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Brinjal

4 stages from Sanskrit to English.

Today it means an eggplant or aubergine (in South Asian and South African English)

Where does the word "brinjal" come from? It comes from Sanskrit vātiṅgaṇa, passing through Arabic and Portuguese before entering English (1600s).

vātiṅgaṇa→bādhinjān→beringela→brinjal

Sanskrit · ancient

the eggplant was domesticated in South or Southeast Asia; some scholars trace the Sanskrit name further back to a Dravidian word

Arabic · medieval

reached Arabic through Persian bādingān; Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq's 10th-century Baghdad cookbook includes būrāniyya, an eggplant dish named after Būrān, wife of Caliph al-Ma'mun

Portuguese · 1500s

inherited from the Arabic of al-Andalus, then carried to Portugal's Indian trading posts such as Goa, captured in 1510

English · 1600s

Anglo-Indian English took the Portuguese word; Bombay itself passed from Portugal to England in 1661 as part of Catherine of Braganza's dowry, and brinjal is still the everyday word in India and South Africa

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Brinjal’s story begins in Sanskrit: vātiṅgaṇa meant “eggplant.” The eggplant was domesticated in South or Southeast Asia; some scholars trace the Sanskrit name further back to a Dravidian word. By medieval, the word had taken hold in Arabic as bādhinjān. Reached Arabic through Persian bādingān; Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq's 10th-century Baghdad cookbook includes būrāniyya, an eggplant dish named after Būrān, wife of Caliph al-Ma'mun. From there it passed into Portuguese as beringela by 1500s. Inherited from the Arabic of al-Andalus, then carried to Portugal's Indian trading posts such as Goa, captured in 1510. It reached English by 1600s as brinjal. Anglo-Indian English took the Portuguese word; Bombay itself passed from Portugal to England in 1661 as part of Catherine of Braganza's dowry, and brinjal is still the everyday word in India and South Africa. Today, brinjal means an eggplant or aubergine (in South Asian and South African English).