Re: banbhoj

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "The Egyptian Chronicles" <the_egyptian_chronicles@...> wrote:

> JACQUES HUYNEN wrote:
>
> > I live in South Western Nepal 3 month a year. The natives here
> > speak 2 dialects of Hindi (Avadhi, tongue linked with Lucknow
> > across the border, and Bhojpuri which is also spoken in Indian
> > Bihar). At the beginning of the year when weather is warming up
> > (February) young people gather for what they call "ban (wood) +
> > bhoj (food) > banbhoj, litterally "food in the woods", that
> > is "picnic". That word reminds me of a French word that has a
> > meaning close to banbhoj: "bambocher", to banquet, party, enjoy
> > oneself. I wonder if there could be a common origin to these two
> > words.
>
> ISHINAN:
>
> I suspect the culprit for the transmission of your term 'banbhoj'
> is the Diaspora desis in Haiti. This Diaspora is already
> responsible for a fusion culture in which foods, fashions, music,
> and the like from many areas of South Asia (East Indian)
> are 'fused' both with each other and with elements from Francophone
> culture in Haiti.
>
> Definition of BAMBOCHE: AmerF (Haiti), a social get-together in
> Haiti characterized by noisy singing and dancing.

The "culprit" in this case cannot be the Indian diaspora in the West Indies because the term banbhoj 'picnic' (lit. 'forest feast'), attested as such in many northern Indo-Aryan languages/dialects (f.i. in Hindi, Maithili, Avadhi, Nepali, Assamese), is based on an Indian word, bhoj (< Skt. bhojya 'food, meal'), that already means 'feast' in all of those languages/dialects.

Thus, there is no need to invoke any borrowing from Haitian French here. The term just indicates feasting in the woods.

Best,
Francesco