Blighty is an
EnglishBritish English, or UK English or English English , is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the United Kingdom from forms used elsewhere...
slang term for
BritainThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
, deriving from the
HindustaniHindustani or Hindi-Urdu is an Indo-Aryan language that spans several closely related dialects in Pakistan and northern India. Although Hindustani is based largely on the Khariboli dialect, it also includes several nonstandard dialects of the Hindi languages...
word
vilāyatī (विलायती) (pronounced
bilāti in many Indian dialects and languages) meaning "foreign", and is itself derived from the
ArabicArabic is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages such as Hebrew and the Neo-Aramaic languages. In terms of speakers, the Arabic macrolanguage is the largest member of the Semitic language family. It is spoken by more than 280 million people as...
word
wilayat, meaning a kingdom or ministry.
The term was more common in the latter days of the
British RajThe British Raj was the British colonial rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; it can also refer to the period of dominion, and even the region under the rule...
, but can now be considered self-consciously archaic and, when used by some speakers younger than the dissolution of the
British EmpireThe British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom, that had originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height it was...
, can be intended slightly
ironicallyIrony is a situation, literary or rhetorical device, in which there is an incongruity, discordance or unintended connection that goes beyond the most evident meaning....
.
Blighty is an
EnglishBritish English, or UK English or English English , is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the United Kingdom from forms used elsewhere...
slang term for
BritainThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
, deriving from the
HindustaniHindustani or Hindi-Urdu is an Indo-Aryan language that spans several closely related dialects in Pakistan and northern India. Although Hindustani is based largely on the Khariboli dialect, it also includes several nonstandard dialects of the Hindi languages...
word
vilāyatī (विलायती) (pronounced
bilāti in many Indian dialects and languages) meaning "foreign", and is itself derived from the
ArabicArabic is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages such as Hebrew and the Neo-Aramaic languages. In terms of speakers, the Arabic macrolanguage is the largest member of the Semitic language family. It is spoken by more than 280 million people as...
word
wilayat, meaning a kingdom or ministry.
The term was more common in the latter days of the
British RajThe British Raj was the British colonial rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; it can also refer to the period of dominion, and even the region under the rule...
, but can now be considered self-consciously archaic and, when used by some speakers younger than the dissolution of the
British EmpireThe British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom, that had originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height it was...
, can be intended slightly
ironicallyIrony is a situation, literary or rhetorical device, in which there is an incongruity, discordance or unintended connection that goes beyond the most evident meaning....
. It is more commonly used as a term of endearment by the expatriate British community, or those on holiday to refer to home.
In their 1886 Anglo-Indian dictionary,
Hobson-JobsonHobson-Jobson is the short title of Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases, and of Kindred Terms, Etymological, Historical, Geographical and Discursive, a historical dictionary of Anglo-Indian words and terms from Indian languages which came into use during the...
, Sir
Henry YuleSir Henry Yule , was a Scottish Orientalist.He was born at Inveresk, Scotland, near Edinburgh, the son of Major William Yule , translator of the Apothegms of Ali. Henry Yule was educated at Edinburgh, Addiscombe and Chatham, and joined the Bengal Engineers in 1840...
and
Arthur C. BurnellArthur Coke Burnell , English scholar in Sanskrit, was born at St. Briavels, Gloucestershire.He was sent to King's College, London, where he met Professor V. Fausböll of Copenhagen, who seems to have turned towards Indian studies a mind that had already shown a keen interest in languages and...
explained that the word came to be used in British India for several things the British had brought into the country, such as the tomato (
bilayati baingan, whose literal translation is "foreign
aubergineThe eggplant, aubergine, or brinjal , is a plant of the family Solanaceae and genus Solanum. It bears a fruit of the same name, commonly used as a vegetable in cooking...
") and
soda waterSoda water, also known as seltzer in the US and Canada, is water which is carbonated and thus made effervescent by the addition of carbon dioxide gas under pressure. Soda water is sometimes used to dilute strong alcoholic drinks, e.g. cocktails such as a whisky and soda, or Campari and soda. It can...
, which was commonly called
bilayati pani ("foreign water").
During
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
, "Dear Old Blighty" was a common sentimental reference, suggesting a longing for home by soldiers in the
trenchesTrench warfare was a form of warfare in which both combatants occupied static fortified fighting lines, consisting largely of trenches, in which troops were largely immune to the enemy's small arms fire and were substantially sheltered from artillery. It has become a byword for stalemate in...
. The term was particularly used by World War I poets such as
Wilfred OwenWilfred Edward Salter Owen MC was an English and Welsh poet and soldier, regarded by many as one of the leading poets of the First World War...
and
Siegfried SassoonSiegfried Loraine Sassoon, CBE, MC was an English poet and author. He became known as a writer of satirical anti-war verse during World War I...
. During that war, a
Blighty woundA million-dollar wound is military slang referring to a type of wound received in combat which is serious enough to get the person sent away from the fighting, but is not fatal, nor will it leave the person permanently crippled...
-- a wound serious enough to require recuperation away from the trenches but not serious enough to kill or maim the victim -- was hoped for by many, and
sometimes self-inflictedA self-inflicted wound , is the act of harming oneself where there are no underlying psychological problems related to the self-injury, but where the injurer wanted to take advantage of being injured.-Reasons to self-wound:...
.
The
Music HallMusic hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment which was popular between 1850 and 1960. The term can refer to:# A particular form of variety entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy and speciality acts...
artiste
Vesta TilleyMatilda Alice Powles , was an English male impersonator. At the age of 11, she adopted the stage name Vesta Tilley becoming the most famous and well paid music hall male impersonator of her day...
had a hit in 1916 with the song
I'm Glad I've Got a Bit of a Blighty One (
1916), in which she played a soldier delighted to have been wounded and in hospital. "When I think about my dugout" she sang, "where I dare not stick my mug out... I'm glad I've got a bit of a blighty one". Another Music Hall hit was
Take Me Back to Dear Old Blighty, which was sampled at the beginning of
The Queen Is DeadThe Queen Is Dead is the third studio album by the English rock band The Smiths. It was released on 16 June 1986 in the United Kingdom by Rough Trade Records. Sire Records released the album in the United States on 23 June 1986...
by
The SmithsThe Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the songwriting partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr , the band also included Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce...
.
BlightyParade was a magazine for men in Britain.It was originally known as Blighty between 1916 and 1920 and was intended as a humorous magazine for servicemen....
was the name of a weekly magazine published in London from 1939 to 1958 for young men, and possibly aimed at servicemen, competing against magazines such as
Titbits and
ReveilleReveille was a popular British weekly tabloid newspaper during the Second World War
[Parade]Parade was a magazine for men in Britain.It was originally known as Blighty between 1916 and 1920 and was intended as a humorous magazine for servicemen....
. Another humorous paper of the same name was published in London from 1916 to 1920, according to the British Library catalogue.
External links
World Wide Words Entry
The British satellite channel 'Blighty' was first aired in 2009.