Glossary entry (derived from question below)
Hindi term or phrase:
setthi
English translation:
शेट्टी, श्रेष्ठि, सेठी
Hindi term
setthi
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?
| 5 +1 | शेट्टी, श्रेष्ठि, सेठी |
C.M. Rawal
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| 5 | श्रेष्ठि > सेठ |
Dr. Rajesh Kumar
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| 4 +1 | सेठी |
Lalit Sati
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Jan 11, 2009 13:49: changed "Kudoz queue" from "In queue" to "Public"
Jan 11, 2009 15:34: C.M. Rawal changed "Level" from "Non-PRO" to "PRO"
Jan 12, 2009 15:05: C.M. Rawal Created KOG entry
PRO (3): Dr. Rajesh Kumar, Lalit Sati, C.M. Rawal
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Proposed translations
India
Hindi Translator you can bank upon
Native in: Hindi
Works in: English to Hindi, Hindi to English
शेट्टी, श्रेष्ठि, सेठी
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
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Note added at 3 hrs (2009-01-11 17:14:51 GMT)
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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.
India
Quality & Commitment
Native in: Hindi (Variants: Khariboli, Indian) 
Works in: English to Hindi, Hindi to English
श्रेष्ठि > सेठ
India
M.Sc. | Full-time Freelance Translator
Native in: Hindi
Works in: English to Hindi, Hindi to English, Hindi
सेठी
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)
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Note added at 3 hrs (2009-01-11 16:55:01 GMT)
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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)
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Note added at 3 hrs (2009-01-11 17:01:05 GMT)
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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...
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Note added at 3 hrs (2009-01-11 17:12:44 GMT)
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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)
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Note added at 20 days (2009-01-31 18:10:17 GMT) Post-grading
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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।
| agree |
Anindita Basu (X)
13 hrs
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धन्यवाद
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