mahout

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English[edit]

WOTD – 29 June 2023

Etymology[edit]

PIE word
*méǵh₂s
An 18th-century gouache of a mahout on an elephant.[n 1]

The noun is borrowed from Hindustani (Hindi महौत (mahaut)/Urdu مَہَوت (mahaut)), महाउत (mahāut), variants of महावत (mahāvat)/مَہاوَت (mahāvat), from Sanskrit महामात्र (mahāmātra, “elephant keeper; high official; king’s minister”), from महा (mahā, “great”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂s (“big, great”)) + मात्र (mātra, “measure; quantity”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *meh₁- (“to measure”)).[1][2]

The verb is derived from the noun.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

mahout (plural mahouts)

  1. (South Asia) An elephant trainer, keeper, and driver.
    Synonyms: mahawat, (Myanmar) oozie
    • 1662, Adam Olearius, “The Voyages & Travels of J. Albert de Mandelslo [i.e., Johan Albrecht de Mandelslo] […] into the East-Indies. […]”, in John Davies, transl., The Voyages & Travels of the Ambassadors from the Duke of Holstein, to the Great Duke of Muscovy, and the King of Persia. […], London: […] Thomas Dring, and John Starkey, […], →OCLC, book I, page 81:
      The Serrievvan hath the overſight of the Camels, and the Mahout, that of the Elephants.
    • 1891 August, Rudyard Kipling, “Moti Guj—Mutineer”, in Life’s Handicap: Being Stories of Mine Own People, London, New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., […], published October 1891, →OCLC, page 307:
      The very best of all the elephants belonged to the very worst of all the drivers or mahouts; and the superior beast's name was Moti Guj. He was the absolute property of his mahout, which would never have been the case under native rule, for Moti Guj was a creature to be desired by kings; and his name, being translated, meant the Pearl Elephant.
    • 1910 November – 1911 August, Frances Hodgson Burnett, “‘There Was Some One Crying—There Was!’”, in The Secret Garden, New York, N.Y.: Frederick A[bbott] Stokes Company, published 1911, →OCLC, page 71:
      [I]n a cabinet were about a hundred little elephants made of ivory. They were of different sizes, and some had their mahouts or palanquins on their backs.
    • 2005, Lynette A. Hart, “The Elephant–Mahout Relationship in India and Nepal: A Tourist Attraction”, in John Knight, editor, Animals in Person: Cultural Perspectives on Human–Animal Intimacies, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, published 2020, →ISBN, page 172:
      Around mid-day elephants were taken into the forest by their mahouts to forage on foods of their choice, and then carried back a supply of food gathered by mahout and elephant. During the relaxed mid-day period, it was common to see mahouts sleeping on their elephants' backs, under an umbrella for shade.

Translations[edit]

Verb[edit]

mahout (third-person singular simple present mahouts, present participle mahouting, simple past and past participle mahouted)

  1. (transitive) To drive (an elephant or elephants).
    • 1984 August, Alan Dean Foster, chapter XI, in Voyage to the City of the Dead (A Del Rey Book), New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 151:
      Word was passed down the river, the call going out for the bravest of Brul mahouting only the strongest of mounts.
    • 2016, Colm O’Regan, “Standing on Ceremony”, in Bolloxology, London: Transworld Ireland, →ISBN, part 1 (Private), page 50:
      Don't forget, though, your wedding will always be memorable to you yourself, […] On the other hand, even if you arrive on an elephant mahouted by Lady Gaga, there will still be guests in years to come who won't be able to remember whose wedding that was because they were aged 26–32 at the time and it was the eighth wedding they were at that year.
  2. (intransitive) To drive elephants.
    • 1957 July, Edward Wellen, “Sweet Dreams”, in Larry T[aylor] Shaw, editor, Infinity Science Fiction, volume 2, number 4, New York, N.Y.: Royal Publications, →OCLC, pages 67–68:
      First a team of six ponied pulling a miniature fire engine jumping with midget firefighters, then a dozen scantily mahouted elephants painted pink, came out of the arc light and sawdut into neon glow and mirroring asphalt.
      An adjective use.
    • 2010, Rajeevan R., “A Socio-political Analysis of the Tribes in Kerala”, in Towards Political Empowerment: Political Socialization and Political Participation of Tribal Community in Kerala, Delhi: Kalpaz Publications, →ISBN, page 41:
      Traditionally they are hunters and gatherers but today they are agricultural labourers. […] They are experts at collecting honey and mahouting.

Translations[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ From the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England, United Kingdom.

References[edit]

  1. ^ “mahout, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, September 2022.
  2. ^ “mahout, n.”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present, reproduced from Stuart Berg Flexner, editor in chief, Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2nd edition, New York, N.Y.: Random House, 1993, →ISBN.

Further reading[edit]

French[edit]

Noun[edit]

mahout m (plural mahouts)

  1. mahout

Spanish[edit]

Noun[edit]

mahout m (plural mahouts)

  1. mahout
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