Some things stay the same: The origins of the word bhatta

KARACHI:

The word ‘bhatta’ originally means ‘boiled rice’, explains Khaled Ahmed, who is the author of ‘Word for Word: Stories Behind Everyday Words We Use’ (OUP 2010).

Bhaat means rice and it becomes bhatta for boiled rice, which used to be handed out in small amounts, say a handful, with the salaries for the lower servants or staff of a household in the subcontinent. “It meant a little something extra,” he told The Express Tribune on Sunday over the telephone.

Criminals did not start by using the word ‘bhatta’ but used to ask for ‘a little something extra’. In fact, he said, the word bhatta has the original meaning in the official 24-volume Urdu dictionary till today.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 19^th, 2012.