3664 🏆 BROWN JOLLY

[Paul Keating]

The two definitions that attracted the most votes were Johnny Barrs’ heritage tomato (#4) and Tim Lodge’s donkey cart (#7). Both players were close, in different ways, to the real definition, which was “The fruit of the eggplant or aubergine, Solanum melongena” (#6). Johnny’s def was for (as he pointed out) a vegetable of the same genus, however unlikely non-botanists find that; and Tim’s etymology, a Hobson-Jobson of an Urdu word, was breathtakingly close to the truth. 

Tim scores a natural 6, having earned 6 votes for his donkey cart. Johnny gathered 5 votes for the tomato, one of which was his own, and guessed correctly, for a runner-up score of 6*.

For me this round was fun and informative. I learnt that there really is an English pub game that is just as preposterous as Shani described it (#5) – though I should say, Shani, if you plan to use that in a future round, I am now DQ.

Brown jolly is a dated (Wiktionary’s word; I would say obsolete, †1814) Caribbean and Jamaican adaptation of brinjal, which is the usual South African English word for eggplant or aubergine. 

The OED calls it the Anglo-Indian form of Portuguese bringella, bringiela, from Spanish (al)berengena. Though Indian in origin, it arrived in Anglo-Indian via Portuguese. And the DSAE reckons it was independently borrowed from Portuguese into South African English. 

What intrigued me is that it turns out that brinjal, aubergine, melanzane and brown jolly are not just names for the same plant, but unlikely as it might seem, cognates. The OED provides this mini-essay (in measured Victorian prose) on these, and yet more cognates, by J. T. Platts (1830–1904), an entirely self-taught scholar who ended up teaching Persian at Cambridge, and received an MA by decree from Cambridge on that account.

Few names even of plants exemplify so fully the changes to which a foreign and unintelligible word is liable under the influence of popular etymology and form-association. Cognate with the Spanish alberengena is the French aubergine, dialect albergine, albergaine, albergame, also without the al-, belingèle, and, with m for b, merangène, melongène, botanical Latin melongēna, Italian melanzana, mela insana (= mad apple). All these go back to the Arabic bāðinjān, and ultimately to Sanskrit vātin-gāna, whence also Hindi baingan, began. The Malay berinjalā, probably from Portuguese, illustrates the Anglo-Indian form. In the West Indies brinjalle has been further corrupted to brown-jolly. 

That discovery made this round a lot of fun for me.

Here are the full results.

1	A common name for the dermestid beetle, also known as the flesh-eating beetle.
	No votes
	Submitted by: Nancy Shepherdson, who did not vote.
2	A small workboat used for carrying cargo between ship and shore.
	Votes from Tim Bourne, Efrem Mallach, Shani Naylor
	Submitted by: Eric Boxer, who voted for 4, 7. Score: 3.
3	A lace-like candy made by pouring hot treacle over fresh snow using a back and forth motion.
	Vote from Debbie Embler
	Submitted by: Mike Shefler, who voted for 5, 10. Score: 1.
4	A heritage tomato cultivar with a red-brown skin.
	Votes from Johnny Barrs, Eric Boxer, Hugo Kornelis, Tim Lodge, Judy Madnick
	Submitted by: Johnny Barrs, who voted for 4, 6. Score: 4+2=6*.
5	A British pub game played by two teams; while one team dances in a circle a player from the other team attempts to hit them by throwing a beer-soaked cloth (also called the brown jolly).
	Votes from Mike Shefler, Dan Widdis
	Submitted by: Shani Naylor, who voted for 2, 7. Score: 2.
6	The fruit of the eggplant or aubergine, Solanum melongena.
	Votes from Johnny Barrs, Judy Madnick
	Real Definition. Score: D2.
7	A donkey cart for hire [British troops’ corruption of the Urdu word barunjali].
	Votes from Tony Abell, Tim Bourne, Eric Boxer, Debbie Embler, Efrem Mallach, Shani Naylor
	Submitted by: Tim Lodge, who voted for 4, 10. Score: 6.
8	A single square from a moulded chocolate bar.
	No votes
	Submitted by: Debbie Embler, who voted for 3, 7.
9	A low, bulbous seed capsule found on certain marsh plants and noted for its dark husk and buoyant interior.
	No votes
	Submitted by: Judy Madnick, who voted for 4, 6. Score: 0+2=2*.
10	18c naval slang. Oakum; loose, tar-soaked hemp or jute fiber used to caulk wooden ships and pack joints.
	Votes from Hugo Kornelis, Tim Lodge, Mike Shefler
	Submitted by: Efrem Mallach, who voted for 2, 7. Score: 3.
11	Chocolate ice cream with cookie dough and almond flakes, usually served with whipped cream and a splash of Cointreau.
	No votes
	Submitted by: Hugo Kornelis, who voted for 4, 10.
12	A mission undertaken to gain favor with a superior or other person of influence.
	Votes from Tony Abell, Dan Widdis
	Submitted by: Tim Bourne, who voted for 2, 7. Score: 2.
13	A small gratuity given to an innkeeper or servant for keeping ale, fire, or lodging ready.
	No votes
	Submitted by: Dan Widdis, who voted for 5, 12.
—	Voter who did not submit a definition
	No definition from Tony Abell, who voted for 7, 12.

Def no	Player	Voted for	Votes from	Score from votes	Correct guess	Total
7	Lodge	4, 10	Abell, Bourne, Boxer, Embler, Mallach, Naylor	6		6
4	Barrs	4, 6	Barrs, Boxer, Kornelis, Lodge, Madnick	4	2	6*
2	Boxer	4, 7	Bourne, Mallach, Naylor	3		3
10	Mallach	2, 7	Kornelis, Lodge, Shefler	3		3
5	Naylor	2, 7	Shefler, Widdis	2		2
12	Bourne	2, 7	Abell, Widdis	2		2
9	Madnick	4, 6			2	2*
3	Shefler	5, 10	Embler	1		1
1	Shepherdson	DNV				0
8	Embler	3, 7				0
13	Widdis	5, 12				0
No definition	Abell	7, 12				0
11	Kornelis	4, 10				0

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Paul Keating

Soustons, Nouvelle Aquitaine, France