This is the presentation on Etymological Mystery in 'Gun Island'

1. Etymological Mystery in
‘Gun Island’
Prepared by
Latta Baraiya
(sem 4)
Department of English, MKBU

2. Prepared by: Latta Baraiya
Semester : 04
Batch : 2020-22
Paper : Contemporary Literatures in English
Topic : Etymological Mystery in 'Gun Island’
Enrollment no. : 3069206420200003
Email id : lattabaraiya1204@gmail.com
Submitted to : Department of English, MKBU

3. Table of Content
● Novel’s
Introduction
● Author's
Introduction
● What is
Etymology ?
● Etymological
words in the
Novel
● Citation
● Conclusion

4. About Amitav Ghosh
● Amitav Ghosh born in Calcutta and grew up
in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
● He studied in Delhi, Oxford and Alexandria
● Notable Works : The Circle of Reason, The
Shadow Lines, In An Antique Land, Dancing in
Cambodia, The Calcutta Chromosome, The
Glass Palace, The Hungry Tide, The Great
Derangement; Climate Change and the
Unthinkable, Sea of Poppies, River of Smoke
and Flood of Fire. (Amitav Ghosh official
website)

5. Gun Island
Title : Gun Island
Author : Amitav Ghosh
Published : 2019
Literary Period : Contemporary
Genre : Historical Fiction
Point of View : First person Narration
Protagonist : Dinanath Datta

6. What is Etymology ?
● According to Oxford Dictionary,
“The study of the origin and history of words and their meanings.
The origin and history of a particular word.”
(Oxford Dictionary)
● According Merriam Websiter,
“The history of a linguistic form (such as a word) shown by tracing its
development since its earliest recorded occurrence in the language where it is
found, by tracing its transmission from one language to another, by analyzing
it into its component parts, by identifying its cognates in other languages, or
by tracing it and its cognates to a common ancestral form in an ancestral
language.” (Merriam Websiter)

7. Etymological Mystery in ‘Gun Island’
● The novel engages with Ghosh’s fascination for etymology and
how words in different languages inform our sensibility and
understanding of the world.
● As Soumya Bhattacharya said “At the heart of the story of Gun
Island, there lies an etymological mystery, a derivation that
points to the deep and inextricable intermeshing of cultures and
civilisations over the ages. This is why etymology fascinates me:
like sailors, words, too, are travellers, and tracing their
journeys is like describing voyages of adventures.”
(Bhattacharya, Soumya)

8. Etymological Words in 'Gun Island’
Land of Palm Sugar
Candy Land of Chains
Land of
Kerchieves
Gun Island
1
2
3
4
5 Bhut - Ghost 6 Possession

9. Gun Island
01

10. Gun Island
● As Somak Ghoshal observed, The novel opens with a subject that he
describes as one of his “obsessions": etymology. In the beginning is a word
and that word is “bundook". Used to mean “gun" in many languages.
(Ghoshal, Somak)
● Title of the novel, no direct reference of Gun
● There is 'Island within Island
● There is one foundry where armaments, including bullets, were cast. And
the word used for foundry in Venetian dialect is "getto". And the world
"ghetto" is derived from "getto" and it is connected with Jews.
● The other vocabulary for Venice is linked to three apparently unrelated
things - hazelnuts, bullets and guns ! The shape of hazelnuts is similar to
that of bullets which are, in turn, indispensable for guns !

11. ● Venice in Arabic language is "Banadiq" - the ancestor of the
German and Swedish "Venedig". In Arabic "Banadiq" became "al-
Bunduqeyya". So this gun is referred to as Venice, not gun !
● So the ultimate meaning of the title is - a merchant who visited
Venice and who found ghetto-foundry.

12. Land of Palm Sugar Candy
02

13. Land of Palm Sugar Candy
● The Bengali word for Land of Palm Sugar Candy is "taal-misrir-
desh".
● Desh = country, taal= kind of palm tree that produces a sugar
syrup, Bengali word for sugar candy is misri.
● Cinta said that Arabic word "Misr" means “Egyptian” perhaps
crystallized sugar is known as misri because the process had
come to Bengal by way of Egypt.
● So this word Land of Palm Sugar Candy is used for Egypt. So this
place is referred to Egypt.

14. Land of Kerchieves
03

15. Land of Kerchieves
● Cinta asked for the Bengali translation of this word. Deen told
her it was called Rumaali-desh.
● In Bengali Rumaal is a handkerchief.
● Chinta said it is about Rumelia, and this Rumeli-Hisari is located
in Turkey.
● Rumeli comes from “Rum” “Rome” - which is how Constantinople,
the Byzantine “Rome” was known in Arabic and Persian.
● It means Gun Merchant and captain Ilyas would have gone from
Egypt to Turkey.

16. Land of Chains
04

17. Land of Chains
● The Bengali word for this is "shikol-dwip".
● The merchant was captured by pirates and Manasa Devi
save him, like this the migrants are headed to a ship and
all are meeting at a Sicily.
● This is a reference to Sikelia and it is now Sicily.
● So the Island of Chains is used for Sicily.

18. Ghost - Bhuta
05

19. Ghost - Bhuta
● In chapter named Brooklyn, there is a conversation between Dinanath
Datta and Tipu through email.
● Tipu asked Deen, ``What is the meaning of "Bhuta" ? Does it mean
"ghost" or something else ?
● Deen explains that in Bangla “bhoot/bhuta” comes from a basic but
very complicated Sanskrit root "bhu" means "to be" or "to manifest".
● So "bhuta" simply means "a being" or "an existing presence".
● This word "bhuta" also refers to the past, in the sense of "a past state
of being". Like we use "bhuta-kala" or "times past".
● So this "bhuta" is not "ghost" but it is "memory". So it can be with you
in the form of memory.

20. Possession
06

21. Possession
● There is reference to the word possession in the novel.
● When Cinta and Deen talk about possession, Deen said he has
symptoms like possession.
● Possession is when someone is taken over by a demon. And the demon
is nothing but it's just a metaphor for greed, an imaginary thing.
● So possession is not like someone's soul comes into our body and all
things ! It's our greed that we have taken over that greed.
● Cinta explained that possession became when a person loses "will" and
"freedom". Further she said it is a kind of awakening, you are waking up
to things that you had never imagined or sensed before.
● In other words possession is consciousness of things.

22. Conclusion
● Hard to understand the word because you have
to go deep and in origin of the word.
● By using these words he makes novel complex.
● Ghosh gives importance to Bengali Language.
● Interesting way to discribe the story.

23. Resources
● “Amitav Ghosh.” 2011, Amitav Ghosh - Official Website,
https://www.amitavghosh.com/.
● Bhattacharya, Soumya. “Gun Island by Amitav Ghosh: A Gripping Parable
for Our Times.” Hindustan Times, 8 June 2019,
https://www.hindustantimes.com/books/gun-island-by-amitav-ghosh-
a-gripping-parable-for-our-times/story-
Zygav4yLecQZb9xCO1KW1N.html.
● Ghoshal, Somak. “Amitav Ghosh on Myth, Magic and His New Novel, 'Gun
Island'.” Mint, 15 June 2019, https://www.livemint.com/mint-
lounge/features/amitav-ghosh-and-the-sea-of-stories-
1560505247731.html.

24. Resources
● Merriam Webster. “Etymology Definition & Meaning .” Merriam-Webster,
Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/etymology.
● Oxford Dictionaries. “Etymology Noun - Definition, Pictures and Pronunciation
and Usage Notes .” OxfordLearnersDictionaries.com, Oxford University Press ,
https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/etymology#:~:
text=%E2%80%8B%5Buncountable%5D%20the%20study%20ofTopics%20Hist
oryc2%2C%20Languagec2.
Thank You !