John Gilchrist (linguist)

John Borthwick Gilchrist
Detail from portrait of John Borthwick Gilchrist by Blanconi, presented to UCL, 1866
Born	(1759-06-19)19 June 1759 Edinburgh, Scotland
Died	8 January 1841(1841-01-08) (aged 81) Paris, France
Other names	John Hay Gilchrist
Residence	Edinburgh Calcutta London Paris
Nationality	Scottish
Fields	Linguistics Lexicology Indology
Known for	Study of Hindustani Foundation of the Gilchrist Educational Trust
Notable awards	Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh

John Borthwick Gilchrist FRSE LL.D. (19 June 1759 – 9 January 1841) was a Scottish surgeon, linguist, philologist and Indologist. Born and educated in Edinburgh, he spent most of his early career in India, where he made a study of the local languages. In later life, he returned to Britain and lived in Edinburgh and London. In his final years, he moved to Paris, where he died at the age of 81.

He is principally known for his study of the Hindustani language, which led to it being adopted as the lingua franca of northern India (including present-day Pakistan) by British colonists and indigenous people. He compiled and authored An English-Hindustani Dictionary, A Grammar of the Hindoostanee Language, The Oriental Linguist, and many more. His lexicon of Hindustani was published in Arabic script, Nāgarī script, and in Roman transliteration. He is also known for his role in the foundation of University College London and for endowing the Gilchrist Educational Trust.

Gilchrist was born on 19 June 1759 in Edinburgh, and baptised on 22 June 1759 with the names John Hay Gilchrist. His father was Walter Gilchrist, but very little is known about him except that he was a merchant who disappeared the year that John was born. His mother was Henrietta Farquharson (1730-1830), originally from Dundee, who lived to the very advanced age of 100. In later life, Gilchrist obtained a licence to use the name Borthwick, his maternal grandmother's surname, based on her descendancy from the Borthwick title in the Scottish peerage.