Anglo-Indian. Forms: 7 berenjaw, 8 bringela, brinjalle, berenjal, biringal, 8–9 bringal, brinjal, -jaal, -jall, -jaul. Also (from Arab. and Pers.) 7 pl. pallingenies, 8 bedin-janas, 9 badenjân, badingân. [Anglo-Indian adaptation of Pg. bringella, bringiela, earlier beringela = Sp. berengena, al-berengena, ad. Arabic (al)-bāðinjān. The latter is a. Pers. bādin-gān, ad. Skr. vātin-gaṇa, all applied to the same fruit. (See below.)]
The Anglo-Indian name of the fruit of the Eggplant (Solanum Melongena).
1611. N. Dounton, in Purchas, Pilgr., I. 298 (Y.). Diuers sorts of prouisions to wit … Pallingenies, cucumbers.
1673. Fryer, Acc. E. India & P. (1698), 104 (Y.). The Garden … planted with Potatoes, Yawms, Berenjaws, both hot plants.
1789. Seir Mutakherin, III. 229 (Y.). He lived on raw Bringelas, on unripe mangoes, and on raw red pepper.
1789. Saunders, in Phil. Trans., LXXIX. 86. Melons, gourds, brinjals, and cucumbers.
1810. Maria Graham, Jrnl. Resid. India, 24 (Y.). I saw … two acres covered with brinjaal.
1861. Swinhoe, N. China Camp., 374. Sweet Potatoes, brinjalls, ground nuts, and buck wheat.
1866. Treas. Bot., II. 1070/1. Brinjals … are of the size and form of a goose’s egg, and usually of a rich purple colour.
[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 Sp. alberengena is the Fr. aubergine, dial. albergine, albergaine, albergame, also without the al-, belingèle, and, with m for b, merangène, melongène, botanical Lat. melongēna, It. melanzana, mela insana (= mad apple). All these go back to the Arabic bāðinjān, and ultimately to Skr. vātin-gāṇa, whence also Hindustāni baingan, began. The Malay berinjalā, prob. from Pg., illustrates the Anglo-Indian form (see Devic, and Yule). In the West Indies brinjalle has been further corrupted to brown-jolly. The Sanskrit name is said to mean ‘the class (that removes) the wind-disorder (windy humour),’ a meaning supposed to connect it with vārttāku, another name of the same plant, which is said to have a māruta-nāśin or ‘wind-removing’ effect. (J. T. Platts.)]
