This article is about a European term referring to people in India. For other uses, see Gentoo.
Gentoo, also spelled Gentue, Gentow or Jentue, was a term used by Europeans for the native inhabitants of India before the word Hindu, with its religious connotation, was used to distinguish a group from Muslims and members of other religious groups in India.[1][2][3][4][5]
It is unclear why Indians were called Gentoo. As Portuguese people arrived in India for trade, religious conversions, and colonisation before other Europeans, it is possible that the word was derived from the Portuguese word Gentio: a gentile, a heathen, or native. The Portuguese also appear to have used it to distinguish the inhabitants of India from Muslims, the Moros or Moors.[1][3][10]
And before this kingdom of Guzerate fell into the hands of the Moors, a certain race of Gentios whom the moors called Resbutos dwelt therein.[1]
According to 19th century philologist and Orientalist N.B. Halhed, there was a fanciful derivation of Gentoo from the Sanskrit word jantu, meaning "creature".[2]
The word Hindu is not originally Indian. Instead, the word Hindu started to acquire religious connotations only after the arrival of Muslims. The very first attempt by the British to establish social laws on the Indian subcontinent for administrative purposes (in order to assert the distinctiveness of Indian jurisprudence) was named A Code of Gentoo Law. The first digest of Indian legislation was published in 1776, was funded by the East India Company, supported by Warren Hastings, and was translated from Persian into English by Halhed.[1][2][4][5][8]
The Gentues, the portugal idiom for Gentiles, are the Aborgines, who enjoyed their freedom, till the Moors or Scythian Tartars... undermining them, took advantage of the civil Commotions.[1]
"Gliding Gentoos". thehindu.com. Retrieved March 16, 2012. As to why they are called Gentoo is not clear. According to the Oxford English Dictionary Gentoo was an Anglo-Indian term
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