Unstandardized Language and its Effects on Credibility

As a historical text and firsthand recollection of life in the region and major cities, it is only natural to approach it with speculation. Such speculation does not hold back in the case of this text. Many of the common terms used in this book and its various volumes were at the cusp of becoming standardized, thus the works of this period regarding similar topics can have vastly different spellings. Such examples are that of using the term "Hindustan" for the region of India, spelling Hindu such as hindoo and Muslim as moslim.

The inconsistencies of the spellings at this time are well documented through the early Merriam Webster Dictionaries. According to the 1806 edition of the Webster Dictionary term for "Hindoo" or "Hindu" means relating to India or Hindustan. This shows the variety of spellings for the terms of the region, yet in the 1828 edition of the Dictionary reads that "Hindoo" means an aboriginal of Hindustan.

For a region that would revolt from British occupation in just over two decades after the publication of this text, it is possible that this text should be interpreted as written from a colonizer's point of view. When historical writing about religious and cultural topics uses comparisons such as calling the Amravati (the home of the gods in Hinduism) as the "Hindoo Olympus" it is possibly the writing of Anglo-Indian society is actually writing of society of a people that are not viewed as the same status as the English.

1806 edition :

https://exhibits.lib.lehigh.edu/exhibits/show/dictionaries/english-dictionaries/1806-webster

1826 edition :

https://exhibits.lib.lehigh.edu/exhibits/show/dictionaries/english-dictionaries/1828-webster