The History of English Podcast Episode 183: The Fabric of Our Lives
May 13, 2025
Explore the 'cotton craze' of the 1600s and its global impact, especially on the English language. Discover how English and Dutch traders connected with India and Japan, introducing new terms into English. Learn about the unique qualities of Indian cotton fabrics and their significance in textile history. Uncover intriguing connections between fabric names and their origins, while examining the rise of cotton's value, leading to deeper economic implications, including the darker sides of history such as the slave trade.
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Indian Cotton As Global Currency
- Indian cotton fabrics were uniquely thin, vividly dyed, and color-fast, creating massive international demand across Asia and Africa.
- That demand made Indian cotton a form of international currency and reshaped global trade patterns in the 1600s.
First Formal England–Japan Contact
- John Saris arrived in Japan in 1613 and gained trading permission for the English East India Company.
- Richard Cox's diary records gifts of Indian cotton and the first English uses of cummerbund and chint.
How Japanese Words Entered English
- English borrowings from Japan entered via Chinese and Malay intermediaries, producing words like Japan, shogun, and later tycoon.
- Cultural translation paths shaped which foreign terms entered English and how they evolved.
