Tarkeean

Lugubert

I was fascinated the first time I read Rudyard Kipling's Kim. That was some 50 years ago. Some effects of that feeling are that I have studied a little Sankrit, a little Hindi, and not so little about South Asian religions.

Most of the times I re-read the book, I understand new things, how Kipling's transcription of the indigenous languages works (it's very counter-intuitive to a Swede, especially a young one). I have tried to write down explanations of all Indian expressions/references in the book, and there are not too many still left. One of the last examples was when I understood that the blind woman Huneefa (which I always thought of as Huh-neh-fa) must be Hanifa حنيفة 'the true believer'.

But one which defies my Internet (etc.) searches is tarkeean. The name is very crucial in a passage. The only clue I have is from the book, "'That is kichree - vegetable curry,' said Kim." It could be a synonym of tarkari, but I am looking for more information including the spelling of tarkeean.

PeakXV

Translation

Kipling.org translates it as tarkarri but the more common form seems to be tarkari. It sounds familiar - I think I've had a variation of that dish in Nepal.

__________________
We shall not cease from exploration and at the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started ...and know the place for the first time.
T.S. Eliot

Don't go to India ~ Pre-trip Warnings & Misconceptions?

machadinha

Wonder if dal tarka/tarka dal could be related? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaunk

__________________
Reading tips, all picked up at IndiaMike : INDAX's A Comprehensive Guide To India / Dinoj Surendran's Desi Humor / ITHVC on Culture Shock & Travel Health / JetLag Travel Guides For the Undiscerning Traveller / India Travel Links

Lugubert

That wiki had "tarka, tadka", so I grabbed McGregor. तड़का ta.dkaa means 'seasoning', so that .d should be a part of the proper spelling. Thank you both!

shashank.aggarwal

Trakari is vegetable..

Tarka/Tadka is used to give flavor to boiled dal...

to the OP..can you please write down few line..just wanted to know in which context the work was used...

__________________
Travelogue - Around India
Random Reviews

machadinha

I was wondering if it couldn't be a combo of tarka/tadka and karhi or sth. to that effect. Layman's alert: such inferences are too easily made regarding foreign languages, it's just my guesswork, I don't know Hindi or any Indian language. It would take a linguist in the field (or a decent etymological dict.) to get to the heart of it.

Dilliwala

Tarkari simply means sabzi - vegetable/s. Tar-kaa-ree comes from Sanskrit (so is used primarily in eastern UP, Bihar, W. Bengal, Assam, Orissa - the last 3 with a variation in the first syllable). The t is soft, r's are soft - as in 'rasta'(road) and Rajasthan.
(No doubt u folks all know that sabzi comes from the Persian 'sabz' - green. )
Tarka (tar-kaa) - soft t, rolled r - as in 'gari'(car) and 'sari'(uknowwhatthatis). Has nothing to do with the etymology of tarkari and/or karhi. It's a North Indian word, means as described by shashank, the seasoning added to plain dal - to "spice it up".

machadinha

Sounds like a sound exposition Dilli Thanks.

Dilliwala

To answer the question in my Inbox - it's quite elementary actually. Most Indians cud tell u the same, if they apply their minds to it. Maybe I just make more of an effort to answer these points in an, umm, elementary manner, heheh.
But u're right - like you, I do have an interest in the 'origins of words'.

Lugubert

Ch. 10 from http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Kim/Chapter_10

But suppose now, I, or any one of the Department, come to you dressed quite different. You would not know me at all unless I choose, I bet you. Some day I will prove it. I come as Ladakhi trader - oh, anything - and I say to you: "You want to buy precious stones?" You say: "Do I look like a man who buys precious stones?" Then I say: "Even verree poor man can buy a turquoise or tarkeean." '

'That is kichree - vegetable curry,' said Kim.

'Of course it is. You say: "Let me see the tarkeean." Then I say: "It was cooked by a woman, and perhaps it is bad for your caste.

anar

there's no such word (in current use) in hindi - 'tarkeean' is gobbledegook.