Another Post on c 1600s Anglophone Orthographies
by Mr. Larry Rogers, BA Linguistics, 2009, Michigan State University
Image: Here's a 1700s image from Wikipedia showing Hindus and the word Gentoos.
Image: Here is the penguin species in question.
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Thus spake Wiktionary regarding the gentoo penguin's name:
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Etymology
Of Anglo-Indian origin (17th century), apparently a borrowing from Portuguese gentio (“heathen”) (compare gentile (“pagan”)).
Noun
Gentoo (plural Gentoos)
(historical) A Hindu (as opposed to a Muslim) in Mughal-era India.
The gentoo penguin (Pygoscelis papua), a species of penguin.
Proper noun
Gentoo
(historical) The Telugu language.
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Wikipedia, "Gentoo Penguin":
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(/ˈdʒɛntuː/ JEN-too)
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The application of gentoo to the penguin is unclear. Gentoo was an Anglo-Indian term to distinguish Hindus from Muslims. The English term may have originated from the Portuguese gentil ("pagan, gentile"). Some speculate that the white patch on the bird's head was thought to resemble a turban.[3]
It may also be a variation of another name for this bird, "Johnny penguin", Johnny being Juanito in Spanish and sounds vaguely like gentoo.[4][5][6] The Johnny rook, a predator, is likely named after the Johnny penguin.[7]
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Wikipedia, "Gentoo (term)":
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Etymology
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 aborigines of India from Muslims, the Moros or Moors.[1][3][9]
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 "mankind" or "animal".[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 over aboriginal people 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][7]
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]
After the term Hindu as a religion was established to represent non-Muslims and non-Christians, the word Gentoo became archaic and then obsolete, while its application on Telugu people and Telugu language (present Andhra region, part of Andhra Pradesh) in then Madras Province continued to distinguish them from Tamil people and Tamil language or Malbars (present: Tamil Nadu) in then Madras Province.[1][2][4][5][6]
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I suspect it's related to Hindu, earlier Hindoo, even todaly pronounced / hin duu /.
Anyhow, it's quite clear that it's an Anglophone spelling.
Old Persian for "India" was 𐏃𐎡𐎯𐎢 (h-i-(n)-du-u, hi^ndu-, “India”). This is from about 500 BC and occurs even on the Behistun Inscription.So it seems sad to me that this has eluded etymologists thus far if that's the case because *Hindu and *Gentuu are quite similar.
But, then again, who studies the Behistun Inscription anymore? Well, I guess you'd have to study at least the Behistun Inscription, Old Persian, and or gentoo penguins. Or galavant about dictionaries looking for laurels.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentoo_(term)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentoo_penguin
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Gentoo
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It also occurs to me that the modern pronunciation might be a mispronunication of what was originally c 1750 / *gen too /. This seems to have happened to a lot of 1600s Massachusett words, at least according to my non-Goddard pronunciation reconstruction. Moose is a good comparison, it was originally / *moos / I think, with the -e indicating a long vowel.
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