A history of the English Language

208.
Some Effects of Expansion on the Language.
Apart from the greatly enlarged sphere of activity that the English language thus acquired 
and the increased opportunity for local variation that has naturally resulted, the most 
obvious effects of English expansion are to be seen in the vocabulary. New territories 
mean new experiences, new activities, new products, all of which are in time reflected in 
the language. Trade routes have always been important avenues for the transmission of 
ideas and words. Contact with Na-tive Americans resulted in a number of characteristic 
words such as 
caribou, hickory, hominy, moccasin, moose, opossum, papoose, raccoon, 
skunk, squaw, terrapin, toboggan, tomahawk, totem, wampum,
and 
wigwam
. From other 
parts of America, especially where the Spanish and the Portuguese were settled, we have 
derived many more words, chiefly through Spanish. Thus we have in English Mexican 
words such as 
chili, chocolate, coyote, tomato;
from Cuba and the West Indies come 
barbecue, cannibal, canoe, hammock, hurricane, maize, potato, tobacco;
from Peru we 
get through the same channel 
alpaca, condor, jerky, llama, pampas, puma, quinine;
from 
Brazil and other South American regions 
buccaneer, cayenne, jaguar, petunia, poncho, 
tapioca
. British contact with the East has been equally productive of new words. From 
India come 
bandana, bangle, bengal, Brahman, bungalow, calico, cashmere, cheroot, 
china, chintz, coolie, cot, curry, dinghy, juggernaut, jungle, jute, loot, mandarin, nirvana, 
pariah, polo, punch
(drink), 
pundit, rajah, rupee, sepoy, thug, toddy, tom-tom,
and 
verandah
. From a little farther east come 
gingham, indigo, mango,
and 
seersucker,
the 
last an East Indian corruption of a Persian expression meaning ‘milk and sugar’ and 
transferred to a striped linen material. From Africa, either directly from the Africans or 
from Dutch and Portuguese traders, we obtain 
banana, Boer, boorish, chimpanzee, 
gorilla, guinea, gumbo, Hottentot, palavar, voodoo,
and 
zebra
. Australia later contributed 
A history of the english language 274

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new terms to the general language. 
Boomerang
and 
kangaroo
are interesting examples of 
native words that have passed into universal use. Other words are sometimes found in the 
English of Australians—
wombat,
a kind of burrowing animal, 
paramatta,
a light dress 
fabric, and 
cooey,
a signal cry used by the aborigines and adopted by the colonists; one is 
said to be ‘within cooey’ of Sydney when within an easy journey of the city. Thus, one of 
the reasons for the cosmopolitan character of the English vocabulary today is seen to be 
the multitude of contacts the English language has had with other tongues in widely 
scattered parts of the world.