Login or register (free and only takes a few minutes) to participate in this question.You will also have access to many other tools and opportunities designed for those who have language-related jobs (or are passionate about them). Participation is free and the site has a strict confidentiality policy.
Hindi to English translations [PRO]
Other / Vocab Item | | Hindi term or phrase: setthi | Greetings,
According to a history of India I am reading, "setthi" is a kind of merchant. What kind exactly, and how is it spelt in Devanagari, please?
Best wishes,
Simon
PS Interestingly, Shilpa Shetty's surname seems to be spelt setthi in some versions, so could she be a member of that particular jati? |
| SeiTTKudoZ activityQuestions: 2859 ( 2 open) ( 5 closed without grading) Answers: 1
United Kingdom
| Local time: 03:20
|
| | शेट्टी, श्रेष्ठि, सेठी | Explanation:
The origin of the word is from Sanskrit, श्रेष्ठ or श्रेष्ठि. It refers to the trading Vaishya community. The word Shetty is widely used in Maharashtra while Sethi is mostly used in North India. The word Mahajan is also used to refer to this community.
Shetty Name Meaning and History
Indian (Karnataka): Hindu and Jain name found among the people of the Bunt or Nadava community in coastal Karnataka; it derives from Sanskrit šre?s?thi, which refers to the head of a mercantile or other guild. Unlike bearers of the cognate names Seth and Setty, however, the Bunts are not a mercantile community; they are a land-owning and farming class in South Kanara, a coastal district of Karnataka. This name is also found among the Jains of this region.
http://www.ancestry.com/facts/Shetty-family-history.ashx
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 3 hrs (2009-01-11 17:14:51 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
Since सेठ is derived from the Sanskrit word श्रेष्ठ and सेठी from the Sanskrit word श्रेष्ठि; शेट्टी also appears to have been derived from the Sanskrit word श्रेष्ठि. |
| Selected response from:
  cmrawal
Local time: 07:50
| Grading comment many thanks, excellent, very scholarly
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer |
| |
| Discussion entries: 0 |
|---|
Automatic update in 00:
|
44 mins confidence: 
25 mins confidence:  peer agreement (net): +1 सेठी
Explanation:
In present context : सेठी (Trader)
सेठ, सेठी, बनिया, धनिक used for Vaiśya
The Hindu varna (class) system, a Vaishya (Sanskrit वैश्य Vaiśya) is a member of the third of the four classes of traditional Indian society.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaishya)
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 3 hrs (2009-01-11 16:55:01 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
Please have a look on these links:
The word Setthi literally means 'a person having the best!'. The Setthi-Gahapati referred to very rich merchants and bankers having close contacts with the king. Anathapindika who donated the Jetavbna in Sravasti to Buddha was one such rich Setthi. A Setthi in Benaras engages in trade and drives a caravan of five hundred wagons. Their profession as bankers flourished with the invention of coined money. Coins called Shatamana, Karshapana, etc. are mentioned in the contemporary literature. Excavation: have also shown that coins had come in use by this period. Long distance trade is frequently mentioned...
(http://209.85.175.132/search?q=cache:UKlJhuhqLNcJ:www.egyank...
The term chetty is interpreted as Setti or setthi in pali, Hetti , Situ or Sitana in Sinhalese and as Etti in Tamil, this is how the community is refereed to in all historical documents or records. The Colombo Chetties are of the Tana Vaisya stock, according to Rev Fr Boschi the Vaisyas were the nobility of the land and were devided into various sub-divisions or castes, the highest of these sub-devisions was the Tana Vaisya or Chetties followed by the Pu Vaisya and Ko Vaisya etc: The Tana Vaisyas originally inhabited areas close to Coorg and Benares, were driven by the conquests of Mohammed of Ghazini to the South of India. Being merchants they then commenced trade with Lanka and this eventually gave rise to migration.
(http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~lkawgw/cch2007.htm)
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 3 hrs (2009-01-11 17:01:05 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
In Pali literature the Setthi conveys the idea of one of the upper bourgeoisie, a great merchant or a commercial magnate who sent his caravan to remote ...
(http://books.google.com/books?id=Wk4_ICH_g1EC&pg=PA102&lpg=P...
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 3 hrs (2009-01-11 17:12:44 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
One of my fellow translators mentioned "Sethi is mostly used in North India". But "Sethi" is a different word. Pl. see:
Sethi is a Khatri (Kukhran)Clan,(Warrior Clan) a regional sub caste of ten clans of Punjab.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sethi)
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 20 days (2009-01-31 18:10:17 GMT) Post-grading
--------------------------------------------------
SETTHI (सेट्ठि)
सही उच्चारण "सेट्ठि" है।
प्रसिद्ध इतिहास डी.एन.झा अपनी पुस्तक "प्राचीन भारत एक रूपरेखा" में लिखते हैं : "शिल्पी संघ की अध्यक्षता जेट्ठक करता था। व्यापार और उद्योग सेट्ठियों के हाथ में थे और वे कई बार शिल्पी-संघों के प्रधान भी होते थे।......"
उक्त संदर्भ में ही सेट्ठि शब्द अन्य पुस्तकों में भी देखने को मिलता है।
| Lalit Sati
India
Local time: 07:50
Works in field
Native speaker of:  Hindi
|
| |
| | Login to enter a peer comment (or grade) |
Return to KudoZ list
| Changes made by editors |
|---|
| Jan 12, 2009 - Changes made by cmrawal: | | Created KOG entry | KudoZ term => KOG term | | Jan 11, 2009 - Changes made by cmrawal: | | Level | Non-PRO => PRO | | Jan 11, 2009: | | Kudoz queue | In queue => Public |
|
|
| | | | X Sign in to your ProZ.com account... | | | | |
| KudoZ™ translation helpThe KudoZ network provides a framework for translators and others to assist each other with translations or explanations of terms and short phrases. See also: Search millions of term translations  |
The translation workplace 
