–June 2021

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dood

Tagged but not listed. Kiwima (talk) 20:19, 2 May 2021 (UTC)

RFV was on the entire entry but presumably they meant the sense of "a riding camel or dromedary" (I've fixed the tag now). I can't seem to find anything on this. Etymology says Bengali. Equinox ◑ 05:42, 4 May 2021 (UTC)

The 1913 The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia lists dood with the meaning "a camel in military use; a riding dromedary," coming from Bengali (dūdh ... perhaps that's উট) and includes a quote from W.H. Russell's A Diary in India. Google Books finds one other source talking about dood and British India: Gil the Gummer, Or, The Youngest Officer in the East (1892). Tcr25 (talk) 19:59, 29 May 2021 (UTC)

I checked out Russell's A Diary in India and it uses the word "dood" to mean milk, not a riding dromedary. Kiwima (talk) 04:23, 30 May 2021 (UTC)

I tried to find the word in our Bengali entries and in a few Bengali dictionaries online, but I ran into the same thing: Bengali দুধ (dudh) is the word for milk, and উট (uṭ) is the word for camel. You'll notice that the 1913 Century page also says that "dood-wallah" means a camel-driver, but we have Bengali দুধওয়ালা (dudhōẇala) in the translation table for milkman, and also have an English entry for dudhwallah (from Hindi), with the same meaning. Very strange. Chuck Entz (talk) 05:36, 30 May 2021 (UTC)

Could have been a colonial misunderstanding of dood-wallah, if there are quotations supporting use of the term to mean a riding camel. Or maybe it was a mishearing of oont?? — SGconlaw (talk) 05:59, 30 May 2021 (UTC)

There's a copy of Russell's My Diary in India Vol. 2 at archive.org with three instances of "dood" and one of "dood-wallah." Three of them seem to be about camels and one about milk:

• p. 41: "... when a camel-driver came by, leading a huge dood so carelessly as to bring him right across Sir Colin."
• p. 248: "The moment the dood-wallah pulls the string, which is attached to a piece of wood passed through the cartilage of the animals nostril, the camel opens its huge mouth ..."
• p. 263: "Alas! poor dood, down with you on your knees ! At the word of command, the sowar forces his beast to kneel."
• p. 316: "The milkwomen carrying their pitchers of milk on their heads—one of them at least—venture down to this post under the wall, and I can hear the pleasant music of her bangles as she walks, and the shrill cry of "lay dood" as I stand on the roof. "Come here, Miss lay dood ! I want you for a dhrink ov skim milk,” cries a soldier ..."

Gil the Gunner has two uses of "dood":

• p. 46: "Crocodiles; and higher up the river, sir, great turtles, which will snap a man, or a horse, or a dood to pieces in no time."
• p. 47: "I have never seen it," he replied ; "but I have seen them attack a dood." "What is a dood ?" "A camel ; one of a group fording the river. ..."

Colonial misunderstanding/mishearing seems likely. The General East India Guide and Vade Mecum (1825), in its discussion of "Hindustanee" uses doodˌh (milk) as an example of a troublesome "final inspirate." Also, Letters of Gertrude Bell (1927) mentions a "dulul (riding-camel)," but she's writing from Damascus, not somewhere in India. — This unsigned comment was added by Tcr25 (talk • contribs) at 12:21, 30 May 2021 (UTC).

Ok, we have three cites, which is enough for this to squeak by. But it is likely a colonial misunderstanding/mishearing, so if we keep this, we should include a usage note to that effect. Kiwima (talk) 13:17, 30 May 2021 (UTC)

I have added that to the etymology. Although that 2003 quote is probably of independent origin—I would not be totally sure what it means without more context, and not knowing what gyakores are, but dood there is a living animal at least since it is referred to as “he”.

Should we have an ===Etymology 3=== ====Noun==== {{en-noun|-}} # {{uncommon spelling of|en|doodh|t=milk}} ? Does doodh (दूध (dūdh)) pass as an English word? There are many food items with it in the name that seem to count as English, it could well be so for the simple alone. Fay Freak (talk) 23:50, 1 June 2021 (UTC)

RFV-passed Kiwima (talk) 21:20, 9 June 2021 (UTC)