Etymology of honorific particle jI

[Matthew Kapstein]

but -jii is not equivalent to upadhyaaya, -arjee is.
Thus, we find the pairs in Bengali
Chattopadhyay/Chatterji
Mukhopadhyay/Mukherjee
etc.

Nevertheless, I used to introduce my students to
linguistic change in India with the example
of the common invitation to lunch in Bronx English:

jeet?

which, with just a little more erosion will no doubt
someday be pronounced "jee" as well!

kyaa socte haiN, jii?

Matthew Kapstein