ORIENTAL HEADS p033 Baboo Tarachand Chukturburtee, Varenda Brahmin, Calcutta

The title babu, also spelled baboo, is used in the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...

as a sign of respect towards men. In some cultures, the term "babu" is a term of endearment for a loved one as well. The

honorific An honorific is a title that conveys esteem, courtesy, or respect for position or rank when used in addressing or referring to a person. Sometimes, the term "honorific" is used in a more specific sense to refer to an honorary academic title. It ...

" ji" is sometimes added as a suffix to create the double honorific "babuji", which in northern and eastern parts of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

is a term of respect for one's father. "Babu" can also be used as a term of respect for any respected elder or man. In some Indian

Zamindari A zamindar ( Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as ...

estates the title Babu or

Sri Shri (; , ) is a Sanskrit term denoting resplendence, wealth and prosperity, primarily used as an honorific. The word is widely used in South and Southeast Asian languages such as Marathi, Malay (including Indonesian and Malaysian), Javanes ...

was used by its rulers. In many kingdoms the members of royal family and kin of the

king King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

s also used this title. In Bangla and Maithili, "babu" is used as a suffix to a person's name to show respect while calling him by name, for example, "Mohan ''babu'', could you please come here?". In

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

, the word Babu or Babushona is used more broadly, meaning baby or a little kid or one's child, especially to younger kids. In the

Saurashtra language Saurashtra ( Saurashtra script: , Tamil script: சௌராட்டிர மொழி, Devanagari script: सौराष्ट्र भाषा) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken primarily by the Saurashtrians of Southern India who migrat ...

, babu may refer to a younger brother, male, (sibling). The term "babu" may be suffixed to a person's name for example, Rose babu to refer to someone called Rose but the term "babuji" is always used by itself.

Civil servants

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

, ''baboo'' often referred to a native Indian clerk. The word was originally used as a term of respect attached to a proper name, the equivalent of "mister", and "babuji" was used in many parts to mean "sir" as an address of a gentleman; their life-style was also called "baboo culture" often also humorously appealed as "babuism". The British coined the word "baboo" as a derogatory word because some Indians tried to copy them. Baboos (baboons) enjoyed a number of privileges for being in the service of the British Raj. The British officials treated baboos as workers who had both Indian and British connections. Since the mid-20th century, the term babu is frequently used pejoratively to refer to bureaucrats of

Indian Administrative Service The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is the administrative arm of the All India Services of Government of India. Considered the premier civil service of India, the IAS is one of the three arms of the All India Services along with the Indian ...

(IAS) and other government officials, especially by the Indian media, while the

Indian bureaucracy Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

is called "babudom", as in the " rule of babus", especially in India's media.

Other uses

"Babu" in Swahili is like "papu" in

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

. It is cognate with "baba" in

Slavic languages The Slavic languages, also known as the Slavonic languages, are Indo-European languages spoken primarily by the Slavic peoples and their descendants. They are thought to descend from a proto-language called Proto-Slavic, spoken during the ...

, and ultimately with "papa" in Germanic and

Romance languages The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European language ...

. In Nepali,

Eastern Hindi The Central Indo-Aryan languages or Hindi languages are a group of related language varieties Spoken across North India and Central India. These language varieties form the central part of the Indo-Aryan language family, itself a part of the ...

/ Bihari, Bhojpuri, Maithili,Bengali, Telugu, and Oriya languages, it is a means of calling with love and affection to spouses or younger brothers, sons, grandsons etc. It can be found in the urban trend to call "babu" to girlfriends or boyfriends, or common-friends to symbolize deep love or dearness. In many Bengali families fathers and sons are usually named babu, as a matter of intimacy, with daughters or mothers. On the island of

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It ...

the word ''Babu-ji'' refers to the warrior community in

Indo-Mauritian Indo-Mauritians are Mauritians who trace their ethnic ancestry to Indian subcontinent or other parts of South Asia. History During the administration of the French East India Company (until 1767) and subsequent French rule at least 12,000 work ...

community. This community consists mainly of Bihari Mauritians, whose ancestors landed on the island as

Coolies A coolie (also spelled koelie, kuli, khuli, khulie, cooli, cooly, or quli) is a term for a low-wage labourer, typically of South Asian or East Asian descent. The word ''coolie'' was first popularized in the 16th century by European traders acros ...

or indentured sugar cane field labourers during the 1810–1968 British colonial rule.

References

{{Use dmy dates, date=October 2019 Titles in India Titles in Pakistan Titles in Bangladesh Bengali words and phrases

Civil servants

Other uses

See also

References