Desicritics.org, India
Jan 30 2007

Of Ships and Language
January 30, 2007
Deepa Krishnan

On a recent tour of Mumbai with some overseas visitors, I spoke about
how Europe’s involvement with the city started. In 1509, Portuguese
traders discovered Mumbai’s deep natural harbour, sheltered from the
vagaries of the Arabian sea by a piece of land protruding from the
mainland.

The trader who sailed into Mumbai – and christened it Bom Bahia (good
bay) was Francis Almeida. And this is the kind of ship in which he
sailed.

It was large enough to be stable in heavy seas, and roomy enough to
carry provisions for long voyages.

But what caught my fancy is the Portuguese word for this kind of ship
– nao. This is identical to the Hindi nao, which comes from the
Sanskrit nauh, meaning boat. Not only in Portuguese and Hindi – the
word for boat or ship is amazingly similar in Welsh (noe), Greek
(naus), Armenian (nav), Old Irish (nau), and Old Norse (nor).

Linguists agree that the original source of such common words were
the Proto-Indo-Europeans, a group of people who lived 5500 years ago
(the time scale is much debated, but it is broadly agreed that they
lived in the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Age). They were pastoral
nomads, who had domesticated the horse (eqwos).

The cow (Proto-Indo-European ‘gwous’) played a central role, both in
mythology and reglion. Aside: the Sanskrit word for cow is go or gow.

The origin and migration of the Proto-Indo-Europeans is a subject of
much dispute – did they migrate from Europe to Asia, or from Asia to
Europe? Scholars can’t seem to agree. But the history of these words
continues to fascinate.

Deepa Krishnan has a consulting practice in banking technology. She
owns Mumbai Magic, a company that offers insightful, off-beat tours
of Mumbai to overseas visitors.