A variant or dialectal term, possibly referring to a type of official or clerical worker in Indian administrative systems.
Possibly derived from Persian or Hindi administrative terminology, related to 'daftar' (office or desk). This appears to be a historical or regional term associated with the Indian subcontinent's bureaucratic structures under various empires.
Colonial era English borrowed hundreds of words from Indian languages, and 'dufter' might be one of those terms that helped British officials navigate the complex administrative systems they encountered. These borrowed words are linguistic fossils showing how cultures mixed through trade and governance.
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