Q: I used to be trying up some Hindi phrases and observed that “randi” is a derogatory time period for a “girl of in poor health reputation.” I assume it’s the supply of the English phrase “randy,” most likely because of Britain’s involvement in India.

A: English has borrowed many phrases from Hindi (“bungalow,” “cot,” “dinghy,” “loot,” “shampoo,” “thug,” and others), however “randy” isn’t one among them.

Just because the Hindi phrase रंडी and the English phrase “randy” are pronounced equally and each have sexual senses doesn’t imply they’re associated etymologically.

Two phrases which are etymologically associated are referred to as “cognates,” whereas two phrases that appear to be associated however aren’t (like रंडी and “randy”) are known as “false cognates.”

As an illustration, the anatomical “ear” and the “ear” of corn are false cognates derived from totally different Previous English phrases. The primary comes from ære (the organ of listening to) and the second from æhher (the seed-bearing head of cereal grasses).

We haven’t seen a single authoritative etymological reference that implies the Hindi time period रंडी within the supply of the English adjective “randy.”

The Oxford English Dictionary, probably the most authoritative English etymological reference, says “randy” might be derived from the verb “rant,” which used to have the variant spelling “rand.”

Along with its sense of talking wildly, the OED says, “rant”/“rand” as soon as meant “to guide a riotous or dissolute life.”

That riotous or dissolute sense of “rant” is now out of date, besides in Scottish English, the place “randy” first appeared, in line with the dictionary.

The earliest OED quotation for “rant” utilized in its riotous sense, which we’ve expanded, is from the 1623 Folio of Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor:

“Look the place my ranting host of the Garter comes: there may be both liquor in his pate or cash in his purse when he appears to be like so merrily.”

The dictionary says “randy” first appeared in Scottish English with the sense of “having a impolite, aggressive method; loud-mouthed and coarsely spoken.”

The earliest quotation is from a 1665 letter by the Earl of Argyll: “Profane randy beggars” (Letters From Archibald, Earl of Argyll, to John, Duke of Lauderdale, 1829, edited by George Sinclair and Charles Okay. Sharpe).

Within the early 18th century, “randy” got here to imply “boisterous, riotous, disorderly; wild, unruly, unmanageable” in Scottish English and regional English dialects.

The primary OED quotation is from “The Knight,” a 1723 poem by the Scottish author William Meston: “A rambling, randy Errant Knight.”

In Scottish and regional English of the late 18th century, “randy” took on its typical fashionable sense of “lustful; longing for sexual gratification; sexually aroused.” The earliest OED instance is from The Curate of Coventry (1771), a novel by the English author John Potter:

“A pox on these previous maids, they’re as randy as a he goat.” (The remark is by the native squire, who makes use of many colloquialisms. The creator features a footnote defining “randy” as “lascivious.”)

We’ve seen no proof that “randy” comes from Hindi. By proof, we imply one thing like its use in a letter from an English dealer or the log of an English ship that visited India within the seventeenth or 18th century.

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