# Hobson-Jobson/C

C
CABAYA, s. This word, though of Asiatic origin, was perhaps introduced into India by the Portuguese, whose writers of the 16th century apply it to the surcoat or long tunic of muslin, which is one of the most common native garments of the better classes in India. The word seems to be one of those which the Portuguese had received in older times from the Arabic (ḳabā, 'a vesture'). From Dozy's remarks this would seem in Barbary to take the form ḳabāya. Whether from Arabic or from Portuguese, the word has been introduced into the Malay countries, and is in common use in Java for the light cotton surcoat worn by Europeans, both ladies and gentlemen, in dishabille. The word is not now used in India Proper, unless by the Portuguese. But it has become familiar in Dutch, from its use in Java. [Mr. Gray, in his notes to Pyrard (i. 372), thinks that the word was introduced before the time of the Portuguese, and remarks that kabaya in Ceylon means a coat or jacket worn by a European or native.]
1552.—"... he ordered him then to bestow a cabaya."—Castanheda, iv. 438. See also Stanley's Correa, 132.
1554.—"And moreover there are given to these Kings (Malabar Rajas) when they come to receive these allowances, to each of them a cabaya of silk, or of scarlet, of 4 cubits, and a cap or two, and two sheath-knives."—S. Botelho, Tombo, 26.
1572.—
"Luzem da fina purpura as cabayas, Lustram os pannos da tecida seda." Camões, ii. 93.
"Cabaya de damasco rico e dino Da Tyria cor, entre elles estimada." Ibid. 95.
In these two passages Burton translates caftan.
1585.—"The King is apparelled with a Cabie made like a shirt tied with strings on one side."—R. Fitch, in Hakl., ii. 386.
1598.—"They wear sometimes when they go abroad a thinne cotton linnen gowne called Cabaia...."—Linschoten, 70; [Hak. Soc. i. 247].
page 138ac. 1610.—"Cette jaquette ou soutane, qu'ils appellent Libasse (P. libās, 'clothing') ou Cabaye, est de toile de Cotton fort fine et blanche, qui leur va jusqu'aux talons."—Pyrard de Laval, i. 265; [Hak. Soc. i. 372].
[1614.—"The white Cabas which you have with you at Bantam would sell here."—Foster, Letters, ii. 44.]
1645.—"Vne Cabaye qui est vne sorte de vestement comme vne large soutane ouverte par le devant, à manches fort larges."—Cardim, Rel. de la Prov. du Japon, 56.
1689.—"It is a distinction between the Moors and Bannians, the Moors tie their Caba's always on the Right side, and the Bannians on the left...."—Ovington, 314. This distinction is still true.
1860.—"I afterwards understood that the dress they were wearing was a sort of native garment, which there in the country they call sarong or kabaai, but I found it very unbecoming."—Max Havelaar, 43. [There is some mistake here, sarong and Kabaya are quite different.]
CABOB, s. Ar.-H. kabāb. This word is used in Anglo-Indian households generically for roast meat. [It usually follows the name of the dish, e.g. murghī kabāb, 'roast fowl'.] But specifically it is applied to the dish described in the quotations from Fryer and Ovington.
1673.—"Cabob is Rostmeat on Skewers, cut in little round pieces no bigger than a Sixpence, and Ginger and Garlick put between each."—Fryer, 404.
1689.—"Cabob, that is Beef or Mutton cut in small pieces, sprinkled with salt and pepper, and dipt with Oil and Garlick, which have been mixt together in a dish, and then roasted on a Spit, with sweet Herbs put between and stuff in them, and basted with Oil and Garlick all the while."—Ovington, 397.
1814.—"I often partook with my Arabs of a dish common in Arabia called Kabob or Kab-ab, which is meat cut into small pieces and placed on thin skewers, alternately between slices of onion and green ginger, seasoned with pepper, salt, and Kian, fried in ghee, to be ate with rice and dholl."—Forbes, Or. Mem. ii. 480; [2nd ed. ii. 82; in i. 315 he writes Kebabs].
CABOOK, s. This is the Ceylon term for the substance called in India Laterite (q.v.), and in Madras by the native name Moorum (q.v.). The word is perhaps the Port. cabouco or cavouco, 'a quarry.' It is not in Singh. Dictionaries. [Mr. Ferguson says that it is a corruption of the Port. pedras de cavouco, 'quarry-stones,' the last word being by a misapprehension applied to the stones themselves. The earliest instance of the use of the word he has met with occurs in the Travels of Dr. Aegidius Daalmans (1687–89), who describes kaphok stone as 'like small pebbles lying in a hard clay, so that if a large square stone is allowed to lie for some time in the water, the clay dissolves and the pebbles fall in a heap together; but if this stone is laid in good mortar, so that the water cannot get at it, it does good service' (J. As. Soc. Ceylon, x. 162). The word is not in the ordinary Singhalese Dicts., but A. Mendis Gunasekara in his Singhalese Grammar (1891), among words derived from the Port., gives kabuk-gal (cabouco), cabook (stone), 'laterite.']
" "The houses are built with cabook, and neatly whitewashed with chunam."—Ibid. 75.
CABUL, CAUBOOL, &c., n.p. This name (Kābul) of the chief city of N. Afghanistan, now so familiar, is perhaps traceable in Ptolemy, who gives in that same region a people called Καβολῖται, and a city called Κάβουρα. Perhaps, however, one or both may be corroborated by the νάρδος Καβαλίτη of the Periplus. The page 139aaccent of Kābul is most distinctly on the first and long syllable, but English mouths are very perverse in error here. Moore accents the last syllable:
"... pomegranates full Of melting sweetness, and the pears And sunniest apples that Caubul In all its thousand gardens bears." Light of the Harem.
Mr. Arnold does likewise in Sohrab and Rustam:
"But as a troop of pedlars from Cabool, Cross underneath the Indian Caucasus...."
It was told characteristically of the late Lord Ellenborough that, after his arrival in India, though for months he heard the name correctly spoken by his councillors and his staff, he persisted in calling it Căbōol till he met Dost Mahommed Khan. After the interview the Governor-General announced as a new discovery, from the Amir's pronunciation, that Cābŭl was the correct form.
[c. 1590.—"The territory of Kábul comprises twenty Tumáns."—Āīn, tr. Jarrett, ii. 410.]
1856.—
"Ah Cabul! word of woe and bitter shame; Where proud old England's flag, dishonoured, sank Beneath the Crescent; and the butcher knives Beat down like reeds the bayonets that had flashed From Plassey on to snow-capt Caucasus, In triumph through a hundred years of war." The Banyan Tree, a Poem.
CACOULI, s. This occurs in the App. to the Journal d'Antoine Galland, at Constantinople in 1673: "Dragmes de Cacouli, drogue qu'on use dans le Cahue," i.e. in coffee (ii. 206). This is Pers. Arab. ḳāḳula for Cardamom, as in the quotation from Garcia. We may remark that Ḳāḳula was a place somewhere on the Gulf of Siam, famous for its fine aloes-wood (see Ibn Batuta, iv. 240–44). And a bastard kind of Cardamom appears to be exported from Siam, Amomum xanthoides, Wal.
CADDY, s. i.e. tea-caddy. This is possibly, as Crawfurd suggests, from Catty (q.v.), and may have been originally applied to a small box containing a catty or two of tea. The suggestion is confirmed by this advertisement:
CADET, s. (From Prov. capdet, and Low Lat. capitettum, [dim. of caput, 'head'] Skeat). This word is of course by no means exclusively Anglo-Indian, but it was in exceptionally common and familiar use in India, as all young officers appointed to the Indian army went out to that country as cadets, and were only promoted to ensigncies and posted to regiments after their arrival—in olden days sometimes a considerable time after their arrival. In those days there was a building in Fort William known as the 'Cadet Barrack'; and for some time early in last century the cadets after their arrival were sent to a sort of college at Baraset; a system which led to no good, and was speedily abolished.
1769.—"Upon our leaving England, the cadets and writers used the great cabin promiscuously; but finding they were troublesome and quarrelsome, we brought a Bill into the house for their ejectment."—Life of Lord Teignmouth, i. 15.
CADJAN, s. Jav. and Malay ḳājāng, [or according to Mr. Skeat, kajang], meaning 'palm-leaves,' especially those page 140aof the Nipa (q.v.) palm, dressed for thatching or matting. Favre's Dict. renders the word feuilles entrelacées. It has been introduced by foreigners into S. and W. India, where it is used in two senses:
a. Coco-palm leaves matted, the common substitute for thatch in S. India.
c. 1680.—"Ex iis (foliis) quoque rudiores mattae, Cadjang vocatae, conficiuntur, quibus aedium muri et navium orae, quum frumentum aliquod in iis deponere velimus, obteguntur."—Rumphius, i. 71.
1727.—"We travelled 8 or 10 miles before we came to his (the Cananore Raja's) Palace, which was built with Twigs, and covered with Cadjans or Cocoa-nut Tree Leaves woven together."—A. Hamilton, i. 296.
1809.—"The lower classes (at Bombay) content themselves with small huts, mostly of clay, and roofed with cadjan."—Maria Graham, 4.
b. A strip of fan-palm leaf, i.e. either of the Talipot (q.v.) or of the Palmyra, prepared for writing on; and so a document written on such a strip. (See OLLAH.)
1716.—"The President acquaints the Board that he has intercepted a villainous letter or Cajan."—Ibid. ii. 231.
CADJOWA, s. [P. kajāwah]. A kind of frame or pannier, of which a pair are slung across a camel, sometimes made like litters to carry women or sick persons, sometimes to contain sundries of camp equipage.
CAEL, n.p. Properly Kāyal [Tam. kāyu, 'to be hot'], 'a lagoon' or 'backwater.' Once a famous port near the extreme south of India at the mouth of the Tamraparni R., in the Gulf of Manaar, and on the coast of Tinnevelly, now long abandoned. Two or three miles higher up the river lies the site of Korkai or Kolkai, the Κόλχοι ἐμπόριον of the Greeks, each port in succession having been destroyed by the retirement of the sea. Tutikorin, six miles N., may be considered the modern and humbler representative of those ancient marts; [see Stuart, Man. of Tinnevelly, 38 seqq.].
1442.—"The Coast, which includes Calicut with some neighbouring ports, and which extends as far as Kabel (read Ḳāyel) a place situated opposite the Island of Serendib...."—Abdurrazzāk, in India in the XVth Cent., 19.
1444.—"Ultra eas urbs est Cahila, qui locus margaritas ... producit."—Conti, in Poggius, De Var. Fortunae.
1498.—"Another Kingdom, Caell, which has a Moorish King, whilst the people are Christian. It is ten days from Calecut by sea ... here there be many pearls."—Roteiro de V. da Gama, 108.
1514.—"Passando oltre al Cavo Comedi (C. Comorin), sono gentili; e intra esso e Gael è dove si pesca le perle."—Giov. da Empoli, 79.
CAFFER, CAFFRE, COFFREE, &c., n.p. The word is properly the page 141aAr. Kāfir, pl. Kofra, 'an infidel, an unbeliever in Islām.' As the Arabs applied this to Pagan negroes, among others, the Portuguese at an early date took it up in this sense, and our countrymen from them. A further appropriation in one direction has since made the name specifically that of the black tribes of South Africa, whom we now call, or till recently did call, Caffres. It was also applied in the Philippine Islands to the Papuas of N. Guinea, and the Alfuras of the Moluccas, brought into the slave-market.
In another direction the word has become a quasi-proper name of the (more or less) fair, and non-Mahommedan, tribes of Hindu-Kush, sometimes called more specifically the Siāhposh or 'black-robed' Cafirs.
The term is often applied malevolently by Mahommedans to Christians, and this is probably the origin of the mistake pervading some of the early Portuguese narratives, especially the Roteiro of Vasco da Gama, which described many of the Hindu and Indo-Chinese States as being Christian.
c. 1404.—Of a people near China: "They were Christians after the manner of those of Cathay."—Clavijo by Markham, 141.
" And of India: "The people of India are Christians, the Lord and most part of the people, after the manner of the Greeks; and among them also are other Christians who mark themselves with fire in the face, and their creed is different from that of the others; for those who thus mark themselves with fire are less esteemed than the others. And among them are Moors and Jews, but they are subject to the Christians."—Clavijo, (orig.) § cxxi.; comp. Markham, 153–4. Here we have (1) the confusion of Caffer and Christian; and (2) the confusion of Abyssinia (India Tertia or Middle India of some medieval writers) with India Proper.
c. 1470.—"The sea is infested with pirates, all of whom are Kofars, neither Christians nor Mussulmans; they pray to stone idols, and know not Christ."—Athan. Nikitin, in India in the XVth Cent., p. 11.
1552.—"... he learned that the whole people of the Island of S. Lourenço ... were black Cafres with curly hair like those of Mozambique."—Barros, II. i. 1.
page 141b1563.—"In the year 1484 there came to Portugal the King of Benin, a Caffre by nation, and he became a Christian."—Stanley's Correa, p. 8.
1572.—
"Verão os Cafres asperos e avaros Tirar a linda dama seus vestidos." Camões, v. 47.
By Burton:
"shall see the Caffres, greedy race and fere "strip the fair Ladye of her raiment torn."
1582.—"These men are called Cafres and are Gentiles."—Castañeda (by N.L.), f. 42b.
c. 1610.—"Il estoit fils d'vn Cafre d'Ethiopie, et d'vne femme de ces isles, ce qu'on appelle Mulastre."—Pyrard de Laval, i. 220; [Hak. Soc. i. 307].
[c. 1610.—"... a Christian whom they call Caparou."—Ibid., Hak. Soc. i. 261.]
1614.—"That knave Simon the Caffro, not what the writer took him for—he is a knave, and better lost than found."—Sainsbury, i. 356.
[1615.—"Odola and Gala are Capharrs which signifieth misbelievers."—Sir T. Roe, Hak. Soc. i. 23.]
1653.—"... toy mesme qui passe pour vn Kiaffer, ou homme sans Dieu, parmi les Mausulmans."—De la Boullaye-le-Gouz, 310 (ed. 1657).
c. 1665.—"It will appear in the sequel of this History, that the pretence used by Aureng-Zebe, his third Brother, to cut off his (Dara's) head, was that he was turned Kafer, that is to say, an Infidel, of no Religion, an Idolater."—Bernier, E. T. p. 3; [ed. Constable, p. 7].
1673.—"They show their Greatness by their number of Sumbreeroes and Cofferies, whereby it is dangerous to walk late."—Fryer, 74.
" "Beggars of the Musslemen Cast, that if they see a Christian in good Clothes ... are presently upon their Punctilios with God Almighty, and interrogate him, Why he suffers him to go afoot and in Rags, and this Coffery (Unbeliever) to vaunt it thus?"—Ibid. 91.
1678.—"The Justices of the Choultry to turn Padry Pasquall, a Popish Priest, out of town, not to return again, and if it proves to be true that he attempted to seduce Mr. Mohun's Coffre Franck from the Protestant religion."—Ft. St. Geo. Cons. in Notes and Exts., Pt. i. p. 72.
1759.—"Blacks, whites, Coffries, and even the natives of the country (Pegu) have not been exempted, but all universally have been subject to intermittent Fevers and Fluxes" (at Negrais).—In Dalrymple, Or. Rep. i. 124.
" Among expenses of the Council at Calcutta in entertaining the Nabob we find "Purchasing a Coffre boy, Rs. 500."—In Long, 194.
1781.—"To be sold by Private Sale—Two Coffree Boys, who can play remarkably page 142awell on the French Horn, about 18 Years of Age: belonging to a Portuguese Paddrie lately deceased. For particulars apply to the Vicar of the Portuguese Church, Calcutta, March 17th, 1781."—The India Gazette or Public Advertiser, No. 19.
1781.—"Run away from his Master, a good-looking Coffree Boy, about 20 years old, and about 6 feet 7 inches in height.... When he went off he had a high toupie."—Ibid. Dec. 29.
1782.—"On Tuesday next will be sold three Coffree Boys, two of whom play the French Horn ... a three-wheel'd Buggy, and a variety of other articles."—India Gazette, June 15.
1799.—"He (Tippoo) had given himself out as a Champion of the Faith, who was to drive the English Caffers out of India."—Letter in Life of Sir T. Munro, i. 221.
1800.—"The Caffre slaves, who had been introduced for the purpose of cultivating the lands, rose upon their masters, and seizing on the boats belonging to the island, effected their escape."—Symes, Embassy to Ava, p. 10.
c. 1866.—
"And if I were forty years younger, and my life before me to choose, I wouldn't be lectured by Kafirs, or swindled by fat Hindoos." Sir A. C. Lyall, The Old Pindaree.
CAFILA, s. Arab. ḳāfila; a body or convoy of travellers, a Caravan (q.v.). Also used in some of the following quotations for a sea convoy.
1596.—"The ships of Chatins (see CHETTY) of these parts are not to sail along the coast of Malavar or to the north except in a cafilla, that they may come and go more securely, and not be cut off by the Malavars and other corsairs."—Proclamation of Goa Viceroy, in Archiv. Port. Or., fasc. iii. 661.
[1598.—"Two Caffylen, that is companies of people and Camelles."—Linschoten, Hak. Soc. ii. 159.]
[1616.—"A cafilowe consisting of 200 broadcloths," &c.—Foster, Letters, iv. 276.]
[1617.—"By the failing of the Goa Caffila."—Sir T. Roe, Hak. Soc. ii. 402.]
1623.—"Non navigammo di notte, perchè la cafila era molto grande, al mio parere di più di ducento vascelli."—P. della Valle, ii. 587; [and comp. Hak. Soc. i. 18].
1630.—"... some of the Raiahs ... making Outroades prey on the Caffaloes passing by the Way...."—Lord, Banian's Religion, 81.
page 142b1672.—"Several times yearly numerous cafilas of merchant barques, collected in the Portuguese towns, traverse this channel (the Gulf of Cambay), and these always await the greater security of the full moon. It is also observed that the vessels which go through with this voyage should not be joined and fastened with iron, for so great is the abundance of loadstone in the bottom, that indubitably such vessels go to pieces and break up."—P. Vincenzo, 109. A curious survival of the old legend of the Loadstone Rocks.
1673.—"... Time enough before the Caphalas out of the Country come with their Wares."—Fryer, 86.
1727.—"In Anno 1699, a pretty rich Caffila was robbed by a Band of 4 or 5000 villains ... which struck Terror on all that had commerce at Tatta."—A. Hamilton, i. 116.
CAFIRISTAN, n.p. P. Kāfiristān, the country of Kāfirs, i.e. of the pagan tribes of the Hindu Kush noticed in the article Caffer.
[c. 1590.—The Káfirs in the Túmáns of Alishang and Najrao are mentioned in the Āīn, tr. Jarrett, ii. 406.]
CAIMAL, s. A Nair chief; a word often occurring in the old Portuguese historians. It is Malayāl. kaimal.
1566.—"... certain lords bearing title, whom they call Caimals" (caimães).—Damian de Goës, Chron. del Rei Dom Emmanuel, p. 49.
1606.—"The Malabars give the name of Caimals (Caimães) to certain great lords of vassals, who are with their governments haughty as kings; but most of them have confederation and alliance with some of the great kings, whom they stand bound to aid and defend...."—Gouvea, f. 27v.
1634.—
"Ficarão seus Caimais prezos e mortos." Malaca Conquistada, v. 10.
CAIQUE, s. The small skiff used at Constantinople, Turkish ḳāīḳ. Is it by accident, or by a radical connection through Turkish tribes on the Arctic shores of Siberia, that the Greenlander's kayak is so closely identical? [The Stanf. Dict. says that the latter word is Esquimaux, and recognises no connection with the former.]
CAJAN, s. This is a name given by Sprengel (Cajanus indicus), and by Linnæus (Cytisus cajan), to the leguminous shrub which gives dhall (q.v.). A kindred plant has been called Dolichos catjang, Willdenow. We do not know the origin of this name. The Cajan was introduced to America by the slave-traders from Africa. De Candolle finds it impossible to say whether its native region is India or Africa. (See DHALL, CALAVANCE.) [According to Mr. Skeat the word is Malay. poko'kachang, 'the plant which gives beans,' quite a different word from kajang which gives us Cadjan.]
CAJEPUT, s. The name of a fragrant essential oil produced especially in Celebes and the neighbouring island of Bouro. A large quantity is exported from Singapore and Batavia. It is used most frequently as an external application, but also internally, especially (of late) in cases of cholera. The name is taken from the Malay kayu-putih, i.e. 'Lignum album.' Filet (see p. 140) gives six different trees as producing the oil, which is derived from the distillation of the leaves. page 143bThe chief of these trees is Melaleuca leucadendron, L., a tree diffused from the Malay Peninsula to N.S. Wales. The drug and tree were first described by Rumphius, who died 1693. (See Hanbury and Flückiger, 247 [and Wallace, Malay Arch., ed. 1890, p. 294].)
CAKSEN, s. This is Sea H. for Coxswain (Roebuck).
CALALUZ, s. A kind of swift rowing vessel often mentioned by the Portuguese writers as used in the Indian Archipelago. We do not know the etymology, nor the exact character of the craft. [According to Mr. Skeat, the word is Jav. kelulus, kalulus, spelt keloeles by Klinkert, and explained by him as a kind of vessel. The word seems to be derived from loeloes, 'to go right through anything,' and thus the literal translation would be 'the threader,' the reference being, as in the case of most Malay boat names, to the special figure-head from which the boat was supposed to derive its whole character.]
1525.—"4 great lancharas, and 6 calaluzes and manchuas which row very fast."—Lembrança, 8.
1539.—"The King (of Achin) set forward with the greatest possible despatch, a great armament of 200 rowing vessels, of which the greater part were lancharas, joangas, and calaluzes, besides 15 high-sided junks."—F. M. Pinto, cap. xxxii.
1552.—"The King of Siam ... ordered to be built a fleet of some 200 sail, almost all lancharas and calaluzes, which are rowing-vessels."—Barros, II. vi. 1.
CALAMANDER WOOD, s. A beautiful kind of rose-wood got from a Ceylon tree (Diospyros quaesita). Tennent regards the name as a Dutch corruption of Coromandel wood (i. 118), and Drury, we see, calls one of the ebony-trees (D. melanoxylon) "Coromandel-ebony." Forbes Watson gives as Singhalese names of the wood Calumidiriya, Kalumederiye, &c., and the term Kalumadīriya is given with this meaning in Clough's Singh. Dict.; still in absence of further information, it page 144amay remain doubtful if this be not a borrowed word. It may be worth while to observe that, according to Tavernier, [ed. Ball, ii. 4] the "painted calicoes" or "chites" of Masulipatam were called "Calmendar, that is to say, done with a pencil" (Ḳalam-dār?), and possibly this appellation may have been given by traders to a delicately veined wood. [The N.E.D. suggests that the Singh. terms quoted above may be adaptations from the Dutch.]
1813.—"Calaminder wood" appears among Ceylon products in Milburn, i. 345.
1825.—"A great deal of the furniture in Ceylon is made of ebony, as well as of the Calamander tree ... which is become scarce from the improvident use formerly made of it."—Heber (1844), ii. 161.
CALAMBAC, s. The finest kind of aloes-wood. Crawfurd gives the word as Javanese, kalambak, but it perhaps came with the article from Champa (q.v.).
1516.—"... It must be said that the very fine calembuco and the other eagle-wood is worth at Calicut 1000 maravedis the pound."—Barbosa, 204.
1539.—"This Embassador, that was Brother-in-law to the King of the Batas ... brought him a rich Present of Wood of Aloes, Calambaa, and 5 quintals of Benjamon in flowers."—F. M. Pinto, in Cogan's tr. p. 15 (orig. cap. xiii.).
1551.—(Campar, in Sumatra) "has nothing but forests which yield aloeswood, called in India Calambuco."—Castanheda, bk. iii. cap. 63, p. 218, quoted by Crawfurd, Des. Dic. 7.
1552.—"Past this kingdom of Camboja begins the other Kingdom called Campa (Champa), in the mountains of which grows the genuine aloes-wood, which the Moors of those parts call Calambuc."—Barros, I. ix. 1.
[c. 1590.—"Kalanbak (calembic) is the wood of a tree brought from Zírbád; it is heavy and full of veins. Some believe it to be the raw wood of aloes."—Āīn, ed. Blochmann, i. 81.
[c. 1610.—"From this river (the Ganges) comes that excellent wood Calamba, which page 144bis believed to come from the Earthly Paradise."—Pyrard de Laval, Hak. Soc. i. 335.]
1613.—"And the Calamba is the most fragrant medulla of the said tree."—Godinho de Eredia, f. 15v.
[1615.—"Lumra (a black gum), gumlack, collomback."—Foster, Letters, iv. 87.]
1618.—"We opened the ij chistes which came from Syam with callamback and silk, and waid it out."—Cocks's Diary, ii. 51.
See EAGLE-WOOD and ALOES.
CALASH, s. French calèche, said by Littré to be a Slav word, [and so N.E.D.]. In Bayly's Dict. it is calash and caloche. [The N.E.D. does not recognise the latter form; the former is as early as 1679]. This seems to have been the earliest precursor of the buggy in Eastern settlements. Bayly defines it as 'a small open chariot.' The quotation below refers to Batavia, and the President in question was the Prest. of the English Factory at Chusan, who, with his council, had been expelled from China, and was halting at Batavia on his way to India.
CALAVANCE, s. A kind of bean; acc. to the quotation from Osbeck, Dolichos sinensis. The word was once common in English use, but seems forgotten, unless still used at sea. Sir Joseph Hooker writes: "When I was in the Navy, haricot beans were in constant use as a substitute for potatoes and in Brazil and elsewhere, were called Calavances. I do not remember whether they were the seed of Phaseolus lunatus or vulgaris, or of Dolichos sinensis, alias Catjang" (see CAJAN). The word comes from the Span. garbanzos, which De Candolle mentions as Castilian for 'pois chiche,' or Cicer arietinum, and as used also in Basque under the form garbantzua, page 145a[or garbatzu, from garau, 'seed,' antzu, 'dry,' N.E.D.]
c. 1630.—"... in their Canoos brought us ... green pepper, caravance, Buffols, Hens, Eggs, and other things."—Sir T. Herbert, ed. 1665, p. 350.
1719.—"I was forc'd to give them an extraordinary meal every day, either of Farina or calavances, which at once made a considerable consumption of our water and firing."—Shelvocke's Voyage, 62.
1738.—"But garvanços are prepared in a different manner, neither do they grow soft like other pulse, by boiling...."—Shaw's Travels, ed. 1757, p. 140.
1752.—"... Callvanses (Dolichos sinensis)."—Osbeck, i. 304.
1774.—"When I asked any of the men of Dory why they had no gardens of plantains and Kalavansas ... I learnt ... that the Haraforas supply them."—Forrest, V. to N. Guinea, 109.
CALAY, s. Tin; also v., to tin copper vessels—H. ḳala'ī karnā. The word is Ar. ḳala'i, 'tin,' which according to certain Arabic writers was so called from a mine in India called ḳala'. In spite of the different initial and terminal letters, it seems at least possible that the place meant was the same that the old Arab geographers called Kalah, near which they place mines of tin (al-ḳala'i), and which was certainly somewhere about the coast of Malacca, possibly, as has been suggested, at Kadah or as we write it, Quedda. [See Āīn, tr. Jarrett, iii. 48.]
The tin produce of that region is well known. Kalang is indeed also a name of tin in Malay, which may have been the true origin of the word before us. It may be added that the small State of Salangor between Malacca and Perak was formerly known as Nagri-Kalang, or the 'Tin Country,' and that the place on the coast where the British Resident lives page 145bis called Klang (see Miss Bird, Golden Chersonese, 210, 215). The Portuguese have the forms calaim and calin, with the nasal termination so frequent in their Eastern borrowings. Bluteau explains calaim as 'Tin of India, finer than ours.' The old writers seem to have hesitated about the identity with tin, and the word is confounded in one quotation below with Tootnague (q.v.). The French use calin. In the P. version of the Book of Numbers (ch. xxxi. v. 22) ḳala'ī is used for 'tin.' See on this word Quatremère in the Journal des Savans, Dec. 1846.
c. 1154.—"Thence to the Isles of Lankiāliūs is reckoned two days, and from the latter to the Island of Kalah 5.... There is in this last island an abundant mine of tin (al-Kala'i). The metal is very pure and brilliant."—Edrisi, by Jaubert, i. 80.
1552.—"—Tin, which the people of the country call Calem."—Castanheda, iii. 213. It is mentioned as a staple of Malacca in ii. 186.
1606.—"That all the chalices which were neither of gold, nor silver, nor of tin, nor of calaim, should be broken up and destroyed."—Gouvea, Synodo, f. 29b.
1610.—"They carry (to Hormuz) ... clove, cinnamon, pepper, cardamom, ginger, mace, nutmeg, sugar, calayn, or tin."—Relaciones de P. Teixeira, 382.
c. 1610.—"... money ... not only of gold and silver, but also of another metal, which is called calin, which is white like tin, but harder, purer, and finer, and which is much used in the Indies."—Pyrard de Laval (1679) i. 164; [Hak. Soc. i. 234, with Gray's note].
1613.—"And he also reconnoitred all the sites of mines, of gold, silver, mercury, tin or calem, and iron and other metals...."—Godinho de Eredia, f. 58.
[1644.—"Callaym." See quotation under TOOTNAGUE.]
1646.—"... il y a (i.e. in Siam) plusieurs minieres de calain, qui est vn metal metoyen, entre le plomb et l'estain."—Cardim, Rel. de la Prov. de Japon, 163.
1726.—"The goods exported hither (from Pegu) are ... Kalin (a metal coming very near silver)...."—Valentijn, v. 128.
1770.—"They send only one vessel (viz. the Dutch to Siam) which transports Javanese horses, and is freighted with sugar, spices, and linen; for which they receive in return calin, at 70 livres 100 weight."—Raynal (tr. 1777), i. 208.
1780.—"... the port of Quedah; there is a trade for calin or tutenague ... to page 146aexport to different parts of the Indies."—In Dunn, N. Directory, 338.
CALCUTTA, n.p. B. Kalikātā, or Kalikattā, a name of uncertain etymology. The first mention that we are aware of occurs in the Āīn-i-Akbari. It is well to note that in some early charts, such as that in Valentijn, and the oldest in the English Pilot, though Calcutta is not entered, there is a place on the Hoogly Calcula, or Calcuta, which leads to mistake. It is far below, near the modern Fulta. [With reference to the quotations below from Luillier and Sonnerat, Sir H. Yule writes (Hedges, Diary, Hak. Soc. ii. xcvi.): "In Orme's Historical Fragments, Job Charnock is described as 'Governor of the Factory at Golgot near Hughley.' This name Golgot and the corresponding Golghāt in an extract from Muhabbat Khān indicate the name of the particular locality where the English Factory at Hugli was situated. And some confusion of this name with that of Calcutta may have led to the curious error of the Frenchmen Luiller and Sonnerat, the former of whom calls Calcutta Golgouthe, while the latter says: 'Les Anglais prononcent et ecrivent Golgota.'"]
[1688.—"Soe myself accompanyed with Capt. Haddock and the 120 soldiers we carryed from hence embarked, and about the 20th September arrived at Calcutta."—Hedges, Diary, Hak. Soc. ii. lxxix.]
1698.—"This avaricious disposition the English plied with presents, which in 1698 obtained his permission to purchase from the Zemindar ... the towns of Sootanutty, Calcutta, and Goomopore, with their districts extending about 3 miles along the eastern bank of the river."—Orme, repr. ii. 71.
1702.—"The next Morning we pass'd by the English Factory belonging to the old Company, which they call Golgotha, and is a handsome Building, to which were adding stately Warehouses."—Voyage to the E. Indies, by Le Sieur Luillier, E. T. 1715, p. 259.
1726.—"The ships which sail thither (to Hugli) first pass by the English Lodge in Collecatte, 9 miles (Dutch miles) lower down than ours, and after that the French page 146bone called Chandarnagor...."—Valentijn, v. 162.
1727.—"The Company has a pretty good Hospital at Calcutta, where many go in to undergo the Penance of Physic, but few come out to give an Account of its Operation.... One Year I was there, and there were reckoned in August about 1200 English, some Military, some Servants to the Company, some private Merchants residing in the Town, and some Seamen belong to Shipping lying at the Town, and before the beginning of January there were 460 Burials registred in the Clerk's Books of Mortality."—A. Hamilton, ii. 9 and 6.
c. 1742.—"I had occasion to stop at the city of Firáshdánga (Chandernagore) which is inhabited by a tribe of Frenchmen. The city of Calcutta, which is on the other side of the water, and inhabited by a tribe of English who have settled there, is much more extensive and thickly populated...."—'Abdul Karím Khán, in Elliot, viii. 127.
1753.—"Au dessous d'Ugli immédiatement, est l'établissement Hollandois de Shinsura, puis Shandernagor, établissement François, puis la loge Danoise (Serampore), et plus bas, sur la rivage opposé, qui est celui de la gauche en descendant, Banki-bazar, où les Ostendois n'ont pû se maintenir; enfin Colicotta aux Anglois, à quelques lieues de Banki-bazar, et du même côté."—D'Anville, Éclaircissemens, 64. With this compare: "Almost opposite to the Danes Factory is Banke-banksal, a Place where the Ostend Company settled a Factory, but, in Anno 1723, they quarrelled with the Fouzdaar or Governor of Hughly, and he forced the Ostenders to quit...."—A. Hamilton, ii. 18.
CALEEFA, s. Ar. Khalīfa, the Caliph or Vice-gerent, a word which we do not introduce here in its high Mahommedan use, but because of its quaint application in Anglo-Indian households, at least in Upper India, to two classes of domestic servants, the tailor and the cook, and sometimes to the barber and farrier. The first is always so addressed by his fellow-servants (Khalīfa-jī). In South India the cook is called Maistry, i.e. artiste. In Sicily, we may note, he is always called Monsù (!) an indication of what ought to be his nationality. The root of the word Khalīfa, according to Prof. Sayce, means 'to change,' and another page 147aderivative, khālif, 'exchange or agio' is the origin of the Greek κολλύβος (Princ. of Philology, 2nd ed., 213).
1298.—"Baudas is a great city, which used to be the seat of the Calif of all the Saracens in the world, just as Rome is the seat of the Pope of all the Christians."—Marco Polo, Bk. I. ch. 6.
1552.—"To which the Sheikh replied that he was the vassal of the Soldan of Cairo, and that without his permission who was the sovereign Califa of the Prophet Mahamed, he could hold no communication with people who so persecuted his followers...."—Barros, II. i. 2.
1738.—"Muzeratty, the late Kaleefa, or lieutenant of this province, assured me that he saw a bone belonging to one of them (ancient stone coffins) which was near two of their drass (i.e. 36 inches) in length."—Shaw's Travels in Barbary, ed. 1757, p. 30.
1747.—"As to the house, and the patrimonial lands, together with the appendages of the murdered minister, they were presented by the Qhalif of the age, that is by the Emperor himself, to his own daughter."—Seir Mutaqherin, iii. 37.
c. 1760 (?).—
"I hate all Kings and the thrones they sit on, From the King of France to the Caliph of Britain."
These lines were found among the papers of Pr. Charles Edward, and supposed to be his. But Lord Stanhope, in the 2nd ed. of his Miscellanies, says he finds that they are slightly altered from a poem by Lord Rochester. This we cannot find. [The original lines of Rochester (Poems on State Affairs, i. 171) run:
"I hate all Monarchs, and the thrones they sit on, From the Hector of France to the Cully of Britain."]
CALEEOON, CALYOON, s. P. kaliyūn, a water-pipe for smoking; the Persian form of the Hubble-Bubble (q.v.).
1828.—"The elder of the men met to page 147bsmoke their calleoons under the shade."—The Kuzzilbash, i. 59.
CALICO, s. Cotton cloth, ordinarily of tolerably fine texture. The word appears in the 17th century sometimes in the form of Calicut, but possibly this may have been a purism, for calicoe or callico occurs in English earlier, or at least more commonly in early voyages. [Callaca in 1578, Draper's Dict. p. 42.] The word may have come to us through the French calicot, which though retaining the t to the eye, does not do so to the ear. The quotations sufficiently illustrate the use of the word and its origin from Calicut. The fine cotton stuffs of Malabar are already mentioned by Marco Polo (ii. 379). Possibly they may have been all brought from beyond the Ghauts, as the Malabar cotton, ripening during the rains, is not usable, and the cotton stuffs now used in Malabar all come from Madura (see Fryer below; and Terry under CALICUT). The Germans, we may note, call the turkey Calecutische Hahn, though it comes no more from Calicut than it does from Turkey. [See TURKEY.]
1591.—"The commodities of the shippes that come from Bengala bee ... fine Calicut cloth, Pintados, and Rice."—Barker's Lancaster, in Hakl. ii. 592.
1592.—"The calicos were book-calicos, calico launes, broad white calicos, fine starched calicos, coarse white calicos, browne coarse calicos."—Desc. of the Great Carrack Madre de Dios.
1602.—"And at his departure gaue a robe, and a Tucke of Calico wrought with gold."—Lancaster's Voyage, in Purchas, i. 153.
1604.—"It doth appear by the abbreviate of the Accounts sent home out of the Indies, that there remained in the hands of the Agent, Master Starkey, 482 fardels of Calicos."—In Middleton's Voyage, Hak. Soc. App. iii. 13.
" "I can fit you, gentlemen, with fine callicoes too, for doublets; the only sweet fashion now, most delicate and courtly: a meek gentle callico, cut upon two double affable taffatas; all most neat, feat, and unmatchable."—Dekker, The Honest Whore, Act. II. Sc. v.
1605.—"... about their loynes they (the page 148aJavanese) weare a kind of Callico-cloth."—Edm. Scot, ibid. 165.
1608.—"They esteem not so much of money as of Calecut clothes, Pintados, and such like stuffs."—Iohn Davis, ibid. 136.
1612.—"Calico copboord claiths, the piece ... xls."—Rates and Valuatiouns, &c. (Scotland), p. 294.
1616.—"Angarezia ... inhabited by Moores trading with the Maine, and other three Easterne Ilands with their Cattell and fruits, for Callicoes or other linnen to cover them."—Sir T. Roe, in Purchas; [with some verbal differences in Hak. Soc. i. 17].
1627.—"Calicoe, tela delicata Indica. H. Calicúd, dicta à Calecút, Indiae regione ubi conficitur."—Minsheu, 2nd ed., s.v.
1673.—"Staple Commodities are Calicuts, white and painted."—Fryer, 34.
" "Calecut for Spice ... and no Cloath, though it give the name of Calecut to all in India, it being the first Port from whence they are known to be brought into Europe."—Ibid. 86.
1707.—"The Governor lays before the Council the insolent action of Captain Leaton, who on Sunday last marched part of his company ... over the Company's Calicoes that lay a dyeing."—Minute in Wheeler, ii. 48.
1720.—Act 7 Geo. I. cap. vii. "An Act to preserve and encourage the woollen and silk manufacture of this kingdom, and for more effectual employing of the Poor, by prohibiting the Use and Wear of all printed, painted, stained or dyed Callicoes in Apparel, Houshold Stuff, Furniture, or otherwise...."—Stat. at Large, v. 229.
1812.—
"Like Iris' bow down darts the painted clue, Starred, striped, and spotted, yellow, red, and blue, Old calico, torn silk, and muslin new." Rejected Addresses (Crabbe).
CALICUT, n.p. In the Middle Ages the chief city, and one of the chief ports of Malabar, and the residence of the Zamorin (q.v.). The name Kōl̤ikōḍu is said to mean the 'Cock-Fortress.' [Logan (Man. Malabar, i. 241 note) gives koli, 'fowl,' and kottu, 'corner or empty space,' or kotta, 'a fort.' There was a legend, of the Dido type, that all the space within cock-crow was once granted to the Zamorin.]
c. 1430.—"Collicuthiam deinceps petiit, urbem maritimam, octo millibus passuum page 148bambitu, nobile totius Indiae emporium, pipere, lacca, gingibere, cinnamomo crassiore, kebulis, zedoaria fertilis."—Conti, in Poggius, De Var. Fortunae.
1442.—"Calicut is a perfectly secure harbour, which like that of Ormuz brings together merchants from every city and from every country."—Abdurrazzāk, in India in XVth Cent., p. 13.
c. 1475.—"Calecut is a port for the whole Indian sea.... The country produces pepper, ginger, colour plants, muscat [nutmeg?], cloves, cinnamon, aromatic roots, adrach [green ginger] ... and everything is cheap, and servants and maids are very good."—Ath. Nikitin., ibid. p. 20.
1498.—"We departed thence, with the pilot whom the king gave us, for a city which is called Qualecut."—Roteiro de V. da Gama, 49.
1572.—
"Já fóra de tormenta, e dos primeiros Mares, o temor vão do peito voa; Disse alegre o Piloto Melindano, 'Terra he de Calecut, se não me engano.'" Camões, vi. 92.
By Burton:
"now, 'scaped the tempest and the first sea-dread, fled from each bosom terrors vain, and cried the Melindanian Pilot in delight, 'Calecut-land, if aught I see aright!'"
CALINGULA, s. A sluice or escape. Tam. kalingal; much used in reports of irrigation works in S. India.
CALPUTTEE, s. A caulker; also the process of caulking; H. and Beng. kālāpattī and kalāpāttī, and these no doubt from the Port. calafate. But this again is oriental in origin, from the Arabic ḳālāfat, the 'process of caulking.' It is true that Dozy (see p. 376) and also Jal (see his Index, ii. 589) doubt the last derivation, and are disposed to connect the Portuguese page 149aand Spanish words, and the Italian calafattare, &c., with the Latin calefacere, a view which M. Marcel Devic rejects. The latter word would apply well enough to the process of pitching a vessel as practised in the Mediterranean, where we have seen the vessel careened over, and a great fire of thorns kindled under it to keep the pitch fluid. But caulking is not pitching; and when both form and meaning correspond so exactly, and when we know so many other marine terms in the Mediterranean to have been taken from the Arabic, there does not seem to be room for reasonable doubt in this case. The Emperor Michael V. (A.D. 1041) was called καλαφάτης, because he was the son of a caulker (see Ducange, Gloss. Graec., who quotes Zonaras).
CALUAT, s. This in some old travels is used for Ar. khilwat, 'privacy, a private interview' (C. P. Brown, MS.).
[1670.—"Still deeper in the square is the third tent, called Caluet-Kane, the retired spot, or the place of the privy Council."—Bernier, ed. Constable, 361.]
1822.—"I must tell you what a good fellow the little Raja of Tallaca is. When I visited him we sat on two musnads without exchanging one single word, in a very respectable durbar; but the moment we retired to a Khilwut the Raja produced his Civil and Criminal Register, and his Minute of demands, collections and balances for the 1st quarter, and began explaining the state of his country as eagerly as a young Collector."—Elphinstone, in Life, ii. 144.
CALUETE, CALOETE, s. The punishment of impalement; Malayāl. kaluekki (pron. etti). [See IMPALE.]
1582.—"The Capitaine General for to encourage them the more, commanded before them all to pitch a long staffe in the ground, the which was made sharp at ye one end. The same among the Malabars is called Calvete, upon ye which they do execute justice of death, unto the poorest or vilest people of the country."—Castañeda, tr. by N. L., ff. 142v, 143.
CALYAN, n.p. The name of more than one city of fame in W. and S. India; Skt. Kalyāna, 'beautiful, noble, propitious,' One of these is the place still known as Kalyān, on the Ulas river, more usually called by the name of the city, 33 m. N.E. of Bombay. This is a very ancient port, and is probably the one mentioned by Cosmas below. It appears as the residence of a donor in an inscription on the Kanheri caves in Salsette (see Fergusson and Burgess, p. 349). Another Kalyāna was the capital of the Chalukyas of the Deccan in the 9th–12th centuries. This is in the Nizam's district of Naldrūg, about 40 miles E.N.E. of the fortress called by that name. A third Kalyāna was a port of Canara, between Mangalore and Kundapur, in lat. 13° 28′ or thereabouts, on the same river as Bacanore (q.v.). [This is apparently the place which Tavernier (ed. Ball, ii. 206) calls Callian Bondi or Kalyān Bandar.] The quotations refer to the first Calyan.
c. A.D. 545.—"And the most notable places of trade are these: Sindu, Orrhotha, Kalliana, Sibor...."—Cosmas, in Cathay, &c., p. clxxviii.
1673.—On both sides are placed stately Aldeas, and dwellings of the Portugal Fidalgos; till on the Right, within a Mile or more of Gullean, they yield possession to the neighbouring Seva Gi, at which City (the key this way into that Rebel's Country), page 150aWind and Tide favouring us, we landed."—Fryer, p. 123.
1825.—"Near Candaulah is a waterfall ... its stream winds to join the sea, nearly opposite to Tannah, under the name of the Callianee river."—Heber, ii. 137.
CAMBAY, n.p. Written by Mahommedan writers Kanbāyat, sometimes Kinbāyat. According to Col. Tod, the original Hindu name was Khambavati, 'City of the Pillar'; [the Mad. Admin. Man. Gloss. gives stambha-tīrtha, 'sacred pillar pool']. Long a very famous port of Guzerat, at the head of the Gulf to which it gives its name. Under the Mahommedan Kings of Guzerat it was one of their chief residences, and they are often called Kings of Cambay. Cambay is still a feudatory State under a Nawab. The place is in decay, owing partly to the shoals, and the extraordinary rise and fall of the tides in the Gulf, impeding navigation. [See Forbes, Or. Mem. 2nd ed. i. 313 seqq.].
1298.—"Cambaet is a great kingdom.... There is a great deal of trade.... Merchants come here with many ships and cargoes...."—Marco Polo, Bk. iii. ch. 28.
1320.—"Hoc vero Oceanum mare in illis partibus principaliter habet duos portus: quorum vnus nominatur Mahabar, et alius Cambeth."—Marino Sanudo, near beginning.
c. 1420.—"Cambay is situated near to the sea, and is 12 miles in circuit; it abounds in spikenard, lac, indigo, myrabolans, and silk."—Conti, in India in XVth Cent., 20.
1498.—"In which Gulf, as we were informed, there are many cities of Christians and Moors, and a city which is called Quambaya."—Roteiro, 49.
1506.—"In Combea è terra de Mori, e il suo Re è Moro; el è una gran terra, e li nasce turbiti, e spigonardo, e milo (read nilo—see ANIL), lache, corniole, calcedonie, gotoni...."—Rel. di Leonardo Ca' Masser, in Archivio Stor. Italiano, App.
1674.—
"The Prince of Cambay's daily food Is asp and basilisk and toad, Which makes him have so strong a breath, Each night he stinks a queen to death." Hudibras, Pt. ii. Canto i.
CAMBOJA, n.p. An ancient kingdom in the eastern part of Indo-China, once great and powerful: now fallen, and under the 'protectorate' of France, whose Saigon colony it adjoins. The name, like so many others of Indo-China since the days of Ptolemy, is of Skt. origin, being apparently a transfer of the name of a nation and country on the N.W. frontier of India, Kamboja, supposed to have been about the locality of Chitral or Kafiristan. Ignoring this, fantastic Chinese and other etymologies have been invented for the name. In the older Chinese annals (c. 1200 B.C.) this region had the name of Fu-nan; from the period after our era, when the kingdom of Camboja had become powerful, it was known to the Chinese as Chin-la. Its power seems to have extended at one time westward, perhaps to the shores of the B. of Bengal. Ruins of extraordinary vastness and architectural elaboration are numerous, and have attracted great attention since M. Mouhot's visit in 1859; though they had been mentioned by 16th century missionaries, and some of the buildings when standing in splendour were described by a Chinese visitor at the end of the 13th century. The Cambojans proper call themselves Khmer, a name which seems to have given rise to singular confusions (see COMAR). The gum Gamboge (Cambodiam in the early records [Birdwood, Rep. on Old Rec., 27]) so familiar in use, derives its name from this country, the chief source of supply.
1295.—"Le pays de Tchin-la.... Les gens du pays le nomment Kan-phou-tchi. Sous la dynastie actuelle, les livres sacrés des Tibétains nomment ce pays page 151aKan-phou-tchi...."—Chinese Account of Chinla, in Abel Rémusat, Nouv. Mél. i. 100.
c. 1535.—"Passing from Siam towards China by the coast we find the kingdom of Cambaia (read Camboia) ... the people are great warriors ... and the country of Camboia abounds in all sorts of victuals ... in this land the lords voluntarily burn themselves when the king dies...."—Sommario de' Regni, in Ramusio, i. f. 336.
1552.—"And the next State adjoining Siam is the kingdom of Camboja, through the middle of which flows that splendid river the Mecon, the source of which is in the regions of China...."—Barros, Dec. I. Liv. ix. cap. 1.
1572.—
"Vês, passa por Camboja Mecom rio, Que capitão das aguas se interpreta...." Camões, x. 127.
CAMEEZE, s. This word (ḳamīṣ) is used in colloquial H. and Tamil for 'a shirt.' It comes from the Port. camisa. But that word is directly from the Arab ḳamīṣ, 'a tunic.' Was St. Jerome's Latin word an earlier loan from the Arabic, or the source of the Arabic word? probably the latter; [so N.E.D. s.v. Camise]. The Mod. Greek Dict. of Sophocles has καμίσιον. Camesa is, according to the Slang Dictionary, used in the cant of English thieves; and in more ancient slang it was made into 'commission.'
1404.—"And to the said Ruy Gonzalez he gave a big horse, an ambler, for they prize a horse that ambles, furnished with saddle and bridle, very well according to their fashion; and besides he gave him a camisa and an umbrella" (see SOMBRERO).—Clavijo, § lxxxix.; Markham, 100.
1464.—"to William and Richard my sons, all my fair camises...."—Will of Richard Strode, of Newnham, Devon.
1498.—"That a very fine camysa, which in Portugal would be worth 300 reis, was given here for 2 fanons, which in that country is the equivalent of 30 reis, though the value of 30 reis is in that country no small matter."—Roteiro de V. da Gama, 77.
CAMP, s. In the Madras Presidency [as well as in N. India] an page 151bofficial not at his headquarters is always addressed as 'in Camp.'
CAMPHOR, s. There are three camphors:—
a. The Bornean and Sumatran camphor from Dryobalanops aromatica.
b. The camphor of China and Japan, from Cinnamomum Camphora. (These are the two chief camphors of commerce; the first immensely exceeding the second in market value: see Marco Polo, Bk. iii. ch. xi. Note 3.)
c. The camphor of Blumea balsamifera, D.C., produced and used in China under the name of ngai camphor.
The relative ratios of value in the Canton market may be roundly given as b, 1; c, 10; a, 80.
The first Western mention of this drug, as was pointed out by Messrs Hanbury and Flückiger, occurs in the Greek medical writer Aëtius (see below), but it probably came through the Arabs, as is indicated by the ph, or f of the Arab kāfūr, representing the Skt. karpūra. It has been suggested that the word was originally Javanese, in which language kāpūr appears to mean both 'lime' and 'camphor.'
Moodeen Sheriff says that kăfūr is used (in Ind. Materia Medica) for 'amber.' Tābashīr (see TABASHEER), is, according to the same writer, called bāns-kāfūr 'bamboo-camphor'; and ras-kāfūr (mercury-camphor) is an impure subchloride of mercury. According to the same authority, the varieties of camphor now met with in the bazars of S. India are—1. kāfūr-i-ḳaiṣūrī, which is in Tamil called pach'ch'ai (i.e. crude karuppuram; 2. Ṣūratī kāfūr; 3. chīnī; 4. batai (from the Batta country?). The first of these names is a curious instance of the perpetuation of a blunder, originating in the misreading of loose Arabic writing. The name is unquestionably fanṣūrī, which carelessness as to points has converted into ḳaiṣūrī (as above, and in Blochmann's Āīn, i. 79). The camphor alfanṣūrī is mentioned as early as by Avicenna, and by Marco Polo, and came from a place called Pansūr in Sumatra, perhaps the same as Barus, which has now long given its name to the costly Sumatran drug.
A curious notion of Ibn Batuta's page 152a(iv. 241) that the camphor of Sumatra (and Borneo) was produced in the inside of a cane, filling the joints between knot and knot, may be explained by the statement of Barbosa (p. 204), that the Borneo camphor as exported was packed in tubes of bamboo. This camphor is by Barbosa and some other old writers called 'eatable camphor' (da mangiare), because used in medicine and with betel.
Our form of the word seems to have come from the Sp. alcanfor and canfora, through the French camphre. Dozy points out that one Italian form retains the truer name cafura, and an old German one (Mid. High Germ.) is gaffer (Oosterl. 47).
c. 940.—"These (islands called al-Ramīn) abound in gold mines, and are near the country of Ḳansūr, famous for its camphor...."—Maṣ'ūdī, i. 338. The same work at iii. 49, refers back to this passage as "the country of Manṣūrah." Probably Maṣ'ūdī wrote correctly Fanṣūrah.
1298.—"In this kingdom of Fansur grows the best camphor in the world, called Camfera Fansuri."—Marco Polo, bk. iii. ch. xi.
1506.—"... e de li (Tenasserim) vien pevere, canella ... camfora da manzar e de quella non se manza...." (i.e. both camphor to eat and not to eat, or Sumatra and China camphor).—Leonardo Ca' Masser.
c. 1590.—"The Camphor tree is a large tree growing in the ghauts of Hindostan and in China. A hundred horsemen and upwards may rest in the shade of a single tree.... Of the various kinds of camphor the best is called Ribáhi or Qaiçúri.... In some books camphor in its natural state is called ... Bhimsíni."—Āīn, Blochmann ed. i. 78–9. [Bhimsínī is more properly bhimsenī, and takes its name from the demi-god Bhīmsen, second son of Pandu.]
1623.—"In this shipp we have laden a small parcell of camphire of Barouse, being in all 60 catis."—Batavian Letter, pubd. in Cocks's Diary, ii. 343.
1726.—"The Persians name the Camphor of Baros, and also of Borneo to this day Kafur Canfuri, as it also appears in the printed text of Avicenna ... and Bellunensis notes that in some MSS. of the author is found Kafur Fansuri...."—Valentijn, iv. 67.
1786.—"The Camphor Tree has been recently discovered in this part of the Sircar's page 152bcountry. We have sent two bottles of the essential oil made from it for your use."—Letter of Tippoo, Kirkpatrick, p. 231.
1875.—
| " | Camphor, Bhimsaini (barus), valuation | 1 lb. | 80 rs. |
| | Refined cake | 1 cwt. | 65 rs." |
| Table of Customs Duties on Imports into Br. India up to 1875. ||||
CAMPOO, s. H. kampū, corr. of the English 'camp,' or more properly of the Port. 'campo.' It is used for 'a camp,' but formerly was specifically applied to the partially disciplined brigades under European commanders in the Mahratta service.
1803.—"Begum Sumroo's Campoo has come up the ghauts, and I am afraid ... joined Scindiah yesterday. Two deserters ... declared that Pohlman's Campoo was following it."—Wellington, ii. 264.
CANARA, n.p. Properly Kannaḍa. This name has long been given to that part of the West coast which lies below the Ghauts, from Mt. Dely northward to the Goa territory; and now to the two British districts constituted out of that tract, viz. N. and S. Canara. This appropriation of the name, however, appears to be of European origin. The name, probably meaning 'black country' [Dravid. kar, 'black,' nādu, 'country'], from the black cotton soil prevailing there, was properly synonymous with Karṇātaka (see CARNATIC), and apparently a corruption of that word. Our quotations show that throughout the sixteenth century the term was applied to the country above the Ghauts, sometimes to the whole kingdom of Narsinga or Vijayanagar (see BISNAGAR). Gradually, and probably owing to local application at Goa, where the natives seem to have been from the first known to the Portuguese as Canarijs, a term which page 153ain the old Portuguese works means the Konkani people and language of Goa, the name became appropriated to the low country on the coast between Goa and Malabar, which was subject to the kingdom in question, much in the same way that the name Carnatic came at a later date to be misapplied on the other side of the Peninsula.
The Kanara or Canarese language is spoken over a large tract above the Ghauts, and as far north as Bidar (see Caldwell, Introd. p. 33). It is only one of several languages spoken in the British districts of Canara, and that only in a small portion, viz. near Kundāpur. Tuḷu is the chief language in the Southern District. Kanaḍam occurs in the great Tanjore inscription of the 11th century.
c. 1535.—"The last Kingdom of the First India is called the Province Canarim; it is bordered on one side by the Kingdom of Goa and by Anjadiva, and on the other side by Middle India or Malabar. In the interior is the King of Narsinga, who is chief of this country. The speech of those of Canarim is different from that of the Kingdom of Decan and of Goa."—Portuguese Summary of Eastern Kingdoms, in Ramusio, i. f. 330.
And as applied to the language:—
1552.—"The whole coast that we speak of back to the Ghaut (Gate) mountain range ... they call Concan, and the people properly Concanese (Conquenijs), though our people call them Canarese (Canarijs).... And as from the Ghauts to the sea on the west of the Decan all that strip is called Concan, so from the Ghauts to the sea on the west of Canará, always excepting that page 153bstretch of 46 leagues of which we have spoken [north of Mount Dely] which belongs to the same Canará, the strip which stretches to Cape Comorin is called Malabar."—Barros, Dec. I. liv. ix. cap. 1.
1552.—"... The Kingdom of Canará, which extends from the river called Gate, north of Chaul, to Cape Comorin (so far as concerns the interior region east of the Ghats) ... and which in the east marches with the kingdom of Orisa; and the Gentoo Kings of this great Province of Canará were those from whom sprang the present Kings of Bisnaga."—Ibid. Dec. II. liv. v. cap. 2.
1572.—
"Aqui se enxerga lá do mar undoso Hum monte alto, que corre longamente Servindo ao Malabar de forte muro, Com que do Canará vive seguro." Camões, vii. 21.
Englished by Burton:
"Here seen yonside where wavy waters play a range of mountains skirts the murmuring main serving the Malabar for mighty mure, who thus from him of Canará dwells secure."
1598.—"The land itselfe is called Decan, and also Canara."—Linschoten, 49; [Hak. Soc. i. 169].
In the following quotations the term is applied, either inclusively or exclusively, to the territory which we now call Canara:—
1623.—"Having found a good opportunity, such as I desired, of getting out of Goa, and penetrating further into India, that is more to the south, to Canara...."—P. della Valle, ii. 601; [Hak. Soc. ii. 168].
1672.—"The strip of land Canara, the inhabitants of which are called Canarins, is fruitful in rice and other food-stuffs."—Baldaeus, 98. There is a good map in this work, which shows 'Canara' in the modern acceptation.
1672.—"Description of Canara and Journey to Goa.—This kingdom is one of the finest in India, all plain country near the sea, and even among the mountains all peopled."—P. Vincenzo Maria, 420. Here the title seems used in the modern sense, but the same writer applies Canara to the whole Kingdom of Bisnagar.
1673.—"At Mirja the Protector of Canora came on board."—Fryer (margin), p. 57.
1726.—"The Kingdom Canara (under page 154awhich Onor, Batticala, and Garcopa are dependent) comprises all the western lands lying between Walkan (Konkan?) and Malabar, two great coast countries."—Valentijn, v. 2.
CANARIN, n.p. This name is applied in some of the quotations under Canara to the people of the district now so called by us. But the Portuguese applied it to the (Konkani) people of Goa and their language. Thus a Konkani grammar, originally prepared about 1600 by the Jesuit, Thomas Estevão (Stephens, an Englishman), printed at Goa, 1640, bears the title Arte da Lingoa Canarin. (See A. B(urnell) in Ind. Antiq. ii. 98).
CANAUT, CONAUT, CONNAUGHT, s. H. from Ar. ḳanāt, the side wall of a tent, or canvas enclosure. [See SURRAPURDA.]
" "The King's Tents are red, reared on poles very high, and placed in the midst of the Camp, covering a large Compasse, encircled with Canats (made of red calico stiffened with Canes at every breadth) standing upright about nine foot high, guarded round every night with Souldiers."—Terry, in Purchas, ii. 1481.
c. 1660.—"And (what is hard enough to believe in Indostan, where the Grandees especially are so jealous ...) I was so near to the wife of this Prince (Dara), that the cords of the Kanates ... which enclosed them (for they had not so much as a poor tent), were fastened to the wheels of my chariot."—Bernier, E. T. 29; [ed. Constable, 89].
1792.—"They passed close to Tippoo's tents: the canaut (misprinted canaul) was standing, but the green tent had been removed."—T. Munro, in Life, iii. 73.
1793.—"The canaut of canvas ... was painted of a beautiful sea-green colour."—Dirom, 230.
[c. 1798.—"On passing a skreen of Indian connaughts, we proceeded to the front of the Tusbeah Khanah."—Asiatic Res., iv. 444.]
1817.—"A species of silk of which they make tents and kanauts."—Mill, ii. 201.
1825.—Heber writes connaut.—Orig. ed. ii. 257.
CANDAHAR, n.p. Ḳandahār. The application of this name is now exclusively to (a) the well-known city of Western Afghanistan, which is the object of so much political interest. But by the Ar. geographers of the 9th to 11th centuries the name is applied to (b) the country about Peshāwar, as the equivalent of the ancient Indian Gandhāra, and the Gandaritis of Strabo. Some think the name was transferred to (a) in consequence of a migration of the people of Gandhāra carrying with them the begging-pot of Buddha, believed by Sir H. Rawlinson to be identical with a large sacred vessel of stone preserved in a mosque of Candahar. Others think that Candahar may represent Alexandropolis in Arachosia. We find a third application of the name (c) in Ibn Batuta, as well as in earlier and later writers, to a former port on the east shore of the Gulf of Cambay, Ghandhar in the Broach District.
1664.—"All these great preparations give us cause to apprehend that, instead of going to Kachemire, we be not led to besiege that important city of Kandahar, which is the Frontier to Persia, Indostan, and Usbeck, and the Capital of an excellent Country."—Bernier, E. T., p. 113; [ed. Constable, 352].
1671.—
"From Arachosia, from Candaor east, And Margiana to the Hyrcanian cliffs Of Caucasus...." Paradise Regained, iii. 316 seqq.
b.—c. 1030.—"... thence to the river Chandráha (Chináb) 12 (parasangs); thence to Jailam on the West of the Báyat (or Hydaspes) 18; thence to Waihind, capital of Ḳandahár ... 20; thence to Parsháwar 14...."—Al-Birūni, in Elliot, i. 63 (corrected).
c.—c. 1343.—"From Kinbāya (Cambay) we went to the town of Kāwi (Kānvi, opp. Cambay), on an estuary where the tide rises and falls ... thence to Ḳandahār, a considerable city belonging to the Infidels, and situated on an estuary from the sea."—Ibn Batuta, iv. 57–8.
page 155a1516.—"Further on ... there is another place, in the mouth of a small river, which is called Guendari.... And it is a very good town, a seaport."—Barbosa, 64.
CANDAREEN, s. In Malay, to which language the word apparently belongs, kandūrī. A term formerly applied to the hundredth of the Chinese ounce or weight, commonly called by the Malay name tāhil (see TAEL). Fryer (1673) gives the Chinese weights thus:—
1 Cattee is nearest 16 Taies 1 Teen (Taie?) is 10 Mass 1 Mass in Silver is 10 Quandreens 1 Quandreen is 10 Cash 733 Cash make 1 Royal 1 grain English weight is 2 cash.
(1) CANDY, n.p. A town in the hill country of Ceylon, which became the deposit of the sacred tooth of Buddha at the beginning of the 14th century, and was adopted as the native capital about 1592. Chitty says the name is unknown to the natives, who call the place Mahā nuvera, 'great city.' The name seems to have arisen out of some misapprehension by the Portuguese, which may be illustrated by the quotation from Valentijn.
1552.—"... and at three or four places, like the passes of the Alps of Italy, one finds entrance within this circuit (of mountains) which forms a Kingdom called Cande."—Barros, Dec. III. Liv. ii. cap. 1.
1645.—"Now then as soon as the Emperor was come to his Castle in Candi he gave order that the 600 captive Hollanders should be distributed throughout his page 155bcountry among the peasants, and in the City."—J. J. Saar's 15-Jährige Kriegs-Dienst, 97.
1681.—"The First is the City of Candy, so generally called by the Christians, probably from Conde, which in the Chingulays Language signifies Hills, for among them it is situated, but by the Inhabitants called Hingodagul-neure, as much as to say 'The City of the Chingulay people,' and Mauneur, signifying the 'Chief or Royal City.'"—R. Knox, p. 5.
(2) CANDY, s. A weight used in S. India, which may be stated roughly at about 500 lbs., but varying much in different parts. It corresponds broadly with the Arabian Bahar (q.v.), and was generally equivalent to 20 Maunds, varying therefore with the maund. The word is Mahr. and Tel. khaṇḍi, written in Tam. and Mal. kaṇḍi, or Mal. kaṇṭi, [and comes from the Skt. khaṇḍ, 'to divide.' A Candy of land is supposed to be as much as will produce a candy of grain, approximately 75 acres]. The Portuguese write the word candil.
1598.—"One candiel (v.l. candiil) is little more or less than 14 bushels, wherewith they measure Rice, Corne, and all graine."—Linschoten, 69; [Hak. Soc. i. 245].
1618.—"The Candee at this place (Batecala) containeth neere 500 pounds."—W. Hore, in Purchas, i. 657.
1710.—"They advised that they have supplied Habib Khan with ten candy of country gunpowder."—In Wheeler, ii. 136.
(3) CANDY (SUGAR-). This name of crystallized sugar, though it came no doubt to Europe from the P.-Ar. ḳand (P. also shakar ḳand; Sp. azucar cande; It. candi and zucchero candito; Fr. sucre candi) is of Indian origin. There is a Skt. root khaṇḍ, 'to break,' whence khaṇḍa, 'broken,' also applied in various compounds to granulated and candied sugar. But there is also Tam. kar-kaṇḍa, kala-kaṇḍa, Mal. kaṇḍi, kalkaṇḍi, and kalkaṇṭu, which may have been the direct source of the P. and Ar. adoption of the word, and perhaps page 156aits original, from a Dravidian word = 'lump.' [The Dravidian terms mean 'stone-piece.']
A German writer, long within last century (as we learn from Mahn, quoted in Diez's Lexicon), appears to derive candy from Candia, "because most of the sugar which the Venetians imported was brought from that island"—a fact probably invented for the nonce. But the writer was the same wiseacre who (in the year 1829) characterised the book of Marco Polo as a "clumsily compiled ecclesiastical fiction disguised as a Book of Travels" (see Introduction to Marco Polo, 2nd ed. pp. 112–113).
1461.—"... Un ampoletto di balsamo. Teriaca bossoletti 15. Zuccheri Moccari (?) panni 42. Zuccheri canditi, scattole 5...."—List of Presents from Sultan of Egypt to the Doge. (See under BENJAMIN.)
c. 1596.—"White sugar candy (ḳandī safed) ... 5½ dams per ser."—Āīn, i. 63.
1627.—"Sugar Candie, or Stone Sugar."—Minshew, 2nd ed. s.v.
CANGUE, s. A square board, or portable pillory of wood, used in China as a punishment, or rather, as Dr. Wells Williams says, as a kind of censure, carrying no disgrace; strange as that seems to us, with whom the essence of the pillory is disgrace. The frame weighs up to 30 lbs., a weight limited by law. It is made to rest on the shoulders without chafing the neck, but so broad as to prevent the wearer from feeding himself. It is generally taken off at night (Giles, [and see Gray, China, i. 55 seqq.]).
The Cangue was introduced into China by the Tartar dynasty of Wei in the 5th century, and is first mentioned under A.D. 481. In the Kwang-yun (a Chin. Dict. published A.D. 1009) it is called kanggiai (modern mandarin hiang-hiai), i.e. 'Neck-fetter.' From this old form probably the Anamites have derived their word for it, gong, and the page 156bCantonese k'ang-ka, 'to wear the Cangue,' a survival (as frequently happens in Chinese vernaculars) of an ancient term with a new orthography. It is probable that the Portuguese took the word from one of these latter forms, and associated it with their own canga, 'an ox-yoke,' or 'porter's yoke for carrying burdens.' [This view is rejected by the N.E.D. on the authority of Prof. Legge, and the word is regarded as derived from the Port. form given above. In reply to an enquiry, Prof. Giles writes: "I am entirely of opinion that the word is from the Port., and not from any Chinese term."] The thing is alluded to by F. M. Pinto and other early writers on China, who do not give it a name.
Something of this kind was in use in countries of Western Asia, called in P. doshāka (bilignum). And this word is applied to the Chinese cangue in one of our quotations. Doshāka, however, is explained in the lexicon Burhān-i-Ḳāṭi as 'a piece of timber with two branches placed on the neck of a criminal' (Quatremère, in Not. et Extr. xiv. 172, 173).
[1525.—Castanheda (Bk. VI. ch. 71, p. 154) speaks of women who had come from Portugal in the ships without leave, being tied up in a caga and whipped.]
c. 1540.—"... Ordered us to be put in a horrid prison with fetters on our feet, manacles on our hands, and collars on our necks...."—F. M. Pinto, (orig.) ch. lxxxiv.
1585.—"Also they doo lay on them a certaine covering of timber, wherein remaineth no more space of hollownesse than their bodies doth make: thus they are vsed that are condemned to death."—Mendoza (tr. by Parke, 1599), Hak. Soc. i. 117–118.
1696.—"He was imprisoned, congoed, tormented, but making friends with his Money ... was cleared, and made Under-Customer...."—Bowyer's Journal at Cochin China, in Dalrymple, Or. Rep. i. 81.
[1705.—"All the people were under confinement in separate houses and also in congass."—Hedges, Diary, Hak. Soc. ii. cccxl.]
" "I desir'd several Times to wait upon the Governour; but could not, he was so taken up with over-halling the Goods, that came from Pulo Condore, and weighing the Money, which was found to amount to 21,300 Tale. At last upon the 28th, I was obliged to appear as a Criminal in Congas, before the Governour and his Grand Council, page 157aattended with all the Slaves in the Congas."—Letter from Mr. James Conyngham, survivor of the Pulo Condore massacre, in Lockyer, p. 93. Lockyer adds: "I understood the Congas to be Thumbolts" (p. 95).
1727.—"With his neck in the congoes which are a pair of Stocks made of bamboos."—A. Hamilton, ii. 175.
1779.—"Aussitôt on les mit tous trois en prison, des chaines aux pieds, une cangue au cou."—Lettres Edif. xxv. 427.
1797.—"The punishment of the cha, usually called by Europeans the cangue, is generally inflicted for petty crimes."—Staunton, Embassy, &c., ii. 492.
CANHAMEIRA, CONIMERE, [COONIMODE], n.p. Kanyimeḍu [or Kunimeḍu, Tam. kūni, 'humped,' meḍu, 'mound']; a place on the Coromandel coast, which was formerly the site of European factories (1682–1698) between Pondicherry and Madras, about 13 m. N. of the former.
1561.—"On this coast there is a place called Canhameira, where there are so many deer and wild cattle that if a man wants to buy 500 deer-skins, within eight days the blacks of the place will give him delivery, catching them in snares, and giving two or three skins for a fanam."—Correa, ii. 772.
1680.—"It is resolved to apply to the Soobidar of Sevagee's Country of Chengy for a Cowle to settle factories at Cooraboor (?) and Coonemerro, and also at Porto Novo, if desired."—Ft. St. Geo. Consns., 7th Jan., in Notes and Exts., No. iii. p. 44.
[1689.—"We therefore conclude it more safe and expedient that the Chief of Conimere ... do go and visit Rama Raja."—In Wheeler, Early Rec., p. 97.]
1727.—"Connymere or Conjemeer is the next Place, where the English had a Factory many Years, but, on their purchasing Fort St. David, it was broken up.... At present its name is hardly seen in the Map of Trade."—A. Hamilton, i. 357.
page 157bCANNANORE, n.p. A port on the coast of northern Malabar, famous in the early Portuguese history, and which still is the chief British military station on that coast, with a European regiment. The name is Kaṇṇūr or Kaṇṇanūr, 'Krishna's Town.' [The Madras Gloss. gives Mal. kannu, 'eye,' ur, 'village,' i.e. 'beautiful village.']
1510.—"Canonor is a fine and large city, in which the King of Portugal has a very strong castle.... This Canonor is a port at which horses which come from Persia disembark."—Varthema, 123.
1572.—
"Chamará o Samorim mais gente nova * * * * *  Fará que todo o Nayre em fim se mova Que entre Calecut jaz, e Cananor." Camões, x. 14.
By Burton:
"The Samorin shall summon fresh allies; * * * * *  lo! at his bidding every Nayr-man hies, that dwells 'twixt Calecut and Cananor."
CANONGO, s. P. ḳānūn-go, i.e. 'Law-utterer' (the first part being Arab. from Gr. κανών). In upper India, and formerly in Bengal, the registrar of a taḥṣīl, or other revenue subdivision, who receives the reports of the patwārīs, or village registrars.
CANTEROY, s. A gold coin formerly used in the S.E. part of Madras territory. It was worth 3 rs. Properly Kanṭhiravi hun (or pagoda) from Kanṭhiravā Rāyā, 'the lion-voiced,' [Skt. kaṇṭha, 'throat,' rava, 'noise'], who ruled in Mysore from 1638 to 1659 (C. P. Brown, MS.; [Rice, Mysore, i. 803]. See Dirom's Narrative, p. 279, where the revenues of the page 158aterritory taken from Tippoo in 1792 are stated in Canteray pagodas.
CANTON, n.p. The great seaport of Southern China, the chief city of the Province of Kwang-tung, whence we take the name, through the Portuguese, whose older writers call it Cantão. The proper name of the city is Kwang-chau-fu. The Chin. name Kwang-tung (= 'Broad East') is an ellipsis for "capital of the E. Division of the Province Liang-Kwang (or 'Two Broad Realms')."—(Bp. Moule).
c. 1535.—"... queste cose ... vanno alla China con li lor giunchi, e a Camton, che è Città grande...."—Sommario de' Regni, Ramusio, i. f. 337.
1585.—"The Chinos do vse in their pronunciation to terme their cities with this sylable, Fu, that is as much as to say, citie, as Taybin fu, Canton fu, and their townes page 158bwith this syllable, Cheu."—Mendoza, Parke's old E. T. (1588) Hak. Soc. i. 24.
CANTONMENT, s. (Pron. Cantoonment, with accent on penult.). This English word has become almost appropriated as Anglo-Indian, being so constantly used in India, and so little used elsewhere. It is applied to military stations in India, built usually on a plan which is originally that of a standing camp or 'cantonment.'
1825.—"The fact, however, is certain ... the cantonments at Lucknow, nay Calcutta itself, are abominably situated. I have heard the same of Madras; and now the lately-settled cantonment of Nusseerabad appears to be as objectionable as any of them."—Heber, ed. 1844, ii. 7.
CAPASS, s. The cotton plant and cotton-wool. H. kapās, from Skt. karpasa, which seems as if it must be the origin of κάρπασος, though the latter is applied to flax.
CAPEL, s. Malayāl. kappal, 'a ship.' This word has been imported into Malay, kāpal, and Javanese. [It appears to be still in use on the W. Coast; see Bombay Gazetteer, xiii. (2) 470.]
"Naoo; capell."—p. 118.
page 159aCAPELAN, n.p. This is a name which was given by several 16th-century travellers to the mountains in Burma from which the rubies purchased at Pegu were said to come; the idea of their distance, &c., being very vague. It is not in our power to say what name was intended. [It was perhaps Kyat-pyen.] The real position of the 'ruby-mines' is 60 or 70 m. N.E. of Mandalay. [See Ball's Tavernier, ii. 99, 465 seqq.]
1510.—"The sole merchandise of these people is jewels, that is, rubies, which come from another city called Capellan, which is distant from this (Pegu) 30 days' journey."—Varthema, 218.
1516.—"Further inland than the said Kingdom of Ava, at five days journey to the south-east, is another city of Gentiles ... called Capelan, and all round are likewise found many and excellent rubies, which they bring to sell at the city and fair of Ava, and which are better than those of Ava."—Barbosa, 187.
c. 1535.—"This region of Arquam borders on the interior with the great mountain called Capelangam, where are many places inhabited by a not very civilised people. These carry musk and rubies to the great city of Ava, which is the capital of the Kingdom of Arquam...."—Sommario de Regni, in Ramusio, i. 334v.
c. 1660.—"... A mountain 12 days journey or thereabouts, from Siren towards the North-east; the name whereof is Capelan. In this mine are found great quantities of Rubies."—Tavernier (E. T.) ii. 143; [ed. Ball, ii. 99].
CAPUCAT, n.p. The name of a place on the sea near Calicut, mentioned by several old authors, but which has now disappeared from the maps, and probably no longer exists. The proper name is uncertain. [It is the little port of Kāppatt or Kappaṭ-ṭangadi (Mal. kāval, 'guard,' pātu, 'place,') in the Cooroombranaud Taluka of the Malabar District. (Logan, Man. of Malabar, i. 73). The Madras Gloss. page 159bcalls it Caupaud. Also see Gray, Pyrard, i. 360.]
1500.—"This being done the Captain-Major (Pedralvares Cabral) made sail with the foresail and mizen, and went to the port of Capocate which was attached to the same city of Calecut, and was a haven where there was a great loading of vessels, and where many ships were moored that were all engaged in the trade of Calicut...."—Correa, i. 207.
1510.—"... another place called Capogatto, which is also subject to the King of Calecut. This place has a very beautiful palace, built in the ancient style."—Varthema, 133–134.
1516.—"Further on ... is another town, at which there is a small river, which is called Capucad, where there are many country-born Moors, and much shipping."—Barbosa, 152.
CARACOA, CARACOLLE, KARKOLLEN, &c., s. Malay kōra-kōra or kūra-kūra, which is [either a transferred use of the Malay kūra-kūra, or ku-kūra, 'a tortoise,' alluding, one would suppose, either to the shape or pace of the boat, but perhaps the tortoise was named from the boat, or the two words are independent; or from the Ar. ḳurḳūr, pl. ḳarāḳīr, 'a large merchant vessel.' Scott (s.v. Coracora), says: "In the absence of proof to the contrary, we may assume kora-kora to be native Malayan."] Dozy (s.v. Carraca) says that the Ar. ḳura-ḳūra was, among the Arabs, a merchant vessel, sometimes of very great size. Crawfurd describes the Malay ḳura-ḳura, as 'a large kind of sailing vessel'; but the quotation from Jarric shows it to have been the Malay galley. Marre (Kata-Kata Malayou, 87) says: "The Malay kora-kora is a great row-boat; still in use in the Moluccas. Many measure 100 feet long and 10 wide. Some have as many as 90 rowers."
1349.—"I took the sea on a small ḳurḳūra belonging to a Tunisian."—Ibid. iv. 327.
page 160a1606.—"The foremost of these galleys or Caracolles recovered our Shippe, wherein was the King of Tarnata."—Middleton's Voyage, E. 2.
" "... Nave conscensâ, quam linguâ patriâ caracora noncupant. Navigii genus est oblõgum, et angustum, triremis instar, velis simul et remis impellitur."—Jarric, Thesaurus, i. 192.
[1613.—"Curra-curra." See quotation under ORANKAY.]
1627.—"They have Gallies after their manner, formed like Dragons, which they row very swiftly, they call them karkollen."—Purchas, Pilgrimage, 606.
1659.—"They (natives of Ceram, &c.) hawked these dry heads backwards and forwards in their korrekorres as a special rarity."—Walter Schultzen's Ost-Indische Reise, &c., p. 41.
1711.—"Les Philippines nomment ces batimens caracoas. C'est vne espèce de petite galère à rames et à voiles."—Lettres Edif. iv. 27.
1774.—"A corocoro is a vessel generally fitted with outriggers, having a high arched stem and stern, like the points of a half moon.... The Dutch have fleets of them at Amboyna, which they employ as guarda-costos."—Forrest, Voyage to N. Guinea, 23. Forrest has a plate of a corocoro, p. 64.
CARAFFE, s. Dozy shows that this word, which in English we use for a water-bottle, is of Arabic origin, and comes from the root gharaf, 'to draw' (water), through the Sp. garráfa. But the precise Arabic word is not in the dictionaries. (See under CARBOY.)
CARAMBOLA, s. The name given by various old writers on Western India to the beautiful acid fruit of the tree (N.O. Oxalideae) called by Linn. from this word, Averrhoa carambola. This name was that used by the Portuguese. De Orta tells us that it was the Malabar name. The word karanbal is also given by Molesworth as the Mahratti name; [another form page 160bis karambela, which comes from the Skt. karmara given below in the sense of 'food-appetizer']. In Upper India the fruit is called kamranga, kamrakh, or khamrak (Skt. karmara, karmāra, karmaraka, karmaranga). (See also BLIMBEE.) Why a cannon at billiards should be called by the French carambolage we do not know. [If Mr. Ball be right, the fruit has a name, Cape-Gooseberry, in China which in India is used for the Tiparry.—Things Chinese, 3rd ed. 253.]
1563.—"O. Antonia, pluck me from that tree a Carambola or two (for so they call them in Malavar, and we have adopted the Malavar name, because that was the first region where we got acquainted with them).
"A. Here they are.
"R. They are beautiful; a sort of sour-sweet, not very acid.
"O. They are called in Canarin and Decan camariz, and in Malay balimba ... they make with sugar a very pleasant conserve of these.... Antonia! bring hither a preserved carambola."—Garcia, ff. 46v, 47.
1598.—"There is another fruite called Carambolas, which hath 8 (5 really) corners, as bigge as a smal aple, sower in eating, like vnripe plums, and most vsed to make Conserues. (Note by Paludanus). The fruite which the Malabars and Portingales call Carambolas, is in Decan called Camarix, in Canar, Camarix and Carabeli; in Malaio, Bolumba, and by the Persians Chamaroch."—Linschoten, 96; [Hak. Soc. ii. 33].
1672.—"The Carambola ... as large as a pear, all sculptured (as it were) and divided into ribs, the ridges of which are not round but sharp, resembling the heads of those iron maces that were anciently in use."—P. Vincenzo Maria, 352.
1878.—"... the oxalic Kamrak."—In my Indian Garden, 50.
CARAT, s. Arab ḳirrāt, which is taken from the Gr. κεράτιον, a bean of the κερατεία or carob tree (Ceratonia siliqua, L.). This bean, like the Indian rati (see RUTTEE) was used as a weight, and thence also it gave name to a coin page 161aof account, if not actual. To discuss the carat fully would be a task of extreme complexity, and would occupy several pages.
Under the name of siliqua it was the 24th part of the golden solidus of Constantine, which was again = $^1$⁄$_6$ of an ounce. Hence this carat was = $^1$⁄$_{144}$ of an ounce. In the passage from St. Isidore quoted below, the cerates is distinct from the siliqua, and = 1½ siliquae. This we cannot explain, but the siliqua Graeca was the κεράτιον; and the siliqua as $^1$⁄$_{24}$ of a solidus is the parent of the carat in all its uses. [See Prof. Gardner, in Smith, Dict. Ant. 3rd ed. ii. 675.] Thus we find the carat at Constantinople in the 14th century = $^1$⁄$_{24}$ of the hyperpera or Greek bezant, which was a debased representative of the solidus; and at Alexandria $^1$⁄$_{24}$ of the Arabic dīnār, which was a purer representative of the solidus. And so, as the Roman uncia signified $^1$⁄$_{12}$ of any unit (compare ounce, inch), so to a certain extent carat came to signify $^1$⁄$_{24}$. Dictionaries give Arab. ḳirrāṭ as "$^1$⁄$_{24}$ of an ounce." Of this we do not know the evidence. The English Cyclopaedia (s.v.) again states that "the carat was originally the 24th part of the marc, or half-pound, among the French, from whom the word came." This sentence perhaps contains more than one error; but still both of these allegations exhibit the carat as $^1$⁄$_{24}$th part. Among our goldsmiths the term is still used to measure the proportionate quality of gold; pure gold being put at 24 carats, gold with $^1$⁄$_{12}$ alloy at 22 carats, with ¼ alloy at 18 carats, &c. And the word seems also (like Anna, q.v.) sometimes to have been used to express a proportionate scale in other matters, as is illustrated by a curious passage in Marco Polo, quoted below.
The carat is also used as a weight for diamonds. As $^1$⁄$_{144}$ of an ounce troy this ought to make it 3⅓ grains. But these carats really run 151½ to the ounce troy, so that the diamond carat is 3$^1$⁄$_6$ grs. nearly. This we presume was adopted direct from some foreign system in which the carat was $^1$⁄$_{144}$ of the local ounce. [See Ball, Tavernier, ii. 447.]
1298.—"The Great Kaan sends his commissioners to the Province to select four or five hundred ... of the most beautiful young women, according to the scale of beauty enjoined upon them. The commissioners ... assemble all the girls of the province, in presence of appraisers appointed for the purpose. These carefully survey the points of each girl.... They will then set down some as estimated at 16 carats, some at 17, 18, 20, or more or less, according to the sum of the beauties or defects of each. And whatever standard the Great Kaan may have fixed for those that are to be brought to him, whether it be 20 carats or 21, the commissioners select the required number from those who have attained to that standard."—Marco Polo, 2nd ed. i. 350–351.
CARAVAN, s. P. karwān; a convoy of travellers. The Ar. ḳāfila is more generally used in India. The word is found in French as early as the 13th century (Littré). A quotation below shows that the English transfer of the word to a wheeled conveyance for travellers (now for goods also) dates from the 17th century. The abbreviation van in this sense seems to have acquired rights as an English word, though the altogether analogous bus is still looked on as slang.
1330.—"De hac civitate recedens cum caravanis et cum quadam societate, ivi versus Indiam Superiorem."—Friar Odoric, in Cathay, &c., ii. App. iii.
1384.—"Rimonda che l'avemo, vedemo venire una grandissima carovana di cammelli e di Saracini, che recavano spezierie delle parti d'India."—Frescobaldi, 64.
c. 1420.—"Is adolescens ab Damasco Syriae, ubi mercaturae gratiâ erat, perceptâ prius Arabum linguâ, in coetu mercatorum—hi sexcenti erant—quam vulgo caroanam dicunt...."—N. Conti, in Poggius de Varietate Fortunae.
1627.—"A Caravan is a convoy of souldiers for the safety of merchants that trauell in the East Countreys."—Minshew, 2nd ed. s.v.
CARAVANSERAY, s. P. karwānsarāī; a Serai (q.v.) for the reception of Caravans (q.v.).
[1528.—"In the Persian language they call these houses carvancaras, which means resting-place for caravans and strangers."—Tenreiro, ii. p. 11.]
1554.—"I'ay à parler souuent de ce nom de Carbachara: ... Ie ne peux le nommer autrement en François, sinon vn Carbachara: et pour le sçauoir donner à entendre, il fault supposer qu'il n'y a point d'hostelleries es pays ou domaine le Turc, ne de lieux pour se loger, sinon dedens celles maisons publiques appellée Carbachara...."—Observations par P. Belon, f. 59.
1564.—"Hic diverti in diversorium publicum, Caravasarai Turcae vocant ... vastum est aedificium ... in cujus medio patet area ponendis sarcinis et camelis."—Busbequii, Epist. i. (p. 35).
1619.—"... a great bazar, enclosed and roofed in, where they sell stuffs, cloths, &c. with the House of the Mint, and the great caravanserai, which bears the name of Lala Beig (because Lala Beig the Treasurer gives audiences, and does his business there) and another little caravanserai, called that of the Ghilac or people of Ghilan."—P. della Valle (from Ispahan), ii. 8; [comp. Hak. Soc. i. 95].
CARAVEL, s. This often occurs in the old Portuguese narratives. The word is alleged to be not Oriental, but Celtic, and connected in its origin with the old British coracle; see the quotation from Isidore of Seville, the indication of which we owe to Bluteau, s.v. The Portuguese caravel is described by the latter as a 'round vessel' (i.e. not long and sharp like a galley), with lateen sails, ordinarily of 200 tons burthen. The character of swiftness attributed to the caravel (see both Damian and Bacon below) has suggested to us whether the word has not come rather from the Persian Gulf—Turki ḳarāwul, 'a scout, an outpost, a vanguard.' Doubtless there page 162bare difficulties. [The N.E.D. says that it is probably the dim. of Sp. caraba.] The word is found in the following passage, quoted from the Life of St. Nilus, who died c. 1000, a date hardly consistent with Turkish origin. But the Latin translation is by Cardinal Sirlet, c. 1550, and the word may have been changed or modified:—
c. 638.—"Carabus, parua scafa ex vimine facta, quae contexta crudo corio genus navigii praebet."—Isidori Hispal. Opera. (Paris, 1601), p. 255.
1492.—"So being one day importuned by the said Christopher, the Catholic King was persuaded by him that nothing should keep him from making this experiment; and so effectual was this persuasion that they fitted out for him a ship and two caravels, with which at the beginning of August 1492, with 120 men, sail was made from Gades."—Summary of the H. of the Western Indies, by Pietro Martire in Ramusio, iii. f. 1.
1506.—"Item traze della Mina d'oro de Ginea ogn anno ducati 120 mila che vien ogni mise do' caravelle con ducati 10 mila."—Leonardo di Ca' Masser, p. 30.
1549.—"Viginti et quinque agiles naues, quas et caravellas dicimus, quo genere nauium soli Lusitani utuntur."—Damiani a Goës, Diensis Oppugnatio, ed. 1602, p. 289.
1552.—"Ils lâchèrent les bordées de leurs Karawelles; ornèrent leurs vaisseaux de pavillons, et s'avancèrent sur nous."—Sidi Ali, p. 70.
c. 1615.—"She may spare me her mizen and her bonnets; I am a carvel to her."—Beaum. & Flet., Wit without Money, i. 1.
1624.—"Sunt etiam naves quaedam nunciae quae ad officium celeritatis apposite exstructae sunt (quas caruellas vocant)."—Bacon, Hist. Ventorum.
CARBOY, s. A large glass bottle holding several gallons, and generally covered with wicker-work, well known in England, where it is chiefly used to convey acids and corrosive liquids in bulk. Though it is not an Anglo-Indian word, it comes (in the form ḳarāba) from Persia, as Wedgwood has pointed out. Kaempfer, whom we quote from his description of the page 163awine trade at Shiraz, gives an exact etching of a carboy. Littré mentions that the late M. Mohl referred caraffe to the same original; but see that word. Ḳarāba is no doubt connected with Ar. ḳirba, 'a large leathern milk-bottle.'
1754.—"I delivered a present to the Governor, consisting of oranges and lemons, with several sorts of dried fruits, and six karboys of Isfahan wine."—Hanway, i. 102.
1800.—"Six corabahs of rose-water."—Symes, Emb. to Ava, p. 488.
1813.—"Carboy of Rosewater...."—Milburn, ii. 330.
CARCANA, CARCONNA, s. H. from P. kārkhāna, 'a place where business is done'; a workshop; a departmental establishment such as that of the commissariat, or the artillery park, in the field.
c. 1756.—"In reply, Hydur pleaded his poverty ... but he promised that as soon as he should have established his power, and had time to regulate his departments (Kārkhānajāt), the amount should be paid."—Hussein Ali Khan, History of Hydur Naik, p. 87.
1800.—"The elephant belongs to the Karkana, but you may as well keep him till we meet."—Wellington, i. 144.
CARCOON, s. Mahr. kārkūn, 'a clerk,' H.—P. kār-kun, (faciendorum factor) or 'manager.'
[1615.—"Made means to the Corcone or Scrivano to help us to the copia of the King's licence."—Foster, Letters, iii. 122.
page 163b[1616.—"Addick Raia Pongolo, Corcon of this place."—Ibid. iv. 167.]
CARÉNS, n.p. Burm. Ka-reng, [a word of which the meaning is very uncertain. It is said to mean 'dirty-feeders,' or 'low-caste people,' and it has been connected with the Kirāta tribe (see the question discussed by McMahon, The Karens of the Golden Chersonese, 43 seqq.)]. A name applied to a group of non-Burmese tribes, settled in the forest and hill tracts of Pegu and the adjoining parts of Burma, from Mergui in the south, to beyond Toungoo in the north, and from Arakan to the Salwen, and beyond that river far into Siamese territory. They do not know the name Kareng, nor have they one name for their own race; distinguishing, among these whom we call Karens, three tribes, Sgaw, Pwo, and Bghai, which differ somewhat in customs and traditions, and especially in language. "The results of the labours among them of the American Baptist Mission have the appearance of being almost miraculous, and it is not going too far to state that the cessation of blood feuds, and the peaceable way in which the various tribes are living ... and have lived together since they came under British rule, is far more due to the influence exercised over them by the missionaries than to the measures adopted by the English Government, beneficial as these doubtless have been" (Br. Burma Gazetteer, [ii. 226]). The author of this excellent work should not, however, have admitted the quotation of Dr. Mason's fanciful notion about the identity of Marco Polo's Carajan with Karen, which is totally groundless.
1799—"From this reverend father (V. Sangermano) I received much useful information. He told me of a singular description page 164aof people called Carayners or Carianers, that inhabit different parts of the country, particularly the western provinces of Dalla and Bassein, several societies of whom also dwell in the district adjacent to Rangoon. He represented them as a simple, innocent race, speaking a language distinct from that of the Birmans, and entertaining rude notions of religion.... They are timorous, honest, mild in their manners, and exceedingly hospitable to strangers."—Symes, 207.
CARICAL, n.p. Etymology doubtful; Tam. Karaikkāl, [which is either kārai, 'masonry' or 'the plant, thorny webera': kāl, 'channel' (Madras Adm. Man. ii. 212, Gloss. s.v.)]. A French settlement within the limits of Tanjore district.
CARNATIC, n.p. Karṇāṭaka and Kārṇāṭaka, Skt. adjective forms from Karṇāṭa or Kārṇāṭa, [Tam. kar, 'black,' nādu, 'country']. This word in native use, according to Bp. Caldwell, denoted the Telegu and Canarese people and their language, but in process of time became specially the appellation of the people speaking Canarese and their language (Drav. Gram. 2nd ed. Introd. p. 34). The Mahommedans on their arrival in S. India found a region which embraces Mysore and part of Telingāna (in fact the kingdom of Vijayanagara), called the Karṇāṭaka country, and this was identical in application (and probably in etymology) with the Canara country (q.v.) of the older Portuguese writers. The Karṇāṭaka became extended, especially in connection with the rule of the Nabobs of Arcot, who partially occupied the Vijayanagara territory, and were known as Nawābs of the Karṇāṭaka, to the country below the Ghauts, on the eastern side of the Peninsula, just as the other form Canara had become extended to the country below the Western Ghauts; and eventually among the English the term Carnatic came to be understood in a sense more or less restricted to the eastern low country, though never quite so absolutely as Canara has become restricted to the western low country. The term Carnatic is now obsolete.
c. A.D. 1100.—In the later Sanskrit literature this name often occurs, e.g. in the Kathasaritsāgara, or 'Ocean of Rivers of Stories,' a collection of tales (in verse) of the beginning of the 12th century, by Somadeva, of Kashmir; but it is not possible to attach any very precise meaning to the word as there used. [See refs. in Tawney, tr. ii. 651.]
A.D. 1400.—The word also occurs in the inscriptions of the Vijayanagara dynasty, e.g. in one of A.D. 1400.—(Elem. of S. Indian Palaeography, 2nd ed. pl. xxx.)
1608.—"In the land of Karṇāṭa and Vidyānagara was the King Mahendra."—Taranatha's H. of Buddhism, by Schiefner, p. 267.
c. 1610.—"The Zamindars of Singaldip (Ceylon) and Karnátak came up with their forces and expelled Sheo Rai, the ruler of the Dakhin."—Firishta, in Elliot, vi. 549.
1614.—See quotation from Couto under CANARA.
[1623.—"His Tributaries, one of whom was the Queen of Curnat."—P. della Valle, Hak. Soc. ii. 314.]
c. 1652.—"Gandicot is one of the strongest Cities in the Kingdom of Carnatica."—Tavernier, E. T. ii. 98; [ed. Ball, i. 284].
c. 1660.—"The Ráís of the Karnátik, Mahratta (country), and Telingana, were subject to the Ráí of Bidar."—'Amal-i-Sálih, in Elliot vii. 126.
So also the coast of Canara seems meant in the following:—
" "The Carnatic or province of Arcot ... its limits now are greatly inferior to those which bounded the ancient Carnatic; for the Nabobs of Arcot have never extended their authority beyond the river Gondegama to the north; the great chain of mountains to the west; and the branches of the Kingdom of Trichinopoli, Tanjore, and Maissore to the south; the sea bounds it on the east."—Ibid. II. vii.
1762.—"Siwaee Madhoo Rao ... with this immense force ... made an incursion page 165ainto the Karnatic Balaghaut."—Hussein Ali Khan, History of Hydur Naik, 148.
1792.—"I hope that our acquisitions by this peace will give so much additional strength and compactness to the frontier of our possessions, both in the Carnatic, and on the coast of Malabar, as to render it difficult for any power above the Ghauts to invade us."—Lord Cornwallis's Despatch from Seringapatam, in Seton-Karr, ii. 96.
CARNATIC FASHION. See under BENIGHTED.
(1). CARRACK, n.p. An island in the upper part of the Persian Gulf, which has been more than once in British occupation. Properly Khārak. It is so written in Jaubert's Edrisi (i. 364, 372). But Dr. Badger gives the modern Arabic as el-Khārij, which would represent old P. Khārig.
c. 1563.—"Partendosi da Basora si passa 200 miglia di Golfo co'l mare a banda destra sino che si giunge nell' isola di Carichi...."—C. Federici, in Ramusio, iii. 386v.
1727.—"The Islands of Carrick ly, about West North West, 12 Leagues from Bowchier."—A. Hamilton, i. 90.
(2). CARRACK, s. A kind of vessel of burden from the Middle Ages down to the end of the 17th century. The character of the earlier carrack cannot be precisely defined. But the larger cargo-ships of the Portuguese in the trade of the 16th century were generally so styled, and these were sometimes of enormous tonnage, with 3 or 4 decks. Charnock (Marine Architecture, ii. p. 9) has a plate of a Genoese carrack of 1542. He also quotes the description of a Portuguese carrack taken by Sir John Barrough in 1592. It was of 1,600 tons burden, whereof 900 merchandize; carried 32 brass pieces and between 600 and 700 passengers (?); was built with 7 decks. The word (L. Lat.) page 165bcarraca is regarded by Skeat as properly carrica, from carricare, It. caricare, 'to lade, to charge.' This is possible; but it would be well to examine if it be not from the Ar. ḥarāḳah, a word which the dictionaries explain as 'fire-ship'; though this is certainly not always the meaning. Dozy is inclined to derive carraca (which is old in Sp. he says) from ḳarāḳir, the pl. of ḳurḳūr or ḳurḳūra (see CARACOA). And ḳurḳūra itself he thinks may have come from carricare, which already occurs in St. Jerome. So that Mr. Skeat's origin is possibly correct. [The N.E.D. refers to carraca, of which the origin is said to be uncertain.] Ibn Batuta uses the word twice at least for a state barge or something of that kind (see Cathay p. 499, and Ibn Bat. ii. 116; iv. 289). The like use occurs several times in Makrizi (e.g. I. i. 143; I. ii. 66; and II. i. 24). Quatremère at the place first quoted observes that the ḥarāḳah was not a fire ship in our sense, but a vessel with a high deck from which fire could be thrown; but that it could also be used as a transport vessel, and was so used on sea and land.
1383.—"Eodem tempore venit in magnâ tempestate ad Sandevici portum navis quam dicunt carika (mirae) magnitudinis, plena divitiis, quae facile inopiam totius terrae relevare potuisset, si incolarum invidia permisisset."—T. Walsingham, Hist. Anglic., by H. T. Riley, 1864, ii. 83–84.
1403.—"The prayer being concluded, and the storm still going on, a light like a candle appeared in the cage at the mast-head of the carraca, and another light on the spar that they call bowsprit (bauprés) which is fixed in the forecastle; and another light like a candle in una vara de espinelo (?) over the poop, and these lights were seen by as many as were in the carrack, and were called up to see them, and they lasted awhile and then disappeared, and all this while the storm did not cease, and by-and-by all went to sleep except the steersman and certain sailors of the watch."—Clavijo, § xiii. Comp. Markham, p. 13.
1548.—"De Thesauro nostro munitionum artillariorum, Tentorum, Pavilionum, pro Equis navibus caracatis, Galeis et aliis navibus quibuscumque...."—Act of Edw. VI. in Rymer, xv. 175.
1552.—"Ils avaient 4 barques, grandes comme des ḳarrāḳa...."—Sidi 'Ali, p. 67.
page 166a1566–68.—"... about the middle of the month of Ramazan, in the year 974, the inhabitants of Funan and Fandreeah [i.e. Ponany and Pandarāni, q.v.], having sailed out of the former of these ports in a fleet of 12 grabs, captured a caracca belonging to the Franks, which had arrived from Bengal, and which was laden with rice and sugar ... in the year 976 another party ... in a fleet of 17 grabs ... made capture off Shaleeat (see CHALIA) of a large caracca, which had sailed from Cochin, having on board nearly 1,000 Franks...."—Tohfut-ul-Mujahideen, p. 159.
1596.—"It comes as farre short as ... a cocke-boate of a Carrick."—T. Nash, Have with you to Saffron Walden, repr. by J. P. Collier, p. 72.
1613.—"They are made like carracks, only strength and storage."—Beaum. & Flet., The Coxcomb, i. 3.
1615.—"After we had given her chase for about 5 hours, her colours and bulk discovered her to be a very great Portugal carrack bound for Goa."—Terry, in Purchas; [ed. 1777, p. 34].
1620.—"The harbor at Nangasaque is the best in all Japon, wheare there may be 1000 seale of shipps ride landlockt, and the greatest shipps or carickes in the world ... ride before the towne within a cable's length of the shore in 7 or 8 fathom water at least."—Cocks, Letter to Batavia, ii. 313.
c. 1620.—"Il faut attendre là des Pilotes du lieu, que les Gouverneurs de Bombaim et de Marsagão ont soin d'envoyer tout à l'heure, pour conduire le Vaisseau à Turumba [i.e. Trombay] où les Caraques ont coustume d'hyverner."—Routier ... des Indes Or., by Aleixo da Motta, in Thevenot.
c. 1635.—
"The bigger Whale, like some huge carrack lay Which wanted Sea room for her foes to play...." Waller, Battle of the Summer Islands.
1653.—"... pour moy il me vouloit loger en son Palais, et que si i'auois la volonté de retourner a Lisbone par mer, il me feroit embarquer sur les premieres Karaques...."—De la Boullaye-le-Gouz, ed. 1657, p. 213.
1660.—"And further, That every Merchant Denizen who shall hereafter ship any Goods or Merchandize in any Carrack or Galley shall pay to your Majesty all manner of Customs, and all the Subsidies aforesaid, as any Alien born out of the Realm."—Act 12 Car. II. cap. iv. s. iv. (Tonnage and Poundage).
c. 1680.—"To this City of the floating ... which foreigners, with a little variation from carroços, call carracas."—Vieira, quoted by Bluteau.
page 166bCARRAWAY, s. This word for the seed of Carum carui, L., is (probably through Sp. alcaravea) from the Arabic karawiyā. It is curious that the English form is thus closer to the Arabic than either the Spanish, or the French and Italian carvi, which last has passed into Scotch as carvy. But the Arabic itself is a corruption [not immediately, N.E.D.] of Lat. careum, or Gr. κάρον (Dozy).
CARTMEEL, s. This is, at least in the Punjab, the ordinary form that 'mail-cart' takes among the natives. Such inversions are not uncommon. Thus Sir David Ochterlony was always called by the Sepoys Loni-okhtar. In our memory an officer named Holroyd was always called by the Sepoys Roydāl, [and Brownlow, Lobrūn. By another curious corruption Mackintosh becomes Makkhanī-tosh, 'buttered toast'!]
CARTOOCE, s. A cartridge; kārtūs, Sepoy H.; [comp. TOSTDAUN].
CARYOTA, s. This is the botanical name (Caryota urens, L.) of a magnificent palm growing in the moister forest regions, as in the Western Ghauts and in Eastern Bengal, in Ceylon, and in Burma. A conspicuous character is presented by its enormous bipinnate leaves, somewhat resembling colossal bracken-fronds, 15 to 25 feet long, 10 to 12 in width; also by the huge pendent clusters of its inflorescence and seeds, the latter like masses of rosaries 10 feet long and upwards. It affords much Toddy (q.v.) made into spirit and sugar, and is the tree chiefly affording these products in Ceylon, where it is called Kitul. It also affords a kind of sago, and a woolly substance found at the foot of the leaf-stalks is sometimes used for caulking, and forms a good tinder. The sp. name urens is derived from the acrid, burning taste of the fruit. It is called, according to Brandis, the Mhār-palm in Western India. We know of no Hindustani or familiar Anglo-Indian name. [Watt, (Econ. Dict. ii. 206) says that it is known in Bombay as the Hill or Sago palm. It has penetrated in Upper India as far as Chunār.] The name Caryota seems taken from Pliny, but his application is to a kind of date-palm; his statement that it afforded the best wine of page 167athe East probably suggested the transfer.
1681.—"The next tree is the Kettule. It groweth straight, but not so tall or big as a Coker-Nut-Tree; the inside nothing but a white pith, as the former. It yieldeth a sort of Liquor ... very sweet and pleasing to the Pallate.... The which Liquor they boyl and make a kind of brown sugar called Jaggory [see JAGGERY], &c."—Knox, p. 15.
1777.—"The Caryota urens, called the Saguer tree, grew between Salatiga and Kopping, and was said to be the real tree from which sago is made."—Thunberg, E. T. iv. 149. A mistake, however.
CASH, s. A name applied by Europeans to sundry coins of low value in various parts of the Indies. The word in its original form is of extreme antiquity, "Skt. karsha ... a weight of silver or gold equal to $^1$⁄$_{400}$ of a Tulā" (Williams, Skt. Dict.; and see also a Note on the Kārsha, or rather kārshāpaṇa, as a copper coin of great antiquity, in E. Thomas's Pathân Kings of Delhi, 361–362). From the Tam. form kāsu, or perhaps from some Konkani form which we have not traced, the Portuguese seem to have made caixa, whence the English cash. In Singalese also kāsi is used for 'coin' in general. The English term was appropriated in the monetary system which prevailed in S. India up to 1818; thus there was a copper coin for use in Madras struck in England in 1803, which bears on the reverse, "XX Cash." A figure of this coin is given in Ruding. Under this system 80 cash = 1 fanam, 42 fanams = 1 star pagoda. But from an early date the Portuguese had applied caixa to the small money of foreign systems, such as those of the Malay Islands, and especially to that of the Chinese. In China the word cash is used, by Europeans and their hangers-on, as the synonym of the Chinese le and tsien, which are those coins made of an alloy of copper and lead with a square hole in the middle, which in former days ran 1000 to the liang or tael (q.v.), and which are strung in certain numbers on cords. [This type of money, as was recently pointed out page 167bby Lord Avebury, is a survival of the primitive currency, which was in the shape of an axe.] Rouleaux of coin thus strung are represented on the surviving bank-notes of the Ming dynasty (A.D. 1368 onwards), and probably were also on the notes of their Mongol predecessors.
The existence of the distinct English word cash may probably have affected the form of the corruption before us. This word had a European origin from It. cassa, French caisse, 'the money-chest': this word in book-keeping having given name to the heading of account under which actual disbursements of coin were entered (see Wedgwood and N.E.D. s.v.). In Minsheu (2nd ed. 1627) the present sense of the word is not attained. He only gives "a tradesman's Cash, or Counter to keepe money in."
" "In this country (Calicut) a great number of apes are produced, one of which is worth 4 casse, and one casse is worth a quattrino."—Ibid. 172. (Why a monkey should be worth 4 casse is obscure.)
1598.—"You must understand that in Sunda there is also no other kind of money than certaine copper mynt called Caixa, of the bignes of a Hollãdes doite, but not half so thicke, in the middle whereof is a hole to hang it on a string, for that commonlie they put two hundreth or a thousand vpon one string."—Linschoten, 34; [Hak. Soc. i. 113].
1600.—"Those (coins) of Lead are called caxas, whereof 1600 make one mas."—John Davis, in Purchas, i. 117.
1609.—"Ils (les Chinois) apportent la monnoye qui a le cours en toute l'isle de Iava, et Isles circonvoisines, laquelle en lãgue Malaique est appellee Cas.... Cette monnoye est jettée en moule en Chine, a la Ville de Chincheu."—Houtman, in Nav. des Hollandois, i. 30b.
[1621.—"In many places they threw abroad Cashes (or brasse money) in great quantety."—Cocks, Diary, ii. 202.]
1711.—"Doodoos and Cash are Copper Coins, eight of the former make one Fanham, and ten of the latter one Doodoo."—Lockyer, 8. [Doodoo is the Tel. duddu, Skt. dvi, 'two'; a more modern scale is: 2 dooggaunies = 1 doody: 3 doodies = 1 anna.—Mad. Gloss. s.v.]
1718.—"Cass (a very small coin, eighty whereof make one Fano)."—Propagation of the Gospel in the East, ii. 52.
1727.—"At Atcheen they have a small coin of leaden Money called Cash, from page 168a12 to 1600 of them goes to one Mace, or Masscie."—A. Hamilton, ii. 109.
c. 1750–60.—"At Madras and other parts of the coast of Coromandel, 80 casches make a fanam, or 3d. sterling; and 36 fanams a silver pagoda, or 7s. 8d. sterling."—Grose, i. 282.
1790.—"So far am I from giving credit to the late Government (of Madras) for œconomy, in not making the necessary preparations for war, according to the positive orders of the Supreme Government, after having received the most gross insult that could be offered to any nation! I think it very possible that every Cash of that ill-judged saving may cost the company a crore of rupees."—Letter of Lord Cornwallis to E. J. Hollond, Esq., see the Madras Courier, 22nd Sept. 1791.
[1792.—"Whereas the sum of Raheties 1223, 6 fanams and 30 khas has been deducted."—Agreement in Logan, Malabar, iii. 226.]
1813.—At Madras, according to Milburn, the coinage ran:
The following shows a singular corruption, probably of the Chinese tsien, and illustrates how the striving after meaning shapes such corruptions:—
An intermediate step in this transformation is found in Cocks's Japan Journal, passim, e.g., ii. 89:
CASHEW, s. The tree, fruit, or nut of the Anacardium occidentale, an American tree which must have been introduced early into India by the Portuguese, for it was widely diffused apparently as a wild tree long before the end of the 17th century, and it is described as an Indian tree by Acosta, who wrote in 1578. Crawfurd also speaks of it as abundant, and in full bearing, in the jungly islets of Hastings Archipelago, off the coast of Camboja (Emb. to Siam, &c., i. 103) [see Teele's page 168bnote on Linschoten, Hak. Soc. ii. 27]. The name appears to be S. American, acajou, of which an Indian form, kājū, [and Malay gajus], have been made. The so-called fruit is the fleshy top of the peduncle which bears the nut. The oil in the shell of the nut is acrid to an extraordinary degree, whilst the kernels, which are roasted and eaten, are quite bland. The tree yields a gum imported under the name of Cadju gum.
1598.—"Cajus groweth on trees like apple-trees, and are of the bignes of a Peare."—Linschoten, p. 94; [Hak. Soc. ii. 28].
[1623.—P. della Valle, Hak. Soc. i. 135, calls it cagiu.]
1658.—In Piso, De Indiae utriusque Re Naturali et Medicâ, Amst., we have a good cut of the tree as one of Brasil, called Acaibaa "et fructus ejus Acaju."
1672.—"... il Cagiu.... Questo è l'Amandola ordinaria dell'India, per il che se ne raccoglie grandissima quantità, essendo la pianta fertilissima e molto frequente, ancora nelli luoghi più deserti et inculti."—Vincenzo Maria, 354.
1673.—Fryer describes the tree under the name Cheruse (apparently some mistake), p. 182.
1764.—
"... Yet if The Acajou haply in the garden bloom...." Grainger, iv.
[1813.—Forbes calls it "the chashew-apple," and the "cajew-apple."—Or. Mem. 2nd ed. i. 232, 238.]
c. 1830.—"The cashew, with its apple like that of the cities of the Plain, fair to look at, but acrid to the taste, to which the far-famed nut is appended like a bud."—Tom Cringle, ed. 1863, p. 140.
CASHMERE, n.p. The famous valley province of the Western Himālaya, H. and P. Kashmīr, from Skt. Kaśmīra, and sometimes Kāśmīra, alleged by Burnouf to be a contraction of Kaśyapamīra. [The name is more probably connected with the Khasa tribe.] Whether or not it be the Kaspatyrus or Kaspapyrus of Herodotus, we believe it undoubtedly to be the Kaspeiria (kingdom) of Ptolemy. page 169aSeveral of the old Arabian geographers write the name with the guttural ḳ, but this is not so used in modern times.
c. 940.—"Ḳashmīr ... is a mountainous country, forming a large kingdom, containing not less than 60,000 or 70,000 towns or villages. It is inaccessible except on one side, and can only be entered by one gate."—Mas'ūdi, i. 373.
1275.—"Ḳashmīr, a province of India, adjoining the Turks; and its people of mixt Turk and Indian blood excel all others in beauty."—Zakarīya Kazvīni, in Gildemeister, 210.
1298.—"Keshimur also is a province inhabited by a people who are idolaters and have a language of their own ... this country is the very source from which idolatry has spread abroad."—Marco Polo, i. 175.
1552.—"The Mogols hold especially towards the N.E. the region Sogdiana, which they now call Queximir, and also Mount Caucasus which divides India from the other Provinces."—Barros, IV. vi. 1.
1615.—"Chishmeere, the chiefe Citie is called Sirinakar."—Terry, in Purchas, ii. 1467; [so in Roe's Map, vol. ii. Hak. Soc. ed.; Chismer in Foster, Letters, iii. 283].
1664.—"From all that hath been said, one may easily conjecture, that I am somewhat charmed with Kachemire, and that I pretend there is nothing in the world like it for so small a kingdom."—Bernier, E. T. 128; [ed. Constable, 400].
1676.—
"A trial of your kindness I must make; Though not for mine, so much as virtue's sake, The Queen of Cassimere...." Dryden's Aurungzebe, iii. 1.
CASIS, CAXIS, CACIZ, &c., s. This Spanish and Portuguese word, though Dozy gives it only as prêtre chrétien, is frequently employed by old travellers, and writers on Eastern subjects, to denote Mahommedan divines (mullas and the like). It may be suspected to have arisen from a confusion of two Arabic terms—kāḍi (see CAZEE) and ḳashīsh or ḳasīs, 'a Christian Presbyter' (from a Syriac root signifying senuit). Indeed we sometimes find the precise word page 169bḳashīsh (Caxix) used by Christian writers as if it were the special title of a Mahommedan theologian, instead of being, as it really is, the special and technical title of a Christian priest (a fact which gives Mount Athos its common Turkish name of Ḳashīsh Dāgh). In the first of the following quotations the word appears to be applied by the Mussulman historian to pagan priests, and the word for churches to pagan temples. In the others, except that from Major Millingen, it is applied by Christian writers to Mahommedan divines, which is indeed its recognised signification in Spanish and Portuguese. In Jarric's Thesaurus (Jesuit Missions, 1606) the word Cacizius is constantly used in this sense.
1404.—"The town was inhabited by Moorish hermits called Caxixes; and many people came to them on pilgrimage, and they healed many diseases."—Markham's Clavijo, 79.
1514.—"And so, from one to another, the message passed through four or five hands, till it came to a Gazizi, whom we should call a bishop or prelate, who stood at the King's feet...."—Letter of Giov. de Empoli, in Archiv. Stor. Ital. Append. p. 56.
1538.—"Just as the Cryer was offering to deliver me unto whomsoever would buy me, in comes that very Cacis Moulana, whom they held for a Saint, with 10 or 11 other Cacis his Inferiors, all Priests like himself of their wicked sect."—F. M. Pinto (tr. by H. C.), p. 8.
1552.—Caciz in the same sense used by Barros, II. ii. 1.
[1553.—See quotation from Barros under LAR.
[1554.—"Who was a Caciz of the Moors, which means in Portuguese an ecclesiastic."—Castañeda, Bk. I. ch. 7.]
1561.—"The King sent off the Moor, and with him his Casis, an old man of much authority, who was the principal priest of his Mosque."—Correa, by Ld. Stanley, 113.
1567.—"... The Holy Synod declares it necessary to remove from the territories of His Highness all the infidels whose office it is to maintain their false religion, such as are the cācizes of the Moors, and the preachers of the Gentoos, jogues, sorcerers, (feiticeiros), jousis, grous (i.e. joshis or astrologers, and gurūs), and whatsoever others make a business of religion among the infidels, and so also the bramans and paibus page 170a(? prabhūs, see PURVOE)."—Decree 6 of the Sacred Council of Goa, in Arch. Port. Or. fasc. 4.
1580.—"... e foi sepultado no campo per Cacises."—Primor e Honra, &c., f. 13v.
1582.—"And for pledge of the same, he would give him his sonne, and one of his chief chaplaines, the which they call Cacis."—Castañeda, by N. L.
1603.—"And now those initiated priests of theirs called Cashishes (Casciscis) were endeavouring to lay violent hands upon his property."—Benedict Goës, in Cathay, &c., ii. 568.
1648.—"Here is to be seen an admirably wrought tomb in which a certain Casis lies buried, who was the Pedagogue or Tutor of a King of Guzuratte."—Van Twist, 15.
1672.—"They call the common priests Casis, or by another name Schierifi (see SHEREEF), who like their bishops are in no way distinguished in dress from simple laymen, except by a bigger turban ... and a longer mantle...."—P. Vincenzo Maria, 55.
1688.—"While they were thus disputing, a Caciz, or doctor of the law, joined company with them."—Dryden, L. of Xavier, Works, ed. 1821, xvi. 68.
CASSANAR, CATTANAR, s. A priest of the Syrian Church of Malabar; Malayāl. kattanār, meaning originally 'a chief,' and formed eventually from the Skt. kartṛi.
1612.—"A few years ago there arose a dispute between a Brahman and a certain Cassanar on a matter of jurisdiction."—P. Vincenzo Maria, 152.
CASSAY, n.p. A name often given in former days to the people of Munneepore (Manipur), on the eastern frontier of Bengal. It is the Burmese name of this people, Kasé, or as the Burmese pronounce it, Kathé. It must not be confounded with Cathay (q.v.) with which it has nothing to do. [See SHAN.]
CASSOWARY, s. The name of this great bird, of which the first species known (Casuarius galeatus) is found only in Ceram Island (Moluccas), is Malay kasavārī or kasuārī; [according to Scott, the proper reading is kasuwārī, and he remarks that no Malay Dict. records the word before 1863]. Other species have been observed in N. Guinea, N. Britain, and N. Australia.
1631.—"De Emeu, vulgo Casoaris. In insula Ceram, aliisque Moluccensibus vicinis insulis, celebris haec avis reperitur."—Jac. Bontii, lib. v. c. 18.
1659.—"This aforesaid bird Cossebàres also will swallow iron and lead, as we once learned by experience. For when our Connestabel once had been casting bullets on the Admiral's Bastion, and then went to dinner, there came one of these Cossebàres on the bastion, and swallowed 50 of the bullets. And ... next day I found that the bird after keeping them a while in his maw had regularly cast up again all the 50."—J. J. Saar, 86.
1682.—"On the islands Sumatra (?) Banda, and the other adjoining islands of the Moluccas there is a certain bird, which by the natives is called Emeu or Eme, but otherwise is commonly named by us Kasuaris."—Nieuhof, ii. 281.
CASTE, s. "The artificial divisions of society in India, first made known to us by the Portuguese, and described by them under their term caste, signifying 'breed, race, kind,' which has been retained in English under the supposition that it was the native name" (Wedgwood, s.v.). [See the extraordinary derivation of Hamilton below.] Mr. Elphinstone prefers to write "Cast."
We do not find that the early Portuguese writer Barbosa (1516) applies the word casta to the divisions of Hindu page 171asociety. He calls these divisions in Narsinga and Malabar so many leis de gentios, i.e. 'laws' of the heathen, in the sense of sectarian rules of life. But he uses the word casta in a less technical way, which shows how it should easily have passed into the technical sense. Thus, speaking of the King of Calicut: "This King keeps 1000 women, to whom he gives regular maintenance, and they always go to his court to act as the sweepers of his palaces ... these are ladies, and of good family" (estas saom fidalgas e de boa casta.—In Coll. of Lisbon Academy, ii. 316). So also Castanheda: "There fled a knight who was called Fernão Lopez, homem de boa casta" (iii. 239). In the quotations from Barros, Correa, and Garcia de Orta, we have the word in what we may call the technical sense.
1552.—"The Admiral ... received these Naires with honour and joy, showing great contentment with the King for sending his message by such persons, saying that he expected this coming of theirs to prosper, as there did not enter into the business any man of the caste of the Moors."—Barros, I. vi. 5.
1561.—"Some of them asserted that they were of the caste (casta) of the Christians."—Correa, Lendas, i. 2, 685.
1563.—"One thing is to be noted ... that no one changes from his father's trade, and all those of the same caste (casta) of shoemakers are the same."—Garcia, f. 213b.
1567.—"In some parts of this Province (of Goa) the Gentoos divide themselves into distinct races or castes (castas) of greater or less dignity, holding the Christians as of lower degree, and keep these so superstitiously that no one of a higher caste can eat or drink with those of a lower...."—Decree 2nd of the Sacred Council of Goa, in Archiv. Port. Orient., fasc. 4.
1572.—
"Dous modos ha de gente; porque a nobre Nairos chamados são, e a menos dina Poleas tem por nome, a quem obriga A lei não misturar a castà antiga."— Camões, vii. 37.
By Burton:
"Two modes of men are known; the nobles know the name of Nayrs, who call the lower Caste Poléas, whom their haughty laws contain from intermingling with the higher strain."
1612.—"As regards the castes (castas) the great impediment to the conversion of the page 171bGentoos is the superstition which they maintain in relation to their castes, and which prevents them from touching, communicating, or mingling with others, whether superior or inferior; these of one observance with those of another."—Couto, Dec. V. vi. 4. See also as regards the Portuguese use of the word, Gouvea, ff. 103, 104, 105, 106b, 129b; Synodo, 18b, &c.
1613.—"The Banians kill nothing; there are thirtie and odd severall Casts of these that differ something in Religion, and may not eat with each other."—N. Withington, in Purchas, i. 485; see also Pilgrimage, pp. 997, 1003.
1630.—"The common Bramane hath eighty two Casts or Tribes, assuming to themselves the name of that tribe...."—Lord's Display of the Banians, p. 72.
1673.—"The mixture of Casts or Tribes of all India are distinguished by the different modes of binding their Turbats."—Fryer, 115.
c. 1760.—"The distinction of the Gentoos into their tribes or Casts, forms another considerable object of their religion."—Grose, i. 201.
1763.—"The Casts or tribes into which the Indians are divided, are reckoned by travellers to be eighty-four."—Orme (ed. 1803), i. 4.
[1820.—"The Kayasthas (pronounced Kaists, hence the word caste) follow next."—W. Hamilton, Descr. of Hindostan, i. 109.]
Castes are, according to Indian social views, either high or low.
In the Madras Pres. castes are also 'Right-hand' and 'Left-hand.' This distinction represents the agricultural classes on the one hand, and the artizans, &c., on the other, as was pointed out by F. W. Ellis. In the old days of Ft. St. George, faction-fights between the two were very common, and the terms right-hand and left-hand castes occur early in the old records of that settlement, and page 172afrequently in Mr. Talboys Wheeler's extracts from them. They are mentioned by Couto. [See Nelson, Madura, Pt. ii. p. 4; Oppert, Orig. Inhab. p. 57.]
Sir Walter Elliot considers this feud to be "nothing else than the occasional outbreak of the smouldering antagonism between Brahmanism and Buddhism, although in the lapse of ages both parties have lost sight of the fact. The points on which they split now are mere trifles, such as parading on horse-back or in a palankeen in procession, erecting a pandal or marriage-shed on a given number of pillars, and claiming to carry certain flags, &c. The right-hand party is headed by the Brahmans, and includes the Parias, who assume the van, beating their tom-toms when they come to blows. The chief of the left-hand are the Panchalars [i.e. the Five Classes, workers in metal and stone, &c.], followed by the Pallars and workers in leather, who sound their long trumpets and engage the Parias." (In Journ. Ethnol. Soc. N.S. 1869, p. 112.)
The word is current in French:
Caste is also applied to breeds of animals, as 'a high-caste Arab.' In such cases the usage may possibly have come directly from the Port. alta casta, casta baixa, in the sense of breed or strain.
CASTEES, s. Obsolete. The Indo-Portuguese formed from casta the word castiço, which they used to denote children born in India of Portuguese parents; much as creole was used in the W. Indies.
1638.—"Les habitans sont ou Castizes, c'est à dire Portugais naturels, et nez de pere et de mere Portugais, ou Mestizes, c'est à dire, nez d'vn pere Portugais et d'vne mere Indienne."—Mandelslo.
1653.—"Les Castissos sont ceux qui sont nays de pere et mere reinols (Reinol); ce mot vient de Casta, qui signifie Race, ils sont mesprizez des Reynols...."—Le Gouz, Voyages, 26 (ed. 1657).
1661.—"Die Stadt (Negapatam) ist zimlich volksreich, doch mehrentheils von Mastycen Castycen, und Portugesichen Christen."—Walter Schulze, 108.
1699.—"Castees wives at Fort St. George."—Census of English on the Coast, in Wheeler, i. 356.
1701–2.—In the MS. Returns of Persons in the Service of the Rt. Honble. the E. I. Company, in the India Office, for this year, we find, "4th (in Council) Matt. Empson, Sea Customer, marry'd Castees," and under 1702, "13. Charles Bugden ... marry'd Casteez."
CASUARINA, s. A tree (Casuarina muricata, Roxb.—N. O. Casuarineae) indigenous on the coast of Chittagong and the Burmese provinces, and southward as far as Queensland. It was introduced into Bengal by Dr. F. Buchanan, and has been largely adopted as an ornamental tree both in Bengal and in Southern India. The tree has a considerable superficial resemblance to a larch or other finely-feathered conifer, making a very acceptable variety in the hot plains, where real pines will not grow. [The name, according to Mr. Scott, appears to be based on a Malayan name associating the tree with the Cassowary, as Mr. Skeat suggests from the resemblance of its needles to the quills of the bird.]
1867.—"Our road lay chiefly by the sea-coast, along the white sands, which were fringed for miles by one grand continuous line or border of casuarina trees."—Lt.-Col. Lewin, A Fly on the Wheel, 362.
page 173aCATAMARÁN, s. Also CUTMURRAM, CUTMURÁL. Tam. kaṭṭu, 'binding,' maram, 'wood.' A raft formed of three or four logs of wood lashed together. The Anglo-Indian accentuation of the last syllable is not correct.
1673.—"Coasting along some Cattamarans (Logs lashed to that advantage that they waft off all their Goods, only having a Sail in the midst and Paddles to guide them) made after us...."—Fryer, 24.
1698.—"Some time after the Cattamaran brought a letter...."—In Wheeler, i. 334.
1700.—"Un pecheur assis sur un catimaron, c'est à dire sur quelques grosses pièces de bois liées ensemble en manière de radeau."—Lett. Edif. x. 58.
c. 1780.—"The wind was high, and the ship had but two anchors, and in the next forenoon parted from that by which she was riding, before that one who was coming from the shore on a Catamaran could reach her."—Orme, iii. 300.
1810.—Williamson (V. M. i. 65) applies the term to the rafts of the Brazilian fishermen.
1836.—"None can compare to the Catamarans and the wonderful people that manage them ... each catamaran has one, two, or three men ... they sit crouched upon their heels, throwing their paddles about very dexterously, but very unlike rowing."—Letters from Madras, 34.
[During the war with Napoleon, the word came to be applied to a sort of fire-ship. "Great hopes have been formed at the Admiralty (in 1804) of certain vessels which were filled with combustibles and called catamarans."—(Ld. Stanhope, Life of Pitt, iv. 218.) This may have introduced the word in English and led to its use as 'old cat' for a shrewish hag.]
CATECHU, also CUTCH and CAUT, s. An astringent extract from the wood of several species of Acacia (Acacia catechu, Willd.), the khair, and Acacia suma, Kurz, Ac. sundra, D. C. and probably more. The extract is called in H. kaṭh, [Skt. kvath, 'to decoct'], but the two first page 173bcommercial names which we have given are doubtless taken from the southern forms of the word, e.g. Can. kāchu, Tam. kāsu, Malay kachu. De Orta, whose judgments are always worthy of respect, considered it to be the lycium of the ancients, and always applied that name to it; but Dr. Royle has shown that lycium was an extract from certain species of berberis, known in the bazars as rasōt. Cutch is first mentioned by Barbosa, among the drugs imported into Malacca. But it remained unknown in Europe till brought from Japan about the middle of the 17th century. In the 4th ed. of Schröder's Pharmacop. Medico-chymica, Lyons, 1654, it is briefly described as Catechu or Terra Japonica, "genus terrae exoticae" (Hanbury and Flückiger, 214). This misnomer has long survived.
1554.—"The bahar of Cate, which here (at Ormuz) they call cacho, is the same as that of rice."—A. Nunes, 22.
1563.—"Colloquio XXXI. Concerning the wood vulgarly called Cate; and containing profitable matter on that subject."—Garcia, f. 125.
1578.—"The Indians use this Cate mixt with Areca, and with Betel, and by itself without other mixture."—Acosta, Tract. 150.
1585.—Sassetti mentions catu as derived from the Khadira tree, i.e. in modern Hindi the Khair (Skt. khadira).
[1616.—"010 bags Catcha."—Foster, Letters, iv. 127.]
1617.—"And there was rec. out of the Adviz, viz. ... 7 hhds. drugs cacha; 5 hampers pochok" (see PUTCHOCK).—Cocks's Diary, i. 294.
1759.—"Hortal [see HURTAUL] and Cotch, Earth-oil, and Wood-oil."—List of Burma Products in Dalrymple, Oriental Repert. i. 109.
c. 1760.—"To these three articles (betel, areca, and chunam) is often added for luxury what they call cachoonda, a Japan-earth, which from perfumes and other mixtures, chiefly manufactured at Goa, receives such improvement as to be sold to advantage when re-imported to Japan.... Another addition too they use of what they call Catchoo, being a blackish granulated perfumed composition...."—Grose, i. 238.
CATHAY, n.p. China; originally Northern China. The origin of the name is given in the quotation below from the Introduction to Marco Polo. In the 16th century, and even later, from a misunderstanding of the medieval travellers, Cathay was supposed to be a country north of China, and is so represented in many maps. Its identity with China was fully recognised by P. Martin Martini in his Atlas Sinensis; also by Valentijn, iv. China, 2.
1253.—"Ultra est magna Cataya, qui antiquitus, ut credo, dicebantur Seres.... Isti Catai sunt parvi homines, loquendo multum aspirantes per nares et ... habent parvam aperturam oculorum," &c.—Itin. Wilhelmi de Rubruk, 291–2.
c. 1330.—"Cathay is a very great Empire, which extendeth over more than c. days' journey, and it hath only one lord...."—Friar Jordanus, p. 54.
1404.—"E lo mas alxofar [see ALJOFAR] que en el mundo se ha, se pesia e falla en aq̃l mar del Catay."—Clavijo, f. 32.
1555.—"The Yndians called Catheies have eche man many wiues."—Watreman, Fardle of Faciouns, M. ii.
1598.—"In the lande lying westward from China, they say there are white people, and the land called Cathaia, where (as it is thought) are many Christians, and that it should confine and border upon Persia."—Linschoten, 57; [Hak. Soc. i. 126].
[1602.—"... and arriued at any porte within the dominions of the kingdomes of Cataya, China, or Japan."—Birdwood, First Letter Book, 24. Here China and Cataya are spoken of as different countries. Comp. Birdwood, Rep. on Old Rec., 168 note.]
Before 1633.—
"I'll wish you in the Indies or Cataia...." Beaum. & Fletch., The Woman's Prize, iv. 5.
1634.—
"Domadores das terras e dos mares Não so im Malaca, Indo e Perseu streito Mas na China, Catai, Japão estranho Lei nova introduzindo em sacro banho." Malaca Conquistada.
1664.—"'Tis not yet twenty years, that there went caravans every year from Kachemire, which crossed all those mountains of the great Tibet, entred into Tartary, and page 174barrived in about three months at Cataja...."—Bernier, E. T., 136; [ed. Constable, 425].
1842.—
"Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay." Tennyson, Locksley Hall.
CAT'S-EYE, s. A stone of value found in Ceylon. It is described by Dana as a form of chalcedony of a greenish grey, with glowing internal reflections, whence the Portuguese call it Olho de gato, which our word translates. It appears from the quotation below from Dr. Royle that the Beli oculus of Pliny has been identified with the cat's-eye, which may well be the case, though the odd circumstance noticed by Royle may be only a curious coincidence. [The phrase billī kī ānkh does not appear in Platt's Dict. The usual name is lahsaniyā, 'like garlic.' The Burmese are said to call it kyoung, 'a cat.']
c. 1340.—"Quaedam regiones monetam non habent, sed pro ea utuntur lapidibus quos dicimus Cati Oculos."—Conti, in Poggius, De Var. Fortunae, lib. iv.
1516.—"And there are found likewise other stones, such as Olho de gato, Chrysolites, and amethysts, of which I do not treat because they are of little value."—Barbosa, in Lisbon Acad., ii. 390.
1599.—"Lapis insuper alius ibi vulgaris est, quem Lusitani olhos de gatto, id est, oculum felinum vocant, propterea quod cum eo et colore et facie conveniat. Nihil autem aliud quam achates est."—De Bry, iv. 84 (after Linschoten); [Hak. Soc. i. 61, ii. 141].
1672.—"The Cat's-eyes, by the Portuguese called Olhos de Gatos, occur in Zeylon, Cambaya, and Pegu; they are more esteemed by the Indians than by the Portuguese; for some Indians believe that if a man wears this stone his power and riches will never diminish, but always increase."—Baldaeus, Germ. ed. 160.
CATTY, s.
a. A weight used in China, and by the Chinese introduced into the Archipelago. The Chinese name is kin or chin. The word kātī or katī is Malayo-Javanese. It is equal to 16 taels, i.e. 1⅓ lb. avoird. or 625 grammes. This is the weight fixed by treaty; but in Chinese trade it varies from 4 oz. to 28 oz.; the lowest value being used by tea-vendors at Peking, the highest by coal-merchants in Honan.
1598.—"Everie Catte is as much as 20 Portingall ounces."—Linschoten, 34; [Hak. Soc. i. 113].
1604.—"Their pound they call a Cate, which is one and twentie of our ounces."—Capt. John Davis, in Purchas, i. 123.
1609.—"Offering to enact among them the penaltie of death to such as would sel one cattie of spice to the Hollanders."—Keeling, ibid. i. 199.
b. The word catty occurs in another sense in the following passage. A note says that "Catty or more literally Kuttoo is a Tamil word signifying batta" (q.v.). But may it not rather be a clerical error for batty?
CATUR, s. A light rowing vessel used on the coast of Malabar in the early days of the Portuguese. We have not been able to trace the name to any Indian source, [unless possibly Skt. chatura, 'swift']. Is it not page 175bprobably the origin of our 'cutter'? We see that Sir R. Burton in his Commentary on Camoens (vol. iv. 391) says: "Catur is the Arab. katīreh, a small craft, our 'cutter.'" [This view is rejected by the N.E.D., which regards it as an English word from 'to cut.'] We cannot say when cutter was introduced in marine use. We cannot find it in Dampier, nor in Robinson Crusoe; the first instance we have found is that quoted below from Anson's Voyage. [The N.E.D. has nothing earlier than 1745.]
Bluteau gives catur as an Indian term indicating a small war vessel, which in a calm can be aided by oars. Jal (Archéologie Navale, ii. 259) quotes Witsen as saying that the Caturi or Almadias were Calicut vessels, having a length of 12 to 13 paces (60 to 65 feet), sharp at both ends, and curving back, using both sails and oars. But there was a larger kind, 80 feet long, with only 7 or 8 feet beam.
1544.—"... navigium majus quod vocant caturem."—Scti. Franc. Xav. Epistolae, 121.
1549.—"Naves item duas (quas Indi catures vocant) summâ celeritate armari jussit, vt oram maritimam legentes, hostes commeatu prohiberent."—Goës, de Bello Cambaico, 1331.
1552.—"And this winter the Governor sent to have built in Cochin thirty Catures, which are vessels with oars, but smaller than brigantines."—Castanheda, iii. 271.
1588.—"Cambaicam oram Jacobus Lacteus duobos caturibus tueri jussus...."—Maffei, lib. xiii. ed. 1752, p. 283.
1601.—"Biremes, seu Cathuris quam plurimae conduntur in Lassaon, Javae civitate...."—De Bry, iii. 109 (where there is a plate, iii. No. xxxvii.).
1688.—"No man was so bold to contradict the man of God; and they all went to the Arsenal. There they found a good and sufficient bark of those they call Catur, besides seven old foysts."—Dryden, Life of Xavier, in Works, 1821, xvi. 200.
page 176aCAUVERY, n.p. The great river of S. India. Properly Tam. Kāviri, or rather Kāveri, and Sanscritized Kāvērī. The earliest mention is that of Ptolemy, who writes the name (after the Skt. form) Χάβηρος (sc. ποταμός). The Καμάρα of the Periplus (c. A.D. 80–90) probably, however, represents the same name, the Χαβηρὶς ἐμποριόν of Ptolemy. The meaning of the name has been much debated, and several plausible but unsatisfactory explanations have been given. Thus the Skt. form Kāvērī has been explained from that language by kāvēra 'saffron.' A river in the Tamil country is, however, hardly likely to have a non-mythological Skt. name. The Cauvery in flood, like other S. Indian rivers, assumes a reddish hue. And the form Kāvēri has been explained by Bp. Caldwell as possibly from the Dravidian kāvi, 'red ochre' or kā (kā-va), 'a grove,' and ēr-u, Tel. 'a river,' ēr-i, Tam. 'a sheet of water'; thus either 'red river' or 'grove river.' [The Madras Admin. Gloss. takes it from kā, Tam. 'grove,' and ēri, Tam. 'tank,' from its original source in a garden tank.] Kā-viri, however, the form found in inscriptions, affords a more satisfactory Tamil interpretation, viz. Kā-viri, 'grove-extender,' or developer. Any one who has travelled along the river will have noticed the thick groves all along the banks, which form a remarkable feature of the stream.
"Χαβήρου ποταμοῦ ἐκβολάι Χαβηρὶς ἐμποριόν."—Ptolemy, lib. vii. 1.
The last was probably represented by Kaveripatan.
c. 545.—"Then there is Sieledēba, i.e. Taprobane ... and then again on the Continent, and further back, is Marallo, which exports conch-shells; Kaber, which exports alabandinum."—Cosmas, Topog. Christ. in Cathay, &c. clxxviii.
The Cauvery appears to be ignored in the older European account and maps.
CAVALLY, s. This is mentioned as a fish of Ceylon by Ives, 1775 (p. 57). It is no doubt the same that is described in the quotation from Pyrard [see Gray's note, Hak. Soc. page 176bi. 388]. It may represent the genus Equula, of which 12 spp. are described by Day (Fishes of India, pp. 237–242), two being named by different zoologists E. caballa. But Dr. Day hesitates to identify the fish now in question. The fish mentioned in the fourth and fifth quotations may be the same species; but that in the fifth seems doubtful. Many of the spp. are extensively sun-dried, and eaten by the poor.
1626.—"The Ile inricht us with many good things; Buffols, ... oysters, Breams, Cavalloes, and store of other fish."—Sir T. Herbert, 28.
1652.—"There is another very small fish vulgarly called Cavalle, which is good enough to eat, but not very wholesome."—Philippus a Sanct. Trinitate, in Fr. Tr. 383.
1796.—"The ayla, called in Portuguese cavala, has a good taste when fresh, but when salted becomes like the herring."—Fra Paolini, E. T., p. 240.
CAWNEY, CAWNY, s. Tam. kāni, 'property,' hence 'land,' [from Tam. kan, 'to see,' what is known and recognised,] and so a measure of land used in the Madras Presidency. It varies, of course, but the standard Cawny is considered to be = 24 manai or Grounds (q.v.), of 2,400 sq. f. each, hence 57,600 sq. f. or ac. 1.322. This is the only sense in which the word is used in the Madras dialect of the Anglo-Indian tongue. The 'Indian Vocabulary' of 1788 has the word in the form Connys, but with an unintelligible explanation.
CAWNPORE, n.p. The correct name is Kānhpur, 'the town of Kānh, Kanhaiya or Krishna.' The city of the Doab so called, having in 1891 a population of 188,712, has grown up entirely under British rule, at first as the bazar and dependence of the cantonment established here under a treaty made with the Nabob of Oudh in 1766, and afterwards as a great mart of trade.
CAYMAN, s. This is not used in India. It is an American name for an alligator; from the Carib acayuman (Littré). But it appears formerly to have been in general use among the Dutch in the East. [It is one of those words "which the Portuguese or Spaniards very early caught up in one part of the world, and naturalised in another." (N.E.D.)].
This is an instance of the way in which we so often see a word belonging to a different quarter of the world undoubtingly ascribed to Africa or Asia, as the case may be. In the next quotation we find it ascribed to India.
1672.—"The figures so represented in Adam's footsteps were ... 41. The King of the Caimans or Crocodiles."—Baldaeus (Germ. ed.), 148.
page 177bCAYOLAQUE, s. Kayu = 'wood,' in Malay. Laka is given in Crawfurd's Malay Dict. as "name of a red wood used as incense, Myristica iners." In his Descr. Dict. he calls it the "Tanarius major; a tree with a red-coloured wood, a native of Sumatra, used in dyeing and in pharmacy. It is an article of considerable native trade, and is chiefly exported to China" (p. 204). [The word, according to Mr. Skeat, is probably kayu, 'wood,' lakh, 'red dye' (see LAC), but the combined form is not in Klinkert, nor are these trees in Ridley's plant list. He gives Laka-laka or Malaka as the name of the phyllanthus emblica.]
c. 1560.—"I being in Cantan there was a rich (bed) made wrought with Iuorie, and of a sweet wood which they call Cayolaque, and of Sandalum, that was prized at 1500 Crownes."—Gaspar Da Cruz, in Purchas, iii. 177.
CAZEE, KAJEE, &c., s. Arab. ḳāḍi, 'a judge,' the letter ẓwād with which it is spelt being always pronounced in India like a z. The form Cadi, familiar from its use in the old version of the Arabian Nights, comes to us from the Levant. The word with the article, al-ḳāḍi, becomes in Spanish alcalde; not alcaide, which is from ḳā'īd, 'a chief'; nor alguacil, which is from wazīr. So Dozy and Engelmann, no doubt correctly. But in Pinto, cap. 8, we find "ao guazil da justica q̃ em elles he como corregedor entre nos"; where guazil seems to stand for ḳāẓī.
It is not easy to give an accurate account of the position of the Ḳāẓī in British India, which has gone through variations of which a distinct record cannot be found. But the following outline is believed to be substantially correct.
page 178aUnder Adawlut I have given a brief sketch of the history of the judiciary under the Company in the Bengal Presidency. Down to 1790 the greater part of the administration of criminal justice was still in the hands of native judges, and other native officials of various kinds, though under European supervision in varying forms. But the native judiciary, except in positions of a quite subordinate character, then ceased. It was, however, still in substance Mahommedan law that was administered in criminal cases, and also in civil cases between Mahommedans as affecting succession, &c. And a Ḳāẓī and a Muftī were retained in the Provincial Courts of Appeal and Circuit as the exponents of Mahommedan law, and the deliverers of a formal Futwa. There was also a Ḳāẓī-al-Ḳoẓāt, or chief Ḳāẓī of Bengal, Behar and Orissa, attached to the Sudder Courts of Dewanny and Nizamut, assisted by two Muftis, and these also gave written futwas on references from the District Courts.
The style of Ḳāẓī and Muftī presumably continued in formal existence in connection with the Sudder Courts till the abolition of these in 1862; but with the earlier abolition of the Provincial Courts in 1829–31 it had quite ceased, in this sense, to be familiar. In the District Courts the corresponding exponents were in English officially designated Law-officers, and, I believe, in official vernacular, as well as commonly among Anglo-Indians, Moolvees (q.v.).
Under the article LAW-OFFICER, it will be seen that certain trivial cases were, at the discretion of the magistrate, referred for disposal by the Law-officer of the district. And the latter, from this fact, as well as, perhaps, from the tradition of the elders, was in some parts of Bengal popularly known as 'the Ḳāẓī.' "In the Magistrate's office," writes my friend Mr. Seton-Karr, "it was quite common to speak of this case as referred to the joint magistrate, and that to the Chhoṭā Ṣāḥib (the Assistant), and that again to the Ḳāẓī."
But the duties of the Ḳāẓī popularly so styled and officially recognised, had, almost from the beginning of the century, become limited to certain notarial functions, to the performance page 178band registration of Mahommedan marriages, and some other matters connected with the social life of their co-religionists. To these functions must also be added as regards the 18th century and the earlier years of the 19th, duties in connection with distraint for rent on behalf of Zemindars. There were such Ḳāẓīs nominated by Government in towns and pergunnas, with great variation in the area of the localities over which they officiated. The Act XI. of 1864, which repealed the laws relating to law-officers, put an end also to the appointment by Government of Kāẓīs. But this seems to have led to inconveniences which were complained of by Mahommedans in some parts of India, and it was enacted in 1880 (Act XII., styled "The Ḳāẓīs Act") that with reference to any particular locality, and after consultation with the chief Musulman residents therein, the Local Government might select and nominate a Ḳāẓī or Ḳāẓīs for that local area (see FUTWA, LAW-OFFICER, MUFTY).
c. 1461.—
"Au tems que Alexandre regna Ung hom, nommé Diomedès Devant luy, on luy amena Engrilloné poulces et detz Comme ung larron; car il fut des Escumeurs que voyons courir Si fut mys devant le cadès, Pour estre jugé à mourir." Gd. Testament de Fr. Villon.
[c. 1610.—"The Pandiare is called Cady in the Arabic tongue."—Pyrard de Laval, Hak. Soc. i. 199.]
1648.—"The Government of the city (Ahmedabad) and surrounding villages rests with the Governor Coutewael, and the Judge (whom they call Casgy)."—Van Twist, 15.
[1670.—"The Shawbunder, Cozzy."—Hedges, Diary, Hak. Soc. ii. ccxxix.]
1673.—"Their Law-Disputes, they are soon ended; the Governor hearing; and the Cadi or Judge determining every Morning."—Fryer, 32.
" "The Cazy or Judge ... marries them."—Ibid. 94.
1683.—"... more than that 3000 poor men gathered together, complaining with full mouths of his exaction and injustice page 179atowards them: some demanding Rupees 10, others Rupees 20 per man, which Bulchund very generously paid them in the Cazee's presence...."—Hedges, Nov. 5; [Hak. Soc. i. 134; Cazze in i. 85].
1684.—"January 12.—From Cassumbazar 'tis advised ye Merchants and Picars appeal again to ye Cazee for Justice against Mr. Charnock. Ye Cazee cites Mr. Charnock to appear...."—Ibid. i. 147.
1689.—"A Cogee ... who is a Person skilled in their Law."—Ovington, 206.
Here there is perhaps a confusion with Coja.
1727.—"When the Man sees his Spouse, and likes her, they agree on the Price and Term of Weeks, Months, or Years, and then appear before the Cadjee or Judge."—A. Hamilton, i. 52.
1763.—"The Cadi holds court in which are tried all disputes of property."—Orme, i. 26 (ed. 1803).
1773.—"That they should be mean, weak, ignorant, and corrupt, is not surprising, when the salary of the principal judge, the Cazi, does not exceed Rs. 100 per month."—From Impey's Judgment in the Patna Cause, quoted by Stephen, ii. 176.
1790.—"Regulations for the Court of Circuit.
"24. That each of the Courts of Circuit be superintended by two covenanted civil servants of the Company, to be denominated Judges of the Courts of Circuit ... assisted by a Kazi and a Mufti."—Regns. for the Adm. of Justice in the Foujdarry or Criminal Courts in Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa. Passed by the G.-G. in C., Dec. 3, 1790.
"32. ... The charge against the prisoner, his confession, which is always to be received with circumspection and tenderness ... &c. ... being all heard and gone through in his presence and that of the Kazi and Mufti of the Court, the Kazi and Mufti are then to write at the bottom of the record of the proceedings held in the trial, the futwa or law as applicable to the circumstances of the case.... The Judges of the Court shall attentively consider such futwa, &c."—Ibid.
1791.—"The Judges of the Courts of Circuit shall refer to the Kazi and Mufti of their respective Courts all questions on points of law ... regarding which they may not have been furnished with specific instructions from the G.-G. in C. or the Nizamut Adawlut...."—Regn. No. XXXV.
1792.—Revenue Regulation of July 20, No. lxxv., empowers Landholders and Farmers of Land to distrain for Arrears of Rent or Revenue. The "Kazi of the Pegunnah" is the official under the Collector, repeatedly referred to as regulating and carrying out the distraint. So, again, in Regn. XVII. of 1793.
1793.—"lxvi. The Nizamut Adaulat shall continue to be held at Calcutta.
"lxvii. The Court shall consist of the page 179bGovernor-General, and the members of the Supreme Council, assisted by the head Cauzy of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa, and two Muftis." (This was already in the Regulations of 1791.)—Regn. IX. of 1793. See also quotation under MUFTY.
1793.—"I. Cauzies are stationed at the Cities of Patna, Dacca, and Moorshedabad, and the principal towns, and in the pergunnahs, for the purpose of preparing and attesting deeds of transfer, and other law papers, celebrating marriages, and performing such religious duties or ceremonies prescribed by the Mahommedan law, as have been hitherto discharged by them under the British Government."—Reg. XXXIX. of 1793.
1803.—Regulation XLVI. regulates the appointment of Cauzy in towns and pergunnahs, "for the purpose of preparing and attesting deeds of transfer, and other law papers, celebrating marriages," &c., but makes no allusion to judicial duties.
1824.—"Have you not learned this common saying—'Every one's teeth are blunted by acids except the cadi's, which are by sweets.'"—Hajji Baba, ed. 1835, p. 316.
1864.—"Whereas it is unnecessary to continue the offices of Hindoo and Mahomedan Law-Officers, and is inexpedient that the appointment of Cazee-ool-Cozaat, or of City, Town, or Pergunnah Cazees should be made by Government, it is enacted as follows:—
"II. Nothing contained in this Act shall be construed so as to prevent a Cazee-ool-Cozaat or other Cazee from performing, when required to do so, any duties or ceremonies prescribed by the Mahomedan Law."—Act No. XI. of 1864.
1880.—"... whereas by the usage of the Muhammadan community in some parts of India the presence of Kázís appointed by the Government is required at the celebration of marriages...."—Bill introduced into the Council of Gov.-Gen., January 30, 1880.
" "An Act for the appointment of persons to the office of Kází.
"Whereas by the preamble to Act No. XI. of 1864 ... it was (among other things declared inexpedient, &c.) ... and whereas by the usage of the Muhammadan community in some parts of India the presence of Kázís appointed by the Government is required at the celebration of marriages and the performance of certain other rites and ceremonies, and it is therefore expedient that the Government should again be empowered to appoint such persons to the office of Kází; It is hereby enacted...."—Act No. XII. of 1880.
1885.—"To come to something more specific. 'There were instances in which men of the most venerable dignity, persecuted without a cause by extortioners, died of rage and shame in the gripe of the vile alguazils of Impey'" [Macaulay's Essay on Hastings].
Cazee also is a title used in Nepal for Ministers of State.
1868.—"The Durbar (of Nepal) have written to the four Kajees of Thibet enquiring the reason."—Letter from Col. R. Lawrence, dated 1st April, regarding persecution of R. C. Missions in Tibet.
1873.—
"Ho, lamas, get ye ready, Ho, Kazis, clear the way; The chief will ride in all his pride To the Rungeet Stream to-day." Wilfrid Heeley, A Lay of Modern Darjeeling.
CEDED DISTRICTS, n.p. A name applied familiarly at the beginning of the last century to the territory south of the Tungabhadra river, which was ceded to the Company by the Nizam in 1800, after the defeat and death of Tippoo Sultan. This territory embraced the present districts of Bellary, Cuddapah, and Karnúl, with the Palnād, which is now a subdivision of the Kistna District. The name perhaps became best known in England from Gleig's Life of Sir Thomas Munro, that great man having administered these provinces for 7 years.
CELÉBES, n.p. According to Crawfurd this name is unknown to the natives, not only of the great island itself, but of the Archipelago generally, and must have arisen from some Portuguese misunderstanding or page 180bcorruption. There appears to be no general name for the island in the Malay language, unless Tanah Bugis, 'the Land of the Bugis people' [see BUGIS]. It seems sometimes to have been called the Isle of Macassar. In form Celebes is apparently a Portuguese plural, and several of their early writers speak of Celebes as a group of islands. Crawfurd makes a suggestion, but not very confidently, that Pulo sālabih, 'the islands over and above,' might have been vaguely spoken of by the Malays, and understood by the Portuguese as a name. [Mr. Skeat doubts the correctness of this explanation: "The standard Malay form would be Pulau Sălĕbih, which in some dialects might be Să-lĕbis, and this may have been a variant of Si-Lĕbih, a man's name, the si corresponding to the def. art. in the Germ. phrase 'der Hans.' Numerous Malay place-names are derived from those of people."]
c. 1544.—"In this street (of Pegu) there were six and thirty thousand strangers of two and forty different Nations, namely ... Papuaas, Selebres, Mindanaos ... and many others whose names I know not."—F. M. Pinto, in Cogan's tr., p. 200.
1552.—"In the previous November (1529) arrived at Ternate D. Jorge de Castro who came from Malaca by way of Borneo in a junk ... and going astray passed along the Isle of Macaçar...."—Barros, Dec. IV. i. 18.
" "The first thing that the Samarao did in this was to make Tristão de Taide believe that in the Isles of the Celebes, and of the Macaçares and in that of Mindinão there was much gold."—Ibid. vi. 25.
1579.—"The 16 Day (December) wee had sight of the Iland Celebes or Silebis."—Drake, World Encompassed (Hak. Soc.), p. 150.
CENTIPEDE, s. This word was perhaps borrowed directly from the Portuguese in India (centopèa). [The N.E.D. refers it to Sp.]
CERAM, n.p. A large island in the Molucca Sea, the Serang of the Malays. [Klinkert gives the name Seran, which Mr. Skeat thinks more likely to be correct.]
CERAME, CARAME, &c., s. The Malayālim śrāmbi, a gatehouse with a room over the gate, and generally fortified. This is a feature of temples, &c., as well as of private houses, in Malabar [see Logan, i. 82]. The word is also applied to a chamber raised on four posts. [The word, as Mr. Skeat notes, has come into Malay as sarambi or serambi, 'a house veranda.']
1551.—"... where stood the çarame of the King, which is his temple...."—Ibid. iii. 2.
1552.—"Pedralvares ... was carried ashore on men's shoulders in an andor till he was set among the Gentoo Princes whom the Çamorin had sent to receive him at the beach, whilst the said Çamorin himself was standing within sight in the cerame awaiting his arrival."—Barros, I. v. 5.
1557.—The word occurs also in D'Alboquerque's Commentaries (Hak. Soc. tr. i. 115), but it is there erroneously rendered "jetty."
CEYLON, n.p. This name, as applied to the great island which hangs from India like a dependent jewel, becomes usual about the 13th century. But it can be traced much earlier. For it appears undoubtedly to be formed from Sinhala or Sihala, 'lions' abode,' the name adopted in the island page 181bitself at an early date. This, with the addition of 'Island,' Sihala-dvīpa, comes down to us in Cosmas as Σιελεδίβα. There was a Pali form Sihalan, which, at an early date, must have been colloquially shortened to Silan, as appears from the old Tamil name Ilam (the Tamil having no proper sibilant), and probably from this was formed the Sarandīp and Sarandīb which was long the name in use by mariners of the Persian Gulf.
It has been suggested by Mr. Van der Tuuk, that the name Sailan or Silan was really of Javanese origin, as sela (from Skt. śilā, 'a rock, a stone') in Javanese (and in Malay) means 'a precious stone,' hence Pulo Selan would be 'Isle of Gems.' ["This," writes Mr. Skeat, "is possible, but it remains to be proved that the gem was not named after the island (i.e. 'Ceylon stone'). The full phrase in standard Malay is batu Sēlan, where batu means 'stone.' Klinkert merely marks Sailan (Ceylon) as Persian."] The island was really called anciently Ratnadvīpa, 'Isle of Gems,' and is termed by an Arab historian of the 9th century Jazīrat-al yaḳūt, 'Isle of Rubies.' So that there is considerable plausibility in Van der Tuuk's suggestion. But the genealogy of the name from Sihala is so legitimate that the utmost that can be conceded is the possibility that the Malay form Selan may have been shaped by the consideration suggested, and may have influenced the general adoption of the form Sailān, through the predominance of Malay navigation in the Middle Ages.
c. 430.—"The island of Lanka was called Sihala after the Lion; listen ye to the narration of the island which I (am going to) tell: 'The daughter of the Vanga King cohabited in the forest with a lion.'"—Dipavanso, IX. i. 2.
c. 545.—"This is the great island in the ocean, lying in the Indian Sea. By the Indians it is called Sielediba, but by the Greeks Taprobane."—Cosmas, Bk. xi.
851.—"Near Sarandīb is the pearl-fishery. Sarandīb is entirely surrounded by the sea."—Relation des Voyages, i. p. 5.
c. 940.—"Mas'ūdi proceeds: In the Island Sarandīb, I myself witnessed that when the King was dead, he was placed on a chariot with low wheels so that his hair page 182adragged upon the ground."—In Gildemeister, 154.
c. 1020.—"There you enter the country of Lárán, where is Jaimúr, then Malia, then Kánji, then Darúd, where there is a great gulf in which is Sinkaldíp (Sinhala dvīpa), or the island of Sarandíp."—Al Birūnī, as given by Rashíduddín, in Elliot, i. 66.
1275.—"The island Sailan is a vast island between China and India, 80 parasangs in circuit.... It produces wonderful things, sandal-wood, spikenard, cinnamon, cloves, brazil, and various spices...."—Kazvīnī, in Gildemeister, 203.
1298.—"You come to the island of Seilan, which is in good sooth the best island of its size in the world."—Marco Polo, Bk. iii. ch. 14.
c. 1300.—"There are two courses ... from this place (Ma'bar); one leads by sea to Chín and Máchín, passing by the island of Sílán."—Rashíduddín, in Elliot, i. 70.
1330.—"There is another island called Sillan.... In this ... there is an exceeding great mountain, of which the folk relate that it was upon it that Adam mourned for his son one hundred years."—Fr. Odoric, in Cathay, i. 98.
c. 1337.—"I met in this city (Brussa) the pious sheikh 'Abd-Allah-al-Miṣrī, the Traveller. He was a worthy man. He made the circuit of the earth, except he never entered China, nor the island of Sarandīb, nor Andalusia, nor the Sūdān. I have excelled him, for I have visited those regions."—Ibn Batuta, ii. 321.
c. 1350.—"... I proceeded to sea by Seyllan, a glorious mountain opposite to Paradise.... 'Tis said the sound of the waters falling from the fountain of Paradise is heard there."—Marignolli, in Cathay, ii. 346.
c. 1420.—"In the middle of the Gulf there is a very noble island called Zeilam, which is 3000 miles in circumference, and on which they find by digging, rubies, saffires, garnets, and those stones which are called cats'-eyes."—N. Conti, in India in the XVth Century, 7.
1498.—"... much ginger, and pepper, and cinnamon, but this is not so fine as that which comes from an island which is called Cillam, and which is 8 days distant from Calicut."—Roteiro de V. da Gama, 88.
1514.—"Passando avanti intra la terra e il mare si truova l'isola di Zolan dove nasce la cannella...."—Giov. da Empoli, in Archiv. Stor. Ital., Append. 79.
1516.—"Leaving these islands of Mahaldiva ... there is a very large and beautiful island which the Moors, Arabs, and Persians call Ceylam, and the Indians call it Ylinarim."—Barbosa, 166.
1586.—"This Ceylon is a brave Iland, very fruitful and fair."—Hakl. ii. 397.
[1605.—"Heare you shall buie theis Comodities followinge of the Inhabitants of Selland."—Birdwood, First Letter Book, 84.
page 182b[1615.—"40 tons of cinnamon of Celand."—Foster, Letters, iii. 277.
[" "Here is arrived a ship out of Holland ... at present turning under Silon."—Ibid. iv. 34.]
1682.—"... having run 35 miles North without seeing Zeilon."—Hedges, Diary, July 7; [Hak. Soc. i. 28].
1727.—A. Hamilton writes Zeloan (i. 340, &c.), and as late as 1780, in Dunn's Naval Directory, we find Zeloan throughout.
1781.—"We explored the whole coast of Zelone, from Pt. Pedro to the Little Basses, looked into every port and spoke to every vessel we saw, without hearing of French vessels."—Price's Letter to Ph. Francis, in Tracts, i. 9.
1830.—
"For dearer to him are the shells that sleep By his own sweet native stream, Than all the pearls of Serendeep, Or the Ava ruby's gleam! Home! Home! Friends—health—repose, What are Golconda's gems to those?" Bengal Annual.
CHABEE, s. H. chābī, chābhī, 'a key,' from Port. chave. In Bengali it becomes sābī, and in Tam. sāvī. In Sea-H. 'a fid.'
CHABOOTRA, s. H. chabūtrā and chābūtara, a paved or plastered platform, often attached to a house, or in a garden.
1811.—"... the Chabootah or Terrace."—Williamson, V. M. ii. 114.
1827.—"The splendid procession, having entered the royal gardens, approached through a long avenue of lofty trees, a chabootra or platform of white marble canopied by arches of the same material."—Sir W. Scott, The Surgeon's Daughter, ch. xiv.
CHACKUR, s. P.—H. chākar, 'a servant.' The word is hardly ever now used in Anglo-Indian households except as a sort of rhyming amplification to Naukar (see NOKUR): "Naukar-chākar," the whole following. But in a past generation there was a distinction made between naukar, the superior servant, such as a munshī, a gomāshta, page 183aa chobdār, a khānsama, &c., and chākar, a menial servant. Williamson gives a curious list of both classes, showing what a large Calcutta household embraced at the beginning of last century (V. M. i. 185–187).
CHALIA, CHALÉ, n.p. Chālyam, Chāliyam, or Chālayam; an old port of Malabar, on the south side of the Beypur [see BEYPOOR] R., and opposite Beypur. The terminal station of the Madras Railway is in fact where Chālyam was. A plate is given in the Lendas of Correa, which makes this plain. The place is incorrectly alluded to as Kalyān in Imp. Gazetteer, ii. 49; more correctly on next page as Chalium. [See Logan, Malabar, i. 75.]
c. 1344.—"I went then to Shālyāt, a very pretty town, where they make the stuffs that bear its name [see SHALEE].... Thence I returned to Kalikut."—Ibn Batuta, iv. 109.
1516.—"Beyond this city (Calicut) towards the south there is another city called Chalyani, where there are numerous Moors, natives of the country, and much shipping."—Barbosa, 153.
c. 1570.—"And it was during the reign of this prince that the Franks erected their fort at Shaleeat ... it thus commanded the trade between Arabia and Calicut, since between the last city and Shaleeat the distance was scarcely 2 parasangs."—Tohfut-ul-Mujahideen, p. 129.
1572.—
"A Sampaio feroz succederá Cunha, que longo tempe tem o leme: De Chale as torres altas erguerá Em quanto Dio illustre delle treme." Camões, x. 61.
By Burton:
"Then shall succeed to fierce Sampaio's powers Cunha, and hold the helm for many a year, building of Chale-town the lofty towers, while quakes illustrious Diu his name to hear."
[c. 1610.—"... crossed the river which separates the Calecut kingdom from that of a king named Chaly."—Pyrard de Laval, Hak. Soc. i. 368.]
page 183bCHAMPA, n.p. The name of a kingdom at one time of great power and importance in Indo-China, occupying the extreme S.E. of that region. A limited portion of its soil is still known by that name, but otherwise as the Binh-Thuān province of Cochin China. The race inhabiting this portion, Chams or Tsiams, are traditionally said to have occupied the whole breadth of that peninsula to the Gulf of Siam, before the arrival of the Khmer or Kambojan people. It is not clear whether the people in question took their name from Champa, or Champa from the people; but in any case the form of Champa is Sanskrit, and probably it was adopted from India like Kamboja itself and so many other Indo-Chinese names. The original Champā was a city and kingdom on the Ganges, near the modern Bhāgalpur. And we find the Indo-Chinese Champa in the 7th century called Mahā-champā, as if to distinguish it. It is probable that the Ζάβα or Ζάβαι of Ptolemy represents the name of this ancient kingdom; and it is certainly the Ṣanf or Chanf of the Arab navigators 600 years later; this form representing Champ as nearly as is possible to the Arabic alphabet.
851.—"Ships then proceed to the place called Ṣanf (or Chanf) ... there fresh water is procured; from this place is exported the aloes-wood called Chanfi. This is a kingdom."—Relation des Voyages, &c., i. 18.
1298.—"You come to a country called Chamba, a very rich region, having a King of its own. The people are idolaters, and pay a yearly tribute to the Great Kaan ... there are a very great number of Elephants in this Kingdom, and they have lign-aloes in great abundance."—Marco Polo, Bk. iii. ch. 5.
c. 1300.—"Passing on from this, you come to a continent called Jampa, also subject to the Kaan...."—Rashīduddīn, in Elliot, i. 71.
c. 1328.—"There is also a certain part of India called Champa. There, in place of horses, mules, asses, and camels, they make use of elephants for all their work."—Friar Jordanus, 37.
1516.—"Having passed this island (Borney) ... towards the country of Ansiam and China, there is another great island of Gentiles called Champa; which has a King and language of its own, and many elephants.... There also grows in it aloes-wood."—Barbosa, 204.
page 184a1552.—"Concorriam todolos navegantes dos mares Occidentaes da India, e dos Orientaes a ella, que são as regiões di Sião, China, Choampa, Cambòja...."—Barros, ii. vi. 1.
1572.—
"Ves, corre a costa, que Champa se chama Cuja mata he do pao cheiroso ornada." Camões, x. 129.
By Burton:
"Here courseth, see, the callèd Champa shore, with woods of odorous wood 'tis deckt and dight."
1608.—"... thence (from Assam) eastward on the side of the northern mountains are the Nangata [i.e. Nāga] lands, the Land of Pukham lying on the ocean, Balgu [Baigu? i.e. Pegu], the land Rakhang, Hamsavati, and the rest of the realm of Munyang; beyond these Champa, Kamboja, etc. All these are in general named Koki."—Taranatha (Tibetan) Hist. of Buddhism, by Schiefner, p. 262. The preceding passage is of great interest as showing a fair general knowledge of the kingdoms of Indo-China on the part of a Tibetan priest, and also as showing that Indo-China was recognised under a general name, viz. Koki.
CHAMPANA, s. A kind of small vessel. (See SAMPAN.)
CHANDAUL, s. H. Chaṇḍāl, an outcaste, 'used generally for a man of the lowest and most despised of the mixt tribes' (Williams); 'properly one sprung from a Sudra father and Brahman mother' (Wilson). [The last is the definition of the Āīn (ed. Jarrett, iii. 116). Dr. Wilson identifies them with the Kandali or Gondali of Ptolemy (Ind. Caste, i. 57).]
CHANDERNAGORE, n.p. The name of the French settlement on the Hoogly, 24 miles by river above Calcutta, originally occupied in 1673. The name is alleged by Hunter to be properly Chandan(a)-nagara, 'Sandalwood City,' but the usual form points rather to Chandra-nagara, 'Moon City.' page 184b[Natives prefer to call it Farash-danga, or 'The gathering together of Frenchmen.']
CHANK, CHUNK, s. H. sankh, Skt. sankha, a large kind of shell (Turbinella rapa) prized by the Hindus, and used by them for offering libations, as a horn to blow at the temples, and for cutting into armlets and other ornaments. It is found especially in the Gulf of Manaar, and the Chank fishery was formerly, like that of the pearl-oysters, a Government monopoly (see Tennent's Ceylon, ii. 556, and the references). The abnormal chank, with its spiral opening to the right, is of exceptional value, and has been sometimes priced, it is said, at a lakh of rupees!
851.—"They find on its shores (of Ceylon) the pearl, and the shank, a name by which they designate the great shell which serves for a trumpet, and which is much sought after."—Reinaud, Relations, i. 6.
1563.—"... And this chanco is a ware for the Bengal trade, and formerly it produced more profit than now.... And there was formerly a custom in Bengal that no virgin in honour and esteem could be corrupted unless it were by placing bracelets of chanco on her arms; but since the Patans came in this usage has more or less ceased; and so the chanco is rated lower now...."—Garcia, f. 141.
1644.—"What they chiefly bring (from Tuticorin) are cloths called cachas ... a large quantity of Chanquo; these are large shells which they fish in that sea, and which supply Bengal, where the blacks make of them bracelets for the arm; also the biggest and best fowls in all these Eastern parts."—Bocarro, MS. 316.
1672.—"Garroude flew in all haste to Brahma, and brought to Kisna the chianko, or kinkhorn, twisted to the right."—Baldaeus, Germ. ed. 521.
page 185a1673.—"There are others they call chanquo; the shells of which are the Mother of Pearl."—Fryer, 322.
1727.—"It admits of some Trade, and produces Cotton, Corn, coars Cloth, and Chonk, a Shell-fish in shape of a Periwinkle, but as large as a Man's Arm above the Elbow. In Bengal they are saw'd into Rings for Ornaments to Women's Arms."—A. Hamilton, i. 131.
1734.—"Expended towards digging a foundation, where chanks were buried with accustomed ceremonies."—In Wheeler, iii. 147.
1770.—"Upon the same coast is found a shell-fish called xanxus, of which the Indians at Bengal make bracelets."—Raynal (tr. 1777) i. 216.
1813.—"A chank opening to the right hand is highly valued ... always sells for its weight in gold."—Milburn, i. 357.
[1871.—"The conch or chunk shell."—Mateer, Land of Charity, 92.]
1875.—
| | | Valuation | Valuation | Valuation | Valuation |
| "Chanks. | Large for Cameos. | per | 100 | 10 | Rs. |
| | White, live | " | " | 6 | " |
| | Wh"te, dead | " | " | 3 | " |
| Table of Customs Duties on Imports into British India up to 1875." ||||||
CHARPOY, s. H. chārpāī, from P. chihār-pāī (i.e. four-feet), the common Indian bedstead, sometimes of very rude materials, but in other cases handsomely wrought and painted. It is correctly described in the quotation from Ibn Batuta.
c. 1540.—"Husain Khan Tashtdár was sent on some business from Bengal. He went on travelling night and day. Whenever sleep came over him he placed himself on a bed (chahār-pāī) and the villagers carried him along on their shoulders."—MS. quoted in Elliot, iv. 418.
1662.—"Turbans, long coats, trowsers, shoes, and sleeping on chárpáis, are quite unusual."—H. of Mir Jumla's Invasion of Assam, transl. by Blochmann, J.A.S.B. xli. pt. i. 80.
1876.—"A syce at Mozuffernuggar, lying asleep on a charpoy ... was killed by a tame buck goring him in the side ... it was supposed in play."—Baldwin, Large and Small Game of Bengal, 195.
CHATTA, s. An umbrella; H. chhātā, chhatr; Skt. chhatra.
c. 1340.—"They hoist upon these elephants as many chatrās, or umbrellas of silk, mounted with many precious stones, and with handles of pure gold."—Ibn Batuta, iii. 228.
c. 1354.—"But as all the Indians commonly go naked, they are in the habit of carrying a thing like a little tent-roof on a cane handle, which they open out at will as a protection against sun and rain. This they call a chatyr. I brought one home to Florence with me...."—John Marignolli, in Cathay, &c. p. 381.
1673.—"Thus the chief Naik with his loud Musick ... an Ensign of Red, Swallow-tailed, several Chitories, little but rich Kitsolls (which are the Names of several Countries for Umbrelloes)...."—Fryer, 160.
[1694.—"3 chatters."—Hedges, Diary, Hak. Soc. ii. cclxv.
CHATTY, s. An earthen pot, spheroidal in shape. It is a S. Indian word, but is tolerably familiar in the Anglo-Indian parlance of N. India also, though the H. Ghurra (ghaṛā) is more commonly used there. The word is Tam. shāṭi, shaṭṭi, Tel. chatti, which appears in Pali as chāḍi.
CHAW, s. For chā, i.e. Tea (q.v.).
CHAWBUCK, s. and v. A whip; to whip. An obsolete vulgarism from P. chābuk, 'alert'; in H. 'a horse-whip.' It seems to be the same as the sjambok in use at the Cape, and apparently carried from India (see the quotation from Van Twist). [Mr. page 186aSkeat points out that Klinkert gives chambok or sambok, as Javanese forms, the standard Malay being chabok or chabuk; and this perhaps suggests that the word may have been introduced by Malay grooms once largely employed at the Cape.]
1673.—"Upon any suspicion of default he has a Black Guard that by a Chawbuck, a great Whip, extorts Confession."—Fryer, 98.
1673.—"The one was of an Armenian, Chawbucked through the City for selling of Wine."—Ibid. 97.
1682.—"... Ramgivan, our Vekeel there (at Hugly) was sent for by Permesuradass, Bulchund's servant, who immediately clapt him in prison. Ye same day was brought forth and slippered; the next day he was beat on ye soles of his feet, ye third day Chawbuckt, and ye 4th drub'd till he could not speak, and all to force a writing in our names to pay Rupees 50,000 for custome of ye Silver brought out this year."—Hedges, Diary, Nov. 2; [Hak. Soc. i. 45].
[1684–5.—"Notwithstanding his being a great person was soon stripped and chawbuckt."—Pringle, Madras Consns. iv. 4.]
1688.—"Small offenders are only whipt on the Back, which sort of Punishment they call Chawbuck."—Dampier, ii. 138.
1699.—"The Governor of Surrat ordered the cloth Broker to be tyed up and chawbucked."—Letter from General and Council at Bombay to E. I. C. (in Record Office), 23rd March, 1698–9.
1726.—"Another Pariah he chawbucked 25 blows, put him in the Stocks, and kept him there an hour."—Wheeler, ii. 410.
1756.—"... a letter from Mr. Hastings ... says that the Nabob to engage the Dutch and French to purchase also, had put peons upon their Factories and threatened their Vaquills with the Chaubac."—In Long, 79.
1760.—"Mr. Barton, laying in wait, seized Benautrom Chattogee opposite to the door of the Council, and with the assistance of his bearer and his peons tied his hands and his feet, swung him upon a bamboo like a hog, carried him to his own house, there with his own hand chawbooked him in the most cruel manner, almost to the deprivation of life; endeavoured to force beef into his mouth, to the irreparable loss of his Bramin's caste, and all this without giving ear to, or suffering the man to speak in his own defence...."—Fort Wm. Consn., in Long, 214–215.
1784.—
"The sentinels placed at the door Are for our security bail; With Muskets and Chaubucks secure, They guard us in Bangalore Jail." Song, by a Gentleman of the Navy (prisoner with Hyder) in Seton-Karr, i. 18.
CHAWBUCKSWAR, s. H. from P. chābuk-suwār, a rough-rider.
CHEBULI. The denomination of one of the kinds of Myrobolans (q.v.) exported from India. The true etymology is probably Kābulī, as stated by Thevenot, i.e. 'from Cabul.'
CHEECHEE, adj. A disparaging term applied to half-castes or Eurasians (q.v.) (corresponding to the Lip-lap of the Dutch in Java) and also to their manner of speech. The word is said to be taken from chī (Fie!), a common native (S. Indian) interjection of remonstrance or reproof, supposed to be much used by the class in question. The term is, however, perhaps also a kind of onomatopœia, indicating the mincing pronunciation which often characterises them (see below). It should, however, be added that there are many well-educated East Indians who are quite free from this mincing accent.
"Pretty little Looking-Glasses, Good and cheap for Chee-chee Misses." Hicky's Bengal Gazette, March 17.
1873.—"He is no favourite with the pure native, whose language he speaks as his own in addition to the hybrid minced English (known as chee-chee), which he also employs."—Fraser's Magazine, Oct., 437.
1880.—"The Eurasian girl is often pretty and graceful.... 'What though upon her lips there hung The accents of her tchi-tchi tongue.'"—Sir Ali Baba, 122.
CHEENAR, s. P. chīnār, the Oriental Plane (Platanus orientalis) and platanus of the ancients; native from Greece to Persia. It is often by English travellers in Persia miscalled sycamore from confusion with the common British tree (Acer pseudoplatanus), which English people also habitually miscall sycamore, and Scotch people miscall plane-tree! Our quotations show how old the confusion is. The tree is not a native of India, though there are fine chīnārs in Kashmere, and a few in old native gardens in the Punjab, introduced in the days of the Moghul emperors. The tree is the Arbre Sec of Marco Polo (see 2nd ed. vol. i. 131, 132). Chīnārs of especial vastness and beauty are described by Herodotus and Pliny, by Chardin and others. At Buyukdereh near Constantinople, is still shown the Plane under which Godfrey of Boulogne is said to have encamped. At Tejrīsh, N. of Teheran, Sir H. Rawlinson tells us that he measured a great chīnār which has a girth of 108 feet at 5 feet from the ground.
1677.—"We had a fair Prospect of the City (Ispahan) filling the one half of an ample Plain, few Buildings ... shewing themselves by reason of the high Chinors, or Sicamores shading the choicest of them...."—Fryer, 259.
" "We in our Return cannot but take notice of the famous Walk between the two Cities of Jelfa and Ispahaun; it is planted with two rows of Sycamores (which is the tall Maple, not the Sycamore of Alkair)."—Ibid. 286.
1682.—"At the elegant villa and garden at Mr. Bohun's at Lee. He shewed me the Zinnar tree or platanus, and told me that since they had planted this kind of tree about the Citty of Ispahan ... the plague ... had exceedingly abated of its mortal effects."—Evelyn's Diary, Sept. 16.
1726.—"... the finest road that you can imagine ... planted in the middle with 135 Sennaar trees on one side and 132 on the other."—Valentijn, v. 208.
1783.—"This tree, which in most parts of Asia is called the Chinaur, grows to the size of an oak, and has a taper straight trunk, with a silver-coloured bark, and its page 187bleaf, not unlike an expanded hand, is of a pale green."—G. Forster's Journey, ii. 17.
1817.—
"... they seem Like the Chenar-tree grove, where winter throws O'er all its tufted heads its feathery snows." Mokanna.
[1835.—"... the island Char chúnar ... a skilful monument of the Moghul Emperor, who named it from the four plane trees he planted on the spot."—Hügel, Travels in Kashmir, 112.
Chīnār is alleged to be in Badakhshān applied to a species of poplar.
CHEENY, s. See under SUGAR.
CHEESE, s. This word is well known to be used in modern English slang for "anything good, first-rate in quality, genuine, pleasant, or advantageous" (Slang Dict.). And the most probable source of the term is P. and H. chīz, 'thing.' For the expression used to be common among Anglo-Indians, e.g., "My new Arab is the real chīz"; "These cheroots are the real chīz," i.e. the real thing. The word may have been an Anglo-Indian importation, and it is difficult otherwise to account for it. [This view is accepted by the N.E.D.; for other explanations see 1 ser. N. & Q. viii. 89; 3 ser. vii. 465, 505.]
CHEETA, s. H. chītā, the Felis jubata, Schreber, [Cynaelurus jubatus, Blanford], or 'Hunting Leopard,' so called from its being commonly trained to use in the chase. From Skt. chitraka, or chitrakāya, lit. 'having a speckled body.'
c. 1596.—"Once a leopard (chīta) had been caught, and without previous training, on a mere hint by His Majesty, it brought in the prey, like trained leopards."—Āīn-i-Akbarī, ed. Blochmann, i. 286.
1610.—Hawkins calls the Cheetas at Akbar's Court 'ounces for game.'—In Purchas, i. 218.
page 188a[1785.—"The Cheetah-connah, the place where the Nabob's panthers and other animals for hunting are kept."—Forbes, Or. Mem. 2nd ed. ii. 450.]
1862.—"The true Cheetah, the Hunting Leopard of India, does not exist in Ceylon."—Tennent, i. 140.
It has been ingeniously suggested by Mr. Aldis Wright that the word cheater, as used by Shakspere, in the following passage, refers to this animal:—
Compare this with the passage just quoted from the Saturday Review! And the interpretation would rather derive confirmation from a parallel passage from Beaumont & Fletcher:
But we have not been able to trace any possible source from which Shakspere could have derived the name of the animal at all, to say nothing of the familiar use of it. [The N.E.D. gives no support to the suggestion.]
CHELING, CHELI, s. The word is applied by some Portuguese writers to the traders of Indian origin who were settled at Malacca. It is not found in the Malay dictionaries, and it is just possible that it originated in some confusion of Quelin (see KLING) and Chuli (see CHOOLIA), or rather of Quelin and Chetin (see CHETTY).
1613.—"E depois daquelle porto aberto e franqueado aportarão mercadores de Choromandel; mormente aquelles chelis com roupas...."—Godinho de Eredia, 4v.
CHELINGO, s. Arab. shalandī, [whence Malayāl. chalanti, Tam. shalangu;] "djalanga, qui va sur l'eau; chalangue, barque, bateau dont les planches sont clouées" (Dict. Tam. Franc., Pondichéry, 1855). This seems an unusual word, and is perhaps connected through the Arabic with the medieval vessel chelandia, chelandria, chelindras, chelande, &c., used in carrying troops and horses. [But in its present form the word is S. Indian.]
1746.—
"Chillinga hire . . . . . . . 0 22 0" Account charges at Fort St. David, Decr. 31, MS. in India Office.
1761.—"It appears there is no more than one frigate that has escaped; therefore don't lose an instant to send us chelingoes upon chelingoes loaded with rice...."—Lally to Raymond at Pulicat. In Comp. H. of the War in India (Tract), 1761, p. 85.
CHEROOT, s. A cigar; but the term has been appropriated specially to cigars truncated at both ends, as the Indian and Manilla cigars always were in former days. The word is Tam. shuruṭṭu, [Mal. churuṭṭu,] 'a roll (of tobacco).' In the South cheroots are chiefly made at Trichinopoly and in the Godavery Delta, the produce being known respectively as Trichies and Lunkas. The earliest occurrence of the word that we know is in Father Beschi's Tamil story of Parmartta Guru (c. 1725). On p. 1 one of the characters is described as carrying a firebrand to light his pugaiyailai shshuruṭṭu, 'roll (cheroot) of tobacco.' [The N.E.D. quotes cheroota in 1669.] Grose (1750–60), speaking of Bombay, whilst describing the cheroot does not use that word, but another which is, as far as we know, entirely obsolete in British India, viz. Buncus (q.v.).
"60 lbs. of Masulipatam cheroots, Rs. 500."—In Long, 194.
page 189a1781.—"... am tormented every day by a parcel of gentlemen coming to the end of my berth to talk politics and smoke cheroots—advise them rather to think of mending the holes in their old shirts, like me."—Hon. J. Lindsay (in Lives of the Lindsays), iii. 297.
" "Our evening amusements instead of your stupid Harmonics, was playing Cards and Backgammon, chewing Beetle and smoking Cherutes."—Old Country Captain, in India Gazette, Feby. 24.
1782.—"Le tabac y réussit très bien; les chiroutes de Manille sont renommées dans toute l'Inde par leur goût agréable; aussi les Dames dans ce pays fument-elles toute la journée."—Sonnerat, Voyage, iii. 43.
1792.—"At that time (c. 1757) I have seen the officers mount guard many's the time and oft ... neither did they at that time carry your fusees, but had a long Pole with an iron head to it.... With this in one Hand and a Chiroot in the other you saw them saluting away at the Main Guard."—Madras Courier, April 3.
1810.—"The lowest classes of Europeans, as also of the natives ... frequently smoke cheroots, exactly corresponding with the Spanish segar, though usually made rather more bulky."—Williamson, V. M. i. 499.
1811.—"Dire que le T'cherout est la cigarre, c'est me dispenser d'en faire la description."—Solvyns, iii.
[1823.—"He amused himself by smoking several carrotes."—Owen, Narr. ii. 50.]
CHERRY FOUJ, s. H. charī-fauj? This curious phrase occurs in the quotations, the second of which explains its meaning. I am not certain what the first part is, but it is most probably charī, in the sense of 'movable,' 'locomotive,' so that the phrase was equivalent to 'flying brigade.' [It may possibly be chaṛhī, for chaṛhnī, in the sense of 'preparation for battle.'] It was evidently a technicality of the Mahratta armies.
page 189bCHETTY, s. A member of any of the trading castes in S. India, answering in every way to the Banyans of W. and N. India. Malayāl. cheṭṭi, Tam. sheṭṭi, [Tel. seṭṭi, in Ceylon seḍḍi]. These have all been supposed to be forms from the Skt. śreshṭi; but C. P. Brown (MS.) denies this, and says "Shetti, a shop-keeper, is plain Telegu," and quite distinct from śreshṭi. [The same view is taken in the Madras Gloss.] Whence then the H. Seṭh (see SETT)? [The word was also used for a 'merchantman': see the quotations from Pyrard on which Gray notes: "I do not know any other authority for the use of the word for merchantships, though it is analogous to our merchantmen.'"]
1511.—"The great Afonso Dalboquerque ... determined to appoint Ninachatu, because he was a Hindoo, Governor of the Quilins (Cheling) and Chetins."—Comment. of Af. Dalboq., Hak. Soc. iii. 128; [and see quotation from ibid. iii. 146, under KLING].
1516.—"Some of these are called Chettis, who are Gentiles, natives of the province of Cholmender."—Barbosa, 144.
1552.—"... whom our people commonly call Chatis. These are men with such a genius for merchandise, and so acute in every mode of trade, that among our people when they desire either to blame or praise any man for his subtlety and skill in merchant's traffic they say of him, 'he is a Chatim'; and they use the word chatinar for 'to trade,'—which are words now very commonly received among us."—Barros, I. ix. 3.
c. 1566.—"Ui sono uomini periti che si chiamano Chitini, li quali metteno il prezzo alle perle."—Cesare Federici, in Ramusio, iii. 390.
1596.—"The vessels of the Chatins of these parts never sail along the coast of Malavar nor towards the north, except in a cafilla, in order to go and come more securely, and to avoid being cut off by the Malavars and other corsairs, who are continually roving in those seas."—Viceroy's Proclamation at Goa, in Archiv. Port. Or., fasc. 3, 661.
1598.—"The Souldiers in these dayes give themselves more to be Chettijns [var. lect. Chatiins] and to deale in Marchandise, than to serve the King in his Armado."—Linschoten, 58; [Hak. Soc. i. 202].
[" "Most of these vessels were Chetils, that is to say, merchantmen."—Pyrard de Laval, Hak. Soc. i. 345.
page 190a[c. 1610.—"Each is composed of fifty or sixty war galiots, without counting those of chetie, or merchantmen."—Pyrard de Laval, Hak. Soc. ii. 117.]
1651.—"The Sitty are merchant folk."—Rogerius, 8.
1686.—"... And that if the Chetty Bazaar people do not immediately open their shops, and sell their grain, etc., as usually, that the goods and commodities in their several ships be confiscated."—In Wheeler, i. 152.
1726.—"The Sittis are merchant folk and also porters...."—Valentijn, Choro. 88.
" "The strength of a Bramin is Knowledge; the strength of a King is Courage; the strength of a Bellale (or Cultivator) is Revenue; the strength of a Chetti is Money."—Apophthegms of Ceylon, tr. in Valentijn, v. 390.
c. 1754.—"Chitties are a particular kind of merchants in Madras, and are generally very rich, but rank with the left-hand cast."—Ives, 25.
[CHEYLA, s. "Originally a H. word (chelā, Skt. cheṭaka, cheḍaka) meaning 'a servant,' many changes have been rung upon it in Hindu life, so that it has meant a slave, a household slave, a family retainer, an adopted member of a great family, a dependant relative and a soldier in its secular senses; a follower, a pupil, a disciple and a convert in its ecclesiastical senses. It has passed out of Hindu usage into Muhammadan usage with much the same meanings and ideas attached to it, and has even meant a convert from Hinduism to Islam." (Col. Temple, in Ind. Ant., July, 1896, pp. 200 seqq.). In Anglo-Indian usage it came to mean a special battalion made up of prisoners and converts.
[1791.—"(The Europeans) all were bound on the parade and rings (boly) the badge of slavery were put into their ears. They were then incorporated into a battalion of Cheylas."—In Seton-Karr, ii. 311.
CHIAMAY, n.p. The name of an imaginary lake, which in the maps of the 16th century, followed by most of those page 190bof the 17th, is made the source of most of the great rivers of Further India, including the Brahmaputra, the Irawadi, the Salwen, and the Menam. Lake Chiamay was the counterpart of the African lake of the same period which is made the source of all the great rivers of Africa, but it is less easy to suggest what gave rise to this idea of it. The actual name seems taken from the State of Zimmé (see JANGOMAY) or Chiang-mai.
1552.—"The Lake of Chiamai, which stands to the northward, 200 leagues in the interior, and from which issue six notable streams, three of which combining with others form the great river which passes through the midst of Siam, whilst the other three discharge into the Gulf of Bengala."—Barros, I. ix. 1.
1572.—
"Olha o rio Menão, que se derrama Do grande lago, que Chiamai se chama." Camões, x. 125.
CHICANE, CHICANERY, ss. These English words, signifying pettifogging, captious contention, taking every possible advantage in a contest, have been referred to Spanish chico, 'little,' and to Fr. chic, chicquet, 'a little bit,' as by Mr. Wedgwood in his Dict. of Eng. Etymology. See also quotation from Saturday Review below. But there can be little doubt that the words are really traceable to the game of chaugān, or horse-golf. This game is now well known in England under the name of Polo (q.v.). But the recent introduction under that name is its second importation into Western Europe. For in the Middle Ages it came from Persia to Byzantium, where it was popular under a modification of its Persian name (verb τζυκανίζειν, playing ground τζυκανιστήριον), and from Byzantium it passed, as a pedestrian game, to Languedoc, where it was called, by a further modification, chicane (see page 191aDucange, Dissertations sur l'Histoire de St. Louis, viii., and his Glossarium Graecitatis, s.v. τζυκανίζειν; also Ouseley's Travels, i. 345). The analogy of certain periods of the game of golf suggests how the figurative meaning of chicaner might arise in taking advantage of the petty accidents of the surface. And this is the strict meaning of chicaner, as used by military writers.
Ducange's idea was that the Greeks had borrowed both the game and the name from France, but this is evidently erroneous. He was not aware of the Persian chaugān. But he explains well how the tactics of the game would have led to the application of its name to "those tortuous proceedings of pleaders which we old practitioners call barres." The indication of the Persian origin of both the Greek and French words is due to W. Ouseley and to Quatremère. The latter has an interesting note, full of his usual wealth of Oriental reading, in his translation of Makrizi's Mameluke Sultans, tom. i. pt. i. pp. 121 seqq.
The preceding etymology was put forward again in Notes upon Mr. Wedgwood's Dictionary published by one of the present writers in Ocean Highways, Sept. 1872, p. 186. The same etymology has since been given by Littré (s.v.), who says: "Dès lors, la série des sens est: jeu de mail, puis action de disputer la partie, et enfin manœuvres processives"; [and is accepted by the N.E.D. with the reservation that "evidence actually connecting the French with the Greek word appears not to be known"].
The P. forms of the name are chaugān and chauigān; but according to the Bahāri 'Ajam (a great Persian dictionary compiled in India, 1768) the primitive form of the word is chulgān from chūl, 'bent,' which (as to the form) is corroborated by the Arabic sawljān. On the other hand, a probable origin of chaugān would be an Indian (Prakrit) word, meaning 'four corners' [Platts gives chaugāna, 'four-fold'], viz. as a name for the polo-ground. The chulgān is possibly a 'striving after meaning.' The meanings are according to Vüllers (1) any stick with a crook; (2) such a stick used as a drumstick; (3) a crook from which a steel ball is suspended, which was one of the royal insignia, otherwise called kaukaba [see Blochmann, Āīn, vol. i. plate ix. No. 2.]; page 191b(4) (The golf-stick, and) the game of horse-golf.
The game is now quite extinct in Persia and Western Asia, surviving only in certain regions adjoining India, as is specified under Polo. But for many centuries it was the game of kings and courts over all Mahommedan Asia. The earliest Mahommedan historians represent the game of chaugān as familiar to the Sassanian kings; Ferdusi puts the chaugān-stick into the hands of Siāwūsh, the father of Kai Khusrū or Cyrus; many famous kings were devoted to the game, among whom may be mentioned Nūruddīn the Just, Atābek of Syria and the great enemy of the Crusaders. He was so fond of the game that he used (like Akbar in after days) to play it by lamp-light, and was severely rebuked by a devout Mussulman for being so devoted to a mere amusement. Other zealous chaugān-players were the great Saladin, Jalāluddīn Mankbarni of Khwārizm, and Malik Bībars, Marco Polo's "Bendocquedar Soldan of Babylon," who was said more than once to have played chaugān at Damascus and at Cairo within the same week. Many illustrious persons also are mentioned in Asiatic history as having met their death by accidents in the maidān, as the chaugān-field was especially called; e.g. Ḳutbuddīn Ībak of Delhi, who was killed by such a fall at Lahore in (or about) 1207. In Makrizi (I. i. 121) we read of an Amīr at the Mameluke Court called Husāmuddīn Lajīn 'Azīzī the Jukāndār (or Lord High Polo-stick).
It is not known when the game was conveyed to Constantinople, but it must have been not later than the beginning of the 8th century. The fullest description of the game as played there is given by Johannes Cinnamus (c. 1190), who does not however give the barbarian name:
We see from this passage that at Byzantium the game was played with a kind of racket, and not with a polo-stick.
We have not been able to find an instance of the medieval French chicane in this sense, nor does Littré's Dictionary give any. But Ducange states positively that in his time the word in this sense survived in Languedoc, and there could be no better evidence. From Henschel's Ducange also we borrow a quotation which shows chuca, used for some game of ball, in French-Latin, surely a form of chaugān or chicane.
The game of chaugān, the ball (gū or gavī) and the playing-ground (maidān) afford constant metaphors in Persian literature.
c. 940.—Constantine Porphyrogenitus, speaking of the rapids of the Danapris or Dnieper, says: "ὁ δὲ τούτο φραγμὸς τοσοῦτον ἐστι στενὸς ὅσον τὸ πλάτος τοῦ τζυκανιστηρίου page 192b("The defile in this case is as narrow as the width of the chukan-ground.")—De Adm. Imp., cap. ix. (Bonn ed. iii. 75).
969.—"Cumque inquisitionis sedicio non modica petit pro Constantino ... ex ea parte qua Zucanistri magnitudo portenditur, Constantinus crines solutus per cancellos caput exposuit, suaque ostensione populi mox tumultum sedavit."—Liudprandus, in Pertz, Mon. Germ., iii. 333.
"... he selected certain of his medicines and drugs, and made a goff-stick (jaukan?) [Burton, 'a bat'] with a hollow handle, into which he introduced them; after which ... he went again to the King ... and directed him to repair to the horse-course, and to play with the ball and goff-stick...."—Lane's Arabian Nights, i. 85–86; [Burton, i. 43].
c. 1030–40.—"Whenever you march ... you must take these people with you, and you must ... not allow them to drink wine or to play at chaughān."—Baihaki, in Elliot, ii. 120.
1416.—"Bernardus de Castro novo et nonnulli alii in studio Tholosano studentes, ad ludum lignobolini sive Chucarum luderunt pro vino et volema, qui ludus est quasi ludus billardi," &c.—MS. quoted in Henschel's Ducange.
c. 1420.—"The Τζυκανιστήριον was founded by Theodosius the Less ... Basilius the Macedonian extended and levelled the Τζυκανιστήριον."—Georgius Codinus de Antiq. Constant., Bonn ed. 81–82.
1516.—Barbosa, speaking of the Mahommedans of Cambay, says: "Saom tam ligeiros e manhosos na sela que a cavalo jogaom ha choqua, ho qual joguo eles tem antre sy na conta em que nos temos ho das canas"—(Lisbon ed. 271); i.e. "They are so swift and dexterous in the saddle that they play choca on horseback, a game which they hold in as high esteem as we do that of the canes" (i.e. the jereed).
1560.—"They (the Arabs) are such great riders that they play tennis on horseback" (que jogão a choca a cavallo).—Tenreiro, Itinerario, ed. 1762, p. 359.
c. 1590.—"His Majesty also plays at chaugán in dark nights ... the balls which are used at night are set on fire.... For the sake of adding splendour to the games ... His Majesty has knobs of gold and silver fixed to the tops of the chaugán sticks. If one of them breaks, any player that gets hold of the pieces may keep them."—Āīn-i-Akbarī, i. 298; [ii. 303].
In the following I would say, in justice to the great man whose words are quoted, that chicane is used in the quasi-military sense of taking every page 193apossible advantage of the ground in a contest:
CHICK, s.
a. H.—P. chik; a kind of screen-blind made of finely-split bamboo, laced with twine, and often painted on the outer side. It is hung or framed in doorways or windows, both in houses and in tents. The thing [which is described by Roe,] may possibly have come in with the Mongols, for we find in Kovalefski's Mongol Dict. (2174) "Tchik = Natte." The Āīn (i. 226) has chigh. Chicks are now made in London, as well as imported from China and Japan. Chicks are described by Clavijo in the tents of Timour's chief wife:
[1616.—His wives "whose Curiositye made them breake little holes in a grate of reede that hung before it to gaze on mee."—Sir T. Roe, Hak. Soc. ii. 321.]
1673.—"Glass is dear, and scarcely purchaseable ... therefore their Windows are usually folding doors, screened with Cheeks or latises."—Fryer, 92.
The pron. cheek is still not uncommon among English people:—"The Coach where the Women were was covered with cheeks, a sort of hanging Curtain, made with Bents variously coloured with Lacker, and Checquered with Packthred so artificially that page 193byou see all without, and yourself within unperceived."—Fryer, 83.
1810.—"Cheeks or Screens to keep out the glare."—Williamson, V. M. ii. 43.
b. Short for chickeen, a sum of four rupees. This is the Venetian zecchino, cecchino, or sequin, a gold coin long current on the shores of India, and which still frequently turns up in treasure-trove, and in hoards. In the early part of the 15th century Nicolo Conti mentions that in some parts of India, Venetian ducats, i.e. sequins, were current (p. 30). And recently, in fact in our own day, chick was a term in frequent Anglo-Indian use, e.g. "I'll bet you a chick."
The word zecchino is from the Zecca, or Mint at Venice, and that name is of Arabic origin, from sikka, 'a coining die.' The double history of this word is curious. We have just seen how in one form, and by what circuitous secular journey, through Egypt, Venice, India, it has gained a place in the Anglo-Indian Vocabulary. By a directer route it has also found a distinct place in the same repository under the form Sicca (q.v.), and in this shape it still retains a ghostly kind of existence at the India Office. It is remarkable how first the spread of Saracenic power and civilisation, then the spread of Venetian commerce and coinage, and lastly the spread of English commerce and power, should thus have brought together two words identical in origin, after so widely divergent a career.
The sequin is sometimes called in the South shānārcash, because the Doge with his sceptre is taken for the Shānār, or toddy-drawer climbing the palm-tree! [See Burnell, Linschoten, i. 243.] (See also VENETIAN.)
We apprehend that the gambling phrases 'chicken-stakes' and 'chicken-hazard' originate in the same word.
1608.—"When I was there (at Venice) a chiquiney was worth eleven livers and twelve sols."—Coryat's Crudities, ii. 68.
1609.—"Three or four thousand chequins were as pretty a proportion to live quietly page 194aon, and so give over."—Pericles, P. of Tyre, iv. 2.
1612.—"The Grand Signiors Custome of this Port Moha is worth yearly unto him 1500 chicquenes."—Saris, in Purchas, i. 348.
[1616.—"Shee tooke chickenes and royalls for her goods."—Sir T. Roe, Hak. Soc. i. 228.]
1623.—"Shall not be worth a chequin, if it were knock'd at an outcry."—Beaum. & Flet., The Maid in the Mill, v. 2.
1689.—"Four Thousand Checkins he privately tied to the flooks of an Anchor under Water."—Ovington, 418.
1711.—"He (the Broker) will charge 32 Shahees per Chequeen when they are not worth 31½ in the Bazar."—Lockyer, 227.
1727.—"When my Barge landed him, he gave the Cockswain five Zequeens, and loaded her back with Poultry and Fruit."—A. Hamilton, i. 301; ed. 1744, i. 303.
1767.—
"Received.... * * * * *  "Chequins 5 at 5.Arcot Rs. 25 0 0" * * * * *  Lord Clive's Account of his Voyage to India, in Long, 497.
1866.—
"Whenever master spends a chick, I keep back two rupees, Sir." Trevelyan, The Dawk Bungalow.
CHICKEN, s. Embroidery; Chickenwalla, an itinerant dealer in embroidered handkerchiefs, petticoats, and such like. P. chikin or chikīn, 'art needlework.' [At Lucknow, the chief centre of the manufacture, this embroidery was formerly done in silk; the term is now applied to hand-worked flowered muslin. (See Hoey, Monograph, 88, Yusuf Ali, 69.)]
CHICKORE, s. The red-legged partridge, or its close congener Caccabis chukor, Gray. It is common in the Western Himālaya, in the N. Punjab, and in Afghanistan. The francolin of Moorcroft's Travels is really the chickore. The name appears to be Skt. chakora, and this disposes of the derivation formerly suggested by one of the present writers, as from the Mongol tsokhor, 'dappled or pied' (a word, moreover, which the late Prof. Schiefner informed us is only applied to horses). The name is sometimes applied to other birds. Thus, according to Cunningham, it is applied in Ladak to the Snow-cock (Tetraogallus page 194bHimalayensis, Gray), and he appears to give chá-kor as meaning 'white-bird' in Tibetan. Jerdon gives 'snow chukor' and 'strath-chukor' as sportsmen's names for this fine bird. And in Bengal Proper the name is applied, by local English sportsmen, to the large handsome partridge (Ortygornis gularis, Tem.) of Eastern Bengal, called in H. kaiyah or ban-tītar ('forest partridge'). See Jerdon, ed. 1877, ii. 575. Also the birds described in the extract from Mr. Abbott below do not appear to have been caccabis (which he speaks of in the same journal as 'red-legged partridge'). And the use of the word by Persians (apparently) is notable; it does not appear in Persian dictionaries. There is probably some mistake. The birds spoken of may have been the Large Sand-grouse (Pterocles arenarius, Pal.), which in both Persia and Afghanistan is called by names meaning 'Black-breast.'
The belief that the chickore eats fire, mentioned in the quotation below, is probably from some verbal misconception (quasi ātish-khōr?). [This is hardly probable as the idea that the partridge drinks the moonbeams is as old as the Brahma Vaivarta Purāna: "O Lord, I drink in with the partridges of my eyes thy face full of nectar, which resembles the full moon of autumn." Also see Katha Sarit Sāgara, tr. by Mr. Tawney (ii. 243), who has kindly given the above references.] Jerdon states that the Afghans call the bird the 'Fire-eater.'
In the following passage the word cator is supposed by the editor to be a clerical error for çacor or chacor.
1520.—"Haidar Alemdâr had been sent by me to the Kafers. He met me below the Pass of Bâdîj, accompanied by some of their chiefs, who brought with them a few skins of wine. While coming down the Pass, he saw prodigious numbers of Chikûrs."—Baber, 282.
1814.—"... partridges, quails, and a bird which is called Cupk by the Persians and Afghauns, and the hill Chikore by the Indians, and which I understand is known page 195ain Europe by the name of the Greek Partridge."—Elphinstone's Caubool, ed. 1839, i. 192; ["the same bird which is called Chicore by the natives and fire-eater by the English in Bengal."—Ibid. ii. 95].
c. 1815.—"One day in the fort he found a hill-partridge enclosed in a wicker basket.... This bird is called the chuckoor, and is said to eat fire."—Mrs. Sherwood, Autobiog., 440.
CHILAW, n.p. A place on the west coast of Ceylon, an old seat of the pearl-fishery. The name is a corruption of the Tam. salābham, 'the diving'; in Singhalese it is Halavatta. The name was commonly applied by the Portuguese to the whole aggregation of shoals (Baixos de Chilao) in the Gulf of Manaar, between Ceylon and the coast of Madura and Tinnevelly.
CHILLUM, s. H. chilam; "the part of the huḳḳa (see HOOKA) which contains the tobacco and charcoal balls, whence it is sometimes loosely used for the pipe itself, or the act of smoking it" (Wilson). It is also applied to the replenishment of the bowl, in the same way as a man asks for "another glass." The tobacco, as used by the masses in the hubble-bubble, is cut small and kneaded into a pulp with goor, i.e. molasses, and a little water. Hence actual contact with glowing charcoal is needed to keep it alight.
—Prison Experiences in Captivity of Hon. J. Lindsay, in Lives of Lindsays, iii.
1811.—"They have not the same scruples for the Chillum as for the rest of the Hooka, and it is often lent ... whereas the very proposition for the Hooka gives rise frequently to the most ridiculous quarrels."—Solvyns, iii.
page 195b1828.—"Every sound was hushed but the noise of that wind ... and the occasional bubbling of my hookah, which had just been furnished with another chillum."—The Kuzzilbash, i. 2.
1829.—"Tugging away at your hookah, find no smoke; a thief having purloined your silver chelam and surpoose."—John Shipp, ii. 159.
CHILLUMBRUM, n.p. A town in S. Arcot, which is the site of a famous temple of Siva, properly Shidamburam. Etym. obscure. [Garstin (Man. S. Arcot, 400) gives the name as Chedambram, or more correctly Chittambalam, 'the atmosphere of wisdom.']
CHILLUMCHEE, s. H. chilamchī, also silfchī, and silpchī, of which chilamchī is probably a corruption. A basin of brass (as in Bengal), or tinned copper (as usually in the West and South) for washing hands. The form of the word seems Turkish, but we cannot trace it.
1833.—"Our supper was a peelaw ... when it was removed a chillumchee and goblet of warm water was handed round, and each washed his hands and mouth."—P. Gordon, Fragment of the Journal of a Tour, &c.
1851.—"When a chillumchee of water sans soap was provided, 'Have you no soap?' Sir C. Napier asked——"—Mawson, Indian Command of Sir C. Napier.
1857.—"I went alone to the Fort Adjutant, to report my arrival, and inquire to what regiment of the Bengal army I was likely to be posted.
"'Army!—regiment!' was the reply. 'There is no Bengal Army; it is all in revolt.... Provide yourself with a camp-bedstead, and a chillumchee, and wait for orders.'
There is an Anglo-Indian tradition, which we would not vouch for, that page 196aone of the orators on the great Hastings trial depicted the oppressor on some occasion, as "grasping his chillum in one hand and his chillumchee in the other."
The latter word is used chiefly by Anglo-Indians of the Bengal Presidency and their servants. In Bombay the article has another name. And it is told of a gallant veteran of the old Bengal Artillery, who was full of "Presidential" prejudices, that on hearing the Bombay army commended by a brother officer, he broke out in just wrath: "The Bombay Army! Don't talk to me of the Bombay Army! They call a chillumchee a gindy!——the Beasts!"
CHILLY, s. The popular Anglo-Indian name of the pod of red pepper (Capsicum fruticosum and C. annuum, Nat. Ord. Solanaceae). There can be little doubt that the name, as stated by Bontius in the quotation, was taken from Chili in S. America, whence the plant was carried to the Indian Archipelago, and thence to India.
Again (lib. vi. cap. 40, p. 131) Bontius calls it 'piper Chilensis,' and also 'Ricinus Braziliensis.' But his commentator, Piso, observes that Ricinus is quite improper; "vera Piperis sive Capsici Braziliensis species apparet." Bontius says it was a common custom of natives, and even of certain Dutchmen, to keep a piece of chilly continually chewed, but he found it intolerable.
CHIMNEY-GLASS, s. Gardener's name, on the Bombay side of India, for the flower and plant Allamanda cathartica (Sir G. Birdwood).
page 196bCHINA, n.p. The European knowledge of this name in the forms Thinae and Sinae goes back nearly to the Christian era. The famous mention of the Sinim by the prophet Isaiah would carry us much further back, but we fear the possibility of that referring to the Chinese must be abandoned, as must be likewise, perhaps, the similar application of the name Chinas in ancient Sanskrit works. The most probable origin of the name—which is essentially a name applied by foreigners to the country—as yet suggested, is that put forward by Baron F. von Richthofen, that it comes from Jih-nan, an old name of Tongking, seeing that in Jih-nan lay the only port which was open for foreign trade with China at the beginning of our era, and that that province was then included administratively within the limits of China Proper (see Richthofen, China, i. 504–510; the same author's papers in the Trans. of the Berlin Geog. Soc. for 1876; and a paper by one of the present writers in Proc. R. Geog. Soc., November 1882.)
Another theory has been suggested by our friend M. Terrien de la Couperie in an elaborate note, of which we can but state the general gist. Whilst he quite accepts the suggestion that Kiao-chi or Tongking, anciently called Kiao-ti, was the Kattigara of Ptolemy's authority, he denies that Jih-nan can have been the origin of Sinae. This he does on two chief grounds: (l) That Jih-nan was not Kiao-chi, but a province a good deal further south, corresponding to the modern province of An (Nghé Ane, in the map of M. Dutreuil de Rhins, the capital of which is about 2° 17′ in lat. S. of Hanoi). This is distinctly stated in the Official Geography of Annam. An was one of the twelve provinces of Cochin China proper till 1820–41, when, with two others, it was transferred to Tongking. Also, in the Chinese Historical Atlas, Jih-nan lies in Chen-Ching, i.e. Cochin-China. (2) That the ancient pronunciation of Jih-nan, as indicated by the Chinese authorities of the Han period, was Nit-nam. It is still pronounced in Sinico-Annamite (the most archaic of the Chinese dialects) Nhut-nam, and in Cantonese Yat-nam. M. Terrien further points out that the export of Chinese goods, and the traffic with the south and page 197awest, was for several centuries B.C. monopolised by the State of Tsen (now pronounced in Sinico-Annamite Chen, and in Mandarin Tien), which corresponded to the centre and west of modern Yun-nan. The She-ki of Sze-ma Tsien (B.C. 91), and the Annals of the Han Dynasty afford interesting information on this subject. When the Emperor Wu-ti, in consequence of Chang-Kien's information brought back from Bactria, sent envoys to find the route followed by the traders of Shuh (i.e. Sze-chuen) to India, these envoys were detained by Tang-Kiang, King of Tsen, who objected to their exploring trade-routes through his territory, saying haughtily: "Has the Han a greater dominion than ours?"
M. Terrien conceives that as the only communication of this Tsen State with the Sea would be by the Song-Koi R., the emporium of sea-trade with that State would be at its mouth, viz. at Kiao-ti or Kattigara. Thus, he considers, the name of Tsen, this powerful and arrogant State, the monopoliser of trade-routes, is in all probability that which spread far and wide the name of Chīn, Sīn, Sinae, Thinae, and preserved its predominance in the mouths of foreigners, even when, as in the 2nd century of our era, the great Empire of the Han has extended over the Delta of the Song-Koi.
This theory needs more consideration than we can now give it. But it will doubtless have discussion elsewhere, and it does not disturb Richthofen's identification of Kattigara.
[Prof. Giles regards the suggestions of Richthofen and T. de la Couperie as mere guesses. From a recent reconsideration of the subject he has come to the conclusion that the name may possibly be derived from the name of a dynasty, Ch'in or Ts'in, which flourished B.C. 255–207, and became widely known in India, Persia, and other Asiatic countries, the final a being added by the Portuguese.]
c. 150—"The inhabited part of our earth is bounded on the east by the Unknown Land which lies along the region occupied by the easternmost races of Asia Minor, the Sinae and the natives of Sericē...."—Claudius Ptolemy, Bk. vii. ch. 5.
c. 545.—"The country of silk, I may mention, is the remotest of all the Indies, lying towards the left when you enter the Indian Sea, but a vast distance further off than the Persian Gulf or that island which the Indians call Selediba, and the Greeks Taprobane. Tzinitza (elsewhere Tzinista) is the name of the Country, and the Ocean compasses it round to the left, just as the same Ocean compasses Barbari (i.e. the Somāli Country) round to the right. And the Indian philosophers called Brachmans tell you that if you were to stretch a straight cord from Tzinitza through Persia to the Roman territory, you would just divide the world in halves."—Cosmas, Topog. Christ., Bk. II.
c. 641.—"In 641 the King of Magadha (Behar, &c.) sent an ambassador with a letter to the Chinese Court. The emperor ... in return directed one of his officers to go to the King ... and to invite his submission. The King Shiloyto (Siladitya) was all astonishment. 'Since time immemorial,' he asked his officer, 'did ever an ambassador come from Mohochintan?'.... The Chinese author remarks that in the tongue of the barbarians the Middle Kingdom is called Mohochintan (Mahā-Chīna-sthāna)."—From Cathay, &c., lxviii.
781.—"Adam Priest and Bishop and Pope of Tzinesthan.... The preachings of our Fathers to the King of Tzinia."—Syriac Part of the Inscription of Singanfu.
11th Century.—The "King of China" (Shinattarashan) appears in the list of provinces and monarchies in the great Inscription of the Tanjore Pagoda.
1128.—"Chīna and Mahāchīna appear in a list of places producing silk and other cloths, in the Abhilashitārthachintāmani of the Chālukya King."—Somesvaradiva (MS.) Bk. III. ch. 6.
1298.—"You must know the Sea in which lie the Islands of those parts is called the Sea of Chin.... For, in the language in those Isles, when they say Chin, 'tis Manzi they mean."—Marco Polo, Bk. III. ch. iv.
page 198ac. 1300.—"Large ships, called in the language of Chin 'junks,' bring various sorts of choice merchandize and cloths...."—Rashíduddín, in Elliot, i. 69.
1516.—"... there is the Kingdom of China, which they say is a very extensive dominion, both along the coast of the sea, and in the interior...."—Barbosa, 204.
1563.—"R. Then Ruelius and Mathiolus of Siena say that the best camphor is from China, and that the best of all Camphors is that purified by a certain barbarian King whom they call King (of) China.
"O. Then you may tell Ruelius and Mathiolus of Siena that though they are so well acquainted with Greek and Latin, there's no need to make such a show of it as to call every body 'barbarians' who is not of their own race, and that besides this they are quite wrong in the fact ... that the King of China does not occupy himself with making camphor, and is in fact one of the greatest Kings known in the world."—Garcia De Orta, f. 45b.
CHINA, s. In the sense of porcelain this word (Chīnī, &c.) is used in Asiatic languages as well as in English. In English it does not occur in Minshew (2nd ed. 1627), though it does in some earlier publications. [The earliest quotation in N.E.D. is from Cogan's Pinto, 1653.] The phrase China-dishes as occurring in Drake and in Shakspere, shows how the word took the sense of porcelain in our own and other languages. The phrase China-dishes as first used was analogous to Turkey-carpets. But in the latter we have never lost the geographical sense of the adjective. In the word turquoises, again, the phrase was no doubt originally pierres turquoises, or the like, and here, as in china dishes, the specific has superseded the generic sense. The use of arab in India for an Arab horse is analogous to china. The word is used in the sense of a china dish in Lane's Arabian Nights, iii. 492; [Burton, I. 375].
c. 1350.—"China-ware (al-fakhkhār al-Sīnīy) is not made except in the cities of Zaītūn and of Sīn Kalān...."—Ibn Batuta, iv. 256.
page 198bc. 1530.—"I was passing one day along a street in Damascus, when I saw a slave-boy let fall from his hands a great China dish (ṣaḥfat min al-bakhkhār al-Sīnīy) which they call in that country sahn. It broke, and a crowd gathered round the little Mameluke."—Ibn Batuta, i. 238.
c. 1567.—"Le mercantie ch'andauano ogn'anno da Goa a Bezeneger erano molti caualli Arabi ... e anche pezze di China, zafaran, e scarlatti."—Cesare de' Federici, in Ramusio, iii. 389.
1579.—"... we met with one ship more loaden with linnen, China silke, and China dishes...."—Drake, World Encompassed, in Hak. Soc. 112.
c. 1580.—"Usum vasorum aureorum et argenteorum Aegyptii rejecerunt, ubi murrhina vasa adinvenere; quae ex India afferuntur, et ex ea regione quam Sini vocant, ubi conficiuntur ex variis lapidibus, praecipueque ex jaspide."—Prosp. Alpinus, Pt. I. p. 55.
c. 1590.—"The gold and silver dishes are tied up in red cloths, and those in Copper and China (chīnī) in white ones."—Āīn, i. 58.
c. 1603.—"... as it were in a fruit-dish, a dish of some threepence, your honours have seen such dishes; they are not China dishes, but very good dishes."—Measure for Measure, ii. 1.
1608–9.—"A faire China dish (which cost ninetie Rupias, or forty-five Reals of eight) was broken."—Hawkins, in Purchas, i. 220.
1609.—"He has a lodging in the Strand for the purpose, or to watch when ladies are gone to the China-house, or the Exchange, that he may meet them by chance and give them presents...."
"Ay, sir: his wife was the rich China-woman, that the courtiers visited so often."—Ben Jonson, Silent Woman, i. 1.
1615.—
"... Oh had I now my Wishes, Sure you should learn to make their China Dishes." Doggrel prefixed to Coryat's Crudities.
c. 1690.—Kaempfer in his account of the Persian Court mentions that the department where porcelain and plate dishes, &c., were kept and cleaned was called Chīn-khāna, 'the China-closet'; and those servants who carried in the dishes were called Chīnīkash.—Amoen. Exot., p. 125.
1711.—"Purselaine, or China-ware is so tender a Commodity that good Instructions are as necessary for Package as Purchase."—Lockyer, 126.
1747.—"The Art of Cookery made Plain and Easy; which far Exceeds any Thing of the Kind yet Published. By a Lady. London. Printed for the Author, and Sold by Mrs. Asburn a China Shop Woman, Corner of Fleet Ditch, MDCCXLVII." This the title of the original edition of Mrs. Glass's Cookery, as given by G. A. Sala, in Illd. News, May 12, 1883.
For the following interesting note on the Arabic use we are indebted to Professor Robertson Smith:—
So in the Tajāribo'l-Omam of Ibn Maskowaih (Fr. Hist. Ar. ii. 457), it is said that at the wedding of Mamūn with Būrān "her grandmother strewed over her 1000 pearls from a sīnīya of gold." In Egypt the familiar round brass trays used to dine off, are now called ṣīnīya (vulgo ṣanīya), [the ṣīnī, ṣenī of N. India] and so is a European saucer.
[CHINA-BEER, s. Some kind of liquor used in China, perhaps a variety of saké.
CHINA-BUCKEER, n.p. One of the chief Delta-mouths of the Irawadi is so called in marine charts. We have not been able to ascertain the origin of the name, further than that Prof. Forchhammer, in his Notes on the Early Hist. and Geog. of Br. Burma (p. 16), states that the country between Rangoon and Bassein, i.e. on the west of the Rangoon River, bore the name of Pokhara, of which Buckeer is a corruption. This does not explain the China.
CHINA-ROOT, s. A once famous drug, known as Radix Chinae and Tuber Chinae, being the tuber of various species of Smilax (N. O. Smilaceae, the same to which sarsaparilla belongs). It was said to have been used with good effect on Charles V. when suffering from gout, and acquired a great repute. It was also much used in the same way as sarsaparilla. It is now quite obsolete in England, but is still held in esteem in the native pharmacopœias of China and India.
"O. This wood or root grows in China, an immense country, presumed to be on the confines of Muscovy ... and because in all these regions, both in China and in Japan, there exists the morbo napolitano, the merciful God hath willed to give them this root for remedy, and with it the good physicians there know well the treatment."—Garcia, f. 177.
c. 1590.—"Sircar Silhet is very mountainous.... China-Root (chob-chīnī) is produced here in great plenty, which was but lately discovered by some Turks."—Ayeen Akb., by Gladwin, ii. 10; [ed. Jarrett, ii. 124].
1598.—"The roote of China is commonlie vsed among the Egyptians ... specially for a consumption, for the which they seeth the roote China in broth of a henne or cocke, whereby they become whole and faire of face."—Dr. Paludanus, in Linschoten, 124, [Hak. Soc. ii. 112].
c. 1610.—"Quant à la verole.... Ils la guerissent sans suer avec du bois d'Eschine...."—Pyrard de Laval, ii. 9 (ed. 1679); [Hak. Soc. ii. 13; also see i. 182].
CHINAPATAM, n.p. A name sometimes given by the natives to Madras. The name is now written Shennai-Shenna-ppatanam, Tam., in Tel. Chennapattanamu, and the following is the origin of that name according to the statement given in W. Hamilton's Hindostan.
Dr. Burnell doubted this origin of the name, and considered that the actual name could hardly have been formed from that of Chenappa. It is possible that some name similar to page 200aChinapatan was borne by the place previously. It will be seen under MADRAS that Barros curiously connects the Chinese with St. Thomé. To this may be added this passage from the English translation of Mendoza's China, the original of which was published in 1585, the translation by R. Parke in 1588:—
I strongly suspect that this was Chinapatam, or Madras. [On the other hand, the popular derivation is accepted in the Madras Gloss., p. 163. The gold plate containing the grant of Sri Ranga Rāja is said to have been kept by the English for more than a century, till its loss in 1746 at the capture of Madras by the French.—(Wheeler, Early Rec., 49).]
CHINCHEW, CHINCHEO, n.p. A port of Fuhkien in China. Some ambiguity exists as to the application of the name. In English charts the name is now attached to the ancient and famous port of Chwan-chau-fu (Thsiouan-chéou-fou of French writers), the Zayton of Marco Polo and other medieval travellers. But the Chincheo of the Spaniards and Portuguese to this day, and the Chinchew of older English books, is, as Mr. G. Phillips pointed out some years ago, not Chwan-chau-fu, but Chang-chau-fu, distant from the former some 80 m. in a direct line, and about 140 by navigation. The province of Fuhkien is often called Chincheo by the early Jesuit writers. Changchau and its dependencies seem to have constituted the ports of Fuhkien with which Macao and Manilla communicated, and hence apparently they applied the same name to the port and the province, though Chang-chau was never the official capital of Fukhien (see Encyc. Britann., 9th ed. s.v. and page 200breferences there). Chincheos is used for "people of Fuhkien" in a quotation under COMPOUND.
CHIN-CHIN. In the "pigeon English" of Chinese ports this signifies 'salutation, compliments,' or 'to salute,' and is much used by Englishmen as slang in such senses. It is a corruption of the Chinese phrase ts'ing-ts'ing, Pekingese ch'ing-ch'ing, a term of salutation answering to 'thank-you,' 'adieu.' In the same vulgar dialect chin-chin joss means religious worship of any kind (see JOSS). It is curious that the phrase occurs in a quaint story told to William of Rubruck by a Chinese priest whom he met at the Court of the Great Kaan (see below). And it is equally remarkable to find the same story related with singular closeness of correspondence out of "the Chinese books of Geography" by Francesco Carletti, 350 years later (in 1600). He calls the creatures Zinzin (Ragionamenti di F. C., pp. 138–9).
Probably some form of this phrase is intended in the word used by Pinto in the following passage, which Cogan leaves untranslated:—
1795.—"The two junior members of the Chinese deputation came at the appointed hour.... On entering the door of the marquee they both made an abrupt stop, page 201aand resisted all solicitation to advance to chairs that had been prepared for them, until I should first be seated; in this dilemma, Dr. Buchanan, who had visited China, advised me what was to be done; I immediately seized on the foremost, whilst the Doctor himself grappled with the second; thus we soon fixed them in their seats, both parties during the struggle, repeating Chin Chin, Chin Chin, the Chinese term of salutation."—Symes, Embassy to Ava, 295.
1829.—"One of the Chinese servants came to me and said, 'Mr. Talbot chin-chin you come down.'"—The Fankwae at Canton, p. 20.
CHINSURA, n.p. A town on the Hoogly River, 26 miles above Calcutta, on the west bank, which was the seat of a Dutch settlement and factory down to 1824, when it was ceded to us by the Treaty of London, under which the Dutch gave up Malacca and their settlements in continental India, whilst we withdrew from Sumatra. [The place gave its name to a kind of cloth, Chinechuras (see PIECE-GOODS).]
1705.—"La Loge appellée Chamdernagor est une très-belle Maison située sur le bord d'un des bras du fleuve de Gange.... À une lieue de la Loge il y a une grande Ville appellée Chinchurat...."—Luillier, 64–65.
1726.—"The place where our Lodge (or Factory) is is properly called Sinternu [i.e. Chinsura] and not Hoogli (which is the name of the village)."—Valentijn, v. 162.
1727.—"Chinchura, where the Dutch Emporium stands ... the Factors have a great many good Houses standing pleasantly on the River-Side; and all of them have pretty Gardens."—A. Hamilton, ii. 20; ed. 1744, ii. 18.
page 201bCHINTS, CHINCH, s. A bug. This word is now quite obsolete both in India and in England. It is a corruption of the Portuguese chinche, which again is from cimex. Mrs. Trollope, in her once famous book on the Domestic Manners of the Americans, made much of a supposed instance of affected squeamishness in American ladies, who used the word chintses instead of bugs. But she was ignorant of the fact that chints was an old and proper name for the objectionable exotic insect, 'bug' being originally but a figurative (and perhaps a polite) term, 'an object of disgust and horror' (Wedgwood). Thus the case was exactly the opposite of what she chose to imagine; chints was the real name, bug the more or less affected euphonism.
1645.—"... for the most part the bedsteads in Italy are of forged iron gilded, since it is impossible to keepe the wooden ones from the chimices."—Evelyn's Diary, Sept. 29.
1673.—"... Our Bodies broke out into small fiery Pimples ... augmented by Muskeetoe-Bites, and Chinces raising Blisters on us."—Fryer, 35.
CHINTZ, s. A printed or spotted cotton cloth; Port. chita; Mahr. chīt, and H. chīṇt. The word in this last form occurs (c. 1590) in the Āīn-i-Akbarī (i. 95). It comes apparently from the Skt. chitra, 'variegated, speckled.' The best chintzes were bought on the Madras coast, at Masulipatam and Sadras. The French form of the word is chite, which has suggested the possibility of our sheet being of the same origin. But chite is apparently of Indian origin, through the Portuguese, whilst sheet is much older than the Portuguese communication with India. Thus (1450) in Sir T. Cumberworth's will he directs his "wreched body to be beryd in a chitte with owte any kyste" (Academy, Sept. 27, 1879, p. 230). page 202aThe resemblance to the Indian forms in this is very curious.
[1616.—"3 per Chint bramport."—Cocks's Diary, i. 171.
[1623.—"Linnen stamp'd with works of sundry colours (which they call cit)."—P. della Valle, Hak. Soc. i. 45.]
1653.—"Chites en Indou signifie des toilles imprimeés."—De la Boullaye-le-Gouz, ed. 1647, p. 536.
c. 1666.—"Le principal trafic des Hollandois à Amedabad, est de chites, qui sont de toiles peintes."—Thevenot, v. 35. In the English version (1687) this is written schites (iv. ch. v.).
1676.—"Chites or Painted Calicuts, which they call Calmendar, that is done with a pencil, are made in the Kingdom of Golconda, and particularly about Masulipatam."—Tavernier, E.T., p. 126; [ed. Ball, ii. 4].
1725.—"The returns that are injurious to our manufactures, or growth of our own country, are printed calicoes, chintz, wrought silks, stuffs, of herba, and barks."—Defoe, New Voyage round the World. Works, Oxford, 1840, p. 161.
1726.—"The Warehouse Keeper reported to the Board, that the chintzes, being brought from painting, had been examined at the sorting godown, and that it was the general opinion that both the cloth and the paintings were worse than the musters."—In Wheeler, ii. 407.
c. 1733.—
"No, let a charming chintz and Brussels lace Wrap my cold limbs, and shade my lifeless face." Pope, Moral Essays, i. 248.
"And, when she sees her friend in deep despair, Observes how much a Chintz exceeds Mohair...." Ibid. ii. 170.
In the earlier books about India some kind of chintz is often termed pintado (q.v.). See the phraseology in the quotation from Wheeler above.
This export from India to Europe has long ceased. When one of the present writers was Sub-Collector of the Madras District (1866–67), chintzes were still figured by an old man at Sadras, who had been taught by the Dutch, the cambric being furnished to him by a Madras Chetty (q.v.). He is page 202bnow dead, and the business has ceased; in fact the colours for the process are no longer to be had. The former chintz manufactures of Pulicat are mentioned by Correa, Lendas, ii. 2, p. 567. Havart (1693) mentions the manufacture at Sadras (i. 92), and gives a good description of the process of painting these cloths, which he calls chitsen (iii. 13). There is also a very complete account in the Lettres Édifiantes, xiv. 116 seqq.
In Java and Sumatra chintzes of a very peculiar kind of marbled pattern are still manufactured by women, under the name of bātik.
CHIPE, s. In Portuguese use, from Tamil shippi, 'an oyster.' The pearl-oysters taken in the pearl-fisheries of Tuticorin and Manār.
1685.—"The chipe, for so they call those page 203aoysters which their boats are wont to fish."—Ribeiro, f. 63.
CHIRETTA, s. H. chirāītā, Mahr. kirāītā. A Himalayan herbaceous plant of the order Gentianaceae (Swertia Chirata, Ham.; Ophelia Chirata, Griesbach; Gentiana Chirayita, Roxb.; Agathetes chirayta, Don.), the dried twigs of which, infused, afford a pure bitter tonic and febrifuge. Its Skt. name kirāta-tikta, 'the bitter plant of the Kirātas,' refers its discovery to that people, an extensively-diffused forest tribe, east and north-east of Bengal, the Κιῤῥάδαι of the Periplus, and the people of the Κιῤῥάδια of Ptolemy. There is no indication of its having been known to G. de Orta.
1820.—"They also give a bitter decoction of the neem (Melia azadirachta) and chereeta."—Acc. of the Township of Luny, in Trans. Lit. Soc. of Bombay, ii. 232.
CHIT, CHITTY, s. A letter or note; also a certificate given to a servant, or the like; a pass. H. chiṭṭhī; Mahr. chiṭṭī. [Skt. chitra, 'marked.'] The Indian Portuguese also use chito for escrito (Bluteau, Supplement). The Tamil people use shīt for a ticket, or for a playing-card.
[1757.—"If Mr. Ives is not too busie to honour this chitt which nothing but the greatest uneasiness could draw from me."—Ives, 134.]
1785.—".... Those Ladies and Gentlemen who wish to be taught that polite Art (drawing) by Mr. Hone, may know his terms by sending a Chit...."—In Seton-Karr, i. 114.
1786.—"You are to sell rice, &c., to every merchant from Muscat who brings you a chitty from Meer Kâzim."—Tippoo's Letters, 284.
page 203b1787.—"Mrs. Arend ... will wait upon any Lady at her own house on the shortest notice, by addressing a chit to her in Chattawala Gully, opposite Mr. Motte's old house, Tiretta's bazar."—Advt. in Seton-Karr, i. 226.
1794.—"The petty but constant and universal manufacture of chits which prevails here."—Hugh Boyd, 147.
1829.—"He wanted a chithee or note, for this is the most note-writing country under heaven; the very Drum-major writes me a note to tell me about the mails."—Mem. of Col. Mountain, 2nd ed., 80.
CHITCHKY, s. A curried vegetable mixture, often served and eaten with meat curry. Properly Beng. chhechkī.
CHITTAGONG, n.p. A town, port, and district of Eastern Bengal, properly written Chatgānw (see PORTO PIQUENO). Chittagong appears to be the City of Bengala of Varthema and some of the early Portuguese. (See BANDEL, BENGAL).
1552.—"In the mouths of the two arms of the Ganges enter two notable rivers, one on the east, and one on the west side, both bounding this kingdom (of Bengal); the one of these our people call the River of Chatigam, because it enters the Eastern estuary of the Ganges at a city of that name, which is the most famous and wealthy of that Kingdom, by reason of its Port, at which meets the traffic of all that Eastern region."—De Barros, Dec. IV. liv. ix. cap. i.
[1586.—"Satagam." See quotation under HING.]
1591.—"So also they inform me that Antonio de Sousa Goudinho has served me well in Bemgualla, and that he has made tributary to this state the Isle of Sundiva, and has taken the fortress of Chataguão by force of arms."—King's Letter, in Archivio Port. Orient., fasc. iii. 257.
page 204a1598.—"From this River Eastward 50 miles lyeth the towne of Chatigan, which is the chief towne of Bengala."—Linschoten, ch. xvi.; [Hak. Soc. i. 94].
c. 1610.—Pyrard de la Val has Chartican, i. 234; [Hak. Soc. i. 326].
1727.—"Chittagoung, or, as the Portuguese call it, Xatigam, about 50 Leagues below Dacca."—A. Hamilton, ii. 24; ed. 1744, ii. 22.
17—.—"Chittigan" in Orme (reprint), ii. 14.
Elsewhere (p. 81) he calls it a "Montpelier." The derivation given by this illustrious scholar is more than questionable. The name seems to be really a form of the Sanskrit Chaturgrāma (= Tetrapolis), [or according to others of Saptagrāma, 'seven villages'], and it is curious that near this position Ptolemy has a Pentapolis, very probably the same place. Chaturgrāma is still the name of a town in Ceylon, lat. 6°, long. 81°.
CHITTLEDROOG, n.p. A fort S.W. of Bellary; properly Chitra Durgam, Red Hill (or Hill-Fort, or 'picturesque fort']) called by the Mahommedans Chītaldurg (C. P. B.).
CHITTORE, n.p. Chītor, or Chītorgaṛh, a very ancient and famous rock fortress in the Rajput State of Mewār. It is almost certainly the Τιάτουρα of Ptolemy (vii. 1).
1615.—"The two and twentieth (Dec.), Master Edwards met me, accompanied with Thomas Coryat, who had passed into India on foote, fiue course to Cytor, an ancient Citie ruined on a hill, but so that it appeares a Tombe (Towne?) of wonderfull magnificence...."—Sir Thomas Roe, in page 204bPurchas, i. 540; [Hak. Soc. i. 102; "Cetor" in i. 111, "Chytor" in ii. 540].
CHOBDAR, s. H. from P. chobdār, 'a stick-bearer.' A frequent attendant of Indian nobles, and in former days of Anglo-Indian officials of rank. They are still a part of the state of the Viceroy, Governors, and Judges of the High Courts. The chobdārs carry a staff overlaid with silver.
1673.—"If he (the President) move out of his Chamber, the Silver Staves wait on him."—Fryer, 68.
1701.—"... Yesterday, of his own accord, he told our Linguists that he had sent four Chobdars and 25 men, as a safeguard."—In Wheeler, i. 371.
1788.—"Chubdár.... Among the Nabobs he proclaims their praises aloud, as he runs before their palankeens."—Indian Vocabulary (Stockdale's).
1793.—"They said a Chubdar, with a silverstick, one of the Sultan's messengers of justice, had taken them from the place, where they were confined, to the public Bazar, where their hands were cut off."—Dirom, Narrative, 235.
1798.—"The chief's Chobedar ... also endeavoured to impress me with an ill opinion of these messengers."—G. Forster's Travels, i. 222.
1810.—"While we were seated at breakfast, we were surprised by the entrance of a Choabdar, that is, a servant who attends on persons of consequence, runs before them with a silver stick, and keeps silence at the doors of their apartments, from which last office he derives his name."—Maria Graham, 57.
CHOBWA, s. Burmese Tsaubwa, Siamese Chao, 'prince, king,' also Chaohpa (compounded with hpa, 'heaven'), and in Cushing's Shan Dicty. and cacography, sow, 'lord, master,' sowhpa, a 'hereditary prince.' The word chu-hu, for 'chief,' is found applied among tribes of Kwang-si, akin to the Shans, in A.D. 1150 (Prof. T. de la Couperie). The designation of the princes of the Shan States on the east of Burma, many of whom are (or were till lately) tributary to Ava.
1819.—"All that tract of land ... is inhabited by a numerous nation called Sciam, who are the same as the Laos. Their kingdom is divided into small districts under different chiefs called Zaboà, or petty princes."—Sangermano, 34.
1855.—"The Tsaubwas of all these principalities, even where most absolutely under Ava, retain all the forms and appurtenances of royalty."—Yule, Mission to Ava, 303.
CHOGA, s. Turki choghā. A long sleeved garment, like a dressing-gown (a purpose for which Europeans often make use of it). It is properly an Afghan form of dress, and is generally made of some soft woollen material, and embroidered on the sleeves and shoulders. In Bokhara the word is used for a furred robe. ["In Tibetan ch'uba; in Turki juba. It is variously pronounced chuba, juba or chogha in Asia, and shuba or shubka in Russia" (J.R.A.S., N.S. XXIII. 122)].
CHOKIDAR, s. A watchman. Derivative in Persian form from Choky. The word is usually applied to a private watchman; in some parts of India he is generally of a thieving tribe, and his employment may be regarded as a sort of blackmail to ensure one's property. [In N. India the village Chaukīdār is the rural policeman, and he is also employed for watch and ward in the smaller towns.]
1810.—"The chokey-dar attends during the day, often performing many little offices, page 205b... at night parading about with his spear, shield, and sword, and assuming a most terrific aspect, until all the family are asleep; when HE GOES TO SLEEP TOO."—Williamson, V. M. i. 295.
c. 1817.—"The birds were scarcely beginning to move in the branches of the trees, and there was not a servant excepting the chockedaurs, stirring about any house in the neighbourhood, it was so early."—Mrs. Sherwood's Stories, &c. (ed. 1873), 243.
1837.—"Every village is under a potail, and there is a pursau or priest, and choukeednop (sic!) or watchman."—Phillips, Million of Facts, 320.
CHOKRA, s. Hind. chhokrā, 'a boy, a youngster'; and hence, more specifically, a boy employed about a household, or a regiment. Its chief use in S. India is with the latter. (See CHUCKAROO.)
CHOKY, s. H. chaukī, which in all its senses is probably connected with Skt. chatur, 'four'; whence chatushka, 'of four,' 'four-sided,' &c.
a. (Perhaps first a shed resting on four posts); a station of police; a lock-up; also a station of palankin bearers, horses, &c., when a post is laid; a customs or toll-station, and hence, as in the first quotation, the dues levied at such a place; the act of watching or guarding.
c. 1590.—"Mounting guard is called in Hindi Chauki."—Āīn, i. 257.
1608.—"The Kings Custome called Chukey, is eight bagges upon the hundred bagges."—Saris, in Purchas, i. 391.
1664.—"Near this Tent there is another great one, which is called Tchaukykane, because it is the place where the Omrahs keep guard, every one in his turn, once a week twenty-four hours together."—Bernier, E.T., 117; [ed. Constable, 363].
1673.—"We went out of the Walls by Broach Gate ... where, as at every gate, stands a Chocky, or Watch to receive Toll for the Emperor...."—Fryer, 100.
" "And when they must rest, if they have no Tents, they must shelter themselves under Trees ... unless they happen on a Chowkie, i.e., a Shed where the Customer keeps a Watch to take Custom."—Ibid. 410.
1682.—"About 12 o'clock Noon we got to ye Chowkee, where after we had shown our Dustick and given our present, we were dismissed immediately."—Hedges, Diary, Dec. 17; [Hak. Soc. i. 58].
1774.—"Il più difficile per viaggiare nell' Indostan sono certi posti di guardie chiamate Cioki ... questi Cioki sono insolentissimi."—Della Tomba, 33.
This word has passed into the English slang vocabulary in the sense of 'prison.'
b. A chair. This use is almost peculiar to the Bengal Presidency. Dr. John Muir [Orig. Skt. Texts, ii. 5] cites it in this sense, as a Hindi word which has no resemblance to any Skt. vocable. Mr. Growse, however, connects it with chatur, 'four' (Ind. Antiq., i. 105). See also beginning of this article. Chau is the common form of 'four' in composition, e.g. chaubandi, (i.e. 'four fastening') the complete shoeing of a horse; chaupahra ('four watches') all night long; chaupār, 'a quadruped'; chaukaṭ and chaukhaṭ ('four timber'), a frame (of a door, &c.). So chaukī seems to have been used for a square-framed stool, and thence a chair.
page 206bCHOLERA, and CHOLERA MORBUS, s. The Disease. The term 'cholera,' though employed by the old medical writers, no doubt came, as regards its familiar use, from India. Littré alleges that it is a mistake to suppose that the word cholera (χολέρα) is a derivative from χολή 'bile,' and that it really means 'a gutter,' the disease being so called from the symptoms. This should, however, rather be ἀπὸ τῶν χολάδων, the latter word being anciently used for the intestines (the etym. given by the medical writer, Alex. Trallianus). But there is a discussion on the subject in the modern ed. of Stephani Thesaurus, which indicates a conclusion that the derivation from χολὴ is probably right; it is that of Celsus (see below). [The N.E.D. takes the same view, but admits that there is some doubt.] For quotations and some particulars in reference to the history of this terrible disease, see under MORT-DE-CHIEN.
c. A.D. 100.—"ΠΕΡῚ ΧΟΛΈΡΗΣ ... θάνατος ἐπῶδυνος καὶ οἴκτιστος σπασμῷ καὶ πνιγὶ καὶ ἐμέσῳ κενῷ."—Aretaeus, De Causis et signis acutorum morborum, ii. 5.
Also Θεραπεία Χολερῆς, in De Curatione Morb. Ac. ii. 4.
1563.—"R. Is this disease the one which kills so quickly, and from which so few recover? Tell me how it is called among us, and among them, and its symptoms, and the treatment of it in use?
"O. Among us it is called Collerica passio...."—Garcia, f. 74v.
[1611.—"As those ill of Colera."—Couto, Dialogo de Soldado Pratico, p. 5.]
1673.—"The Diseases reign according to the Seasons.... In the extreme Heats, Cholera Morbus."—Fryer, 113–114.
CHOLERA HORN. See COLLERY.
CHOOLA, s. H. chūlhā, chūlhī, chūlā, fr. Skt. chulli. The extemporized cooking-place of clay which a native of India makes on the ground page 207ato prepare his own food; or to cook that of his master.
CHOOLIA, s. Chūliā is a name given in Ceylon and in Malabar to a particular class of Mahommedans, and sometimes to Mahommedans generally. There is much obscurity about the origin and proper application of the term. [The word is by some derived from Skt. chūḍa, the top-knot which every Hindu must wear, and which is cut off on conversion to Islam. In the same way in the Punjab, choṭīkaṭ, 'he that has had his top-knot cut off,' is a common form of abuse used by Hindus to Musulman converts; see Ibbetson, Panjab Ethnog. p. 240.] According to Sonnerat (i. 109), the Chulias are of Arab descent and of Shīa profession. [The Madras Gloss. takes the word to be from the kingdom of Chola and to mean a person of S. India.]
1754.—"Chowlies are esteemed learned men, and in general are merchants."—Ives, 25.
1782.—"We had found ... less of that foolish timidity, and much more disposition to intercourse in the Choliars of the country, who are Mahommedans and quite distinct in their manners...."—Hugh Boyd, Journal of a Journey of an Embassy to Candy, in Misc. Works (1800), i. 155.
1783.—"During Mr. Saunders's government I have known Chulia (Moors) vessels carry coco-nuts from the Nicobar Islands to Madras."—Forrest, Voyage to Mergui, p. v.
" "Chulias and Malabars (the appellations are I believe synonymous)."—Ibid. 24.
1836.—"Mr. Boyd ... describes the Moors under the name of Cholias, and Sir Alexander Johnston designates them by the appellation Lubbies (see LUBBYE). These epithets are, however, not admissible, for the former is only confined to a particular sect among them, who are rather of an inferior grade; and the latter to the priests who officiate."—Casie Chitty, in J. R. A. Soc. iii. 338.
CHOP, s. Properly a seal-impression, stamp, or brand; H. chhāp; page 207bthe verb (chhāpnā) being that which is now used in Hindustani to express the art of printing (books).
The word chhāp seems not to have been traced back with any accuracy beyond the modern vernaculars. It has been thought possible (at least till the history should be more accurately traced) that it might be of Portuguese origin. For there is a Port. word chapa, 'a thin plate of metal,' which is no doubt the original of the Old English chape for the metal plate on the sheath of a sword or dagger. The word in this sense is not in the Portuguese Dictionaries; but we find 'homem chapado,' explained as 'a man of notable worth or excellence,' and Bluteau considers this a metaphor 'taken from the chapas or plates of metal on which the kings of India caused their letters patent to be engraven.' Thus he would seem to have regarded, though perhaps erroneously, the chhāpā and the Portuguese chapa as identical. On the other hand, Mr. Beames entertains no doubt that the word is genuine Hindi, and connects it with a variety of other words signifying striking, or pressing. And Thompson in his Hindi Dictionary says that chhāppā is a technical term used by the Vaishnavas to denote the sectarial marks (lotus, trident, &c.), which they delineate on their bodies. Fallon gives the same meaning, and quotes a Hindi verse, using it in this sense. We may add that while chhāpā is used all over the N.W.P. and Punjab for printed cloths, Drummond (1808) gives chhāpānīya, chhapārā, as words for 'Stampers or Printers of Cloth' in Guzerati, and that the passage quoted below from a Treaty made with an ambassador from Guzerat by the Portuguese in 1537, uses the word chapada for struck or coined, exactly as the modern Hindi verb chhāpnā might be used. Chop, in writers page 208aprior to the last century, is often used for the seal itself. "Owen Cambridge says the Mohr was the great seal, but the small or privy seal was called a 'chop' or 'stamp.'" (C. P. Brown).
The word chop is hardly used now among Anglo-Indians in the sense of seal or stamp. But it got a permanent footing in the 'Pigeon English' of the Chinese ports, and thence has come back to England and India, in the phrase "first-chop," i.e. of the first brand or quality.
The word chop (chāp) is adopted in Malay [with the meanings of seal-impression, stamp, to seal or stamp, though there is, as Mr. Skeat points out, a pure native word tera or tra, which is used in all these senses;] and chop has acquired the specific sense of a passport or licence. The word has also obtained a variety of applications, including that just mentioned, in the lingua franca of foreigners in the China seas. Van Braam applies it to a tablet bearing the Emperor's name, to which he and his fellow envoys made kotow on their first landing in China (Voyage, &c., Paris, An vi., 1798, i. 20–21). Again, in the same jargon, a chop of tea means a certain number of chests of tea, all bearing the same brand. Chop-houses are customs stations on the Canton River, so called from the chops, or seals, used there (Giles, Glossary). Chop-dollar is a dollar chopped, or stamped with a private mark, as a guarantee of its genuineness (ibid.). (Dollars similarly marked had currency in England in the first quarter of last century, and one of the present writers can recollect their occasional occurrence in Scotland in his childhood). The grand chop is the port clearance granted by the Chinese customs when all dues have been paid (ibid.). All these have obviously the same origin; but there are other uses of the word in China not so easily explained, e.g. chop, for 'a hulk'; chop-boat for a lighter or cargo-boat.
In Captain Forrest's work, quoted below, a golden badge or decoration, conferred on him by the King of Achin, is called a chapp (p. 55). The portrait of Forrest, engraved by Sharp, shows this badge, and gives the inscription, translated: "Capt. Thomas Forrest, Orancayo [see ORANKAY] of the Golden Sword. This chapp was conferred as page 208ba mark of honour in the city of Atcheen, belonging to the Faithful, by the hands of the Shabander [see SHAHBUNDER] of Atcheen, on Capt. Thomas Forrest."
1537.—"And the said Nizamamede Zamom was present and then before me signed, and swore on his Koran (moçafo) to keep and maintain and fulfil this agreement entirely ... and he sealed it with his seal" (e o chapo de sua chapa).—Treaty above quoted, in S. Botelho, Tombo, 228.
1552.—"... ordered ... that they should allow no person to enter or to leave the island without taking away his chapa.... And this chapa was, as it were, a seal."—Castanheda, iii. 32.
1614.—"The King (of Achen) sent us his Chop."—Milward, in Purchas, i. 526.
1615.—"Sailed to Acheen; the King sent his Chope for them to go ashore, without which it was unlawful for any one to do so."—Sainsbury, i. 445.
[" "2 chistes plate ... with the rendadors chape upon it."—Cocks's Diary, i. 219.]
1618.—"Signed with my chop, the 14th day of May (sic), in the Yeare of our Prophet Mahomet 1027."—Letter from Gov. of Mocha, in Purchas, i. 625.
1673.—"The Custom-house has a good Front, where the chief Customer appears certain Hours to chop, that is to mark Goods outward-bound."—Fryer, 98.
1678.—"... sending of our Vuckeel this day to Compare the Coppys with those sent, in order to y$^e$ Chaup, he refused it, alledging that they came without y$^e$ Visiers Chaup to him...."—Letter (in India Office) from Dacca Factory to Mr. Matthias Vincent (Ft. St. George?).
1682.—"To Rajemaul I sent ye old Duan ...'s Perwanna, Chopt both by the Nabob and new Duan, for its confirmation."—Hedges, Diary, Hak. Soc. i. 37.
1689.—"Upon their Chops as they call them in India, or Seals engraven, are only Characters, generally those of their Name."—Ovington, 251.
1711.—"This (Oath at Acheen) is administered by the Shabander ... lifting, very respectfully, a short Dagger in a Gold Case, like a Scepter, three times to their Heads; and it is called receiving the Chop for Trade."—Lockyer, 35.
1715.—"It would be very proper also to put our chop on the said Books."—In Wheeler, ii. 224.
c. 1720.—"Here they demanded tax and toll; felt us all over, not excepting our mouths, and when they found nothing, stamped a chop upon our arms in red paint; which was to serve for a pass."—Zesteen page 209aJaarige Reize ... door Jacob de Bucquoy, Haarlem, 1757.
1727.—"On my Arrival (at Acheen) I took the Chap at the great River's Mouth, according to Custom. This Chap is a Piece of Silver about 8 ounces Weight, made in Form of a Cross, but the cross Part is very short, that we ... put to our Fore-head, and declare to the Officer that brings the Chap, that we come on an honest Design to trade."—A. Hamilton, ii. 103.
1771.—"... with Tiapp or passports."—Osbeck, i. 181.
1782.—"... le Pilote ... apporte avec lui leur chappe, ensuite il adore et consulte son Poussa, puis il fait lever l'ancre."—Sonnerat, ii. 233.
1783.—"The bales (at Acheen) are immediately opened; 12 in the hundred are taken for the king's duty, and the remainder being marked with a certain mark (chapp) may be carried where the owner pleases."—Forrest, V. to Mergui, 41.
1785.—"The only pretended original produced was a manifest forgery, for it had not the chop or smaller seal, on which is engraved the name of the Mogul."—Carraccioli's Clive, i. 214.
1817.—"... and so great reluctance did he (the Nabob) show to the ratification of the Treaty, that Mr. Pigot is said to have seized his chop, or seal, and applied it to the paper."—Mill's Hist. iii. 340.
1876.—"'First chop! tremendously pretty too,' said the elegant Grecian, who had been paying her assiduous attention."—Daniel Deronda, Bk. I. ch. x.
The writer last quoted, and others before him, have imagined a Chinese origin for chop, e.g., as "from chah, 'an official note from a superior,' or chah, 'a contract, a diploma, &c.,' both having at Canton the sound chăp, and between them covering most of the 'pigeon' uses of chop" (Note by Bishop Moule). But few of the words used by Europeans in Chinese trade are really Chinese, and we think it has been made clear that chop comes from India.
CHOP-CHOP. Pigeon-English (or -Chinese) for 'Make haste! look sharp!' This is supposed to be from the Cantonese, pron. kăp-kăp, of what is in the Mandarin dialect kip-kip. In the Northern dialects kwai-kwai, page 209b'quick-quick' is more usual (Bishop Moule). [Mr. Skeat compares the Malay chepat-chepat, 'quick-quick.']
CHOPPER.
a. H. chhappar, 'a thatched roof.'
1780.—"About 20 Days ago a Villian was detected here setting fire to Houses by throwing the Tickeea of his Hooka on the Choppers, and was immediately committed to the Phouzdar's Prison.... On his tryal ... it appering that he had more than once before committed the same Nefarieus and abominable Crime, he was sentenced to have his left Hand, and right Foot cut off.... It is needless to expatiate on the Efficacy such exemplary Punishments would be of to the Publick in general, if adopted on all similar occasions...."—Letter from Moorshedabad, in Hicky's Bengal Gazette, May 6.
1782.—"With Mr. Francis came the Judges of the Supreme Court, the Laws of England, partial oppression, and licentious liberty. The common felons were cast loose, ... the merchants of the place told that they need not pay duties ... and the natives were made to know that they might erect their chappor huts in what part of the town they pleased."—Price, Some Observations, 61.
1810.—"Chuppers, or grass thatches."—Williamson, V. M. i. 510.
c. 1817.—"These cottages had neat choppers, and some of them wanted not small gardens, fitly fenced about."—Mrs. Sherwood's Stories, ed. 1873, 258.
[b. In Persia, a corr. of P. chār-pā, 'on four feet, a quadruped' and thence a mounted post and posting.
CHOPPER-COT, a. Much as this looks like a European concoction, it is page 210aa genuine H. term, chhappar khāṭ, 'a bedstead with curtains.'
c. 1809.—"Bedsteads are much more common than in Puraniya. The best are called Palang, or Chhapar Khat ... they have curtains, mattrasses, pillows, and a sheet...."—Buchanan, Eastern India, ii. 92.
CHOPSTICKS, s. The sticks used in pairs by the Chinese in feeding themselves. The Chinese name of the article is 'kwai-tsz,' 'speedy-ones.' "Possibly the inventor of the present word, hearing that the Chinese name had this meaning, and accustomed to the phrase chop-chop for 'speedily,' used chop as a translation" (Bishop Moule). [Prof. Giles writes: "The N.E.D. gives incorrectly kwai-tze, i.e. 'nimble boys,' 'nimble ones.' Even Sir H. Yule is not without blemish. He leaves the aspirate out of kwai, of which the official orthography is now k'uai-k'uai-tzŭ, 'hasteners,' the termination -ers bringing out the value of tzŭ, an enclitic particle, better than 'ones.' Bishop Moule's suggestion is on the right track. I think, however, that chopstick came from a Chinaman, who of course knew the meaning of k'uai and applied it accordingly, using the 'pidgin' word chop as the, to him, natural equivalent."]
[1598.—"Two little peeces of blacke woode made round ... these they use instead of forkes."—Linschoten, Hak. Soc. i. 144.]
c. 1610.—"... ont comme deux petites spatules de bois fort bien faites, qu'ils tiennent entre leurs doigts, et prennent avec cela ce qu'ils veulent manger, si dextrement, que rien plus."—Mocquet, 346.
1711.—"They take it very dexterously with a couple of small Chopsticks, which serve them instead of Forks."—Lockyer, 174.
CHOTA-HAZRY, s. H. chhoṭī hāẓirī, vulg. hāẓrī, 'little breakfast'; refreshment taken in the early morning, before or after the morning exercise. The term (see HAZREE) was originally peculiar to the Bengal Presidency. In Madras the meal is called 'early tea.' Among the Dutch in Java, this meal consists (or did consist in 1860) of a large cup of tea, and a large piece of cheese, presented by the servant who calls one in the morning.
1866.—"There is one small meal ... it is that commonly known in India by the Hindustani name of chota-hāziri, and in our English colonies as 'Early Tea.'..."—Waring, Tropical Resident, 172.
CHOUL, CHAUL, n.p. A seaport of the Concan, famous for many centuries under various forms of this name, Cheṅwal properly, and pronounced in Konkani Tseṁwal (Sinclair, Ind. Ant. iv. 283). It may be regarded as almost certain that this was the Σίμυλλα of Ptolemy's Tables, called by the natives, as he says, Τίμουλα. It may be fairly conjectured that the true reading of this was Τιίμουλα, or Τιέμουλα. We find the sound ch of Indian names apparently represented in Ptolemy by τι (as it is in Dutch by tj). Thus Τιάτουρα = Chitor, Τιάστανης = Chashṭaṇa; here Τίμουλα = Cheṅwal; while Τιάγουρα and Τιαύσπα probably stand for names like Chagara and Chauspa. Still more confidently Cheṅwal may be identified with the Ṣaimur (Chaimur) or Jaimur of the old Arab. Geographers, a port at the extreme end of Lār or Guzerat. At Choul itself there is a tradition that its antiquity goes back beyond that of Suali (see SWALLY), Bassein, or Bombay. There were memorable sieges of Choul in 1570–71, and again in 1594, in which the Portuguese successfully resisted Mahommedan page 211aattempts to capture the place. Dr. Burgess identifies the ancient Σήμυλλα rather with a place called Chembur, on the island of Trombay, which lies immediately east of the island of Bombay; but till more evidence is adduced we see no reason to adopt this. Choul seems now to be known as Revadaṇḍa. Even the name is not to be found in the Imperial Gazetteer. Rewadaṇḍa has a place in that work, but without a word to indicate its connection with this ancient and famous port. Mr. Gerson d'Acunha has published in the J. Bo. Br. As. Soc., vol. xii., Notes on the H. and Ant. of Chaul.
A.D. c. 150.—"Σίμυλλα ἐμπόριον (καλούμενον ὑπὸ τῶν ἐγχωρίων Τίμουλα)."—Ptol. i. cap. 17.
A.D. 916. "The year 304 I found myself in the territory of Ṣaimūr (or Chaimūr), belonging to Hind and forming part of the province of Lār.... There were in the place about 10,000 Mussulmans, both of those called baiāsirah (half-breeds), and of natives of Sirāf, Omān, Basrah, Bagdad, &c."—Maṣ'ūdi, ii. 86.
[1020.—"Jaimúr." See quotation under LAR.]
c. 1150.—"Saimūr, 5 days from Sindān, is a large, well-built town."—Edrisi, in Elliot, i. [85].
c. 1470.—"We sailed six weeks in the taca till we reached Chivil, and left Chivil on the seventh week after the great day. This is an Indian country."—Ath. Nikitin, 9, in India in XVth. Cent.
1510.—"Departing from the said city of Combeia, I travelled on until I arrived at another city named Cevul (Chevul) which is distant from the above-mentioned city 12 days' journey, and the country between the one and the other of these cities is called Guzerati."—Varthema, 113.
1546.—Under this year D'Acunha quotes from Freire d'Andrada a story that when the Viceroy required 20,000 pardaos (q.v.) to send for the defence of Diu, offering in pledge a wisp of his mustachio, the women of Choul sent all their earrings and other jewellery, to be applied to this particular service.
1554.—"The ports of Mahaim and Sheúl belong to the Deccan."—The Mohit, in J.A.S.B., v. 461.
1584.—"The 10th of November we arrived at Chaul which standeth in the firme land. There be two townes, the one belonging page 211bto the Portugales, and the other to the Moores."—R. Fitch, in Hakl. ii. 384.
c. 1630.—"After long toil ... we got to Choul; then we came to Daman."—Sir T. Herbert, ed. 1665, p. 42.
1635.—"Chíval, a seaport of Deccan."—Sádik Isfaháni, 88.
1727.—"Chaul, in former Times, was a noted Place for Trade, particularly for fine embroidered Quilts; but now it is miserably poor."—A. Hamilton, i. 243.
CHOULTRY, s. Peculiar to S. India, and of doubtful etymology; Malayāl. chāwaṭī, Tel. chāwaḍi, [tsāvaḍi, chau, Skt. chatur, 'four,' vāṭa, 'road,' a place where four roads meet]. In W. India the form used is chowry or chowree (Dakh. chāoṛī). A hall, a shed, or a simple loggia, used by travellers as a resting-place, and also intended for the transaction of public business. In the old Madras Archives there is frequent mention of the "Justices of the Choultry." A building of this kind seems to have formed the early Court-house.
" "Maderas ... enjoys some Choultries for Places of Justice."—Ibid. 39.
1683.—"... he shall pay for every slave so shipped ... 50 pagodas to be recovered of him in the Choultry of Madraspattanam."—Order of Madras Council, in Wheeler, i. 136.
1689.—"Within less than half a Mile, from the Sea (near Surat) are three Choultries or Convenient Lodgings made of Timber."—Ovington, 164.
1711.—"Besides these, five Justices of the Choultry, who are of the Council, or chief Citizens, are to decide Controversies, and punish offending Indians."—Lockyer, 7.
1714.—In the MS. List of Persons in the Service, &c. (India Office Records), we have:—
"Josiah Cooke ffactor Register of the Choultry, £15."
1727.—"There are two or three little Choulteries or Shades built for Patients to rest in."—A. Hamilton, ch. ix.; [i. 95].
page 212a[1773.—"A Choltre is not much unlike a large summer-house, and in general is little more than a bare covering from the inclemency of the weather. Some few indeed are more spacious, and are also endowed with a salary to support a servant or two, whose business is to furnish all passengers with a certain quantity of rice and fresh water."—Ives, 67.]
1782.—"Les fortunes sont employées à bâtir des Chauderies sur les chemins."—Sonnerat, i. 42.
1790.—"On ne rencontre dans ces voyages aucune auberge ou hôtellerie sur la route; mais elles sont remplacées par des lieux de repos appelées schultris (chauderies), qui sont des bâtimens ouverts et inhabités, où les voyageurs ne trouvent, en général, qu'un toit...."—Haafner, ii. 11.
1809.—"He resides at present in an old Choultry which has been fitted up for his use by the Resident."—Ld. Valentia, i. 356.
1817.—"Another fact of much importance is, that a Mahomedan Sovereign was the first who established Choultries."—Mill's Hist. ii. 181.
1820.—"The Chowree or town-hall where the public business of the township is transacted, is a building 30 feet square, with square gable-ends, and a roof of tile supported on a treble row of square wooden posts."—Acc. of Township of Loony, in Tr. Lit. Soc. Bombay, ii. 181.
1833.—"Junar, 6th Jan. 1833.... We at first took up our abode in the Chawadī, but Mr. Escombe of the C. S. kindly invited us to his house."—Smith's Life of Dr. John Wilson, 156.
1836.—"The roads are good, and well supplied with choultries or taverns"(!)—Phillips, Million of Facts, 319.
1879.—"Let an organised watch ... be established in each village ... armed with good tulwars. They should be stationed each night in the village chouri."—Overland Times of India, May 12, Suppl. 7b.
CHOULTRY PLAIN, n.p. This was the name given to the open country formerly existing to the S.W. of Madras. Choultry Plain was also the old designation of the Hd. Quarters of the Madras Army; equivalent to "Horse Guards" in Westminster (C. P. B. MS.).
page 212bCHOUSE, s. and v. This word is originally Turk. chāush, in former days a sergeant-at-arms, herald, or the like. [Vambéry (Sketches, 17) speaks of the Tchaush as the leader of a party of pilgrims.] Its meaning as 'a cheat,' or 'to swindle' is, apparently beyond doubt, derived from the anecdote thus related in a note of W. Gifford's upon the passage in Ben Jonson's Alchemist, which is quoted below. "In 1609 Sir Robert Shirley sent a messenger or chiaus (as our old writers call him) to this country, as his agent, from the Grand Signor and the Sophy, to transact some preparatory business. Sir Robert followed him, at his leisure, as ambassador from both these princes; but before he reached England, his agent had chiaused the Turkish and Persian merchants here of 4000l., and taken his flight, unconscious perhaps that he had enriched the language with a word of which the etymology would mislead Upton and puzzle Dr. Johnson."—Ed. of Ben Jonson, iv. 27. "In Kattywar, where the native chiefs employ Arab mercenaries, the Chaus still flourishes as an officer of a company. When I joined the Political Agency in that Province, there was a company of Arabs attached to the Residency under a Chaus." (M.-Gen. Keatinge). [The N.E.D. thinks that "Gifford's note must be taken with reserve." The Stanf. Dict. adds that Gifford's note asserts that two other Chiauses arrived in 1618–1625. One of the above quotations proves his accuracy as to 1618. Perhaps, however, the particular fraud had little to do with the modern use of the word. As Jonson suggests, chiaus may have been used for 'Turk' in the sense of 'cheat'; just as Cataian stood for 'thief' or 'rogue.' For a further discussion of the word see N. & Q., 7 ser. vi. 387; 8 ser. iv. 129.]
1610.—"Dapper.... What do you think of me, that I am a chiaus?
Face. What's that?
Dapper. The Turk was here. As one would say, do you think I am a Turk?
page 213aFace. Come, noble doctor, pray thee let's prevail; This is the gentleman, and he's no chiaus." Ben. Jonson, The Alchemist, Act I. sc. i.
1638.—
"Fulgoso. Gulls or Moguls, Tag, rag, or other, hogen-mogen, vanden, Ship-jack or chouses. Whoo! the brace are flinched. The pair of shavers are sneak'd from us, Don...." Ford, The Lady's Trial, Act II. sc. i.
1619.—"Con gli ambasciatori stranieri che seco conduceva, cioè l'Indiano, di Sciah Selim, un ciausc Turco ed i Moscoviti...."—P. della Valle, ii. 6.
1653.—"Chiaoux en Turq est vn Sergent du Diuan, et dans la campagne la garde d'vne Karauane, qui fait le guet, se nomme aussi Chiaoux, et cet employ n'est pas autrement honeste."—Le Gouz, ed. 1657, p. 536.
1659.—
"Conquest. We are In a fair way to be ridiculous. What think you? Chiaus'd by a scholar." Shirley, Honoria & Mammon, Act II. sc. iii.
1663.—"The Portugals have choused us, it seems, in the Island of Bombay in the East Indys; for after a great charge of our fleets being sent thither with full commission from the King of Portugal to receive it, the Governour by some pretence or other will not deliver it to Sir Abraham Shipman."—Pepys, Diary, May 15; [ed. Wheatley iii. 125].
1674.—
"When geese and pullen are seduc'd And sows of sucking pigs are chows'd." Hudibras, Pt. II. canto 3.
1674.—
"Transform'd to a Frenchman by my art; He stole your cloak, and pick'd your pocket, Chows'd and caldes'd ye like a blockhead." Ibid.
1754.—"900 chiaux: they carried in their hand a baton with a double silver crook on the end of it; ... these frequently chanted moral sentences and encomiums on the Shah, occasionally proclaiming also his victories as he passed along."—Hanway, i. 170.
1762.—"Le 27$^e$ d'Août 1762 nous entendîmes un coup de canon du chateau de Kâhira, c'étoit signe qu'un Tsjaus (courier) étoit arrivé de la grande caravane."—Niebuhr, Voyage, i. 171.
CHOW-CHOW, s. A common application of the Pigeon-English term in China is to mixed preserves; but, as page 213bthe quotation shows, it has many uses; the idea of mixture seems to prevail. It is the name given to a book by Viscountess Falkland, whose husband was Governor of Bombay. There it seems to mean 'a medley of trifles.' Chow is in 'pigeon' applied to food of any kind. ["From the erroneous impression that dogs form one of the principal items of a Chinaman's diet, the common variety has been dubbed the 'chow dog'" (Ball, Things Chinese, p. 179).] We find the word chow-chow in Blumentritt's Vocabular of Manilla terms: "Chau-chau, a Tagal dish so called."
"Lady Falkland, by her happy selection of a name, to a certain extent deprecates and disarms criticism. We cannot complain that her work is without plan, unconnected, and sometimes trashy, for these are exactly the conditions implied in the word chow-chow."—Bombay Quarterly Review, January, p. 100.
CHOWDRY, s. H. chaudharī, lit. 'a holder of four'; the explanation of which is obscure: [rather Skt. chakra-dharin, 'the bearer of the discus as an ensign of authority']. The usual application of the term is to the headman of a craft in a town, and more particularly to the person who is selected by Government as the agent through whom supplies, workmen, &c., are supplied for public purposes. [Thus the Chaudharī of carters provides carriage, the Chaudharī of Kahārs bearers, and so on.] Formerly, in places, to the headman of a village; to certain holders of lands; and in Cuttack it was, under native rule, applied to a district Revenue officer. In a paper of 'Explanations of Terms' page 214afurnished to the Council at Fort William by Warren Hastings, then Resident at Moradbagh (1759), chowdrees are defined as "Landholders in the next rank to Zemindars." (In Long, p. 176.) [Comp. VENDU-MASTER.] It is also an honorific title given by servants to one of their number, usually, we believe, to the mālī [see MOLLY], or gardener—as khalīfa to the cook and tailor, jama'dār to the bhishtī, mehtar to the sweeper, sirdār to the bearer.
c. 1343.—"The territories dependent on the capital (Delhi) are divided into hundreds, each of which has a Jautharī, who is the Sheikh or chief man of the Hindus."—Ibn Batuta, iii. 388.
[1772.—"Chowdrahs, land-holders, in the next rank to Zemeendars."—Verelst, View of Bengal, Gloss. s.v.]
CHOWK, s. H. chauk. An open place or wide street in the middle of a city where the market is held, [as, for example, the Chāndnī Chauk of Delhi]. It seems to be adopted in Persian, and there is an Arabic form Sūḳ, which, it is just possible, may have been borrowed and Arabized from the present word. The radical idea of chauk seems to be "four ways" [Skt. chatushka], the crossing of streets at the centre of business. Compare Carfax, and the Quattro Cantoni of Palermo. In the latter city there is a market place called Piazza Ballarò, which in the 16th century a chronicler calls Seggeballarath, or as Amari interprets, Sūḳ-Balharā.
CHOWNEE, s. The usual native name, at least in the Bengal Presidency, for an Anglo-Indian cantonment (q.v.). It is H. chhāonī, 'a thatched roof,' chhāonā, chhānā, v. 'to thatch.'
CHOWRINGHEE, n.p. The name of a road and quarter of Calcutta, in which most of the best European houses stand; Chaurangī.
1790.—"To dig a large tank opposite to the Cheringhee Buildings."—Ibid. 13.
1791.—"Whereas a robbery was committed on Tuesday night, the first instant, on the Chowringhy Road."—Ibid. 54.
1792.—"For Private Sale. A neat, compact and new built garden house, pleasantly situated at Chouringy, and from its contiguity to Fort William, peculiarly well calculated for an officer; it would likewise be a handsome provision for a native lady, or a child. The price is 1500 sicca rupees."—Ibid. ii. 541.
1803.—"Chouringhee, an entire village of palaces, runs for a considerable length at right angles with it, and altogether forms the finest view I ever beheld in any city."—Ld. Valentia, i. 236.
1810.—"As I enjoyed Calcutta much less this time ... I left it with less regret. Still, when passing the Chowringhee road the last day, I—
'Looked on stream and sea and plain As what I ne'er might see again.'" Elphinstone, in Life, i. 231.
CHOWRY, s.
(a.) See CHOULTRY.
(b.) H. chaṅwar, chauṅrī; from Skt. chamara, chāmara. The bushy tail of the Tibetan Yak (q.v.), often set in a costly decorated handle to use as a fly-flapper, in which form it was one of the insignia of ancient Asiatic royalty. The tail was also often attached to the horse-trappings of native warriors; whilst it formed from remote times the standard of nations and nomad tribes of Central Asia. The Yak-tails and their uses are mentioned by Aelian, and by Cosmas (see under YAK). Allusions to the chāmara, as a sign of royalty, are frequent in Skt. books and inscriptions, e.g. in the Poet Kalidāsa (see transl. by Dr. Mill in page 215aJ. As. Soc. Beng. i. 342; the Amarakosha, ii. 7, 31, &c.). The common Anglo-Indian expression in the 18th century appears to have been "Cow-tails" (q.v.). And hence Bogle in his Journal, as published by Mr. Markham, calls Yaks by the absurd name of "cow-tailed cows" though "horse-tailed cows" would have been more germane!
A.D. 634–5.—"... with his armies which were darkened by the spotless chāmaras that were waved over them."—Aihole Inscription.
c. 940.—"They export from this country the hair named al-zamar (or al-chamar) of which those fly-flaps are made, with handles of silver or ivory, which attendants held over the heads of kings when giving audience."—Maṣ'ūdī, i. 385. The expressions of Maṣ'ūdī are aptly illustrated by the Assyrian and Persepolitan sculptures. (See also Marco Polo, bk. iii. ch. 18; Nic. Conti, p. 14, in India in the XVth Century).
1623.—"For adornment of their horses they carried, hung to the cantles of their saddles, great tufts of a certain white hair, long and fine, which they told me were the tails of certain wild oxen found in India."—P. della Valle, ii. 662; [Hak. Soc. ii. 260].
1809.—"He also presented me in trays, which were as usual laid at my feet, two beautiful chowries."—Lord Valentia, i. 428.
1810.—"Near Brahma are Indra and Indranee on their elephant, and below is a female figure holding a chamara or chowree."—Maria Graham, 56.
CHOWRYBURDAR, s. The servant who carries the Chowry. H. P. chauṅrī-bardār.
CHOWT, CHOUT, s. Mahr. chauth, 'one fourth part.' The blackmail levied by the Mahrattas from the provincial governors as compensation page 215bfor leaving their districts in immunity from plunder. The term is also applied to some other exactions of like ratio (see Wilson).
1644.—"This King holds in our lands of Daman a certain payment which they call Chouto, which was paid him long before they belonged to the Portuguese, and so after they came under our power the payment continued to be made, and about these exactions and payments there have risen great disputes and contentions on one side and another."—Bocarro (MS.).
1674.—"Messengers were sent to Bassein demanding the chout of all the Portuguese territory in these parts. The chout means the fourth part of the revenue, and this is the earliest mention we find of the claim."—Orme's Fragments, p. 45.
1763–78.—"They (the English) were ... not a little surprised to find in the letters now received from Balajerow and his agent to themselves, and in stronger terms to the Nabob, a peremptory demand of the Chout or tribute due to the King of the Morattoes from the Nabobship of Arcot."—Orme, ii. 228–9.
1803.—"The Peshwah ... cannot have a right to two choutes, any more than to two revenues from any village in the same year."—Wellington Desp. (ed. 1837), ii. 175.
CHOYA, CHAYA, CHEY, s. A root, [generally known as chayroot,] (Hedyotis umbellata, Lam., Oldenlandia umb., L.) of the Nat. Ord. Cinchonaceae, affording a red dye, sometimes called 'India Madder,' ['Dye Root,' 'Rameshwaram Root']; from Tam. shāyaver, Malayāl. chāyaver (chāya, 'colour,' ver, 'root'). It is exported from S. India, and was so also at one time from Ceylon. There is a figure of the plant in Lettres Edif. xiv. 164.
page 216a1583.—"Ne vien anchora di detta saia da un altro luogo detto Petopoli, e se ne tingono parimente in S. Thomè."—Balbi, f. 107.
1672.—"Here groweth very good Zaye."—Baldaeus, Ceylon.
[1679.—"... if they would provide mustors of Chae and White goods...."—Memoriall of S. Master, in Kistna Man., p. 131.]
1726.—"Saya (a dye-root that is used on the Coast for painting chintzes)."—Valentijn, Chor. 45.
1727.—"The Islands of Diu (near Masulipatam) produce the famous Dye called Shaii. It is a Shrub growing in Grounds that are overflown with the Spring tides."—A. Hamilton, i. 370; [ed. 1744, i. 374].
CHUCKAROO, s. English soldier's lingo for Chokra (q.v.)
CHUCKER. From H. chakar, chakkar, chakrā, Skt. chakra, 'a wheel or circle.'
(a.) s. A quoit for playing the English game; but more properly the sharp quoit or discus which constituted an ancient Hindu missile weapon, and is, or was till recently, carried by the Sikh fanatics called Akālī (see AKALEE), generally encircling their peaked turbans. The thing is described by Tavernier (E. T. ii. 41: [ed. Ball, i. 82]) as carried by a company of Mahommedan Fakīrs whom he met at Sherpūr in Guzerat. See also Lt.-Col. T. Lewin, A Fly, &c., p. 47: [Egerton, Handbook, Pl. 15, No. 64].
page 216b(b.) v. and s. To lunge a horse. H. chakarnā or chakar karnā. Also 'the lunge.'
[(c.) In Polo, a 'period.'
CHUCKERBUTTY, n.p. This vulgarized Bengal Brahman name is, as Wilson points out, a corruption of chakravarttī, the title assumed by the most exalted ancient Hindu sovereigns, an universal Emperor, whose chariot-wheels rolled over all (so it is explained by some).
c. 460.—"On a certain day (Asoka), having ... ascertained that the supernaturally gifted ... Nága King, whose age extended to a Kappo, had seen the four Buddhas ... he thus addressed him: 'Beloved, exhibit to me the person of the omniscient being of infinite wisdom, the Chakkawatti of the doctrine.'"—The Mahawanso, p. 27.
CHUCKLAH, s. H. chaklā, [Skt. chakra, 'a wheel']. A territorial subdivision under the Mahommedan government, thus defined by Warren Hastings, in the paper quoted under CHOWDRY:
CHUCKLER, s. Tam. and Malayāl. shakkili, the name of a very low caste, members of which are tanners or cobblers, like the Chamārs (see CHUMAR) of Upper India. But whilst the latter are reputed to be a very dark caste, the Chucklers are fair (see Elliot's Gloss. by Beames, i. 71, and Caldwell's Gram. 574). [On the other hand the Madras Gloss. (s.v.) says that as a rule they are of "a dark black hue."] Colloquially in S. India Chuckler is used for a native shoemaker.
1759.—"Shackelays are shoemakers, and held in the same despicable light on the Coromandel Coast as the Niaddes and Pullies on the Malabar."—Ives, 26.
c. 1790.—"Aussi n'est-ce que le rébut de la classe méprisée des parrias; savoir les tschakelís ou cordonniers et les vettians ou fossoyeurs, qui s'occupent de l'enterrement et la combustion des morts."—Haafner, ii. 60.
[1844.—"... the chockly, who performs the degrading duty of executioner...."—Society, Manners, &c., of India, ii. 282.]
CHUCKMUCK, s. H. chakmak. 'Flint and steel.' One of the titles conferred on Haidar 'Ali before he rose to power was 'Chakmak Jang,' 'Firelock of War'? See H. of Hydur Naik, 112.
CHUCKRUM, s. An ancient coin once generally current in the S. of India, Malayāl. chakram, Tel. chakramu; from Skt. chakra (see under CHUCKER). It is not easy to say what was its value, as the statements are inconsistent: nor do they confirm Wilson's, that it was equal to one-tenth of a pagoda. [According to page 217bthe Madras Gloss. (s.v.) it bore the same relation to the gold Pagoda that the Anna does to the Rupee, and under it again was the copper Cash, which was its sixteenth.] The denomination survives in Travancore, [where 28½ go to one rupee. (Ibid.)]
1711.—"The Enemy will not come to any agreement unless we consent to pay 30,000 chuckrums, which we take to be 16,600 and odd pagodas."—In Wheeler, ii. 165.
[From the difficulty of handling these coins, which are small and round, they are counted on a chuckrum board as in the case of the Fanam (q.v.).]
CHUDDER, s. H. chādar, a sheet, or square piece of cloth of any kind; the ample sheet commonly worn as a mantle by women in N. India. It is also applied to the cloths spread over Mahommedan tombs. Barbosa (1516) and Linschoten (1598) have chautars, chautares, as a kind of cotton piece-goods, but it is certain that this is not the same word. Chowtars occur among Bengal piece-goods in Milburn, ii. 221. [The word is chautár, 'anything with four threads,' and it occurs in the list of cotton cloths in the Āīn (i. 94). In a letter of 1610 we have "Chautares are white and well requested" (Danvers, Letters, i. 75); "Chauters of Agra" (Foster, Letters, ii. 45); Cocks has "fine Casho or Chowter" (Diary, i. 86); and in 1615 they are called "Cowter" (Foster, iv. 51).]
[c. 1610.—"From Bengal comes another sort of hanging, of fine linen painted and ornamented with colours in a very agreeable fashion; these they call iader."—Pyrard de Laval, Hak. Soc. i. 222.]
1614.—"Pintados, chints and chadors."—Peyton, in Purchas, i. 530.
1673.—"The habit of these water-nymphs was fine Shudders of lawn embroidered on the neck, wrist, and skirt with a border of several coloured silks or threads of gold."—Herbert, 3rd ed. 191.
page 218a1832.—"Chuddur ... a large piece of cloth or sheet, of one and a half or two breadths, thrown over the head, so as to cover the whole body. Men usually sleep rolled up in it."—Herklots, Qanoon-e-Islam, xii.-xiii.
The Rampore Chudder is a kind of shawl, of the Tibetan shawl-wool, of uniform colour without pattern, made originally at Rāmpur on the Sutlej; and of late years largely imported into England: [(see the Panjab Mono. on Wool, p. 9). Curiously enough a claim to the derivation of the title from Rāmpur, in Rohilkhand, N.W.P. is made in the Imperial Gazetteer, 1st ed. (s.v.).]
CHUL! CHULLO! v. in imperative; 'Go on! Be quick.' H. chalo! imper. of chalnā, to go, go speedily. [Another common use of the word in Anglo-Indian slang is—"It won't chul," 'it won't answer, succeed.']
[CHUMAR, s. H. Chamār, Skt. charma-kāra, 'one who works in leather,' and thus answering to the Chuckler of S. India; an important caste found all through N. India, whose primary occupation is tanning, but a large number are agriculturists and day labourers of various kinds.
CHUMPUK, s. A highly ornamental and sacred tree (Michelia champaca, L., also M. Rheedii), a kind of magnolia, whose odorous yellow blossoms are much prized by Hindus, offered at shrines, and rubbed on the body at marriages, &c. H. champak, Skt. champaka. Drury strangely says that the name is "derived from Ciampa, an island between Cambogia and Cochin China, where the tree page 218bgrows." Champa is not an island, and certainly derives its Sanskrit name from India, and did not give a name to an Indian tree. The tree is found wild in the Himālaya from Nepāl, eastward; also in Pegu and Tenasserim, and along the Ghauts to Travancore. The use of the term champaka extends to the Philippine Islands. [Mr. Skeat notes that it is highly prized by Malay women, who put it in their hair.]
1786.—"The walks are scented with blossoms of the champac and nagisar, and the plantations of pepper and coffee are equally new and pleasing."—Sir W. Jones, in Mem., &c., ii. 81.
1810.—"Some of these (birds) build in the sweet-scented champaka and the mango."—Maria Graham, 22.
1819.—
"The wandering airs they faint On the dark, the silent stream; And the chumpak's odours fail Like sweet thoughts in a dream." Shelley, Lines to an Indian Air.
1821.—
"Some chumpak flowers proclaim it yet divine." Medwin, Sketches in Hindoostan, 73.
CHUNÁM, s. Prepared lime; also specially used for fine polished plaster. Forms of this word occur both in Dravidian languages and Hind. In the latter chūnā is from Skt. chūrṇa, 'powder'; in the former it is somewhat uncertain whether the word is, or is not, an old derivative from the Sanskrit. In the first of the following quotations the word used seems taken from the Malayāl. chuṇṇāmba, Tam. shuṇṇāmbu.
1563.—"... so that all the names you meet with that are not Portuguese are Malabar; such as betre (betel), chuna, which is lime...."—Garcia, f. 37g.
c. 1610.—"... l'vn porte son éventail, l'autre la boëte d'argent pleine de betel, l'autre une boëte ou il y a du chunan, qui est de la chaux."—Pyrard de Laval, ii. 84; [Hak. Soc. ii. 135].
page 219a1614.—"Having burnt the great idol into chunah, he mixed the powdered lime with pān leaves, and gave it to the Rājpūts that they might eat the objects of their worship."—Firishta, quoted by Quatremère, Not. et Ext., xiv. 510.
1673.—"The Natives chew it (Betel) with Chinam (Lime of calcined Oyster Shells)."—Fryer, 40.
1687.—"That stores of Brick, Iron, Stones, and Chenam be in readiness to make up any breach."—Madras Consultations, in Wheeler, i. 168.
1689.—"Chinam is Lime made of Cockle-shells, or Lime-stone; and Pawn is the Leaf of a Tree."—Ovington, 123.
1750–60.—"The flooring is generally composed of a kind of loam or stucco, called chunam, being a lime made of burnt shells."—Grose, i. 52.
1763.—"In the Chuckleh of Silet for the space of five years ... my phoasdar and the Company's gomastah shall jointly prepare chunam, of which each shall defray all expenses, and half the chunam so made shall be given to the Company, and the other half shall be for my use."—Treaty of Mir Jaffir with the Company, in Carraccioli's L. of Clive, i. 64.
CHUNÁM, TO, v. To set in mortar; or, more frequently, to plaster over with chunam.
Both noun and verb are used also in the Anglo-Chinese settlements.
CHUNÁRGURH, n.p. A famous rock-fort on the Ganges, above Benares, and on the right bank. The name is believed to be a corr. of Charana-giri, 'Foot Hill,' a name probably given from the actual resemblance of the rock, seen in longitudinal profile, to a human foot. [There is a local legend that it represents the foot of Vishnu. A native folk etymology makes it a corr. of Chandālgaṛh, from some legendary connection with the Bhangi tribe (see CHANDAUL). (See Crooke, Tribes and Castes, i. 263.)]
CHUPATTY, s. H. chapātī, an unleavened cake of bread (generally of coarse wheaten meal), patted flat with the hand, and baked upon a griddle; the usual form of native bread, and the staple food of Upper India. (See HOPPER).
1810.—"Chow-patties, or bannocks."—Williamson, V. M. ii. 348.
There is a tradition of a noble and gallant Governor-General who, when compelled to rough it for a day or two, acknowledged that "chuprassies and masaulchies were not such bad diet," meaning Chupatties and Mussalla.
CHUPKUN, s. H. chapkan. The long frock (or cassock) which is the usual dress in Upper India of nearly all male natives who are not actual labourers or indigent persons. The word is probably of Turki or Mongol origin, and is perhaps identical with the chakman of the Āīn (i. 90), a word still used in Turkistan. [Vambéry, (Sketches, 121 seqq.) describes both the Tchapan or upper coat and the Tchekmen or gown.] Hence Beames's connection of chapkan with the idea of chap as meaning compressing or clinging [Platts chapaknā, 'to be pressed'], "a tightly-fitting coat or cassock," is a little fanciful. (Comp. Gram. i. 212 seq.) Still this idea may have shaped the corruption of a foreign word.
page 220aCHUPRA, n.p. Chaprā, [or perhaps rather Chhaprā, 'a collection of straw huts,' (see CHOPPER),] a town and head-quarter station of the District Sāran in Bahār, on the north bank of the Ganges.
CHUPRASSY, s. H. chaprāsī, the bearer of a chaprās, i.e. a badge-plate inscribed with the name of the office to which the bearer is attached. The chaprāsī is an office-messenger, or henchman, bearing such a badge on a cloth or leather belt. The term belongs to the Bengal Presidency. In Madras Peon is the usual term; in Bombay Puttywalla, (H. paṭṭīwālā), or "man of the belt." The etymology of chaprās is obscure; [the popular account is that it is a corr. of P. chap-o-rāst, 'left and right']; but see Beames (Comp. Gram. i. 212), who gives buckle as the original meaning.
c. 1866.—
"The big Sahib's tent has gone from under the Peepul tree, With his horde of hungry chuprassees, and oily sons of the quill— I paid them the bribe they wanted, and Sheitan will settle the bill." Sir A. C. Lyall, The Old Pindaree.
1877.—"One of my chuprassies or messengers ... was badly wounded."—Meadows Taylor, Life, i. 227.
CHURR, s. H. char, Skt. char, 'to move.' "A sand-bank or island in the current of a river, deposited by the water, claims to which were regulated by the Bengal Reg. xi. 1825" (Wilson). A char is new alluvial land deposited by the great rivers as the page 220bfloods are sinking, and covered with grass, but not necessarily insulated. It is remarkable that Mr. Marsh mentions a very similar word as used for the same thing in Holland. "New sandbank land, covered with grasses, is called in Zeeland schor" (Man and Nature, p. 339). The etymologies are, however, probably quite apart.
CHURRUCK, s. A wheel or any rotating machine; particularly applied to simple machines for cleaning cotton. Pers. charkh, 'the celestial sphere,' 'a wheel of any kind,' &c. Beng. charak is apparently a corruption of the Persian word, facilitated by the nearness of the Skt. chakra, &c.
—— POOJAH. Beng. charak-pūjā (see POOJA). The Swinging Festival of the Hindus, held on the sun's entrance into Aries. The performer is suspended from a long yard, traversing round on a mast, by hooks passed through the muscle over the blade-bones, and then whirled round so as to fly out centrifugally. The chief seat of this barbarous display is, or latterly was, in Bengal, but it was formerly prevalent in many parts of India. [It is the Shirry (Ca. and Tel. sidi, Tam. shedil, Tel. sidi, 'a hook') of S. India.] There is an old description in Purchas's Pilgrimage, p. 1000; also (in Malabar) in A. Hamilton, i. 270; [at Ikkeri, P. della Valle, Hak. Soc. ii. 259]; and (at Calcutta) in Heber's Journal, quoted below.
[1754.—See a long account of the Bengal rite in Ives, 27 seqq.].
CHURRUS, s.
a. H. charas. A simple apparatus worked by oxen for drawing water page 221afrom a well, and discharging it into irrigation channels by means of pulley ropes, and a large bag of hide (H. charsā, Skt. charma). [See the description in Forbes, Or. Mem. 2nd ed. i. 153. Hence the area irrigated from a well.]
b. H. charas, [said to be so called because the drug is collected by men who walk with leather aprons through the field]. The resinous exudation of the hemp-plant (Cannabis Indica), which is the basis of intoxicating preparations (see BANG, GUNJA).
CHUTKARRY, CHATTAGAR, in S. India, a half-caste; Tam. shaṭṭi-kar, 'one who wears a waistcoat' (C. P. B).
CHUTNY, s. H. chatnī. A kind of strong relish, made of a number of condiments and fruits, &c., used in India, and more especially by Mahommedans, and the merits of which are now well known in England. For native chutny recipes, see Herklots, Qanoon-e-Islam, 2nd ed. xlvii. seqq.
CHUTT, s. H. chhat. The proper meaning of the vernacular word is 'a roof or platform.' But in modern Anglo-Indian its usual application is to the coarse cotton sheeting, stretched on a frame and whitewashed, which forms the usual ceiling of rooms in thatched or tiled houses; properly chādar-chhat, 'sheet-ceiling.'
CHUTTANUTTY, n.p. This was one of the three villages purchased for the East India Company in 1686, when the agents found their position in Hugli intolerable, to form the page 221bsettlement which became the city of Calcutta. The other two villages were Calcutta and Govindpūr. Dr. Hunter spells it Sūtanatī, but the old Anglo-Indian orthography indicates Chatānatī as probable. In the letter-books of the Factory Council in the India Office the earlier letters from this establishment are lost, but down to 27th March, 1700, they are dated from "Chuttanutte; on and after June 8th, from "Calcutta"; and from August 20th in the same year from "Fort William" in Calcutta. [See Hedges, Diary, Hak. Soc. ii. lix.] According to Major Ralph Smyth, Chatānatī occupied "the site of the present native town," i.e. the northern quarter of the city. Calcutta stood on what is now the European commercial part; and Govindpūr on the present site of Fort William.
| R. | R. | A. | P. |
| Sootaloota, Calcutta | 325 | 0 | 0 |
| Govindpoor, Picar | 70 | 0 | 0 |
| Govindpoor, Calcutta | 33 | 0 | 0 |
| Buxies | 1 | 8 | 0 |
CHUTTRUM, s. Tam. shattiram, which is a corruption of Skt. sattra, 'abode.' In S. India a house where pilgrims and travelling members of the higher castes are entertained and fed gratuitously for a day or two. [See CHOULTRY, DHURMSALLA.]
page 222aCINDERELLA'S SLIPPER. A Hindu story on the like theme appears among the Hala Kanara MSS. of the Mackenzie Collection:—
CINTRA ORANGES. See ORANGE and SUNGTARA.
CIRCARS, n.p. The territory to the north of the Coromandel Coast, formerly held by the Nizam, and now forming the districts of Kistna, Godávari, Vizagapatam, Ganjám, and a part of Nellore, was long known by the title of "The Circars," or "Northern Circars" (i.e. Governments), now officially obsolete. The Circars of Chicacole (now Vizagapatam Dist.), Rajamandri and Ellore (these two embraced now in Godávari Dist.), with Condapilly (now embraced in Kistna Dist.), were the subject of a grant from the Great Mogul, obtained by Clive in 1765, confirmed by treaty with the Nizam in 1766. Gantūr (now also included in Kistna Dist.) devolved eventually by the same treaty (but did not come permanently under British rule till 1803). [For the history see Madras Admin. Man. i. 179.] C. P. Brown says the expression "The Circars" was first used by the French, in the time of Bussy. [Another name for the Northern Circars was the Carling or Carlingo country, apparently a corr. of Kalinga (see KLING), see Pringle, Diary, &c., of Ft. St. George, 1st ser. vol. 2, p. 125. (See SIRCAR.)]
1767.—"Letter from the Chief and Council at Masulipatam ... that in consequence of orders from the President and Council of Fort St. George for securing and sending page 222baway all vagrant Europeans that might be met with in the Circars, they have embarked there for this place...."—Fort William Consn., in Long, 476 seq.
1789.—"The most important public transaction ... is the surrender of the Guntoor Circar to the Company, by which it becomes possessed of the whole Coast, from Jaggernaut to Cape Comorin. The Nizam made himself master of that province, soon after Hyder's invasion of the Carnatic, as an equivalent for the arrears of peshcush, due to him by the Company for the other Circars."—Letter of T. Munro, in Life by Gleig, i. 70.
We know from the preceding quotation what Munro's spelling of the name was.
CIVILIAN, s. A term which came into use about 1750–1770, as a designation of the covenanted European servants of the E. I. Company, not in military employ. It is not used by Grose, c. 1760, who was himself of such service at Bombay. [The earliest quotation in the N.E.D. is of 1766 from Malcolm's L. of Clive, 54.] In Anglo-Indian parlance it is still appropriated to members of the covenanted Civil Service [see COVENANTED SERVANTS]. The Civil Service is mentioned in Carraccioli's L. of Clive, (c. 1785), iii. 164. From an early date in the Company's history up to 1833, the members of the Civil Service were classified during the first five years as Writers (q.v.), then to the 8th year as Factors (q.v.); in the 9th and 11th as Junior Merchants; and thenceforward as Senior Merchants. These names were relics of the original commercial character of the E. I. Company's transactions, and had long ceased to have page 223aany practical meaning at the time of their abolition in 1833, when the Charter Act (3 & 4 Will. IV. c. 85), removed the last traces of the Company's commercial existence.
CLASSY, CLASHY, s. H. khalāṣī, usual etym. from Arab khalāṣ. A tent-pitcher; also (because usually taken from that class of servants) a man employed as chain-man or staff-man, &c., by a surveyor; a native sailor; or Matross (q.v.). Khalāṣ is constantly used in Hindustani in the sense of 'liberation'; thus, of a prisoner, a magistrate says 'khalāṣ karo,' 'let him go.' But it is not clear how khalāṣī got its ordinary Indian sense. It is also written khalāshī, and Vullers has an old Pers. word khalāsha for 'a ship's rudder.' A learned friend suggests that this may be the real origin of khalāṣī in its Indian use. [Khalāṣ also means the 'escape channel of a canal,' and khalāṣī may have been originally a person in charge of such a work.]
1801.—"The sepoys in a body were to bring up the rear. Our left flank was to be covered by the sea, and our right by Gopie Nath's men. Then the clashies and other armed followers."—Mt. Stewart Elphinstone, in Life, i. 27.
CLEARING NUT, WATER FILTER NUT, s. The seed of Strychnos potatorum, L.; a tree of S. India; [known in N. India as nirmalā, nirmalī, 'dirt-cleaner']. It is so called from its property of clearing muddy water, if well rubbed on the inside of the vessel which is to be filled.
CLOVE, s. The flower-bud of Caryophyllum aromaticum, L., a tree of the Moluccas. The modern English name page 223bof this spice is a kind of ellipsis from the French clous de girofles, 'Nails of Girofles,' i.e. of garofala, caryophylla, &c., the name by which this spice was known to the ancients; the full old English name was similar, 'clove gillofloure,' a name which, cut in two like a polypus, has formed two different creatures, the clove (or nail) being assigned to the spice, and the 'gillyflower' to a familiar clove-smelling flower. The comparison to nails runs through many languages. In Chinese the thing is called ting-hiang, or 'nail-spice'; in Persian mekhak, 'little nails,' or 'nailkins,' like the German Nelken, Nägelchen, and Gewürtz-nagel (spice nail).
COAST, THE, n.p. This term in books of the 18th century means the 'Madras or Coromandel Coast,' and often 'the Madras Presidency.' It is curious to find Παραλία, "the Shore," applied in a similar specific way, in Ptolemy, to the coast near Cape Comorin. It will be seen that the term "Coast Army," for "Madras Army," occurs quite recently. The Persian rendering of Coast Army by Bandarī below is curious.
1793.—"Unseduced by novelty, and uninfluenced by example, the belles of the Coast have courage enough to be unfashionable ... and we still see their charming tresses flow in luxuriant ringlets."—Hugh Boyd, 78.
1800.—"I have only 1892 Coast and 1200 Bombay sepoys."—Wellington, i. 227.
1802.—"From Hydurabád also, Colonels Roberts and Dalrymple, with 4000 of the Bunduri or coast sipahees."—H. of Reign of Tipú Sultán, E. T. by Miles, p. 253.
COBANG. See KOBANG.
COBILY MASH, s. This is the dried bonito (q.v.), which has for ages been a staple of the Maldive Islands. It is still especially esteemed in Achin page 224aand other Malay countries. The name is explained below by Pyrard as 'black fish,' and he is generally to be depended on. But the first accurate elucidation has been given by Mr. H. C. P. Bell, of the Ceylon C. S., in the Indian Antiquary for Oct. 1882, p. 294; see also Mr. Bell's Report on Maldive Islands, Colombo, 1882, p. 93, where there is an account of the preparation. It is the Maldive kalu-bili-mās, 'black-bonito-fish.' The second word corresponds to the Singhalese balayā.
1578.—"... They eat it with a sort of dried fish, which comes from the Islands of Maledivia, and resembles jerked beef, and it is called Comalamasa."—Acosta, 103.
c. 1610.—"Ce poisson qui se prend ainsi, s'apelle generalement en leur langue cobolly masse, c'est à dire du poisson noir.... Ils le font cuire en de l'eau de mer, et puis le font secher au feu sur des clayes, en sorte qu'estant sec il se garde fort long-temps."—Pyrard de Laval, i. 138; see also 141; [Hak. Soc. i. 190 (with Gray's note) and 194].
1727.—"The Bonetta is caught with Hook and Line, or with nets ... they cut the Fish from the Back-bone on each Side, and lay them in a Shade to dry, sprinkling them sometimes with Sea Water. When they are dry enough ... they wrap them up in Leaves of Cocoa-nut Trees, and put them a Foot or two under the Surface of the Sand, and with the Heat of the Sun, they become baked as hard as Stock-fish, and Ships come from Atcheen ... and purchase them with Gold-dust. I have seen Comelamash (for that is their name after they are dried) sell at Atcheen for 8L. Sterl. per 1000."—A. Hamilton, i. 347; [ed. 1744, i. 350].
1783.—"Many Maldivia boats come yearly to Atcheen, and bring chiefly dried bonnetta in small pieces about two or three ounces; this is a sort of staple article of commerce, many shops in the Bazar deal in it only, having large quantities piled up, put in matt bags. It is when properly cured, hard like horn in the middle; when kept long the worm gets to it."—Forrest, V. to Mergui, 45.
1813.—"The fish called Commel mutch, so much esteemed in Malabar, is caught at Minicoy."—Milburn, i. 321, also 336.
1841.—"The Sultan of the Maldiva Islands sends an agent or minister every year to the government of Ceylon with presents consisting of ... a considerable page 224bquantity of dried fish, consisting of bonitos, albicores, and fish called by the inhabitants of the Maldivas the black fish, or comboli mas."—J. R. As. Soc. vi. 75.
COBRA DE CAPELLO, or simply COBRA, s. The venomous snake Naja tripudians. Cobra [Lat. colubra] is Port. for 'snake'; cobra de capello, 'snake of (the) hood.' [In the following we have a curious translation of the name: "Another sort, which is called Chapel-snakes, because they keep in Chapels or Churches, and sometimes in Houses" (A Relation of Two Several Voyages made into the East Indies, by Christopher Fryke, Surg.... London, 1700, p. 291).]
1539.—"Vimos tãbẽ aquy grande soma de cobras de capello, da grossura da coxa de hũ homẽ, e tão peçonhentas em tanto estremo, que dizião os negros que se chegarão cõ a baba da boca a qualquer cousa viva, logo em proviso cahia morta em terra...."—Pinto, cap. xiv.
" "... Adders that were copped on the crowns of their heads, as big as a man's thigh, and so venomous, as the Negroes of the country informed us, that if any living thing came within the reach of their breath, it dyed presently...."—Cogan's Transl., p. 17.
1563.—"In the beautiful island of Ceylon ... there are yet many serpents of the kind which are vulgarly called Cobras de capello; and in Latin we may call them regulus serpens."—Garcia, f. 156.
1672.—"In Jafnapatam, in my time, there lay among others in garrison a certain High German who was commonly known as the Snake-Catcher; and this man was summoned by our Commander ... to lay hold of a Cobre Capel that was in his Chamber. And this the man did, merely holding his hat before his eyes, and seizing it with his hand, without any damage.... I had my suspicions that this was done by some devilry ... but he maintained that it was all by natural means...."—Baldaeus (Germ. ed.), 25.
Some forty-nine or fifty years ago a staff-sergeant at Delhi had a bull-dog that used page 225ato catch cobras in much the same way as this High-Dutchman did.
1710.—"The Brother Francisco Rodriguez persevered for the whole 40 days in these exercises, and as the house was of clay, and his cell adjoined the garden, it was invaded by cobra de capelo, and he made report of this inconvenience to the Father-Rector. But his answer was that these were not the snakes that did spiritual harm; and so left the Brother in the same cell. This and other admirable instances have always led me to doubt if S. Paul did not communicate to his Paulists in India the same virtue as of the tongues of S. Paul, for the snakes in these parts are so numerous and so venomous, and though our Missionaries make such long journeys through wild uncultivated places, there is no account to this day that any Paulist was ever bitten."—F. de Souza, Oriente Conquistado, Conq. i. Div. i. cap. 73.
1711.—Bluteau, in his great Port. Dict., explains Cobra de Capello as a "reptile (bicho) of Brazil." But it is only a slip; what is further said shows that he meant to say India.
c. 1713.—"En secouant la peau de cerf sur laquelle nous avons coutume de nous asseoir, il en sortit un gros serpent de ceux qu'on appelle en Portugais Cobra-Capel."—Lettres Edif., ed. 1781, xi. 83.
COBRA LILY, s. The flower Arum campanulatum, which stands on its curving stem exactly like a cobra with a reared head.
COBRA MANILLA, or MINELLE, s. Another popular name in S. India for a species of venomous snake, perhaps a little uncertain in its application. Dr. Russell says the Bungarus caeruleus was sent to him from Masulipatam, with the name Cobra Monil, whilst Günther says this name is given in S. India to the Daboia Russellii, or Tic-Polonga (q.v.) (see Fayrer's Thanatophidia, pp. 11 and 15). [The Madras Gloss. calls it the chain-viper, Daboia elegans.] One explanation of the name is given in the quotation from Lockyer. But the name is really Mahr. maṇer, from Skt. maṇi, 'a jewel.' There are judicious remarks in a book lately quoted, page 225bregarding the popular names and popular stories of snakes, which apply, we suspect, to all the quotations under the following heading:
[1773.—"The Covra Manilla, is a small bluish snake of the size of a man's little finger, and about a foot long, often seen about old walls."—Ives, 43.]
1780.—"The most dangerous of those reptiles are the coverymanil and the green snake. The first is a beautiful little creature, very lively, and about 6 or 7 inches long. It creeps into all private corners of houses, and is often found coiled up betwixt the sheets, or perhaps under the pillow of one's bed. Its sting is said to inflict immediate death, though I must confess, for my own part, I never heard of any dangerous accident occasioned by it."—Munro's Narrative, 34.
1810.—"... Here, too, lurks the small bright speckled Cobra manilla, whose fangs convey instant death."—Maria Graham, 23.
COCHIN, n.p. A famous city of Malabar, Malayāl. Kochchī, ['a small place'] which the nasalising, so usual with the Portuguese, converted into Cochim or Cochin. We say "the Portuguese" because we seem to owe so many nasal terminations of words in Indian use to them; but it is evident that the real origin of this nasal was in some cases anterior to their arrival, as in the present case (see the first quotations), and in that of Acheen (q.v.). Padre Paolino says the town was called after the small river "Cocci" (as he writes it). It will be seen that page 226aConti in the 15th century makes the same statement.
1503.—"Inde Franci ad urbem Cocen profecti, castrum ingens ibidem construxere, et trecentis praesidiariis viris bellicosis munivere...."—Letter of Nestorian Bishops from India, in Assemani, iii. 596.
1510.—"And truly he (the K. of Portugal) deserves every good, for in India and especially in Cucin, every fête day ten and even twelve Pagans and Moors are baptised."—Varthema, 296.
[1562.—"Cochym." See under BEADALA.]
1572.—
"Vereis a fortaleza sustentar-se De Cananor con pouca força e gente * * * * *  E vereis em Cochin assinalar-se Tanto hum peito soberbo, e insolente Que cithara ja mais cantou victoria, Que assi mereça eterno nome e gloria." Camões, ii. 52.
By Burton:
"Thou shalt behold the Fortalice hold out of Cananor with scanty garrison * * * * *  shalt in Cochin see one approv'd so stout, who such an arr'gance of the sword hath shown, no harp of mortal sang a similar story, digne of e'erlasting name, eternal glory."
[1606.—"Att Cowcheen which is a place neere Callicutt is stoare of pepper...."—Birdwood, First Letter Book, 84.
[1610.—"Cochim bow worth in Surat as sceala and kannikee."—Danvers, Letters, i. 74.]
COCHIN-CHINA, n.p. This country was called by the Malays Kuchi, and apparently also, to distinguish it from Kuchi of India (or Cochin), Kuchi-China, a term which the Portuguese adopted as Cauchi-China; the Dutch and English from them. Kuchi occurs in this sense in the Malay traditions called Sijara Malayu (see J. Ind. Archip., v. 729). In its origin this page 226bword Kuchi is no doubt a foreigner's form of the Annamite Kuu-chön (Chin. Kiu-Ching, South Chin. Kau-Chen), which was the ancient name of the province Thanh'-hoa, in which the city of Huë has been the capital since 1398.
[1524.—"I sent Duarte Coelho to discover Canchim China."—Letter of Albuquerque to the King, India Office MSS., Corpo Chronologico, vol. i.]
c. 1535.—"This King of Cochinchina keeps always an ambassador at the court of the King of China; not that he does this of his own good will, or has any content therein, but because he is his vassal."—Sommario de' Regni, in Ramusio, i. 336v.
c. 1543.—"Now it was not without much labour, pain, and danger, that we passed these two Channels, as also the River of Ventinau, by reason of the Pyrats that usually are encountred there, nevertheless we at length arrived at the Town of Manaquilen, which is scituated at the foot of the Mountains of Chomay (Comhay in orig.), upon the Frontiers of the two Kingdoms of China, and Cauchenchina (da China e do Cauchim in orig.), where the Ambassadors were well received by the Governor thereof."—Pinto, E. T., p. 166 (orig. cap. cxxix.).
c. 1543.—"Capitulo CXXX. Do recebimento que este Rey da Cauchenchina fez ao Embaixador da Tartaria na villa de Fanau grem."—Pinto, original.
1572.—
"Ves, Cauchichina esta de oscura fama, E de Ainão vê a incognita enseada." Camões, x. 129.
By Burton:
"See Cauchichina still of note obscure and of Ainam yon undiscovered Bight."
1598.—"This land of Cauchinchina is devided into two or three Kingdomes, which are vnder the subiection of the King of China, it is a fruitfull countrie of all necessarie prouisiouns and Victuals."—Linschoten, ch. 22; [Hak. Soc. i. 124].
1606.—"Nel Regno di Coccincina, che ... è alle volte chiamato dal nome di Anan, vi sono quattordici Provincie piccole...."—Viaggi di Carletti, ii. 138.
[1614.—"The Cocchichinnas cut him all in pieces."—Foster, Letters, ii. 75.
[1616.—"27 pecull of lignum aloes of Cutcheinchenn."—Ibid. iv. 213.]
page 227a1652.—"Cauchin-China is bounded on the West with the Kingdomes of Brama; on the East, with the Great Realm of China; on the North extending towards Tartary; and on the South, bordering on Camboia."—P. Heylin, Cosmographie, iii. 239.
COCHIN-LEG. A name formerly given to elephantiasis, as it prevailed in Malabar. [The name appears to be still in use (Boswell, Man. of Nellore, 33). Linschoten (1598) describes it in Malabar (Hak. Soc. i. 288), and it was also called "St. Thomas's leg" (see an account with refs. in Gray, Pyrard de Laval, Hak. Soc. i. 392).]
1781.—"... my friend Jack Griskin, enclosed in a buckram Coat of the 1745, with a Cochin Leg, hobbling the Allemand...."—Letter from an Old Country Captain, in India Gazette, Feb. 24.
COCKATOO, s. This word is taken from the Malay kākātūwa. According to Crawfurd the word means properly 'a vice,' or 'gripe,' but is applied to the bird. It seems probable, however, that the name, which is asserted to be the natural cry of the bird, may have come with the latter from some remoter region of the Archipelago, and the name of the tool may have been taken from the bird. This would be more in accordance with usual analogy. [Mr. Skeat writes: "There is no doubt that Sir H. Yule is right here and Crawfurd wrong. Kakak tuwa (or tua) means in Malay, if the words are thus separated, 'old sister,' or 'old lady.' I think it is possible that it may be a familiar Malay name for the bird, like our 'Polly.' The final k in kakak is a mere click, which would easily drop out."]
1654.—"Some rarities of naturall things, but nothing extraordinary save the skin of page 227ba jaccall, a rarely colour'd jacatoo or prodigious parrot...."—Evelyn's Diary, July 11.
1673.—"... Cockatooas and Newries (see LORY) from Bantem."—Fryer, 116.
1705.—"The Crockadore is a Bird of various Sizes, some being as big as a Hen, and others no bigger than a Pidgeon. They are in all Parts exactly of the shape of a Parrot.... When they fly wild up and down the Woods they will call Crockadore, Crockadore; for which reason they go by that name."—Funnel, in Dampier, iv. 265–6.
1719.—"Maccaws, Cokatoes, plovers, and a great variety of other birds of curious colours."—Shelvocke's Voyage, 54–55.
1775.—"At Sooloo there are no Loories, but the Cocatores have yellow tufts."—Forrest, V. to N. Guinea, 295.
COCKROACH, s. This objectionable insect (Blatta orientalis) is called by the Portuguese cacalacca, for the reason given by Bontius below; a name adopted by the Dutch as kakerlak, and by the French as cancrelat. The Dutch also apply their term as a slang name to half-castes. But our word seems to have come from the Spanish cucaracha. The original application of this Spanish name appears to have been to a common insect found under water-vessels standing on the ground, &c. (apparently Oniscus, or woodlouse); but as cucaracha de Indias it was applied to the insect now in question (see Dicc. de la Lengua Castellana, 1729).
[1598.—"There is a kind of beast that flyeth, twice as big as a Bee, and is called Baratta (Blatta)."—Linschoten, Hak. Soc. i. 304.]
1631.—"Scarabaeos autem hos Lusitani Caca-laccas vocant, quod ova quae excludunt, colorem et laevorem Laccae factitiae (i.e. of sealing-wax) referant."—Jac. Bontii, lib. v. cap 4.
1764.—
"... from their retreats Cockroaches crawl displeasingly abroad." Grainger, Bk. i.
page 228aCOCKUP, s. An excellent table-fish, found in the mouths of tidal rivers in most parts of India. In Calcutta it is generally known by the Beng. name of begtī or bhiktī (see BHIKTY), and it forms the daily breakfast dish of half the European gentlemen in that city. The name may be a corruption, we know not of what; or it may be given from the erect sharp spines of the dorsal fin. [The word is a corr. of the Malay (ikan) kakap, which Klinkert defines as a palatable sea-fish, Lates nobilis, the more common form being siyakap.] It is Lates calcarifer (Günther) of the group Percina, family Percidae, and grows to an immense size, sometimes to eight feet in length.
COCO, COCOA, COCOA-NUT, and (vulg.) COKER-NUT, s. The tree and nut Cocos nucifera, L.; a palm found in all tropical countries, and the only one common to the Old and New Worlds.
The etymology of this name is very obscure. Some conjectural origins are given in the passages quoted below. Ritter supposes, from a passage in Pigafetta's Voyage of Magellan, which we cite, that the name may have been indigenous in the Ladrone Islands, to which that passage refers, and that it was first introduced into Europe by Magellan's crew. On the other hand, the late Mr. C. W. Goodwin found in ancient Egyptian the word kuku used as "the name of the fruit of a palm 60 cubits high, which fruit contained water." (Chabas, Mélanges Égyptologiques, ii. 239.) It is hard, however, to conceive how this name should have survived, to reappear in Europe in the later Middle Ages, without being known in any intermediate literature.
The more common etymology is that which is given by Barros, Garcia de Orta, Linschoten, &c., as from a Spanish word coco applied to a monkey's or other grotesque face, with reference to the appearance of the base of the shell with its three holes. But after all may the term not have page 228boriginated in the old Span. coca, 'a shell' (presumably Lat. concha), which we have also in French coque? properly an egg-shell, but used also for the shell of any nut. (See a remark under COPRAH.)
The Skt. narikila [nārikera, nārikela] has originated the Pers. nārgīl, which Cosmas grecizes into ἀργελλίον, [and H. nāriyal].
Medieval writers generally (such as Marco Polo, Fr. Jordanus, &c.) call the fruit the Indian Nut, the name by which it was known to the Arabs (al jauz-al-Hindī). There is no evidence of its having been known to classical writers, nor are we aware of any Greek or Latin mention of it before Cosmas. But Brugsch, describing from the Egyptian wall-paintings of c. B.C. 1600, on the temple of Queen Hashop, representing the expeditions by sea which she sent to the Incense Land of Punt, says: "Men never seen before, the inhabitants of this divine land, showed themselves on the coast, not less astonished than the Egyptians. They lived on pile-buildings, in little dome-shaped huts, the entrance to which was effected by a ladder, under the shade of cocoa-palms laden with fruit, and splendid incense-trees, on whose boughs strange fowls rocked themselves, and at whose feet herds of cattle peacefully reposed." (H. of Egypt, 2nd ed. i. 353; [Maspero, Struggle of the Nations, 248].)
A.D. 545.—"Another tree is that which bears the Argell, i.e. the great Indian Nut."—Cosmas, in Cathay, &c., clxxvi.
1292.—"The Indian Nuts are as big as melons, and in colour green, like gourds. Their leaves and branches are like those of the date-tree."—John of Monte Corvino, in do., p. 213.
c. 1328.—"First of these is a certain tree called Nargil; which tree every month in the year sends out a beautiful frond like [that of] a [date-] palm tree, which frond or branch produces very large fruit, as big as a man's head.... And both flowers and fruit are produced at the same time, beginning with the first month, and going up gradually to the twelfth.... The fruit is that which we call nuts of India."—Friar Jordanus, 15 seq. The wonder of the coco-palm is so often noticed in this form by medieval writers, that doubtless in their page 229aminds they referred it to that "tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruit, and yielded her fruit every month" (Apocal. xxii. 2).
c. 1340.—"Le nargīl, appelé autrement noix d'Inde, auquel on ne peut comparer aucun autre fruit, est vert et rempli d'huile."—Shihābbuddīn Dimishḳī, in Not. et Exts. xiii. 175.
c. 1350.—"Wonderful fruits there are, which we never see in these parts, such as the Nargil. Now the Nargil is the Indian Nut."—John Marignolli, in Cathay, p. 352.
1498–99.—"And we who were nearest boarded the vessel, and found nothing in her but provisions and arms; and the provisions consisted of coquos and of four jars of certain cakes of palm-sugar, and there was nothing else but sand for ballast."—Roteiro de Vasco da Gama, 94.
1510.—Varthema gives an excellent account of the tree; but he uses only the Malayāl. name tenga. [Tam. tennai, ten, 'south' as it was supposed to have been brought from Ceylon.]
1516.—"These trees have clean smooth stems, without any branch, only a tuft of leaves at the top, amongst which grows a large fruit which they call tenga.... We call these fruits quoquos."—Barbosa, 154 (collating Portuguese of Lisbon Academy, p. 346).
1519.—"Cocas (coche) are the fruits of palm-trees, and as we have bread, wine, oil, and vinegar, so in that country they extract all these things from this one tree."—Pigafetta, Viaggio intorno il Mondo, in Ramusio, i. f. 356.
1553.—"Our people have given it the name of coco, a word applied by women to anything with which they try to frighten children; and this name has stuck, because nobody knew any other, though the proper name was, as the Malabars call it, tenga, or as the Canarins call it, narle."—Barros, Dec. III. liv. iii. cap. 7.
c. 1561.—Correa writes coquos.—I. i. 115.
1563.—"... We have given it the name of coco, because it looks like the face of a monkey, or of some other animal."—Garcia, 66b.
"That which we call coco, and the Malabars Temga."—Ibid. 67b.
1578.—"The Portuguese call it coco (because of those three holes that it has)."—Acosta, 98.
1598.—"Another that bears the Indian nuts called Coecos, because they have within them a certain shell that is like an ape; and on this account they use in Spain to show their children a Coecota when they would make them afraid."—English trans. of Pigafetta's Congo, in Harleian Coll. ii. 553.
The parallel passage in De Bry runs: "Illas quoque quae nuces Indicas coceas, id est Simias (intus enim simiae caput referunt) dictas palmas appellant."—i. 29.
page 229bPurchas has various forms in different narratives: Cocūs (i. 37); Cokers, a form which still holds its ground among London stall-keepers and costermongers (i. 461, 502); coquer-nuts (Terry, in ii. 1466); coco (ii. 1008); coquo (Pilgrimage, 567), &c.
[c. 1610.—"None, however, is more useful than the coco or Indian nut, which they (in the Maldives) call roul (Malē, rū)."—Pyrard de Laval, Hak. Soc. i. 113.]
c. 1690.—Rumphius, who has cocus in Latin, and cocos in Dutch, mentions the derivation already given as that of Linschoten and many others, but proceeds:—
"Meo vero judicio verior et certior vocis origo invenienda est, plures enim nationes, quibus hic fructus est notus, nucem appellant. Sic dicitur Arabicè Gauzos-Indi vel Geuzos-Indi, h. e. Nux Indica.... Turcis Cock-Indi eadem significatione, unde sine dubio Ætiopes, Africani, eorumque vicini Hispani ac Portugalli coquo deflexerunt. Omnia vero ista nomina, originem suam debent Hebraicae voci Egoz quae nucem significat."—Herb. Amboin. i. p. 7.
" "... in India Occidentali Kokernoot vocatus...."—Ibid. p. 47.
One would like to know where Rumphius got the term Cock-Indi, of which we can find no trace.
1810.—
"What if he felt no wind? The air was still. That was the general will Of Nature.... Yon rows of rice erect and silent stand, The shadow of the Cocoa's lightest plume Is steady on the sand." Curse of Kehama, iv. 4.
1881.—"Among the popular French slang words for 'head' we may notice the term 'coco,' given—like our own 'nut'—on account of the similarity in shape between a cocoa-nut and a human skull:—
"'Mais de ce franc picton de table Qui rend spirituel, aimable, Sans vous alourdir le coco, Je m'en fourre à gogo.'—H. Valère." Sat. Review, Sept. 10, p. 326.
COCO-DE-MER, or DOUBLE COCO-NUT, s. The curious twin fruit so called, the produce of the Lodoicea Sechellarum, a palm growing only in the Seychelles Islands, is cast up on the shores of the Indian Ocean, most frequently on the Maldive Islands, but occasionally also on Ceylon and S. India, and on the coasts of Zanzibar, of Sumatra, and some others of the Malay Islands. Great virtues as medicine and antidote were supposed to reside in these fruits, page 230aand extravagant prices were paid for them. The story goes that a "country captain," expecting to make his fortune, took a cargo of these nuts from the Seychelles Islands to Calcutta, but the only result was to destroy their value for the future.
The old belief was that the fruit was produced on a palm growing below the sea, whose fronds, according to Malay seamen, were sometimes seen in quiet bights on the Sumatran coast, especially in the Lampong Bay. According to one form of the story among the Malays, which is told both by Pigafetta and by Rumphius, there was but one such tree, the fronds of which rose above an abyss of the Southern Ocean, and were the abode of the monstrous bird Garuda (or Rukh of the Arabs—see ROC). The tree itself was called Pausengi, which Rumphius seems to interpret as a corruption of Buwa-zangi, "Fruit of Zang" or E. Africa. [Mr. Skeat writes: "Rumphius is evidently wrong.... The first part of the word is 'Pau,' or 'Pauh,' which is perfectly good Malay, and is the name given to various species of mango, especially the wild one, so that 'Pausengi' represents (not 'Buwa,' but) 'Pauh Janggi,' which is to this day the universal Malay name for the tree which grows, according to Malay fable, in the central whirlpool or Navel of the Seas. Some versions add that it grows upon a sunken bank (tĕbing runtoh), and is guarded by dragons. This tree figures largely in Malay romances, especially those which form the subject of Malay shadow-plays (vide infra, Pl. 23, for an illustration of the Pauh Janggi and the Crab). Rumphius' explanation of the second part of the name (i.e. Janggi) is, no doubt, quite correct."—Malay Magic, pp. 6 seqq.] They were cast up occasionally on the islands off the S.W. coast of Sumatra; and the wild people of the islands brought them for sale to the Sumatran marts, such as Padang and Priamang. One of the largest (say about 12 inches across) would sell for 150 rix dollars. But the Malay princes coveted them page 230bgreatly, and would sometimes (it was alleged) give a laden junk for a single nut. In India the best known source of supply was from the Maldive Islands. [In India it is known as Daryāī nāriyal, or 'cocoa-nut of the sea,' and this term has been in Bombay corrupted into jaharī (zahrī) or 'poisonous,' so that the fruit is incorrectly regarded as dangerous to life. The hard shell is largely used to make Fakīrs' water-bowls.]
The medicinal virtues of the nut were not only famous among all the peoples of the East, including the Chinese, but are extolled by Piso and by Rumphius, with many details. The latter, learned and laborious student of nature as he was, believed in the submarine origin of the nut, though he discredited its growing on a great palm, as no traces of such a plant had ever been discovered on the coasts. The fame of the nut's virtues had extended to Europe, and the Emperor Rudolf II. in his later days offered in vain 4000 florins to purchase from the family of Wolfert Hermanszen, a Dutch Admiral, one that had been presented to that commander by the King of Bantam, on the Hollander's relieving his capital, attacked by the Portuguese, in 1602.
It will be seen that the Maldive name of this fruit was Tāva-kārhī. The latter word is 'coco-nut,' but the meaning of tāva does not appear from any Maldive vocabulary. [The term is properly Tāva'karhi, 'the hard-shelled nut,' (Gray, on Pyrard de Laval, Hak. Soc. i. 231).] Rumphius states that a book in 4to (totum opusculum) was published on this nut, at Amsterdam in 1634, by Augerius Clutius, M.D. [In more recent times the nut has become famous as the subject of curious speculations regarding it by the late Gen. Gordon.]
1553.—"... it appears ... that in some places beneath the salt-water there grows page 231aanother kind of these trees, which gives a fruit bigger than the coco-nut; and experience shows that the inner husk of this is much more efficacious against poison than the Bezoar stone."—Barros, III. iii. 7.
1563.—"The common story is that those islands were formerly part of the continent, but being low they were submerged, whilst these palm-trees continued in situ; and growing very old they produced such great and very hard coco-nuts, buried in the earth which is now covered by the sea.... When I learn anything in contradiction of this I will write to you in Portugal, and anything that I can discover here, if God grant me life; for I hope to learn all about the matter when, please God, I make my journey to Malabar. And you must know that these cocos come joined two in one, just like the hind quarters of an animal."—Garcia, f. 70–71.
1572.—
"Nas ilhas de Maldiva nasce a planta No profundo das aguas soberana, Cujo pomo contra o veneno urgente He tido por antidoto excellente." Camões, x. 136.
c. 1610.—"Il est ainsi d'vne certaine noix que la mer iette quelques fois à bord, qui est grosse comme la teste d'vn homme qu'on pourroit comparer à deux gros melons ioints ensemble. Ils la nom̃ent Tauarcarré, et ils tiennent que cela vient de quelques arbres qui sont sous la mer ... quand quelqu'vn deuient riche tout à coup et en peu de temps, on dit communement qu'il a trouué du Tauarcarré ou de l'ambre."—Pyrard de Laval, i. 163; [Hak. Soc. i. 230].
? 1650.—In Piso's Mantissa Aromatica, &c., there is a long dissertation, extending to 23 pp., De Tavarcare seu Nuce Medicâ Maldivensium.
1678.—"P.S. Pray remember y$^e$ Coquer nutt Shells (doubtless Coco-de-Mer) and long nulls (?) formerly desired for y$^e$ Prince."—Letter from Dacca, quoted under CHOP.
c. 1680.—"Hic itaque Calappus marinus non est fructus terrestris qui casu in mare procidit ... uti Garcias ab Orta persuadere voluit, sed fructus est in ipso crescens mari, cujus arbor, quantum scio, hominum oculis ignota et occulta est."—Rumphius, Lib. xii. cap. 8.
1763.—"By Durbar charges paid for the following presents to the Nawab, as per Order of Consultation, the 14th October, 1762.
* * * * *  1 Sea cocoa nut............Rs. 300 0 0." In Long, 308.
1777.—"Cocoa-nuts from the Maldives, or as they are called the Zee Calappers, are said to be annually brought hither (to Colombo) by certain messengers, and presented, among other things, to the Governor. page 231bThe kernel of the fruit ... is looked upon here as a very efficacious antidote or a sovereign remedy against the Flux, the Epilepsy and Apoplexy. The inhabitants of the Maldives call it Tavarcare...."—Travels of Charles Peter Thunberg, M.D. (E.T.) iv. 209.
[1833.—"The most extraordinary and valuable production of these islands (Seychelles) is the Coco Do Mar, or Maldivia nut, a tree which, from its singular character, deserves particular mention...."—Owen, Narrative, ii. 166 seqq.]
1882.—"Two minor products obtained by the islanders from the sea require notice. These are ambergris (M. goma, mávaharu) and the so-called 'sea-cocoanut' (M. táva-kárhi) ... rated at so high a value in the estimation of the Maldive Sultans as to be retained as part of their royalties."—H. C. P. Bell (Ceylon C. S.), Report on the Maldive Islands, p. 87.
CODAVASCAM, n.p. A region with this puzzling name appears in the Map of Blaeu (c. 1650), and as Ryk van Codavascan in the Map of Bengal in Valentijn (vol. v.), to the E. of Chittagong. Wilford has some Wilfordian nonsense about it, connecting it with the Τοκοσάννα R. of Ptolemy, and with a Touascan which he says is mentioned by the "Portuguese writers" (in such case a criminal mode of expression). The name was really that of a Mahommedan chief, "hum Principe Mouro, grande Senhor," and "Vassalo del Rey de Bengála." It was probably "Khodābakhsh Khān." His territory must have been south of Chittagong, for one of his towns was Chacuriá, still known as Chakirīa on the Chittagong and Arakan Road, in lat. 21° 45′. (See Barros, IV. ii. 8. and IV. ix. 1; and Couto, IV. iv. 10; also Correa, iii. 264–266, and again as below):—
COFFEE, s. Arab. ḳahwa, a word which appears to have been originally a term for wine. [So in the Arab. Nights, ii. 158, where Burton gives the derivation as akhá, fastidire fecit, causing disinclination for food. In old days the scrupulous called coffee ḳihwah to distinguish it from ḳahwah, wine.] It is probable, therefore, that a somewhat similar word was twisted into this form by the usual propensity to strive after meaning. Indeed, the derivation of the name has been plausibly traced to Kaffa, one of those districts of the S. Abyssinian highlands (Enarea and Kaffa) which appear to have been the original habitat of the Coffee plant (Coffea arabica, L.); and if this is correct, then Coffee is nearer the original than Ḳahwa. On the other hand, Ḳahwa, or some form thereof, is in the earliest mentions appropriated to the drink, whilst some form of the word Bunn is that given to the plant, and Būn is the existing name of the plant in Shoa. This name is also that applied in Yemen to the coffee-berry. There is very fair evidence in Arabic literature that the use of coffee was introduced into Aden by a certain Sheikh Shihābuddīn Dhabḥānī, who had made acquaintance with it on the African coast, and who died in the year H. 875, i.e. A.D. 1470, so that the introduction may be put about the middle of the 15th century, a time consistent with the other negative and positive data. From Yemen it spread to Mecca (where there arose after some years, in 1511, a crusade against its use as unlawful), to Cairo, to Damascus and Aleppo, and to Constantinople, where the first coffee-house was established in 1554. [It is said to have been introduced into S. India page 232bsome two centuries ago by a Mahommedan pilgrim, named Bābā Būdan, who brought a few seeds with him from Mecca: see Grigg, Nilagiri Man. 483; Rice, Mysore, i. 162.] The first European mention of coffee seems to be by Rauwolff, who knew it in Aleppo in 1573. [See 1 ser. N. & Q. I. 25 seqq.] It is singular that in the Observations of Pierre Belon, who was in Egypt, 1546–49, full of intelligence and curious matter as they are, there is no indication of a knowledge of coffee.
1573.—"Among the rest they have a very good Drink, by them called Chaube, that is almost black as Ink, and very good in Illness, chiefly that of the Stomach; of this they drink in the Morning early in open places before everybody, without any fear or regard, out of China cups, as hot as they can; they put it often to their Lips, but drink but little at a Time, and let it go round as they sit. In the same water they take a Fruit called Bunru, which in its Bigness, Shape, and Colour, is almost like unto a Bay-berry, with two thin Shells ... they agree in the Virtue, Figure, Looks, and Name with the Buncho of Avicen, and Bancha of Rasis ad Almans. exactly; therefore I take them to be the same."—Rauwolff, 92.
c. 1580.—"Arborem vidi in viridario Halydei Turcae, cujus tu iconem nunc spectabis, ex qua semina illa ibi vulgatissima, Bon vel Ban appellata, producuntur; ex his tum Aegyptii tum Arabes parant decoctum vulgatissimum, quod vini loco ipsi potant, venditurque in publicis œnopoliis, non secus quod apud nos vinum: illique ipsum vocant Caova.... Avicenna de his seminibus meminit."—Prosper Alpinus, ii. 36.
1598.—In a note on the use of tea in Japan, Dr. Paludanus says: "The Turkes holde almost the same mañer of drinking of their Chaona (read Chaoua), which they make of a certaine fruit, which is like unto the Bakelaer, and by the Egyptians called Bon or Ban; they take of this fruite one pound and a halfe, and roast them a little in the fire, and then sieth them in twentie poundes of water, till the half be consumed away; this drinke they take everie morning fasting in their chambers, out of an earthen pot, being verie hote, as we doe here drinke aqua composita in the morning; and they say that it strengtheneth them and maketh them warm, breaketh wind, and openeth any page 233astopping."—In Linschoten, 46; [Hak. Soc. i. 157].
c. 1610.—"La boisson la plus commune c'est de l'eau, ou bien du vin de Cocos tiré le mesme iour. On en fait de deux autres sortes plus delicates; l'vne est chaude, composée de l'eau et de mièl de Cocos, avec quantité de poivre (dont ils vsent beaucoup en toutes leurs viandes, et ils le nomment Pasme) et d'vne autre graine appellée Cahoa...."—Pyrard de Laval, i. 128; [Hak. Soc. i. 172].
[1611.—"Buy some coho pots and send me."—Danvers, Letters, i. 122; "coffao pots."—Ibid. i. 124.]
1615.—"They have in steed of it (wine) a certaine drinke called Caahiete as black as Inke, which they make with the barke of a tree(!) and drinke as hot as they can endure it."—Monfart, 28.
" "... passano tutto il resto della notte con mille feste e bagordi; e particolarmente in certi luoghi pubblici ... bevendo di quando in quando a sorsi (per chè è calda che cuoce) più d'uno scodellino di certa loro acqua nera, che chiamano cahue; la quale, nelle conversazioni serve a loro, appunto come a noi il giuoco dello sbaraglino" (i.e. backgammon).—P. della Valle (from Constant.), i. 51. See also pp. 74–76.
[" "Cohu, blake liquor taken as hotte as may be endured."—Sir T. Roe, Hak. Soc. i. 32.]
1616.—"Many of the people there (in India), who are strict in their Religion, drink no Wine at all; but they use a Liquor more wholesome than pleasant, they call Coffee; made by a black Seed boyld in water, which turnes it almost into the same colour, but doth very little alter the taste of the water (!): notwithstanding it is very good to help Digestion, to quicken the Spirits, and to cleanse the Blood."—Terry, ed. of 1665, p. 365.
1623.—"Turcae habent etiam in usu herbae genus quam vocant Caphe ... quam dicunt haud parvum praestans illis vigorem, et in animas (sic) et in ingenio; quae tamen largius sumpta mentem movet et turbat...."—F. Bacon, Hist. Vitae et Mortis, 25.
c. 1628.—"They drink (in Persia) ... above all the rest, Coho or Copha: by Turk and Arab called Caphe and Cahua: a drink imitating that in the Stigian lake, black, thick, and bitter: destrain'd from Bunchy, Bunnu, or Bay berries; wholsome they say, if hot, for it expels melancholy ... but not so much regarded for those good properties, as from a Romance that it was invented and brew'd by Gabriel ... to restore the decayed radical Moysture of kind hearted Mahomet...."—Sir T. Herbert, Travels, ed. 1638, p. 241.
[1631.—"Caveah." See quotation under TEA.]
c. 1637.—"There came in my time to the Coll. (Balliol) one Nathaniel Conopios out of Greece, from Cyril the Patriarch of Constantinople.... He was the first I page 233bever saw drink coffee, which custom came not into England till 30 years after."—Evelyn's Diary, [May 10].
1673.—"Every one pays him their congratulations, and after a dish of Coho or Tea, mounting, accompany him to the Palace."—Fryer, 225.
" "Cependant on l'apporta le cavé, le parfum, et le sorbet."—Journal d'Antoine Galland, ii. 124.
[1677.—"Cave." See quotation under TEA.]
1690.—"For Tea and Coffee which are judg'd the privileg'd Liquors of all the Mahometans, as well Turks, as those of Persia, India, and other parts of Arabia, are condemn'd by them (the Arabs of Muscatt) as unlawful Refreshments, and abominated as Bug-bear Liquors, as well as Wine."—Ovington, 427.
COIMBATORE, n.p. Name of a District and town in the Madras Presidency. Koyammutūru; [Kōni, the local goddess so called, muttu, 'pearl,' ūr, 'village'].
COIR, s. The fibre of the coco-nut husk, from which rope is made. But properly the word, which is Tam. kayiru, Malayāl. kāyar, from v. kāyāṛu, 'to be twisted,' means 'cord' itself (see the accurate Al-Birūnī below). The former use among Europeans is very early. And both the fibre and the rope made from it appear to have been exported to Europe in the middle of the 16th century. The word appears in early Arabic writers in the forms ḳānbar and ḳanbār, arising probably from some misreading of the diacritical points (for ḳāiyar, and ḳaiyār). The Portuguese adopted the word in the form cairo. The form coir seems to have been introduced by the English in the 18th century. [The N.E.D. gives coire in 1697; coir in 1779.] It was less likely to be used by the Portuguese because coiro in their language is 'leather.' And Barros (where quoted below) says allusively of the rope: "parece feito de coiro (leather) encolhendo e estendendo a vontade do mar," contracting and stretching with the movement of the sea.
c. 1346.—"They export ... cowries and kanbar; the latter is the name which they give to the fibrous husk of the coco-nut.... They make of it twine to stitch together the planks of their ships, and the cordage is also exported to China, India, and Yemen. This ḳanbar is better than hemp."—Ibn Batuta, iv. 121.
1510.—"The Governor (Alboquerque) ... in Cananor devoted much care to the preparation of cables and rigging for the whole fleet, for what they had was all rotten from the rains in Goa River; ordering that all should be made of coir (cairo), of which there was great abundance in Cananor; because a Moor called Mamalle, a chief trader there, held the whole trade of the Maldive islands by a contract with the kings of the isles ... so that this Moor came to be called the Lord of the Maldives, and that all the coir that was used throughout India had to be bought from the hands of this Moor.... The Governor, learning this, sent for the said Moor, and ordered him to abandon this island trade and to recall his factors.... The Moor, not to lose such a profitable business, ... finally arranged with the Governor that the Isles should not be taken from him, and that he in return would furnish for the king 1000 bahars (barés) of coarse coir, and 1000 more of fine coir, each bahar weighing 4½ quintals; and this every year, and laid down at his own charges in Cananor and Cochym, gratis and free of all charge to the King (not being able to endure that the Portuguese should frequent the Isles at their pleasure)."—Correa, ii. 129–30.
1516.—"These islands make much cordage of palm-trees, which they call cayro."—Barbosa, 164.
c. 1530.—"They made ropes of coir, which is a thread which the people of the country make of the husks which the coco-nuts have outside."—Correa, by Stanley, 133.
1553.—"They make much use of this cairo in place of nails; for as it has this quality of recovering its freshness and swelling in the sea-water, they stitch with it the planking of a ship's sides, and reckon them then very secure."—De Barros, Dec. III. liv. iii. cap. 7.
1563.—"The first rind is very tough, and from it is made cairo, so called by the Malabars and by us, from which is made the cord for the rigging of all kinds of vessels."—Garcia, f. 67v.
1582.—"The Dwellers therein are Moores; which trade to Sofala in great Ships that have no Decks, nor nailes, but are sowed with Cayro."—Castañeda (by N. L.), f. 14b.
c. 1610.—"This revenue consists in ... Cairo, which is the cord made of the coco-tree."—Pyrard de Laval, i. 172; [Hak. Soc. i. 250].
1673.—"They (the Surat people) have not only the Cair-yarn made of the Cocoe for page 234bcordage, but good Flax and Hemp."—Fryer, 121.
c. 1690.—"Externus nucis cortex putamen ambiens, quum exsiccatus, et stupae similis ... dicitur ... Malabarice Cairo, quod nomen ubique usurpatur ubi lingua Portugallica est in usu...."—Rumphius, i. 7.
1727.—"Of the Rind of the Nut they make Cayar, which are the Fibres of the Cask that environs the Nut spun fit to make Cordage and Cables for Shipping."—A. Hamilton, i. 296; [ed. 1744, i. 298].
COJA, s. P. khojah for khwājah, a respectful title applied to various classes: as in India especially to eunuchs; in Persia to wealthy merchants; in Turkistan to persons of sacred families.
[1590.—"Hoggia." See quotation under TALISMAN.
[1615.—"The Governor of Suratt is displaced, and Hoyja Hassan in his room."—Foster, Letters, iv. 16.
[1708.—"This grave is made for Hodges Shaughsware, the chiefest servant to the King of Persia for twenty years...."—Inscription on the tomb of "Coya Shawsware, a Persin in St. Botolph's Churchyard, Bishopsgate," New View of London, p. 169.]
1786.—"I also beg to acquaint you I sent for Retafit Ali Khân, the Cojah who has the charge of (the women of Oudh Zenanah) who informs me it is well grounded that they have sold everything they had, even the clothes from their backs, and now have no means to subsist."—Capt. Jaques in Articles of Charge, &c., Burke, vii. 27.
COLAO, s. Chin. koh-lao, 'Council Chamber Elders' (Bp. Moule). A title for a Chinese Minister of State, which frequently occurs in the Jesuit writers of the 17th century.
COLEROON, n.p. The chief mouth, or delta-branch, of the Kāveri River (see CAUVERY). It is a Portuguese corruption of the proper name Kŏḷḷiḍam, vulg. Kollaḍam. This name, from Tam. kŏl, 'to receive,' and 'iḍam,' 'place,' perhaps answers to the fact of this channel having been originally an page 235aescape formed at the construction of the great Tanjore irrigation works in the 11th century. In full flood the Coleroon is now, in places, nearly a mile wide, whilst the original stream of the Kāveri disappears before reaching the sea. Besides the etymology and the tradition, the absence of notice of the Coleroon in Ptolemy's Tables is (quantum valeat) an indication of its modern origin. As the sudden rise of floods in the rivers of the Coromandel coast often causes fatal accidents, there seems a curious popular tendency to connect the names of the rivers with this fact. Thus Kŏlliḍam, with the meaning that has been explained, has been commonly made into Kolliḍam, 'Killing-place.' [So the Madras Gloss. which connects the name with a tradition of the drowning of workmen when the Srirangam temple was built, but elsewhere (ii. 213) it is derived from Tam. koḷḷāyī, 'a breach in a bank.'] Thus also the two rivers Peṇṇar are popularly connected with piṇam, 'corpse.' Fra Paolino gives the name as properly Colárru, and as meaning 'the River of Wild Boars.' But his etymologies are often wild as the supposed Boars.
1672.—"From Trangebar one passes by Trinilivaas to Colderon; here a Sandbank stretches into the sea which is very dangerous."—Baldaeus, 150. (He does not speak of it as a River either.)
c. 1713.—"Les deux Princes ... se liguèrent contre l'ennemi commun, à fin de le contraindre par la force des armes à rompre une digue si préjudiciable à leurs Etats. Ils faisoient déjà de grands préparatifs, lorsque le fleuve Coloran vengea par lui-même (comme on s'exprimoit ici) l'affront que le Roi faisoit a ses eaux en les retenant captives."—Lettres Edifiantes, ed. 1781, xi. 180.
1753.—"... en doublant le Cap Callamedu, jusqu'à la branche du fleuve Caveri qui porte le nom de Colh-ram, et dont l'embouchure est la plus septentrionale de celles du Caveri."—D'Anville, 115.
c. 1760.—"... the same river being written Collarum by M. la Croze, and Collodham by Mr. Ziegenbalg."—Grose, i. 281.
1761.—"Clive dislodged a strong body of the Nabob's troops, who had taken post at Sameavarem, a fort and temple situated on the river Kalderon."—Complete H. of the War in India, from 1749 to 1761 (Tract), p. 12.
page 235b1780.—"About 3 leagues north from the river Triminious [? Tirumullavāsel], is that of Coloran. Mr. Michelson calls this river Danecotta."—Dunn, N. Directory, 138.
The same book has "Coloran or Colderoon."
COLLECTOR, s. The chief administrative official of an Indian Zillah or District. The special duty of the office is, as the name intimates, the Collection of Revenue; but in India generally, with the exception of Bengal Proper, the Collector, also holding controlling magisterial powers, has been a small pro-consul, or kind of préfet. This is, however, much modified of late years by the greater definition of powers, and subdivision of duties everywhere. The title was originally no doubt a translation of taḥṣīldār. It was introduced, with the office, under Warren Hastings, but the Collector's duties were not formally settled till 1793, when these appointments were reserved to members of the covenanted Civil Service.
1773.—"Do not laugh at the formality with which we have made a law to change their name from supervisors to collectors. You know full well how much the world's opinion is governed by names."—W. Hastings to Josias Dupre, in Gleig, i. 267.
1785.—"The numerous Collectors with their assistants had hitherto enjoyed very moderate allowances from their employers."—Letter in Colebrooke's Life, p. 16.
1838.—"As soon as three or four of them get together they speak about nothing but 'employment' and 'promotion' ... and if left to themselves, they sit and conjugate the verb 'to collect': 'I am a Collector—He was a Collector—We shall be Collectors—You ought to be a Collector—They would have been Collectors.'"—Letters from Madras, 146.
1848.—"Yet she could not bring herself to suppose that the little grateful gentle governess would dare to look up to such a magnificent personage as the Collector of Boggleywallah."—Thackeray, Vanity Fair, ch. iv.
1871.—"There is no doubt a decay of discretionary administration throughout India ... it may be taken for granted that in earlier days Collectors and page 236aCommissioners changed their rules far oftener than does the Legislature at present."—Maine, Village Communities, 214.
COLLEGE-PHEASANT, s. An absurd enough corruption of kālij; the name in the Himālaya about Simla and Mussooree for the birds of the genus Gallophasis of Hodgson, intermediate between the pheasants and the Jungle-fowls. "The group is composed of at least three species, two being found in the Himalayas, and one in Assam, Chittagong and Arakan." (Jerdon).
COLLERY, CALLERY, &c. s. Properly Bengali khālāṛī, 'a salt-pan, or place for making salt.'
COLLERY, n.p. The name given to a non-Aryan race inhabiting part of the country east of Madura. Tam. kallaṛ, 'thieves.' They are called in Nelson's Madura, [Pt. ii. 44 seqq.] Kallans; Kallan being the singular, Kallar plural.
c. 1785.—"Colleries, inhabitants of the woods under the Government of the Tondiman."—Carraccioli, Life of Clive, iv. 561.
COLLERY-HORN, s. This is a long brass horn of hideous sound, which is often used at native funerals in the Peninsula, and has come to be called, absurdly enough, Cholera-horn!
COLLERY-STICK, s. This is a kind of throwing-stick or boomerang used by the Colleries.
COLOMBO, n.p. Properly Kol̤umbu, the modern capital of Ceylon, but a place of considerable antiquity. The derivation is very uncertain; some suppose it to be connected with the adjoining river Kalani-gangi. The name Columbum, used in several medieval narratives, belongs not to this place but to Kaulam (see QUILON).
1517.—"The next day was Thursday in Passion Week; and they, well remembering this, and inspired with valour, said to the King that in fighting the Moors they would be insensible to death, which they greatly desired rather than be slaves to the Moors.... There were not 40 men in all, whole and sound for battle. And one brave man made a cross on the tip of a cane, which he set in front for standard, saying that God was his Captain, and that was his Flag, under which they should march deliberately against Columbo, where the Moor was with his forces."—Correa, ii. 521.
COLUMBO ROOT, CALUMBA ROOT, is stated by Milburn (1813) to be a staple export from Mozambique, being in great esteem as a remedy for dysentery, &c. It is Jateorhiza palmata, Miers; and the name Kalumb is of E. African origin (Hanbury and Flückiger, 23). [The N.E.D. takes it from Colombo, 'under a false impression that it was supplied from thence.'] The following quotation is in error as to the name:
1782.—"Any person having a quantity of fresh sound Columbia Root to dispose of, will please direct a line...."—India Gazette, Aug. 24.
[1809.—"An Account of the Male Plant, which furnishes the Medicine generally called Columbo or Colomba Root."—Asiat. Res. x. 385 seqq.]
COMAR, n.p. This name (Ar. al-Ḳumār), which appears often in the old Arab geographers, has been the subject of much confusion among modern commentators, and probably also among the Arabs themselves; some of the former (e.g. the late M. Reinaud) confounding it with C. Comorin, others with Kāmrūp (or Assam). The various indications, e.g. that it was on the continent, and facing the direction of Arabia, i.e. the west; that it produced most valuable aloes-wood; that it lay a day's voyage, or three days' voyage, west of Ṣanf or Champa (q.v.), and from ten to twenty days' sail from Zābaj (or Java), together with the name, identify it with page 237bCamboja, or Khmer, as the native name is (see Reinaud, Rel. des Arabes, i. 97, ii. 48, 49; Gildemeister, 156 seqq.; Ibn Batuta, iv. 240; Abulfeda, Cathay and the Way Thither, 519, 569). Even the sagacious De Orta is misled by the Arabs, and confounds alcomari with a product of Cape Comorin (see Colloquios, f. 120v.).
CÓMATY, s. Telug. and Canar. kōmati, 'a trader,' [said to be derived from Skt. go, 'eye,' mushṭi, 'fist,' from their vigilant habits]. This is a term used chiefly in the north of the Madras Presidency, and corresponding to Chetty, [which the males assume as an affix].
[1679.—"There came to us the Factory this day a Dworfe an Indian of the Comitte Cast, he was he said 30 years old ... we measured him by the rule 46 inches high, all his limbs and his body streight and equall proportioned, of comely face, his speech small equalling his stature...."—Streynsham Master, in Kistna Man. 142.
COMBACONUM, n.p., written Kumbakoṇam. Formerly the seat of the Chola dynasty. Col. Branfill gives, as the usual derivation, Skt. Kumbhakoṇa, 'brim of a water-pot'; [the Madras Gloss. Skt. kumbha, kona, 'lane'] and this form is given in Williams's Skt. Dict. as 'name of a town.' The fact that an idol in the Saiva temple at Combaconam is called Kumbheśvaram ('Lord of the water-pot') may possibly be a justification of this etymology. But see general remarks on S. Indian names in the Introduction.
COMBOY. A sort of skirt or kilt of white calico, worn by Singhalese of both sexes, much in the same way as the Malay Sarong. The derivation which Sir E. Tennent (Ceylon, i. 612, ii. 107) gives of the word is quite inadmissible. He finds that a Chinese author describes the people of Ceylon as wearing a cloth made of koo-pei, i.e. of cotton; and he assumes therefore page 238athat those people call their own dress by a Chinese name for cotton! The word, however, is not real Singhalese; and we can have no doubt that it is the proper name Cambay. Paños de Cãbaya are mentioned early as used in Ceylon (Castanheda, ii. 78), and Cambays by Forrest (Voyage to Mergui, 79). In the Government List of Native Words (Ceylon, 1869) the form used in the Island is actually Kambāya. A picture of the dress is given by Tennent (Ceylon, i. 612). It is now usually of white, but in mourning black is used.
[1674–5.—"Cambaja Brawles."—Invoice in Birdwood, Report on Old Recs., p. 42.]
1726.—In list of cloths purchased at Porto Novo are "Cambayen."—Valentijn, Chorom. 10.
COMMERCOLLY, n.p. A small but well-known town of Lower Bengal in the Nadiya District; properly Kumār-khālī ['Prince's Creek']. The name is familiar in connection with the feather trade (see ADJUTANT).
COMMISSIONER, s. In the Bengal and Bombay Presidencies this is a grade in the ordinary administrative hierarchy; it does not exist in Madras, but is found in the Punjab, Central Provinces, &c. The Commissioner is over a Division embracing several Districts or Zillahs, and stands between the Collectors and Magistrates of these Districts on the one side, and the Revenue Board (if there is one) and the Local Government on the other. In the Regulation Provinces he is always a member of the Covenanted Civil Service; in Non-Regulation Provinces he may be a military officer; and in these the District officers immediately under him are termed 'Deputy Commissioners.'
COMMISSIONER, CHIEF. A high official, governing a Province inferior to a Lieutenant-Governorship, in direct subordination to the Governor-General in Council. Thus the Punjab till 1859 was under a Chief Commissioner, as was Oudh till 1877 (and indeed, though the offices are united, the Lieut.-Governor of the N.W. page 238bProvinces holds also the title of Chief Commissioner of Oudh). The Central Provinces, Assam, and Burma are other examples of Provinces under Chief Commissioners.
COMORIN, CAPE, n.p. The extreme southern point of the Peninsula of India; a name of great antiquity. No doubt Wilson's explanation is perfectly correct; and the quotation from the Periplus corroborates it. He says: "Kumārī, ... a young girl, a princess; a name of the goddess Durgā, to whom a temple dedicated at the extremity of the Peninsula has long given to the adjacent cape and coast the name of Kumārī, corrupted to Comorin...." The Tamil pronunciation is Kumări.
c. 150.—"Κομαρία ἄκρον καὶ πόλις."—Ptol. [viii. 1 § 9].
1298.—"Comari is a country belonging to India, and there you may see something of the North Star, which we had not been able to see from the Lesser Java thus far."—Marco Polo, Bk. III. ch. 23.
c. 1330.—"The country called Ma'bar is said to commence at the Cape Kumhari, a name applied both to a town and a mountain."—Abulfeda, in Gildemeister, 185.
[1514.—"Comedis." See quotation under MALABAR.]
1572.—
"Ves corre a costa celebre Indiana Para o Sul até o cabo Comori Ja chamado Cori, que Taprobana (Que ora he Ceilão) de fronte tem de si." Camões, v. 107.
Here Camões identifies the ancient Κῶρυ or Κῶλις with Comorin. These are in Ptolemy distinct, and his Kory appears to be the point of the Island of Rāmeśvaram from which the passage to Ceylon was shortest. This, as Kōlis, appears in various forms in other geographers as the extreme seaward point of India, and in the geographical poem of Dionysius it is described as towering to a stupendous height above the waves. Mela regards Colis as the page 239aturning point of the Indian coast, and even in Ptolemy's Tables his Kōry is further south than Komaria, and is the point of departure from which he discusses distances to the further East (see Ptolemy, Bk. I. capp. 13, 14; also see Bishop Caldwell's Comp. Grammar, Introd., p. 103). It is thus intelligible how comparative geographers of the 16th century identified Kōry with C. Comorin.
In 1864 the late venerated Bishop Cotton visited C. Comorin in company with two of his clergy (both now missionary bishops). He said that having bathed at Hardwār, one of the most northerly of Hindu sacred places, he should like to bathe at this, the most southerly. Each of the chaplains took one of the bishop's hands as they entered the surf, which was heavy; so heavy that his right-hand aid was torn from him, and had not the other been able to hold fast, Bishop Cotton could hardly have escaped.
[1609.—"... very strong cloth and is called Cacha de Comoree."—Danvers, Letters, i. 29.
[1767.—"The pagoda of the Cunnacomary belonging to Tinnevelly."—Treaty, in Logan, Malabar, iii. 117.]
1817.—
"... Lightly latticed in With odoriferous woods of Comorin." Lalla Rookh, Mokanna.
COMOTAY, COMATY, n.p. This name appears prominently in some of the old maps of Bengal, e.g. that embraced in the Magni Mogolis Imperium of Blaeu's great Atlas (1645–50). It represents Kāmata, a State, and Kāmatapur, a city, of which most extensive remains exist in the territory of Koch Bihār in Eastern Bengal (see COOCH BEHAR). These are described by Dr. Francis Buchanan, in the book published by Montgomery Martin under the name of Eastern India (vol. iii. 426 seqq.). The city stood on the west bank of the River Darlā, which formed the defence on the east side, about 5 miles in extent. The whole circumference of the enclosure is estimated by Buchanan at 19 miles, the remainder being formed by a rampart which was (c. 1809) "in general about 130 feet in width at the base, and from 20 to 30 feet in perpendicular height."
[c. 1596.—"Kamtah." See quotation under COOCH BEHAR.]
COMPETITION-WALLAH, s. A hybrid of English and Hindustani, applied in modern Anglo-Indian colloquial to members of the Civil Service who have entered it by the competitive system first introduced in 1856. The phrase was probably the invention of one of the older or Haileybury members of the same service. These latter, whose nominations were due to interest, and who were bound together by the intimacies and esprit de corps of a common college, looked with some disfavour upon the children of Innovation. The name was readily taken up in India, but its familiarity in England is probably due in great part to the "Letters of a Competition-wala," written by one who had no real claim to the title, Sir G. O. Trevelyan, who was later on member for Hawick Burghs, Chief Secretary for Ireland, and author of the excellent Life of his uncle, Lord Macaulay.
The second portion of the word, wālā, is properly a Hindi adjectival affix, corresponding in a general way to the Latin -arius. Its usual employment as affix to a substantive makes it frequently denote "agent, doer, keeper, man, inhabitant, master, lord, possessor, owner," as Shakespear vainly tries to define it, and as in Anglo-Indian usage is popularly assumed to be its meaning. But this kind of denotation is incidental; there is no real limitation to such meaning. This is demonstrable from such phrases as Kābul-wālā ghoṛā, 'the Kabulian horse,' and from the common form of village nomenclature in the Panjāb, e.g. Mīr-Khān-wālā, Ganda-Singh-wālā, and so forth, implying the village established by Mir-Khan or Ganda-Singh. In the three immediately following quotations, the second and third exhibit a strictly idiomatic use of wālā, the first an incorrect English use of it.
"Tho' then the Bostonians made such a fuss, Their example ought not to be followed by us, But I wish that a band of good Patriot-wallahs ..."—In Seton-Karr, i. 93.
" In this year Tippoo Sahib addresses a rude letter to the Nawāb of Shānūr (or Savanūr) as "The Shahnoorwâlah."—Select Letters of Tippoo, 184.
1814.—"Gungadhur Shastree is a person of great shrewdness and talent.... Though a very learned shastree, he affects to be quite an Englishman, walks fast, talks fast, interrupts and contradicts, and calls the Peshwa and his ministers 'old fools' and ... 'dam rascals.' He mixes English words with everything he says, and will say of some one (Holkar for instance): Bhot trickswalla tha, laiken barra akulkund, Kukhye tha, ('He was very tricky, but very sagacious; he was cock-eyed')."—Elphinstone, in Life, i. 276.
1853.—"'No, I'm a Suffolk-walla.'"—Oakfield, i. 66.
1864.—"The stories against the Competition-wallahs, which are told and fondly believed by the Haileybury men, are all founded more or less on the want of savoir faire. A collection of these stories would be a curious proof of the credulity of the human mind on a question of class against class."—Trevelyan, p. 9.
1867.—"From a deficiency of civil servants ... it became necessary to seek reinforcements, not alone from Haileybury, ... but from new recruiting fields whence volunteers might be obtained ... under the pressure of necessity, such an exceptional measure was sanctioned by Parliament. Mr. Elliot, having been nominated as a candidate by Campbell Marjoribanks, was the first of the since celebrated list of the Competition-wallahs."—Biog. Notice prefixed to vol. i. of Dowson's Ed. of Elliot's Historians of India, p. xxviii.
The exceptional arrangement alluded to in the preceding quotation was authorised by 7 Geo. IV. cap. 56. But it did not involve competition; it only authorised a system by which writerships could be given to young men who had not been at Haileybury College, on their passing certain test examinations, and they were ranked according to their merit in passing such examinations, but below the writers who had left Haileybury at the preceding half-yearly examination. The first examination under this system was held 29th March, 1827, and Sir H. M. Elliot headed the list. The system continued in force for five years, the last examination being held in April, 1832. In all 83 civilians were nominated in this way, and, among other well-known names, the list included H. Torrens, Sir H. B. Harington, Sir R. Montgomery, Sir J. Cracroft Wilson, Sir T. Pycroft, W. Tayler, the Hon. E. Drummond.
COMPOUND, s. The enclosed ground, whether garden or waste, which surrounds an Anglo-Indian house. Various derivations have been suggested for this word, but its history is very obscure. The following are the principal suggestions that have been made:—
(b.) That it is a corruption of the French campagne.
(a.) The Portuguese origin is assumed by Bishop Heber in passages quoted below. In one he derives it from campaña (for which, in modern Portuguese at least, we should read campanha); but campanha is not used in such a sense. It seems to be used only for 'a campaign,' or for the Roman Campagna. In the other passage he derives it from campao (sic), but there is no such word.
It is also alleged by Sir Emerson Tennent (infra), who suggests campinho; but this, meaning 'a small plain,' is not used for compound. Neither is the latter word, nor any word suggestive of it, used among the Indo-Portuguese.
In the early Portuguese histories of India (e.g. Castanheda, iii. 436, 442; vi. 3) the words used for what we term compound, are jardim, patio, horta. An examination of all the passages of the Indo-Portuguese Bible, page 241awhere the word might be expected to occur, affords only horta.
There is a use of campo by the Italian Capuchin P. Vincenzo Maria (Roma, 1672), which we thought at first to be analogous: "Gionti alla porta della città (Aleppo) ... arrivati al Campo de' Francesi; doue è la Dogana...." (p. 475). We find also in Rauwolff's Travels (c. 1573), as published in English by the famous John Ray: "Each of these nations (at Aleppo) have their peculiar Champ to themselves, commonly named after the Master that built it...."; and again: "When ... the Turks have washed and cleansed themselves, they go into their Chappells, which are in the Middle of their great Camps or Carvatschars...." (p. 84 and p. 259 of Ray's 2nd edition). This use of Campo, and Champ, has a curious kind of analogy to compound, but it is probably only a translation of Maidān or some such Oriental word.
(b.) As regards campagne, which once commended itself as probable, it must be observed that nothing like the required sense is found among the seven or eight classes of meaning assigned to the word in Littré.
The word campo again in the Portuguese of the 16th century seems to mean always, or nearly always, a camp. We have found only one instance in those writers of its use with a meaning in the least suggestive of compound, but in this its real meaning is 'site': "queymou a cidade toda ate não ficar mais que ho campo em que estevera." ("They burned the whole city till nothing remained but the site on which it stood"—Castanheda, vi. 130). There is a special use of campo by the Portuguese in the Further East, alluded to in the quotation from Pallegoix's Siam, but that we shall see to be only a representation of the Malay Kampung. We shall come back upon it. [See quotation from Correa, with note, under FACTORY.]
(c.) The objection raised to kampung as the origin of compound is chiefly that the former word is not so used in Java by either Dutch or natives, and the author of Max Havelaar expresses doubt if compound is a Malay or Javanese word at all (pp. 360–361). Erf is the usual word among the Dutch. page 241bIn Java kampung seems to be used only for a native village, or for a particular ward or quarter of a town.
But it is impossible to doubt that among the English in our Malay settlements compound is used in this sense in speaking English, and kampung in speaking Malay. Kampung is also used by the Malays themselves, in our settlements, in this sense. All the modern dictionaries that we have consulted give this sense among others. The old Dictionarium Malaico-Latinum of David Haex (Romae, 1631) is a little vague:
"Campon, coniunctio, vel conuentus. Hinc viciniae et parua loca, campon etiam appellantur."
Crawfurd (1852): "Kampung ... an enclosure, a space fenced in; a village; a quarter or subdivision of a town."
Favre (1875): "Maison avec un terrain qui l'entoure."
Pijnappel (1875), Maleisch-Hollandisch Woordenboek: "Kampoeng—Omheind Erf, Wijk, Buurt, Kamp," i.e. "Ground hedged round, village, hamlet, camp."
And also, let it be noted, the Javanese Dict. of P. Jansz (Javaansch-Nederlandsch Woordenboek, Samarang, 1876): "Kampoeng—Omheind erf van Woningen; wijk die onder een hoofd staat," i.e. "Enclosed ground of dwellings; village which is under one Headman."
Marre, in his Kata-Kata Malayou (Paris, 1875), gives the following expanded definition: "Village palissadé, ou, dans une ville, quartier séparé et généralement clos, occupé par des gens de même nation, Malays, Siamois, Chinois, Bouguis, &c. Ce mot signifie proprement un enclos, une enciente, et par extension quartier clos, faubourg, ou village palissadé. Le mot Kampong désigne parfois aussi une maison d'une certaine importance avec le terrain clos qui en dépend, et qui l'entoure" (p. 95).
We take Marsden last (Malay Dictionary, 1812) because he gives an illustration: "Kampong, an enclosure, a place surrounded with a paling; a fenced or fortified village; a quarter, district, or suburb of a city; a collection of buildings. Mem-bûat [to make] rumah [house] serta page 242adañgan [together with] kampong-nia [compound thereof], to erect a house with its enclosure ... Ber-Kampong, to assemble, come together; meñgampong, to collect, to bring together." The Reverse Dictionary gives: "Yard, alaman, Kampong." [See also many further references much to the same effect in Scott, Malayan Words, p. 123 seqq.]
In a Malay poem given in the Journal of the Ind. Archipelago, vol i. p. 44, we have these words:—
"Trúsláh ka kampong s'orange Saudágar."
["Passed to the kampong of a Merchant."]
and
"Titáh bágindú rajá sultání Kámpong śiápá garángun íní."
["Thus said the Prince, the Raja Sultani, Whose kampong may this be?"]
These explanations and illustrations render it almost unnecessary to add in corroboration that a friend who held office in the Straits for twenty years assures us that the word kampung is habitually used, in the Malay there spoken, as the equivalent of the Indian compound. If this was the case 150 years ago in the English settlements at Bencoolen and elsewhere (and we know from Marsden that it was so 100 years ago), it does not matter whether such a use of kampung was correct or not, compound will have been a natural corruption of it. Mr. E. C. Baber, who lately spent some time in our Malay settlements on his way from China, tells me (H. Y.) that the frequency with which he heard kampung applied to the 'compound,' convinced him of this etymology, which he had before doubted greatly.
It is not difficult to suppose that the word, if its use originated in our Malay factories and settlements, should have spread to the continental Presidencies, and so over India.
Our factories in the Archipelago were older than any of our settlements in India Proper. The factors and writers were frequently moved about, and it is conceivable that a word so much wanted (for no English word now in use does express the idea satisfactorily) should have found ready acceptance. In fact the word, from like causes, has spread to the ports of page 242bChina and to the missionary and mercantile stations in tropical Africa, East and West, and in Madagascar.
But it may be observed that it was possible that the word kampung was itself originally a corruption of the Port. campo, taking the meaning first of camp, and thence of an enclosed area, or rather that in some less definable way the two words reacted on each other. The Chinese quarter at Batavia—Kampong Tzina—is commonly called in Dutch 'het Chinesche Kamp' or 'het Kamp der Chinezen.' Kampung was used at Portuguese Malacca in this way at least 270 years ago, as the quotation from Godinho de Eredia shows. The earliest Anglo-Indian example of the word compound is that of 1679 (below). In a quotation from Dampier (1688) under Cot, where compound would come in naturally, he says 'yard.'
1679.—(At Pollicull near Madapollam), "There the Dutch have a Factory of a large Compounde, where they dye much blew cloth, having above 300 jars set in the ground for that work; also they make many of their best paintings there."—Fort St. Geo. Consns. (on Tour), April 14. In Notes and Extracts, Madras, 1871.
1696.—"The 27th we began to unlade, and come to their custom-houses, of which there are three, in a square Compound of about 100 paces over each way.... The goods being brought and set in two Rows in the middle of the square are one by one opened before the Mandareens."—Mr. Bowyear's Journal at Cochin China, dated Foy-Foe, April 30. Dalrymple, Or. Rep. i. 79.
1772.—"Yard (before or behind a house), Aungâun. Commonly called a Compound."—Vocabulary in Hadley's Grammar, 129. (See under MOORS.)
page 243a1781.—
"In common usage here a chit Serves for our business or our wit. Bankshal's a place to lodge our ropes, And Mango orchards all are Topes. Godown usurps the ware-house place, Compound denotes each walled space. To Dufterkhanna, Ottor, Tanks, The English language owes no thanks; Since Office, Essence, Fish-pond shew We need not words so harsh and new. Much more I could such words expose, But Ghauts and Dawks the list shall close; Which in plain English is no more Than Wharf and Post expressed before." India Gazette, March 3.
" "... will be sold by Public Auction ... all that Brick Dwelling-house, Godowns, and Compound."—Ibid., April 21.
1788.—"Compound—The court-yard belonging to a house. A corrupt word."—The Indian Vocabulary, London, Stockdale.
1793.—"To be sold by Public Outcry ... the House, Out Houses, and Compound," &c.—Bombay Courier, Nov. 2.
1810.—"The houses (at Madras) are usually surrounded by a field or compound, with a few trees or shrubs, but it is with incredible pains that flowers or fruit are raised."—Maria Graham, 124.
" "When I entered the great gates, and looked around for my palankeen ... and when I beheld the beauty and extent of the compound ... I thought that I was no longer in the world that I had left in the East."—An Account of Bengal, and of a Visit to Government House (at Calcutta) by Ibrahim the son of Candu the Merchant, ibid. p. 198. This is a Malay narrative translated by Dr. Leyden. Very probably the word translated compound was kampung, but that cannot be ascertained.
1811.—"Major Yule's attack was equally spirited, but after routing the enemy's force at Campong Malayo, and killing many of them, he found the bridge on fire, and was unable to penetrate further."—Sir S. Auchmuty's Report of the Capture of Fort Cornelis.
c. 1817.—"When they got into the compound, they saw all the ladies and gentlemen in the verandah waiting."—Mrs. Sherwood's Stories, ed. 1863, p. 6.
1824.—"He then proceeded to the rear compound of the house, returned, and said, 'It is a tiger, sir.'"—Seely, Wonders of Ellora, ch. i.
" "... The large and handsome edifices of Garden Reach, each standing by itself in a little woody lawn (a 'compound' they call it here, by an easy corruption from the Portuguese word campaña ...)."—Heber, ed. 1844, i. 28.
1848.—"Lady O'Dowd, too, had gone to her bed in the nuptial chamber, on the ground floor, and had tucked her mosquito curtains round her fair form, when the guard at the gates of the commanding page 243bofficer's compound beheld Major Dobbin, in the moonlight, rushing towards the house with a swift step."—Vanity Fair, ed. 1867, ii. 93.
1860.—"Even amongst the English, the number of Portuguese terms in daily use is remarkable. The grounds attached to a house are its 'compound,' campinho."—Emerson Tennent, Ceylon, ii. 70.
We have found this word singularly transformed in a passage extracted from a modern novel:
A little learning is a dangerous thing!
The following shows the adoption of the word in West Africa.
COMPRADORE, COMPODORE, &c., s. Port. comprador, 'purchaser,' from comprar, 'to purchase.' This word was formerly in use in Bengal, where it is now quite obsolete; but it is perhaps still remembered in Madras, and it is common in China. In Madras the compradore is (or was) a kind of house-steward, who keeps the household accounts, and purchases necessaries. In China he is much the same as a Butler (q.v.). A new building was to be erected on the Bund at Shanghai, and Sir T. Wade was asked his opinion as to what style of architecture should be adopted. He at once said that for Shanghai, a great Chinese commercial centre, it ought to be Compradoric!
1615.—"I understand that yesterday the Hollanders cut a slave of theirs a-peeces for theft, per order of justice, and thrust their comprador (or cats buyer) out of dores for a lecherous knave...."—Cocks's Diary, i. 19.
1711.—"Every Factory had formerly a Compradore, whose Business it was to buy in Provisions and other Necessarys. But page 244athe Hoppos have made them all such Knaves...."—Lockyer, 108.
[1748.—"Compradores." See quotation under BANKSHALL.]
1754.—"Compidore. The office of this servant is to go to market and bring home small things, such as fruit, &c."—Ives, 50.
1760–1810.—"All river-pilots and ships' Compradores must be registered at the office of the Tung-che at Macao."—'Eight Regulations,' from the Fankwae at Canton (1882), p. 28.
1782.—"Le Comprador est celui qui fournit généralement tout ce dont on a besoin, excepté les objets de cargaison; il y en a un pour chaque Nation: il approvisionne la loge, et tient sous lui plusieurs commis chargés de la fourniture des vaisseaux."—Sonnerat (ed. 1782), ii. 236.
1785.—"Compudour ... Sicca Rs. 3."—In Seton-Karr, i. 107 (Table of Wages).
1810.—"The Compadore, or Kurz-burdar, or Butler-Konnah-Sircar, are all designations for the same individual, who acts as purveyor.... This servant may be considered as appertaining to the order of sircars, of which he should possess all the cunning."—Williamson, V. M. i. 270.
See SIRCAR. The obsolete term Kurz-burdar above represents Kharach-bardār "in charge of (daily) expenditure."
1840.—"About 10 days ago ... the Chinese, having kidnapped our Compendor, Parties were sent out to endeavour to recover him."—Mem. Col. Mountain, 164.
1876.—"We speak chiefly of the educated classes, and not of 'boys' and compradores, who learn in a short time both to touch their caps, and wipe their noses in their masters' pocket-handkerchiefs."—Giles, Chinese Sketches, [p. 15].
1876.—
"An' Massa Coe feel velly sore An' go an' scold he compradore." Leland, Pidgin English Sing-Song, 26.
CONBALINGUA, s. The common pumpkin, [cucurbita pepo. The word comes from the Malayāl., Tel. or Can. kumbalam; kumbalanu, the pumpkin].
[1554.—"Conbalinguas." See quotation under BRINJAUL.]
[c. 1610.—Couto gives a tradition of the origin of the kingdom of Pegu, from a page 244bfisherman who was born of a certain flower; "they also say that his wife was born of a Combalenga, which is an apple (pomo) very common in India of which they make several kinds of preserve, so cold that it is used in place of sugar of roses; and they are of the size and fashion of large melons; and there are some so large that it would be as much as a lad could do to lift one by himself. This apple the Pegús call Sapua."—Dec. xii. liv. v. cap. iii.]
CONCAN, n.p. Skt. konkaṇa, [Tam. konkaṇam], the former in the Pauranic lists the name of a people; Hind. Konkan and Kokan. The low country of Western India between the Ghauts and the sea, extending, roughly speaking, from Goa northward to Guzerat. But the modern Commissionership, or Civil Division, embraces also North Canara (south of Goa). In medieval writings we find frequently, by a common Asiatic fashion of coupling names, Kokan- or Konkan-Tana; Tana having been a chief place and port of Konkan.
404.—"In the south are Ceylon (Lankâ) ... Konkan ..." &c.—Bṛhat Saṅhita, in J.R.A.S., N.S. v. 83.
c. 1300.—"Beyond Guzerat are Konkan and Tána; beyond them the country of Malíbár."—Rashīduddīn, in Elliot, i. 68.
c. 1335.—"When he heard of the Sultan's death he fled to a Kafir prince called Burabra, who lived in the inaccessible mountains between Daulatabad and Kūkan-Tāna."—Ibn Batuta, iii. 335.
c. 1350.—In the Portulano Mediceo in the Laurentian Library we have 'Cocintana,' and in the Catalan Map of 1375 'Cocintaya.'
1553.—"And as from the Ghauts (Gate) to the Sea, on the west of the Decan, all that strip is called Concan, so also from the Ghauts to the Sea, on the West of Canara (leaving out those forty and six leagues just spoken of, which are also parts of this same Canara), that strip which extends to Cape Comorin ... is called Malabar...."—Barros, I. ix. 1.
[1563.—"Cuncam." See quotation under GHAUT.]
1726.—"The kingdom of this Prince is commonly called Visiapoer, after its capital, ... but it is properly called Cunkan."—Valentijn, iv. (Suratte), 243; [also see under DECCAN].
page 245ac. 1732.—"Goa, in the Adel Sháhi Kokan."—Khāfī Khān, in Elliot, vii. 211.
1804.—"I have received your letter of the 28th, upon the subject of the landing of 3 French officers in the Konkan; and I have taken measures to have them arrested."—Wellington, iii. 33.
1813.—"... Concan or Cokun ..."—Forbes, Or. Mem. i. 189; [2nd ed. i. 102].
CONFIRMED, p. Applied to an officer whose hold of an appointment is made permanent. In the Bengal Presidency the popular term is pucka; (q.v.); (also see CUTCHA).
1886.—"... one Marsden, who has paid his addresses to my daughter—a young man in the Public Works, who (would you believe it, Mr. Cholmondeley?) has not even been confirmed.
CONGEE, s. In use all over India for the water in which rice has been boiled. The article being used as one of invalid diet, the word is sometimes applied to such slops generally. Congee also forms the usual starch of Indian washermen. [A conjee-cap was a sort of starched night-cap, and Mr. Draper, the husband of Sterne's Eliza, had it put on by Mrs. Draper's rival when he took his afternoon nap. (Douglas, Glimpses of Old Bombay, pp. 86, 201.)] It is from the Tamil kanjī, 'boilings.' Congee is known to Horace, though reckoned, it would seem, so costly a remedy that the miser patient would as lief die as be plundered to the extent implied in its use:
"... Hunc medicus multum celer atque fidelis Excitat hoc pacto ... ... 'Agedum; sume hoc ptisanarium Oryzae.' 'Quanti emptae?' 'Parvo.' 'Quanti ergo.' 'Octussibus.' 'Eheu! Quid refert, morbo, an furtis pereamve rapinis?'" Sat. II. iii. 147 seqq.
1563.—"They give him to drink the water squeezed out of rice with pepper and page 245bcummin (which they call canje)."—Garcia, f. 76b.
1578.—"... Canju, which is the water from the boiling of rice, keeping it first for some hours till it becomes acid...."—Acosta, Tractado, 56.
1631.—"Potus quotidianus itaque sit decoctum oryzae quod Candgie Indi vocant."—Jac. Bontii, Lib. II. cap. iii.
1672.—"... la cangia, ordinaria colatione degl' Indiani ... quale colano del riso mal cotto."—P. Vinc. Maria, 3rd ed., 379.
1673.—"They have ... a great smooth Stone on which they beat their Cloaths till clean; and if for Family use, starch them with Congee."—Fryer, 200.
1680.—"Le dejeûné des noirs est ordinairement du Cangé, qui est une eau de ris epaisse."—Dellon, Inquisition at Goa, 136.
1796.—"Cagni, boiled rice water, which the Europeans call Cangi, is given free of all expenses, in order that the traveller may quench his thirst with a cooling and wholesome beverage."—P. Paulinus, Voyage, p. 70.
CONGEE-HOUSE, CONJEE-HOUSE, s. The 'cells' (or temporary lock-up) of a regiment in India; so called from the traditionary regimen of the inmates; [in N. India commonly applied to a cattle-pound].
CONGEVERAM, n.p. An ancient and holy city of S. India, 46 m. S.W. of Madras. It is called Kachchi in Tamil literature, and Kachchipuram is probably represented by the modern name. [The Madras Gloss. gives the indigenous name as Cutchy (Kachchi), meaning 'the heart-leaved moon-seed plant,' tinospera cordifolia, from which the Skt. name Kanchipura, 'shining city,' is corrupted.]
1531.—"Some of them said that the whole history of the Holy House (of St. Thomas) was written in the house of the Pagoda which is called Camjeverão, twenty leagues distant from the Holy House, of which I will tell you hereafter...."—Correa, iii. 424.
CONGO-BUNDER, CONG, n.p. Kung bandar; a port formerly of some consequence and trade, on the north shore of the Persian Gulf, about 100 m. west of Gombroon. The Portuguese had a factory here for a good many years after their expulsion from Ormus, and under treaty with Persia, made in 1625, had a right of pearl-fishing at Bahrein and a claim to half of the customs of Cong. These claims seem to have been gradually disregarded, and to have had no effect after about 1670, though the Portuguese would appear to have still kept up some pretext of monopoly of rights there in 1677 (see Chardin, ed. 1735, i. 348, and Bruce's Annals of the E.I.C., iii. 393). Some confusion is created by the circumstance that there is another place on the same coast, called Kongūn, which possessed a good many vessels up to 1859, when it was destroyed by a neighbouring chief (see Stiffe's P. Gulf Pilot, 128). And this place is indicated by A. Hamilton (below) as the great mart for Bahrein pearls, which Fryer and others assign to what is evidently Cong.
1653.—"Congue est vne petite ville fort agreable sur le sein Persique à trois journées du Bandar Abbassi tirant à l'Ouest dominée par le Schah ... les Portugais y ont vn Feitour (see FACTOR) qui prend la moitié de la Doüane, et donne la permission aux barques de nauiger, en luy payant vn certain droit, parceque toutes ces mers sont tributaires de la generalité de Mascati, qui est à l'entrée du sein Persique.... Cette ville est peuplée d'Arabes, de Parsis et d'Indous qui ont leur Pagodes et leur Saincts hors la ville."—De la Boullaye-le-Gouz, ed. 1657, p. 284.
1677.—"A Voyage to Congo for Pearl.—Two days after our Arrival at Gombroon, I page 246bwent to Congo.... At noon we came to Bassatu (see BASSADORE), an old ruined Town of the Portugals, fronting Congo.... Congo is something better built than Gombroon, and has some small Advantage of the Air" (Then goes off about pearls).—Fryer, 320.
1683.—"One Haggerston taken by ye said President into his Service, was run away with a considerable quantity of Gold and Pearle, to ye amount of 30,000 Rupees, intrusted to him at Bussera (see BALSORA) and Cong, to bring to Surrat, to save Freight and Custom."—Hedges, Diary, i. 96 seq.
1685.—"May 27.—This afternoon it pleased God to bring us in safety to Cong Road. I went ashore immediately to Mr. Brough's house (Supra Cargo of ye Siam Merchant), and lay there all night."—Ibid. i. 202.
CONICOPOLY, s. Literally 'Account-Man,' from Tam. kanakka, 'account' or 'writing,' and piḷḷai, 'child' or 'person.' ["The Kanakar are usually addressed as 'Pillay,' a title of respect common to them and the agricultural and shepherd castes" (Madras Man. ii. 229).] In Madras, a native clerk or writer, [in particular a shipping clerk. The corresponding Tel. term is Curnum].
1584.—"So you must appoint in each village or station fitting teachers and Canacopoly, as we have already arranged, and these must assemble the children every day at a certain time and place, and teach and drive into them the elements of reading and religion."—Ditto, in Coleridge's L. of him, ii. 24.
1578.—"At Tanor in Malabar I was acquainted with a Nayre Canacopola, a writer in the Camara del Rey at Tanor ... who every day used to eat to the weight of 5 drachms (of opium), which he would take in my presence."—Acosta, Tractado, 415.
page 247ac. 1580.—"One came who worked as a clerk, and said he was a poor canaquapolle, who had nothing to give."—Primor e Honra, &c., f. 94.
1672.—"Xaverius set everywhere teachers called Canacappels."—Baldaeus, Ceylon, 377.
1680.—"The Governour, accompanyed with the Councell and severall Persons of the factory, attended by six files of Soldyers, the Company's Peons, 300 of the Washers, the Pedda Naigue, the Cancoply of the Towne and of the grounds, went the circuit of Madras ground, which was described by the Cancoply of the grounds, and lyes so intermixed with others (as is customary in these Countrys) that 'tis impossible to be knowne to any others, therefore every Village has a Cancoply and a Parryar, who are imployed in this office, which goes from Father to Son for ever."—Ft. St. Geo. Consn. Sept. 21. In Notes and Exts., No. iii. 34.
1718.—"Besides this we maintain seven Kanakappel, or Malabarick writers."—Propagation of the Gospel in the East, Pt. ii. 55.
1726.—"The Conakapules (commonly called Kannekappels) are writers."—Valentijn, Choro. 88.
[1749.—"Canacapula," in Logan, Malabar, iii. 52.
[1750.—"Conicoplas," ibid. iii. 150.
CONSOO-HOUSE, n.p. At Canton this was a range of buildings adjoining the foreign Factories, called also the 'Council Hall' of the foreign Factories. It was the property of the body of Hong merchants, and was the place of meeting of these merchants among themselves, or with the chiefs of the Foreign houses, when there was need for such conference (see Fankwae, p. 23). The name is probably a corruption of 'Council.' Bp. Moule, however, says: "The name is likely to have come from kung-su, the public hall, where a kung-sz', a 'public company,' or guild, meets."
CONSUMAH, KHANSAMA, s. P. Khānsāmān; 'a house-steward.' In Anglo-Indian households in the Bengal Presidency, this is the title of the chief table servant and provider, now always a Mahommedan. [See BUTLER.] The literal meaning of the word is 'Master of the household gear'; it is not connected with khwān, 'a tray,' as Wilson suggests. The page 247banalogous word Mīr-sāmān occurs in Elliot, vii. 153. The Anglo-Indian form Consumer seems to have been not uncommon in the 18th century, probably with a spice of intention. From tables quoted in Long, 182, and in Seton-Karr, i. 95, 107, we see that the wages of a "Consumah, Christian, Moor, or Gentoo," were at Calcutta, in 1759, 5 rupees a month, and in 1785, 8 to 10 rupees.
c. 1664.—"Some time after ... she chose for her Kane-saman, that is, her Steward, a certain Persian called Nazerkan, who was a young Omrah, the handsomest and most accomplished of the whole Court."—Bernier, E.T., p. 4; [ed. Constable, p. 13].
1712.—"They were brought by a great circuit on the River to the Chansamma or Steward (Dispenser) of the aforesaid Mahal."—Valentijn, iv. (Suratte) 288.
1759.—"Dustuck or Order, under the Chan Sumaun, or Steward's Seal, for the Honourable Company's holding the King's [i.e. the Great Mogul's] fleet."
"At the back of this is the seal of Zecah al Doulat Tidaudin Caun Bahadour, who is Caun Samaun, or Steward to his Majesty, whose prerogative it is to grant this Order."—R. Owen Cambridge, pp. 231 seq.
1788.—"After some deliberation I asked the Khansaman, what quantity was remaining of the clothes that had been brought from Iran to camp for sale, who answered that there were 15,000 jackets, and 12,000 pairs of long drawers."—Mem. of Khojeh Abdulkurreem, tr. by Gladwin, 55.
1810.—"The Kansamah may be classed with the house-steward, and butler; both of which offices appear to unite in this servant."—Williamson, V. M., i. 199.
COOCH AZO, or AZO simply, n.p. Koch Hājo, a Hindu kingdom on the banks of the Brahmaputra R., to the E. of Koch Bihār, annexed by Jahāngīr's troops in 1637. See Blochmann in J.A.S.B. xli. pt. i. 53, and xlii. pt. i. 235. In Valentijn's map of Bengal (made c. 1660) we have Cos Assam with Azo as capital, and T'Ryk van Asoe, a good way south and east of Silhet.
COOCH BEHAR, n.p. Koch Bihār, a native tributary State on the N.E. of Bengal, adjoining Bhotan and the Province of Assam. The first part of the name is taken from that of a tribe, the Koch, apparently a forest race who founded this State about the 15th century, and in the following century obtained dominion of considerable extent. They still form the majority of the population, but, as usual in such circumstances, give themselves a Hindu pedigree, under the name of Rājbansi. [See Risley, Tribes and Castes of Bengal, i. 491 seqq.] The site of the ancient monarchy of Kāmrūp is believed to have been in Koch Bihār, within the limits of which there are the remains of more than one ancient city. The second part of the name is no doubt due to the memory of some important Vihara, or Buddhist Monastery, but we have not found information on the subject. [Possibly the ruins at Kamatapur, for which see Buchanan Hamilton, Eastern India, iii. 426 seqq.]
c. 1596.—"To the north of Bengal is the province of Coach, the Chief of which commands 1,000 horse, and 100,000 foot. Kamroop, which is also called Kamroo and Kamtah (see COMOTAY) makes a part of his dominions."—Ayeen (by Gladwin), ed. 1800, ii. 3; [ed. Jarrett, ii. 117].
1726.—"Cos Bhaar is a Kingdom of itself, the King of which is sometimes subject to the Great Mogol, and sometimes throws his yoke off."—Valentijn, v. 159.
1774.—"The country about Bahar is low. Two kos beyond Bahar we entered a thicket ... frogs, watery insects and dank air ... 2 miles farther on we crossed the river which separates the Kuch Bahar country from that of the Deb Rajah, in sal canoes...."—Bogle, in Markham's Tibet, &c., 14 seq.
(But Mr. Markham spoils all the original spelling. We may be sure Bogle did not write kos, nor "Kuch Bahar," as Mr. M. makes him do.)
COOJA, s. P. kūza; an earthenware water-vessel (not long-necked, page 248blike the ṣurāḥī—see SERAI). It is a word used at Bombay chiefly, [but is not uncommon among Mahommedans in N. India].
[1871.—"Many parts of India are celebrated for their coojahs or guglets, but the finest are brought from Bussorah, being light, thin, and porous, made from a whitish clay."—Riddell, Indian Domestic Economy, 7th ed., p. 362.]
COOK-ROOM, s. Kitchen; in Anglo-Indian establishments always detached from the house.
COOLCURNEE, s. This is the title of the village accountant and writer in some of the central and western parts of India. Mahr. kuḷkaraṇī, apparently from kuḷa, 'tribe,' and karaṇa, writer, &c., the patwārī of N. India (see under CRANNY, CURNUM). [Kula "in the revenue language of the S. appears to be applied especially to families, or individual heads of families, paying revenue" (Wilson).]
COOLICOY, s. A Malay term, properly kulit-kayu, 'skin-wood,' explained in the quotation:
page 249aCOOLIN, adj. A class of Brāhmans of Bengal Proper, who make extraordinary claims to purity of caste and exclusiveness. Beng. kulīnas, from Skt. kula, 'a caste or family,' kulīna, 'belonging to a noble family.' They are much sought in marriage for the daughters of Brāhmans of less exalted pretensions, and often take many brides for the sake of the presents they receive. The system is one of the greatest abuses in Bengali Hinduism. [Risley, Tribes and Castes of Bengal, i. 146 seqq.]
COOLUNG, COOLEN, and in W. India CULLUM, s. Properly the great grey crane (Grus cinerea), H. kulang (said by the dictionaries to be Persian, but Jerdon gives Mahr. kallam, and Tel. kulangi, kolangi, which seem against the Persian origin), [and Platts seems to connect it with Skt. kurankara, the Indian crane, Ardea Sibirica (Williams)]. Great companies of these are common in many parts of India, especially on the sands of the less frequented rivers; and their clanging, trumpet-like call is often heard as they pass high overhead at night.
"Ille gruum ... Clamor in aetheriis dispersus nubibus austri." (Lucr. iv. 182 seq.).
The name, in the form Coolen, is often misapplied to the Demoiselle Crane (Anthropoides virgo, L.), which is one of the best of Indian birds for the table (see Jerdon, ed. 1877, ii. 667, and last quotation below). The true Coolung, though inferior, is tolerably good eating. This bird, which is now quite unknown in Scotland, was in the 15th century not uncommon there, and was a favourite dish at great entertainments (see Accts. of L. H. Treasurer of Scotland, i. ccv.).
c. 1809.—"Large flocks of a crane called Kolong, and of another called Saros (Ardea Antigone—see CYRUS), frequent this district in winter.... They come from the north in the beginning of the cold season, and retire when the heats commence."—Buchanan's Rungpoor, in Eastern India, iii. 579.
page 249b1813.—"Peacocks, partridges, quails, doves, and green-pigeons supplied our table, and with the addition of two stately birds, called the Sahras and cullum, added much to the animated beauty of the country."—Forbes, Or. Mem. ii. 29; [2nd ed. i. 331].
1883.—"Not being so green as I was, I let the tempting herd of antelopes pass, but the kullum I cannot resist. They are feeding in thousands at the other end of a large field, and to reach them it will only be necessary to crawl round behind the hedge for a quarter of a mile or so. But what will one not do with roast kullum looming in the vista of the future?"—Tribes on my Frontier, p. 162.
COOLY, s. A hired labourer, or burden-carrier; and, in modern days especially, a labourer induced to emigrate from India, or from China, to labour in the plantations of Mauritius, Réunion, or the West Indies, sometimes under circumstances, especially in French colonies, which have brought the cooly's condition very near to slavery. In Upper India the term has frequently a specific application to the lower class of labourer who carries earth, bricks, &c., as distinguished from the skilled workman, and even from the digger.
The original of the word appears to have been a nomen gentile, the name (Kolī) of a race or caste in Western India, who have long performed such offices as have been mentioned, and whose savagery, filth, and general degradation attracted much attention in former times, [see Hamilton, Descr. of Hindostan (1820), i. 609]. The application of the word would thus be analogous to that which has rendered the name of a Slav, captured and made a bondservant, the word for such a bondservant in many European tongues. According to Dr. H. V. Carter the Kolīs proper are a true hill-people, whose especial locality lies in the Western Ghāts, and in the northern extension of that range, between 18° and 24° N. lat. They exist in large numbers in Guzerat, and in the Konkan, and in the adjoining districts of the Deccan, but not beyond these limits (see Ind. Antiquary, ii. 154). [But they are possibly kinsfolk of the Kols, an important Dravidian race in Bengal and the page 250aN.W.P. (see Risley, T. and C. of Bengal, ii. 101; Crooke, T. C. of N.W.P. iii. 294).] In the Rās Mālā [ed. 1878, p. 78 seqq.] the Koolies are spoken of as a tribe who lived long near the Indus, but who were removed to the country of the Null (the Nal, a brackish lake some 40 m. S.W. of Ahmedabad) by the goddess Hinglāj.
Though this explanation of the general use of the term Cooly is the most probable, the matter is perplexed by other facts which it is difficult to trace to the same origin. Thus in S. India there is a Tamil and Can. word kūli in common use, signifying 'hire' or 'wages,' which Wilson indeed regards as the true origin of Cooly. [Oppert (Orig. Inhab. of Bharatavarsa, p. 131) adopts the same view, and disputing the connection of Cooly with Koli or Kol, regards the word as equivalent to 'hired servant' and originating in the English Factories on the E. coast.] Also in both Oriental and Osmanli Turkish kol is a word for a slave, whilst in the latter also kūleh means 'a male slave, a bondsman' (Redhouse). Khol is in Tibetan also a word for a servant or slave (Note from A. Schiefner; see also Jäschke's Tibetan Dict., 1881, p. 59). But with this the Indian term seems to have no connection. The familiar use of Cooly has extended to the Straits Settlements, Java, and China, as well as to all tropical and sub-tropical colonies, whether English or foreign.
In the quotations following, those in which the race is distinctly intended are marked with an *.
*1553.—"Soltan Badur ... ordered those pagans to be seized, and if they would not become Moors, to be flayed alive, saying that was all the black-mail the Collijs should get from Champanel."—Barros, Dec. IV. liv. v. cap. 7.
*1563.—"These Colles ... live by robbing and thieving at this day."—Garcia, f. 34.
*1584.—"I attacked and laid waste nearly fifty villages of the Kolís and Grassias, and I built forts in seven different places to keep these people in check."—Ṭabaḳāt-i-Akbarī, in Elliot, v. 447.
*1598.—"Others that yet dwell within the countrie called Colles: which Colles ... doe yet live by robbing and stealing...."—Linschoten, ch. xxvii.; [Hak. Soc. i. 166].
page 250b*1616.—"Those who inhabit the country villages are called Coolees; these till the ground and breed up cattle."—Terry, in Purchas; [ed. 1777, p. 180].
*"The people called Collees or Quillees."—In Purchas, i. 436.
1630.—"The husbandmen or inferior sort of people called the Coulies."—Lord's Display, &c., ch. xiii.
1638.—"He lent us horses to ride on, and Cowlers (which are Porters) to carry our goods."—W. Bruton, in Hakl. v. 49.
In this form there was perhaps an indefinite suggestion of the cowl-staff used in carrying heavy loads.
1644.—"In these lands of Damam the people who dwell there as His Majesty's Vassals are heathen, whom they call Collis, and all the Padres make great complaints that the owners of the aldeas do not look with favour on the conversion of these heathen Collis, nor do they consent to their being made Christians, lest there thus may be hindrance to the greater service which is rendered by them when they remain heathen."—Bocarro (Port. MS.).
*1659.—"To relate how I got away from those Robbers, the Koullis ... how we became good Friends by the means of my Profession of Physick ... I must not insist upon to describe."—Bernier, E.T., p. 30; [ed. Constable, 91].
*c. 1666.—"Nous rencontrâmes quantité de Colys, qui sont gens d'une Caste ou tribut des Gentils, qui n'ont point d'habitation arrêtée, mais qui vont de village en village et portent avec eux tout leur ménage."—Thevenot, v. 21.
*1673.—"The Inhabitants of Ramnagur are the Salvages called Coolies...."—Fryer, 161.
" "Coolies, Frasses, and Holencores, are the Dregs of the People."—Ibid. 194.
1680.—"... It is therefore ordered forthwith that the drum be beat to call all coolies, carpenters...."—Official Memo. in Wheeler, i. 129.
*c. 1703.—"The Imperial officers ... sent ... ten or twelve sardārs, with 13,000 or 14,000 horse, and 7,000 or 8,000 trained Kolís of that country."—Khāfī Khān, in Elliot, vii. 375.
1711.—"The better sort of people travel in Palankeens, carry'd by six or eight Cooleys, whose Hire, if they go not far from Town, is threepence a Day each."—Lockyer, 26.
1726.—"Coeli's. Bearers of all sorts of Burdens, goods, Andols (see ANDOR) and Palankins...."—Valentijn, vol. v., Names, &c., 2.
*1727.—"Goga ... has had some Mud Wall Fortifications, which still defend them from the Insults of their Neighbours the Coulies."—A. Hamilton, i. 141; [ed. 1744, i. 142].
1755.—"The Families of the Coolies sent to the Negrais complain that Mr. Brook page 251ahas paid to the Head Cooley what money those who died there left behind them."—In Long, 54.
1785.—"... the officers were obliged to have their baggage transported upon men's heads over an extent of upwards of 800 miles, at the rate of 5l. per month for every couley or porter employed."—Carraccioli's L. of Clive, i. 243 seq.
1789.—"If you should ask a common cooly or porter, what cast he is of, he will answer, the same as Master, pariar-cast."—Munro's Narrative, 29.
1791.—"... deux relais de vigoreux coulis, ou porteurs, de quatre hommes chacun...."—B. de St. Pierre, La Chaumière Indienne, 15.
[1798.—"The Resident hopes all distinctions between the Cooley and Portuguese inhabitants will be laid aside."—Procl. in Logan, Malabar, iii. 302.]
*1813.—"Gudgerah, a large populous town surrounded by a wall, to protect it from the depredations of the Coolees, who are a very insolent set among the numerous and probably indigenous tribes of freebooters, and robbers in this part of India."—Forbes, Orient. Mem. iii. 63; [2nd ed. ii. 160; also see i. 146].
1817.—"These (Chinese) emigrants are usually employed as coolees or labourers on their first arrival (in Java)."—Raffles, H. of Java, i. 205.
*1820.—"In the profession of thieving the Koolees may be said to act con amore. A Koolee of this order, meeting a defenceless person in a lane about dusk, would no more think of allowing him to pass unplundered than a Frenchman would a woman without bowing to her; it may be considered a point of honour of the caste."—Tr. Lit. Soc. Bo. iii. 335.
*1825.—"The head man of the village said he was a Kholee, the name of a degenerate race of Rajpoots in Guzerat, who from the low occupations in which they are generally employed have (under the corrupt name of Coolie) given a name, probably through the medium of the Portuguese, to bearers of burdens all over India."—Heber, ed. 1844, ii. 92.
1867.—"Bien que de race différente les Coolies et les Chinois sont comportés à peu-près de même."—Quatrefages, Rapport sur le Progrès de l'Anthropologie, 219.
1871.—"I have hopes for the Coolies in British Guiana, but it will be more sure and certain when the immigration system is based on better laws."—Jenkins, The Coolie.
1873.—"The appellant, the Hon. Julian Pauncefote, is the Attorney-General for the Colony (Hong Kong) and the respondent Hwoka-Sing is a Coolie or labourer, and a native of China."—Report of Case before Jud. Com. of Privy Council.
" "A man (Col. Gordon) who had wrought such wonders with means so modest as a levy of Coolies ... needed, we may page 251bbe sure, only to be put to the highest test to show how just those were who had marked him out in his Crimean days as a youth whose extraordinary genius for war could not be surpassed in the army that lay before Sebastopol."—Sat. Review, Aug. 16, 203.
The word Cooly has passed into English thieves' jargon in the sense of 'a soldier' (v. Slang Dict.).
COOMKEE, adj., used as sub. This is a derivative from P. kumak, 'aid,' and must have been widely diffused in India, for we find it specialised in different senses in the extreme West and East, besides having in both the general sense of 'auxiliary.'
[(a) In the Moghul army the term is used for auxiliary troops.
(b) Kumakī, in N. and S. Canara, is applied to a defined portion of forest, from which the proprietor of the village or estate has the privilege of supplying himself with wood for house-building, &c. (except from the reserved kinds of wood), with leaves and twigs for manure, fodder, &c. (See COOMRY). [The system is described by Sturrock, Man. S. Canara, i. 16, 224 seqq.]
(c). Koomkee, in Bengal, is the technical name of the female elephant used as a decoy in capturing a male.
[1873.—"It was an interesting sight to see the captive led in between two khoonkies or tame elephants."—Cooper, Mishmee Hills, 88.
page 252aCOOMRY, s. [Can. kumari, from Mahr. kumbarī, 'a hill slope of poor soil.'] Kumari cultivation is the S. Indian (especially in Canara), [Sturrock, S. Canara Man. i. 17], appellation of that system pursued by hill-people in many parts of India and its frontiers, in which a certain tract of forest is cut down and burnt, and the ground planted with crops for one or two seasons, after which a new site is similarly treated. This system has many names in different regions; in the east of Bengal it it known as jhūm (see JHOOM); in Burma as tounggyan; [in parts of the N.W.P. dahya, Skt. daha, 'burning'; ponam in Malabar; ponacaud in Salem]. We find kumried as a quasi-English participle in a document quoted by the High Court, Bombay, in a judgment dated 27th January, 1879, p. 227.
COONOOR, n.p. A hill-station in the Neilgherries. Kuṇṇur, 'Hill-Town.' [The Madras Gloss. gives Can. Kunnūru, Skt. kunna, 'small,' Can. ūru, 'village.']
COORG, n.p. A small hill State on the west of the table-land of Mysore, in which lies the source of the Cauvery, and which was annexed to the British Government, in consequence of cruel misgovernment in 1834. The name is a corruption of Kŏḍagu, of which Gundert says: "perhaps from koḍu, 'steep,' or Tamil kaḍaga, 'west.'" [For various other speculations on the derivation, see Oppert, Original Inhabit., 162 seqq. The Madras Gloss. seems to refer it to Skt. kroḍadeśa, 'hog-land,' from "the tradition that the inhabitants had nails on hands and feet like a boar."] Coorg is also used for a native of the country, in which case it stands for Kŏḍaga.
COORSY, s. H.—from Ar.—kursī [which is used for the stand on which the Koran is laid]. It is the word page 252busually employed in Western India for 'a chair,' and is in the Bengal Presidency a more dignified term than chaukī (see CHOKY). Kursī is the Arabic form, borrowed from the Aramaic, in which the emphatic state is kursĕyā. But in Hebrew the word possesses a more original form with ss for rs (kisse, the usual word in the O. T. for 'a throne'). The original sense appears to be 'a covered seat.'
COOSUMBA, s. H. kusum, kusumbha, Safflower, q.v. But the name is applied in Rajputana and Guzerat to the tincture of opium, which is used freely by Rājputs and others in those territories; also (according to Shakespear) to an infusion of Bang (q.v.).
COOTUB, THE, n.p. The Ḳuṭb Minār, near Delhi, one of the most remarkable of Indian architectural antiquities, is commonly so called by Europeans. It forms the minaret of the Great Mosque, now long in ruins, which Ḳuṭb-uddīn Ībak founded A.D. 1191, immediately after the capture of Delhi, and which was built out of the materials of numerous Hindu temples, as is still manifest. According to the elaborate investigation of Gen. A. Cunningham [Arch. Rep. i. 189 seqq.], the magnificent Minār was begun by Ḳuṭb-uddīn Ībak about 1200, and completed by his successor Shamsuddīn Iyaltimish about 1220. The tower has undergone, in its upper part, various restorations. The height as it now stands is 238 feet 1 inch. The traditional name of the tower no doubt had reference to the name of its founder, but also there may have been a reference to the contemporary Saint, Ḳuṭb-uddīn Ūshī, whose tomb is close by; and perhaps also to the meaning of the name Ḳuṭb-uddīn, 'The Pole or page 253aAxle of the Faith,' as appropriate to such a structure.
c. 1340.—"In the northern court of the mosque stands the minaret (al-ṣauma'a), which is without a parallel in all the countries of Islām.... It is of surpassing height; the pinnacle is of milk-white marble, and the globes which decorate it are of pure gold. The aperture of the staircase is so wide that elephants can ascend, and a person on whom I could rely told me that when the minaret was a-building, he saw an elephant ascend to the very top with a load of stones."—Ibn Batuta, iii. 151.
The latter half of the last quotation is fiction.
1663.—"At two Leagues off the City on Agra's side, in a place by the Mahumetans called Koja Kotubeddine, there is a very ancient Edifice which hath been a Temple of Idols...."—Bernier, E.T. 91.
It is evident from this that Bernier had not then visited the Ḳuṭb. [Constable in his tr. reads "Koia Kotub-eddine," by which he understands Koh-i-Ḳuṭab-uddīn, the hill or eminence of the Saint, p. 283.]
COPECK, s. This is a Russian coin, $^1$⁄$_{100}$ of a ruble. The degeneration of coin denominations is often so great that we may suspect this name to preserve that of the dīnār Kopekī often mentioned in the histories of Timur and his family. Kopek is in Turki, 'dog,' and Charmoy explains the term as equivalent to Abū-kalb, 'Father of a dog,' formerly applied in Egypt to Dutch crowns (Löwenthaler) bearing a lion. There could not be Dutch coins in Timur's time, but some other Frank coin bearing a lion may have been so called, probably Venetian. A Polish coin with a lion on it was called by a like name (see Macarius, quoted below, p. 169). Another etymology of kopek suggested (in Chaudoir, Aperçu des Monnaies Russes) is from Russ. kopié, kopyé, a pike, many old Russian coins representing the Prince on horseback with a spear. [This is accepted by the N.E.D.] Kopeks are mentioned in page 253bthe reign of Vassili III., about the middle of the 15th century, but only because regularly established in the coinage c. 1536. [See TANGA.]
1535.—"It was on this that the Grand Duchess Helena, mother of Ivan Vassilievitch, and regent in his minority, ordered, in 1535, that these new Dengui should be melted down and new ones struck, at the rate of 300 dengui, or 3 Roubles of Moscow à la grivenka, in Kopeks.... From that time accounts continued to be kept in Roubles, Kopeks, and Dengui."—Chaudoir, Aperçu.
c. 1655.—"The pension in lieu of provisions was, for our Lord the Patriarch 25 copecks daily."—Travels of the Patriarch Macarius, Or. Tr. Fund, i. 281.
COPPERSMITH, s. Popular name both in H. (tambayat) and English of the crimson-breasted barbet (Xantholaema indica, Latham). See the quotation from Jerdon.
1879.—
"... In the mango-sprays The sun-birds flashed; alone at his green forge Toiled the loud Coppersmith...." The Light of Asia, p. 20.
COPRAH, s. The dried kernel of the coco-nut, much used for the expression of its oil, and exported largely from the Malabar ports. The Portuguese probably took the word from the Malayāl. koppara, which is, however, apparently borrowed from the H. khoprā, of the same meaning. The page 254alatter is connected by some with khapnā, 'to dry up.' Shakespear however, more probably, connects khoprā, as well as khoprī, 'a skull, a shell,' and khappar, 'a skull,' with Skt. kharpara, having also the meaning of 'skull.' Compare with this a derivation which we have suggested (s.v.) as possible of coco from old Fr. and Span. coque, coco, 'a shell'; and with the slang use of coco there mentioned.
1578.—"The kernel of these cocos is dried in the sun, and is called copra.... From this same copra oil is made in presses, as we make it from olives."—Acosta, 104.
1584.—"Chopra, from Cochin and Malabar...."—Barret, in Hakl. ii. 413.
1598.—"The other Oyle is prest out of the dried Cocus, which is called Copra...."—Linschoten, 101. See also (1602), Couto, Dec. I. liv. iv. cap. 8; (1606) Gouvea, f. 62b; [(1610) Pyrard de Laval, Hak. Soc. ii. 384 (reading kuppara for suppara);] (c. 1690) Rumphius, Herb. Amb. i. 7.
1727.—"That tree (coco-nut) produceth ... Copera, or the Kernels of the Nut dried, and out of these Kernels there is a very clear Oil exprest."—A. Hamilton, i. 307; [ed. 1744, i. 308].
1860.—"The ordinary estimate is that one thousand full-grown nuts of Jaffna will yield 525 pounds of Copra when dried, which in turn will produce 25 gallons of cocoa-nut oil."—Tennent, Ceylon, ii. 531.
1878.—It appears from Lady Brassey's Voyage in the Sunbeam (5th ed. 248) that this word is naturalised in Tahiti.
CORAL-TREE, s. Erythrina indica, Lam., so called from the rich scarlet colour of its flowers.
CORCOPALI, s. This is the name of a fruit described by Varthema, Acosta, and other old writers, the identity of which has been the subject of much conjecture. It is in reality the Garcinia indica, Choisy (N. O. Guttiferae), a tree of the Concan and Canara, which belongs to the same genus as the mangosteen, and as the tree affording the gamboge (see CAMBOJA) of commerce. It produces an agreeable, acid, purple fruit, which the Portuguese call brindões. From the seeds a fatty oil is drawn, known as kokun butter. The name in Malayāl. is koḍukka, and this possibly, with the addition of puli, 'acid,' gave rise to the name before us. It is stated in the English Cyclopaedia (Nat. Hist. s.v. Garcinia) that in Travancore the fruit is called by the natives gharka pulli, and in Ceylon goraka. Forbes Watson's 'List of Indian Productions' gives as synonyms of the Garcinia cambogia tree 'karka-puliemaram?' Tam.; 'kurka-pulie,' Mal.; and 'goraka-gass,' Ceyl. [The Madras Gloss. calls it Mate mangosteen, a ship term meaning 'cook-room mangosteen'; Can. murginahuli, 'twisted tamarind'; Mal. punampuli, 'stiff tamarind.'] The Cyclopædia also contains some interesting particulars regarding the uses in Ceylon of the goraka. But this Ceylon tree is a different species (G. Gambogia, Desrous). Notwithstanding its name it does not produce gamboge; its gum being insoluble in water. A figure of G. indica is given in Beddome's Flora Sylvatica, pl. lxxxv. [A full account of Kokam butter will be found in Watt, Econ. Dict. iii. 467 seqq.]
1578.—"Carcapuli is a great tree, both lofty and thick; its fruit is in size and aspect like an orange without a rind, all divided in lobes...."—Acosta, Tractado, 357.
(This author gives a tolerable cut of the page 255afruit; there is an inferior plate in Debry, iv. No. xvii.).
CORGE, COORGE, &c., s. A mercantile term for 'a score.' The word is in use among the trading Arabs and others, as well as in India. It is established in Portuguese use apparently, but the Portuguese word is almost certainly of Indian origin, and this is expressly asserted in some Portuguese Dictionaries (e.g. Lacerda's, Lisbon, 1871). Koṛī is used exactly in the same way by natives all over Upper India. Indeed, the vulgar there in numeration habitually say do koṛī, tīn koṛī, for 40, 60, and so forth. The first of our quotations shows the word in a form very closely allied to this, and explaining the transition. Wilson gives Telugu khorjam, "a bale or lot of 20 pieces, commonly called a corge." [The Madras Gloss. gives Can. korji, Tel. khorjam, as meaning either a measure of capacity, about 44 maunds, or a Madras town cloth measure of 20 pieces.] But, unless a root can be traced, this may easily be a corruption of the trade-word. Littré explains corge or courge as "Paquet de toile de coton des Indes"; and Marcel Devic says: "C'est vraisemblablement l'Arabe khordj"—which means a saddlebag, a portmanteau. Both the definition and the etymology seem to miss the essential meaning of corge, which is that of a score, and not that of a packet or bundle, unless by accident.
1525.—"A corjá dos quotonyas grandes vale (250) tamgas."—Lembrança, das Cousas da India, 48.
1554.—"The nut and mace when gathered were bartered by the natives for common kinds of cloth, and for each korja of these ... they gave a bahar of mace ... and seven bahars of the nut."—Castanheda, vi. 8.
page 255b[1605–6.—"Note the cody or corge is a bondell or set nomber of 20 pieces."—Birdwood, First Letter Book, 80.]
1612.—"White callicos from twentie to fortie Royals the Corge (a Corge being twentie pieces), a great quantitie."—Capt. Saris, in Purchas, i. 347.
1612–13.—"They returning brought doune the Mustraes of everie sort, and the prices demanded for them per Corge."—Dounton, in Purchas, i. 299.
1615.—
| "6 pec. whit baftas of 16 and 17 Rs. | corg. |
| 6 pec. blew byrams, of 15 Rs. | corg. |
| 6 pec. red zelas, of 12 Rs. | corg." |
| Cocks's Diary, i. 75. ||
1622.—Adam Denton ... admits that he made "90 corge of Pintadoes" in their house at Patani, but not at their charge.—Sainsbury, iii. 42.
1644.—"To the Friars of St. Francis for their regular yearly allowance, a cow every week, 24 candies of wheat, 15 sacks of rice girasol, 2 sacks of sugar, half a candy of sero (qu. sevo, 'tallow,' 'grease,'?) ½ candy of coco-nut oil, 6 maunds of butter, 4 corjas of cotton stuffs, and 25,920 rés for dispensary medicines (mezinhas de bottica)."—Bocarro, MS. f. 217.
c. 1670.—"The Chites ... which are made at Lahor ... are sold by Corges, every Corge consisting of twenty pieces...."—Tavernier, On the Commodities of the Domns. of the Great Mogul, &c., E.T. p. 58; [ed. Ball, ii. 5].
1747.—"Another Sett of Madrass Painters ... being examined regarding what Goods were Remaining in their hands upon the Loss of Madrass, they acknowledge to have had 15 Corge of Chints then under their Performance, and which they acquaint us is all safe ... but as they have lost all their Wax and Colours, they request an Advance of 300 Pagodas for the Purchase of more...."—Consns. Fort St. David, Aug. 13. MS. Records in India Office.
c. 1760.—"At Madras ... 1 gorge is 22 pieces."—Grose, i. 284.
" "No washerman to demand for 1 corge of pieces more than 7 pun of cowries."—In Long, 239.
1784.—In a Calcutta Lottery-list of prizes we find "55 corge of Pearls."—In Seton-Karr, i. 33.
[c. 1809.—"To one korj or 20 pieces of Tunzebs ... 50 rs."—Buchanan Hamilton, Eastern India, i. 398.]
1810.—"I recollect about 29 years back, when marching from Berhampore to Cawnpore with a detachment of European recruits, seeing several coarges (of sheep) bought for their use, at 3 and 3½ rupees! at the latter rate 6 sheep were purchased for a rupee ... five pence each."—Williamson, V. M. i. 293.
page 256aCORINGA, n.p. Koringa; probably a corruption of Kalinga [see KLING]. [The Madras Gloss. gives the Tel. korangi, 'small cardamoms.'] The name of a seaport in Godāvari Dist. on the northern side of the Delta. ["The only place between Calcutta and Trincomalee where large vessels used to be docked."—Morris, Godavery Man., p. 40.]
CORLE, s. Singh. kōrale, a district.
CORNAC, s. This word is used, by French writers especially, as an Indian word, and as the equivalent of Mahout (q.v.), or driver of the elephant. Littré defines: "Nom qu'on donne dans les Indes au conducteur d'un éléphant," &c., &c., adding: "Etym. Sanskrit karnikin, éléphant." "Dans les Indes" is happily vague, and the etymology worthless. Bluteau gives Cornâca, but no etymology. In Singhalese Kūrawa = 'Elephant Stud.' (It is not in the Singhalese Dict., but it is in the official Glossary of Terms, &c.), and our friend Dr. Rost suggests Kūrawa-nāyaka, 'Chief of the Kūrawa' as a probable origin. This is confirmed by the form Cournakea in Valentijn, and by another title which he gives as used for the head of the Elephant Stable at Matura, viz. Gaginaicke (Names, &c., p. 11), i.e. Gaji-nāyaka, from Gaja, 'an elephant.' [The N.E.D. remarks that some authorities give for the first part of the word Skt. kari, 'elephant.']
1685.—"O cornaca q̃ estava de baixo delle tinha hum laço que metia em hũa das mãos ao bravo."—Ribeiro, f. 49b.
1712.—"The aforesaid author (P. Fr. Gaspar de S. Bernardino in his Itinerary), relates that in the said city (Goa), he saw three Elephants adorned with jewels, adoring the most Holy Sacrament at the Sè Gate on the Octave of Easter, on which day in India they make the procession of Corpus Domini, because of the calm weather. I doubt not that the Cornacas of these animals had taught them to perform these acts of apparent adoration. But at page 256bthe same time there appears to be Religion and Piety innate in the Elephant."—In Bluteau, s.v. Elephante.
1726.—"After that (at Mongeer) one goes over a great walled area, and again through a gate, which is adorned on either side with a great stone elephant with a Carnak on it."—Valentijn, v. 167.
" "Cournakeas, who stable the new-caught elephants, and tend them."—Valentijn, Names, &c., 5 (in vol. v.).
1727.—"As he was one Morning going to the River to be washed, with his Carnack or Rider on his Back, he chanced to put his Trunk in at the Taylor's Window."—A. Hamilton, ii. 110; [ed. 1744, ii. 109]. This is the only instance of English use that we know (except Mr. Carl Bock's; and he is not an Englishman, though his book is in English). It is the famous story of the Elephant's revenge on the Tailor.
[1831.—"With the same judgment an elephant will task his strength, without human direction. 'I have seen,' says M. D'Obsonville, 'two occupied in beating down a wall which their cornacs (keepers) had desired them to do....'"—Library of Entertaining Knowledge, Quadrupeds, ii. 157.]
COROMANDEL, n.p. A name which has been long applied by Europeans to the Northern Tamil Country, or (more comprehensively) to the eastern coast of the Peninsula of India from Pt. Calimere northward to the mouth of the Kistna, sometimes to Orissa. It corresponds pretty nearly to the Maabar of Marco Polo and the Mahommedan writers of his age, though that is defined more accurately as from C. Comorin to Nellore.
Much that is fanciful has been written on the origin of this name. Tod makes it Kūrū-mandala, the Realm of the Kūrūs (Trans. R. As. Soc. iii. 157). Bp. Caldwell, in the first edition of his Dravidian Grammar, suggested that European traders might have taken this familiar name from that of Karumaṇal ('black sand'), the name of a small village on the coast north of Madras, which is habitually pronounced and written Coromandel by European residents at Madras. [The same suggestion was made earlier (see Wilks, Hist. Sketches, ed. 1869, i. 5, page 257anote)]. The learned author, in his second edition, has given up this suggestion, and has accepted that to which we adhere. But Mr. C. P. Brown, the eminent Telugu scholar, in repeating the former suggestion, ventures positively to assert: "The earliest Portuguese sailors pronounced this Coromandel, and called the whole coast by this name, which was unknown to the Hindus"; a passage containing in three lines several errors. Again, a writer in the Ind. Antiquary (i. 380) speaks of this supposed origin of the name as "pretty generally accepted," and proceeds to give an imaginative explanation of how it was propagated. These etymologies are founded on a corrupted form of the name, and the same remark would apply to Khara-maṇḍalam, the 'hot country,' which Bp. Caldwell mentions as one of the names given, in Telugu, to the eastern coast. Padre Paolino gives the name more accurately as Ciola (i.e. Chola) maṇḍalam, but his explanation of it as meaning the Country of Cholam (or juwārī—Sorghum vulgare, Pers.) is erroneous. An absurd etymology is given by Teixeira (Relacion de Harmuz, 28; 1610). He writes: "Choromãdel or Choro Bãdel, i.e. Rice Port, because of the great export of rice from thence." He apparently compounds H. chaul, chāwal, 'cooked rice' (!) and bandel, i.e. bandar (q.v.) 'harbour.' This is a very good type of the way etymologies are made by some people, and then confidently repeated.
The name is in fact Chôṛamaṇḍala, the Realm of Chôṛa; this being the Tamil form of the very ancient title of the Tamil Kings who reigned at Tanjore. This correct explanation of the name was already given by D'Anville (see Éclaircissemens, p. 117), and by W. Hamilton in 1820 (ii. 405), by Ritter, quoting him in 1836 (Erdkunde, vi. 296); by the late M. Reinaud in 1845 (Relation, &c., i. lxxxvi.); and by Sir Walter Elliot in 1869 (J. Ethnol. Soc. N.S. i. 117). And the name occurs in the forms Cholamaṇḍalam or Solamaṇḍalam on the great Temple inscription of Tanjore (11th century), and in an inscription of A.D. 1101 at a temple page 257bdedicated to Varāhasvāmi near the Seven Pagodas. We have other quite analogous names in early inscriptions, e.g. Īlamaṇḍalam (Ceylon), Cheramaṇḍalam, Tondaimaṇḍalam, &c.
Chola, as the name of a Tamil people and of their royal dynasty appears as Choḍa in one of Asoka's inscriptions, and in the Telugu inscriptions of the Chālukya dynasty. Nor can we doubt that the same name is represented by Σῶρα of Ptolemy who reigned at Ἀρκατοῦ (Arcot), Σώρ-ναξ who reigned at Ὄρθουρα (Wariūr), and the Σῶραι νομάδες who dwelt inland from the site of Madras.
The word Soli, as applied to the Tanjore country, occurs in Marco Polo (Bk. iii. ch. 20), showing that Chola in some form was used in his day. Indeed Soli is used in Ceylon. And although the Choromandel of Baldaeus and other Dutch writers is, as pronounced in their language, ambiguous or erroneous, Valentijn (1726) calls the country Sjola, and defines it as extending from Negapatam to Orissa, saying that it derived its name from a certain kingdom, and adding that mandalam is 'kingdom.' So that this respectable writer had already distinctly indicated the true etymology of Coromandel.
Some old documents in Valentijn speak of the 'old city of Coromandel.' It is not absolutely clear what place was so called (probably by the Arabs in their fashion of calling a chief town by the name of the country), but the indications point almost certainly to Negapatam.
The oldest European mention of the name is, we believe, in the Roteiro de Vasco da Gama, where it appears as Chomandarla. The short Italian narrative of Hieronymo da Sto. Stefano is, however, perhaps earlier still, and he curiously enough gives the name in exactly the modern form "Coromandel," though perhaps his C page 258ahad originally a cedilla (Ramusio, i. f. 345v.). These instances suffice to show that the name was not given by the Portuguese. Da Gama and his companions knew the east coast only by hearsay, and no doubt derived their information chiefly from Mahommedan traders, through their "Moorish" interpreter. That the name was in familiar Mahommedan use at a later date may be seen from Rowlandson's Translation of the Tohfat-ul-Mujāhidīn, where we find it stated that the Franks had built fortresses "at Meelapoor (i.e. Mailapur or San Tomé) and Nagapatam, and other ports of Solmundul," showing that the name was used by them just as we use it (p. 153). Again (p. 154) this writer says that the Mahommedans of Malabar were cut off from extra-Indian trade, and limited "to the ports of Guzerat, the Concan, Solmondul, and the countries about Kaeel." At page 160 of the same work we have mention of "Coromandel and other parts," but we do not know how this is written in the original Arabic. Varthema (1510) has Ciormandel, i.e. Chormandel, but which Eden in his translation (1577, which probably affords the earliest English occurrence of the name) deforms into Cyromandel (f. 396b). [Albuquerque in his Cartas (see p. 135 for a letter of 1513) has Choromandell passim.] Barbosa has in the Portuguese edition of the Lisbon Academy, Charamandel; in the Span. MS. translated by Lord Stanley of Alderley, Cholmendel and Cholmender. D'Alboquerque's Commentaries (1557), Mendez Pinto (c. 1550) and Barros (1553) have Choromandel, and Garcia De Orta (1563) Charamandel. The ambiguity of the ch, soft in Portuguese and Spanish, but hard in Italian, seems to have led early to the corrupt form Coromandel, which we find in Parkes's Mendoza (1589), and Coromandyll, among other spellings, in the English version of Castanheda (1582). Cesare Federici has in the Italian (1587) Chiaramandel (probably pronounced soft in the Venetian manner), and the translation of 1599 has Coromandel. This form thenceforward generally prevails in English books, but not without exceptions. A Madras document of 1672 in Wheeler has Cormandell, and so have the early Bengal records in the India Office; Dampier (1689) has page 258bCoromondel (i. 509); Lockyer (1711) has "the Coast of Cormandel"; A. Hamilton (1727) Chormondel (i. 349); ed. 1744, i. 351; and a paper of about 1759, published by Dalrymple, has "Choromandel Coast" (Orient. Repert. i. 120–121). The poet Thomson has Cormandel:
"all that from the tract Of woody mountains stretch'd through gorgeous Ind Fall on Cormandel's Coast or Malabar." Summer.
The Portuguese appear to have adhered in the main to the correcter form Choromandel: e.g. Archivio Port. Oriental, fasc. 3, p. 480, and passim. A Protestant Missionary Catechism, printed at Tranquebar in 1713 for the use of Portuguese schools in India has: "na costa dos Malabaros que se chama Cormandel." Bernier has "la côte de Koromandel" (Amst. ed. ii. 322). W. Hamilton says it is written Choramandel in the Madras Records until 1779, which is substantially correct. In the MS. "List of Persons in the Service of the Rt. Honble. E. I. Company in Fort St. George and other places on the Coast of Choromandell," preserved in the Indian Office, that spelling continues down to 1778. In that year it is changed to Coromandel. In the French translation of Ibn Batuta (iv. 142) we find Coromandel, but this is only the perverse and misleading manner of Frenchmen, who make Julius Caesar cross from "France" to "England." The word is Ma'bar in the original. [Alboquerque (Comm. Hak. Soc. i. 41) speaks of a violent squall under the name of vara de Coromandel.]
CORPORAL FORBES, s. A soldier's grimly jesting name for Cholera Morbus.
CORRAL, s. An enclosure as used in Ceylon for the capture of wild elephants, corresponding to the Keddah of Bengal. The word is Sp. corral, 'a court,' &c., Port. curral, 'a cattle-pen, a paddock.' The Americans have the same word, direct from the Spanish, page 259ain common use for a cattle-pen; and they have formed a verb 'to corral,' i.e. to enclose in a pen, to pen. The word kraal applied to native camps and villages at the Cape of Good Hope appears to be the same word introduced there by the Dutch. The word corral is explained by Bluteau: "A receptacle for any kind of cattle, with railings round it and no roof, in which respect it differs from Corte, which is a building with a roof." Also he states that the word is used especially in churches for septum nobilium feminarum, a pen for ladies.
1404.—"And this mosque and these chapels were very rich, and very finely wrought with gold and azure, and enamelled tiles (azulejos); and within there was a great corral, with trees and tanks of water."—Clavijo, § cv. Comp. Markham, 123.
1672.—"About Mature they catch the Elephants with Coraals" (Coralen, but sing. Coraal).—Baldaeus, Ceylon, 168.
1860.—In Emerson Tennent's Ceylon, Bk. VIII. ch. iv. the corral is fully described.
CORUNDUM, s. This is described by Dana under the species Sapphire, as including the grey and darker coloured opaque crystallised specimens. The word appears to be Indian. Shakespear gives Hind. kuranḍ, Dakh. kurund. Littré attributes the origin to Skt. kuruvinda, which Williams gives as the name of several plants, but also as 'a ruby.' In Telugu we have kuruvindam, and in Tamil kurundam for the substance in present question; the last is probably the direct origin of the term.
COSMIN, n.p. This name is given by many travellers in the 16th and 17th centuries to a port on the western side of the Irawadi Delta, which must have been near Bassein, if not identical page 259bwith it. Till quite recently this was all that could be said on the subject, but Prof. Forchhammer of Rangoon has now identified the name as a corruption of the classical name formerly borne by Bassein, viz. Kusima or Kusumanagara, a city founded about the beginning of the 5th century. Kusima-maṇḍala was the western province of the Delta Kingdom which we know as Pegu. The Burmese corrupted the name of Kusuma into Kusmein and Kothein, and Alompra after his conquest of Pegu in the middle of the 18th century, changed it to Bathein. So the facts are stated substantially by Forchhammer (see Notes on Early Hist. and Geog. of Br. Burma, No. 2, p. 12); though familiar and constant use of the word Persaim, which appears to be a form of Bassein, in the English writings of 1750–60, published by Dalrymple (Or. Repertory, passim), seems hardly consistent with this statement of the origin of Bassein. [Col. Temple (Ind. Ant. xxii. 19 seqq.; J. R. A. S. 1893, p. 885) disputes the above explanation. According to him the account of the change of name by Alompra is false history; the change from initial p to k is not isolated, and the word Bassein itself does not date beyond 1780.]
The last publication in which Cosmin appears is the "Draught of the River Irrawaddy or Irabatty," made in 1796, by Ensign T. Wood of the Bengal Engineers, which accompanies Symes's Account (London, 1800). This shows both Cosmin, and Persaim or Bassein, some 30 or 40 miles apart. But the former was probably taken from an older chart, and from no actual knowledge.
1516.—"Anrique Leme set sail right well equipped, with 60 Portuguese. And pursuing his voyage he captured a junk belonging to Pegu merchants, which he carried off towards Martaban, in order to send it with a cargo of rice to Malaca, and so make a great profit. But on reaching the coast he could not make the port of Martaban, and had to make the mouth of the River of Pegu.... Twenty leagues from the bar there is another city called Cosmim, in which merchants buy and sell and do business...."—Correa, ii. 474.
page 260a1545.—"... and 17 persons only out of 83 who were on board, being saved in the boat, made their way for 5 days along the coast; intending to put into the river of Cosmim, in the kingdom of Pegu, there to embark for India (i.e. Goa) in the king's lacker ship...."—F. M. Pinto, ch. cxlvii.
1554.—"Cosmym ... the currency is the same in this port that is used in Peguu, for this is a seaport by which one goes to Peguu."—A. Nunez, 38.
1566.—"In a few days they put into Cosmi, a port of Pegu, where presently they gave out the news, and then all the Talapoins came in haste, and the people who were dwelling there."—Couto, Dec. viii. cap. 13.
c. 1570.—"They go it vp the riuer in foure daies ... with the flood, to a City called Cosmin ... whither the Customer of Pegu comes to take the note or markes of euery man.... Nowe from Cosmin to the citie Pegu ... it is all plaine and a goodly Country, and in 8 dayes you may make your voyage."—Cæsar Frederike, in Hakl. ii. 366–7.
1585.—"So the 5th October we came to Cosmi, the territory of which, from side to side is full of woods, frequented by parrots, tigers, boars, apes, and other like creatures."—G. Balbi, f. 94.
1587.—"We entered the barre of Negrais, which is a braue barre, and hath 4 fadomes water where it hath least. Three dayes after we came to Cosmin, which is a very pretie towne, and standeth very pleasantly, very well furnished with all things ... the houses are all high built, set vpon great high postes ... for feare of the Tygers, which be very many."—R. Fitch, in Hakl. ii. 390.
COSPETIR, n.p. This is a name which used greatly to perplex us on the 16th and 17th century maps of India, e.g. in Blaeu's Atlas (c. 1650), appearing generally to the west of the Ganges Delta. Considering how the geographical names of different ages and different regions sometimes get mixed up in old maps, we at one time tried to trace it to the Κασπάτυρος of Herodotus, which was certainly going far afield! The difficulty was solved by the sagacity of the deeply-lamented Prof. Blochmann, who has pointed out page 260b(J. As. Soc. Beng., xlii. pt. i. 224) that Cospetir represents the Bengali genitive of Gajpati, 'Lord of Elephants,' the traditional title of the Kings of Orissa. The title Gajpati was that one of the Four Great Kings who, according to Buddhist legend, divided the earth among them in times when there was no Chakravartti, or Universal Monarch (see CHUCKERBUTTY). Gajapati rules the South; Aśvapati (Lord of Horses) the North; Chhatrapati (Lord of the Umbrella) the West; Narapati (Lord of Men) the East. In later days these titles were variously appropriated (see Lassen, ii. 27 seq.). And Akbar, as will be seen below, adopted these names, with others of his own devising, for the suits of his pack of cards. There is a Raja Gajpati, a chief Zamindar of the country north of Patna, who is often mentioned in the wars of Akbar (see Elliot, v. 399 and passim, vi. 55, &c.) who is of course not to be confounded with the Orissa Prince.
1553.—"On the other or western side, over against the Kingdom of Orixa, the Bengalis (os Bengalos) hold the Kingdom of Cospetir, whose plains at the time of the risings of the Ganges are flooded after the fashion of those of the River Nile."—Barros, Dec. IV. ix. cap. I.
This and the next passage compared show that Barros was not aware that Cospetir and Gajpati were the same.
" "Of this realm of Bengala, and of other four realms its neighbours, the Gentoos and Moors of those parts say that God has given to each its peculiar gift: to Bengala infantry numberless; to the Kingdom of Orixa elephants; to that of Bisnaga men most skilful in the use of sword and shield; to the Kingdom of Dely multitudes of cities and towns; and to Cou a vast number of horses. And so naming them in this order they give them these other names, viz.: Espaty, Gaspaty, Noropaty, Buapaty, and Coapaty."—Barros, ibid. [These titles appear to be Aśvapati, "Lord of Horses"; Gajapati; Narapati, "Lord of Men"; Bhūpati, "Lord of Earth"; Gopati, "Lord of Cattle."]
c. 1590.—"His Majesty (Akbar) plays with the following suits of cards. 1st. Ashwapati, the lord of horses. The highest card represents a King on horseback, resembling the King of Dihli.... 2nd. Gajpati, the King whose power lies in the number of his elephants, as the ruler of Oṛisah.... 3rd. page 261aNarpati, a King whose power lies in his infantry, as is the case with the rulers of Bijápúr," &c.—Āīn, i. 306.
c. 1590.—"Orissa contains one hundred and twenty-nine brick forts, subject to the command of Gujeputty."—Ayeen (by Gladwin), ed. 1800, ii. 11; [ed. Jarrett, ii. 126].
COSS, s. The most usual popular measure of distance in India, but like the mile in Europe, and indeed like the mile within the British Islands up to a recent date, varying much in different localities.
The Skt. word is krośa, which also is a measure of distance, but originally signified 'a call,' hence the distance at which a man's call can be heard.
In the Pali vocabulary called Abhidhānappadīpīkā, which is of the 12th century, the word appears in the form koss; and nearly this, kos, is the ordinary Hindi. Kuroh is a Persian form of the word, which is often found in Mahommedan authors and in early travellers. These latter (English) often write course. It is a notable circumstance that, according to Wrangell, the Yakuts of N. Siberia reckon distance by kiosses (a word which, considering the Russian way of writing Turkish and Persian words, must be identical with kos). With them this measure is "indicated by the time necessary to cook a piece of meat." Kioss is = to about 5 versts, or 1⅔ miles, in hilly or marshy country, but on plain ground to 7 versts, or 2⅓ miles. The Yakuts are a Turk people, and their language is a Turki dialect. The suggestion arises whether the form kos may not have come with the page 261bMongols into India, and modified the previous krośa? But this is met by the existence of the word kos in Pali, as mentioned above.
In ancient Indian measurement, or estimation, 4 krośas went to the yojana. Sir H. M. Elliot deduced from distances in the route of the Chinese pilgrim Fa-hian that the yojana of his age was as nearly as possible 7 miles. Cunningham makes it 7½ or 8, Fergusson 6; but taking Elliot's estimate as a mean, the ancient kos would be 1¾ miles.
The kos as laid down in the Āīn [ed. Jarrett, iii. 414] was of 5000 gaz [see GUDGE]. The official decision of the British Government has assigned the length of Akbar's Ilāhī gaz as 33 inches, and this would make Akbar's kos = 2 m. 4 f. 183⅓ yards. Actual measurement of road distances between 5 pair of Akbar's kos-minārs, near Delhi, gave a mean of 2 m. 4 f. 158 yards.
In the greater part of the Bengal Presidency the estimated kos is about 2 miles, but it is much less as you approach the N.W. In the upper part of the Doab, it is, with fair accuracy, 1¼ miles. In Bundelkhand again it is nearly 3 m. (Carnegy), or, according to Beames, even 4 m. [In Madras it is 2¼ m., and in Mysore the Sultānī kos is about 4 m.] Reference may be made on this subject to Mr. Thomas's ed. of Prinsep's Essays, ii. 129; and to Mr. Beames's ed. of Elliot's Glossary ("The Races of the N.-W. Provinces," ii. 194). The latter editor remarks that in several parts of the country there are two kinds of kos, a pakkā and a kachchā kos, a double system which pervades all the weights and measures of India; and which has prevailed also in many other parts of the world [see PUCKA].
c. 600.—"The descendant of Kukulstha (i.e. Rāma) having gone half a krośa...."—Raghuvamsā, xiii. 79.
c. 1340.—"As for the mile it is called among the Indians al-Kurūh."—Ibn Batuta, iii. 95.
" "The Sultan gave orders to assign me a certain number of villages.... page 262aThey were at a distance of 16 Kurūhs from Dihli."—Ibn Batuta, 388.
c. 1470.—"The Sultan sent ten viziers to encounter him at a distance of ten Kors (a kor is equal to 10 versts)...."—Ath. Nikitin, 26, in India in the XVth Cent.
" "From Chivil to Jooneer it is 20 Kors; from Jooneer to Beder 40; from Beder to Kulongher, 9 Kors; from Beder to Koluberg, 9."—Ibid. p. 12.
1528.—"I directed Chikmâk Beg, by a writing under the royal hand and seal, to measure the distance from Agra to Kâbul; that at every nine kos he should raise a minâr or turret, twelve gez in height, on the top of which he was to construct a pavilion...."—Baber, 393.
1537.—"... that the King of Portugal should hold for himself and all his descendants, from this day forth for aye, the Port of the City of Mangualor (in Guzerat) with all its privileges, revenues, and jurisdiction, with 2½ coucees round about...."—Treaty in S. Botelho, Tombo, 225.
c. 1550.—"Being all unmanned by their love of Raghoba, they had gone but two Kos by the close of day, then scanning land and water they halted."—Rāmāyana of Tulsī Dās, by Growse, 1878, p. 119.
[1604.—"At the rate of four coss (Coces) the league by the calculation of the Moors."—Couto, Dec. XII., Bk. I. cap. 4.]
1616.—"The three and twentieth arrived at Adsmeere, 219 Courses from Brampoore, 418 English miles, the Courses being longer than towards the Sea."—Sir T. Roe, in Purchas, i. 541; [Hak. Soc. i. 105].
" "The length of these forenamed Provinces is North-West to South-East, at the least 1000 Courses, every Indian Course being two English miles."—Terry, in Purchas, ii. 1468.
1623.—"The distance by road to the said city they called seven cos, or corū, which is all one; and every cos or corū is half a ferseng or league of Persia, so that it will answer to a little less than two Italian [English] miles."—P. della Valle, ii. 504; [Hak. Soc. i. 23].
1648.—"... which two Coss are equivalent to a Dutch mile."—Van Twist, Gen. Beschrijv. 2.
COSSACK, s. It is most probable that this Russian term for the military tribes of various descent on what was the S. frontier of the Empire has come originally from ḳazzāḳ, a word of obscure origin, but which from its adoption in Central Asia we may venture to call Turki. [Schuyler, Turkistan, i. 8.] It appears in Pavet de Courteille's Dict. Turk-Oriental as page 262b"vagabond; aventurier ...; onagre que ses compagnons chassent loin d'eux." But in India it became common in the sense of 'a predatory horseman' and freebooter.
[1609.—In a Letter from the Company to the factors at Bantam mention is made of one "Sophony Cosuke," or as he is also styled in the Court Minutes "the Russe."—Birdwood, First Letter Book, 288.]
1618.—"Cossacks (Cosacchi) ... you should know, is not the name of a nation, but of a collection of people of various countries and sects (though most of them Christians) who without wives or children, and without horses, acknowledge obedience to no prince; but dwelling far from cities in fastnesses among the woods or mountains, or rivers ... live by the booty of their swords ... employ themselves in perpetual inroads and cruisings by land and sea to the detriment of their nearest enemies, i.e. of the Turks and other Mahometans.... As I have heard from them, they promise themselves one day the capture of Constantinople, saying that Fate has reserved for them the liberation of that country, and that they have clear prophecies to that effect."—P. della Valle, i. 614 seq.
c. 1752.—"His kuzzaks ... were likewise appointed to surround and plunder the camp of the French...."—Hist. of Hydur Naik, tr. by Miles, p. 36.
1813.—"By the bye, how do Clarke's friends the Cossacks, who seem to be a band of Circassians and other Sarmatians, come to be called by a name which seems to belong to a great Toorkee tribe on the banks of the Jaxartes? Kuzzauk is used about Delhi for a highwayman. Can it be (as I have heard) an Arabic Mobaligh (exaggeration) from kizk (plunder) applied to all predatory tribes?"—Elphinstone, in Life, i. 264.
1819.—"Some dashing leader may ... gather a predatory band round his standard, which, composed as it would be of desperate adventurers, and commanded by a professional Kuzzauk, might still give us an infinite deal of trouble."—Ibid. ii. 68.
COSSID, s. A courier or running messenger; Arab. ḳāṣid.
[1687.—"Haveing detained the Cossetts 4 or 5 Daies."—Ibid. ii. lxix.]
1690.—"Therefore December the 2d. in the evening, word was brought by the Broker to our President, of a Cosset's Arrival with Letters from Court to the Vacinavish, injoyning our immediate Release."—Ovington, 416.
1748.—"The Tappies [ḍâk runners] on the road to Ganjam being grown so exceedingly indolent that he has called them in, being convinced that our packets may be forwarded much faster by Cassids [mounted postmen]."—In Long, p. 3.
c. 1759.—"For the performance of this arduous ... duty, which required so much care and caution, intelligencers of talent, and Kasids or messengers, who from head to foot were eyes and ears ... were stationed in every quarter of the country."—H. of Hydur Naik, 126.
COSSIMBAZAR, n.p. Properly Kāsimbāzār. A town no longer existing, which closely adjoined the city of Murshīdābād, but preceded the latter. It was the site of one of the most important factories of the East India Company in their mercantile days, and was indeed a chief centre of all foreign trade in Bengal during the 17th century. ["In 1658 the Company established a factory at Cossimbazaar, 'Castle Bazaar.'"—(Birdwood Rep. on Old Rec. 219.)] Fryer (1673) calls it Castle Buzzar (p. 38).
1676.—"Kassembasar, a Village in the Kingdom of Bengala, sends abroad every year two and twenty thousand Bales of Silk; every Bale weighing a hunder'd pound."—Tavernier, E.T. ii. 126; [Ball, ed. ii. 2].
COSSYA, n.p. More properly Kāsia, but now officially Khāsi; in the language of the people themselves page 263bkī-Kāsī, the first syllable being a prefix denoting the plural. The name of a hill people of Mongoloïd character, occupying the mountains immediately north of Silhet in Eastern Bengal. Many circumstances in relation to this people are of high interest, such as their practice, down to our own day, of erecting rude stone monuments of the menhir and dolmen kind, their law of succession in the female line, &c. Shillong, the modern seat of administration of the Province of Assam, and lying midway between the proper valley of Assam and the plain of Silhet, both of which are comprehended in that government, is in the Kāsia country, at a height of 4,900 feet above the sea. The Kāsias seem to be the people encountered near Silhet by Ibn Batuta as mentioned in the quotation:
1780.—"The first thing that struck my observation on entering the arena was the similarity of the dresses worn by the different tribes of Cusseahs or native Tartars, all dressed and armed agreeable to the custom of the country or mountain from whence they came."—Hon. R. Lindsay, in Lives of the Lindsays, iii. 182.
1789.—"We understand the Cossyahs who inhabit the hills to the north-westward of Sylhet, have committed some very daring acts of violence."—In Seton-Karr, ii. 218.
COSTUS. (See PUTCHOCK.)
COT, s. A light bedstead. There is a little difficulty about the true origin of this word. It is universal as a sea-term, and in the South of India. In Northern India its place has been very generally taken by charpoy (q.v.), and cot, though well understood, is not in such prevalent European use as it formerly was, except as applied to barrack furniture, and among soldiers and their families. Words with this last characteristic have very frequently been introduced page 264afrom the south. There are, however, both in north and south, vernacular words which may have led to the adoption of the term cot in their respective localities. In the north we have H. khāṭ and khaṭwā, both used in this sense, the latter also in Sanskrit; in the south, Tam. and Malayāl. kaṭṭil, a form adopted by the Portuguese. The quotations show, however, no Anglo-Indian use of the word in any form but cot.
The question of origin is perhaps further perplexed by the use of quatre as a Spanish term in the West Indies (see Tom Cringle below). A Spanish lady tells us that catre, or catre de tigera ("scissors-cot") is applied to a bedstead with X-trestles. Catre is also common Portuguese for a wooden bedstead, and is found as such in a dictionary of 1611. These forms, however, we shall hold to be of Indian origin; unless it can be shown that they are older in Spain and Portugal than the 16th century. The form quatre has a curious analogy (probably accidental) to chārpāī.
1557.—"The king commanded his men to furnish a tent on that spot, where the interview was to take place, all carpeted inside with very rich tapestries, and fitted with a sofa (catle) covered over with a silken cloth."—Alboquerque, Hak. Soc. ii. 204.
1566.—"The king was set on a catel (the name of a kind of field bedstead) covered with a cloth of white silk and gold...."—Damian de Goës, Chron. del R. Dom Emanuel, 48.
1600.—"He retired to the hospital of the sick and poor, and there had his cell, the walls of which were of coarse palm-mats. Inside there was a little table, and on it a crucifix of the wood of St. Thomé, covered with a cloth, and a breviary. There was also a catre of coir, with a stone for pillow; and this completes the inventory of the furniture of that house."—Lucena, V. do P. F. Xavier, 199.
[1613.—"Here hired a catele and 4 men to have carried me to Agra."—Danvers, Letters, i. 277.
[1634.—"The better sort sleepe upon cots, or Beds two foot high, matted or done with girth-web."—Sir T. Herbert, Trav. 149. N.E.D.]
1648.—"Indian bedsteads or Cadels."—Van Twist, 64.
page 264b1673.—"... where did sit the King in State on a Cott or Bed."—Fryer, 18.
1678.—"Upon being thus abused the said Serjeant Waterhouse commanded the corporal Edward Short, to tie Savage down on his cot."—In Wheeler, i. 106.
1685.—"I hired 12 stout fellows ... to carry me as far as Lar in my cott (Palankeen fashion)...."—Hedges, Diary, July 29; [Hak. Soc. i. 203].
1688.—"In the East Indies, at Fort St. George, also Men take their Cotts or little Field-Beds and put them into the Yards, and go to sleep in the Air."—Dampier's Voyages, ii. Pt. iii.
1690.—"... the Cot or Bed that was by ...."—Ovington, 211.
1711.—In Canton Price Current: "Bamboo Cotts for Servants each ... 1 mace."—Lockyer, 150.
1768–71.—"We here found the body of the deceased, lying upon a kadel, or couch."—Stavorinus, E.T., i. 442.
1794.—"Notice is hereby given that sealed proposals will be received ... for supplying ... the different General Hospitals with clothing, cotts, and bedding."—In Seton-Karr, ii. 115.
1824.—"I found three of the party insisted upon accompanying me the first stage, and had despatched their camp-cots."—Seely, Ellora, ch. iii.
c. 1830.—"After being ... furnished with food and raiment, we retired to our quatres, a most primitive sort of couch, with a piece of canvas stretched over it."—Tom Cringle's Log, ed. 1863, p. 100.
COTAMALUCO, n.p. The title by which the Portuguese called the kings of the Golconda Dynasty, founded, like the other Mahommedan kingdoms of S. India, on the breaking up of the Bāhmani kingdom of the Deccan. It was a corruption of Ḳuṭb-ul-Mulk, the designation of the founder, retained as the style of the dynasty by Mahommedans as well as Portuguese (see extract from Akbar-nāma under IDALCAN).
COTIA, s. A fast-sailing vessel, with two masts and lateen sails, employed on the Malabar coast. Koṭṭiya is used in Malayāl.; [the Madras Gloss. writes the word kotyeh, and says that it comes from Ceylon;] yet the word hardly appears to be Indian. Bluteau however appears to give it as such (iii. 590).
c. 1580.—"In the gulf of Naguná ... I saw some Cutiás."—Primor e Honra, &c., f. 73.
COTTA, s. H. kaṭṭhā. A small land-measure in use in Bengal and Bahar, being the twentieth part of a Bengal bīghā (see BEEGAH), and containing eighty square yards.
COTTON, s. We do not seem to be able to carry this familiar word further back than the Ar. ḳuṭn, ḳuṭun, or ḳuṭunn, having the same meaning, whence Prov. coton, Port. cotão, It. cotone, Germ. Kattun. The Sp. keeps the Ar. article, algodon, whence old Fr. page 265bauqueton and hoqueton, a coat quilted with cotton. It is only by an odd coincidence that Pliny adduces a like-sounding word in his account of the arbores lanigerae: "ferunt mali cotonei amplitudine cucurbitas, quae maturitate ruptae ostendunt lanuginis pilas, ex quibus vestes pretioso linteo faciunt"—xii. 10 (21). [On the use and cultivation of cotton in the ancient world, see the authorities collected by Frazer, Pausanias, iii. 470, seqq.]
COTTON-TREE, SILK. (See SEEMUL.)
COTWAL, CUTWAUL, s. A police-officer; superintendent of police; native town magistrate. P. kotwāl, 'a seneschal, a commandant of a castle or fort.' This looks as if it had been first taken from an Indian word, koṭwālā; [Skt. koṭha- or koshṭha pālā 'castle-porter']; but some doubt arises whether it may not have been a Turki term. In Turki it is written kotāul, kotāwal, and seems to be regarded by both Vambéry and Pavet de Courteille as a genuine Turki word. V. defines it as: "Ketaul, garde de forteresse, chef de la garnison; nom d'un tribu d'Ozbegs;" P. "kotāwal, kotāwāl, gardien d'une citadelle." There are many Turki words of analogous form, as ḳarāwal, 'a vidette,' baḳāwal, 'a table-steward,' yasāwal, 'a chamberlain,' tangāwal, 'a patrol,' &c. In modern Bokhara Kataul is a title conferred on a person who superintends the Amir's buildings (Khanikoff, 241). On the whole it seems probable that the title was originally Turki, but was shaped by Indian associations.
[The duties of the Kotwāl, as head of the police, are exhaustively laid down in the Āīn (Jarrett, ii. 41). Amongst other rules: "He shall amputate the hand of any who is the pot-companion of an executioner, and the finger of such as converse with his family."] The office of Kotwāl in Western and Southern India, technically speaking, ceased about 1862, when the new police system (under Act, India, V. of 1861, and corresponding local page 266aActs) was introduced. In Bengal the term has been long obsolete. [It is still in use in the N.W.P. to designate the chief police officer of one of the larger cities or cantonments.]
1406–7.—"They fortified the city of Astarābād, where Abul Leïth was placed with the rank of Kotwal."—Abdurrazāk, in Not. et Extr. xiv. 123.
1553.—"The message of the Camorij arriving, Vasco da Gama landed with a dozen followers, and was received by a noble person whom they called Catual...."—Barros, Dec. I. liv. iv. ch. viii.
1572.—
"Na praya hum regedor do Regno estava Que na sua lingua Catual se chama." Camões, vii. 44.
By Burton:
"There stood a Regent of the Realm ashore, a chief, in native parlance 'Cat'ual' hight."
also the plural:
"Mas aquelles avaros Catuais Que o Gentilico povo governavam." Ibid. viii. 56.
1616.—Roe has Cutwall passim; [e.g. Hak. Soc. i. 90. &c.].
1727.—"Mr. Boucher being bred a Druggist in his youth, presently knew the Poison, and carried it to the Cautwaul or Sheriff, and showed it."—A. Hamilton, ii. 199. [In ed. 1744, ii. 199, cautwal].
1763.—"The Catwal is the judge and executor of justice in criminal cases."—Orme (ed. 1803), i. 26.
1812.—"... an officer retained from the former system, denominated cutwal, to whom the general police of the city and regulation of the market was entrusted."—Fifth Report, 44.
1847.—"The Kutwal ... seems to have done his duty resolutely and to the best of his judgment."—G. O. by Sir C. Napier, 121.
COUNSILLEE, s. This is the title by which the natives in Calcutta generally designate English barristers. It is the same use as the Irish one of Counsellor, and a corruption of that word.
COUNTRY, adj. This term is used colloquially, and in trade, as an adjective to distinguish articles produced page 266bin India (generally with a sub-indication of disparagement), from such as are imported, and especially imported from Europe. Indeed Europe (q.v.) was, and still occasionally is, used as the contrary adjective. Thus, 'country harness' is opposed to 'Europe harness'; 'country-born' people are persons of European descent, but born in India; 'country horses' are Indian-bred in distinction from Arabs, Walers (q.v.), English horses, and even from 'stud-breds,' which are horses reared in India, but from foreign sires; 'country ships' are those which are owned in Indian ports, though often officered by Europeans; country bottled beer is beer imported from England in cask and bottled in India; ['country-wound' silk is that reeled in the crude native fashion]. The term, as well as the H. desī, of which country is a translation, is also especially used for things grown or made in India as substitutes for certain foreign articles. Thus the Cicca disticha in Bombay gardens is called 'Country gooseberry'; Convolvulus batatas, or sweet potato, is sometimes called the 'country potato.' It was, equally with our quotidian root which has stolen its name, a foreigner in India, but was introduced and familiarised at a much earlier date. Thus again desī bādām, or 'country almond,' is applied in Bengal to the nut of the Terminalia Catappa. On desī, which is applied, among other things, to silk, the great Ritter (dormitans Homerus) makes the odd remark that desī is just Seide reversed! But it would be equally apposite to remark that Trigon-ometry is just Country-ometry reversed!
Possibly the idiom may have been taken up from the Portuguese, who also use it, e.g. 'açafrao da terra,' 'country saffron,' i.e. safflower, otherwise called bastard saffron, the term being sometimes applied to turmeric. But the source of the idiom is general, as the use of desī shows. Moreover the Arabic baladī, having the same literal meaning, is applied in a manner strictly analogous, including the note of disparagement, insomuch that it has been naturalised in Spanish as indicating 'of little or no value.' Illustrations of the mercantile use of beledi (i.e. baladī) will be found in a note to Marco Polo, 2nd ed. ii. 370. For the Spanish use we may quote the Dict. page 267aof Cobarruvias (1611): "Baladi, the thing which is produced at less cost, and is of small duration and profit." (See also Dozy and Engelmann, 232 seq.)
[1530.—"I at once sent some of these country men (homeens valadis) to the Thanas."—Alboquerque, Cartas, p. 148.]
1582.—"The Nayres maye not take anye Countrie women, and they also doe not marrie."—Castañeda, (by N. L.), f. 36.
[1608.—"The Country here are at dissension among themselves."—Danvers, Letters, i. 20.]
1619.—"The twelfth in the morning Master Methwold came from Messalipatam in one of the Countrey Boats."—Pring, in Purchas, i. 638.
1685.—"The inhabitants of the Gentoo Town, all in arms, bringing with them also elephants, kettle-drums, and all the Country music."—Wheeler, i. 140.
1747.—"It is resolved and ordered that a Serjeant with two Troopers and a Party of Country Horse, to be sent to Markisnah Puram to patroll...."—Ft. St. David Council of War, Dec. 25. MS. Records in India Office.
1752.—"Captain Clive did not despair ... and at ten at night sent one Shawlum, a serjeant who spoke the country languages, with a few sepoys to reconnoitre."—Orme, i. 211 (ed. 1803).
1769.—"I supped last night at a Country Captain's; where I saw for the first time a specimen of the Indian taste."—Teignmouth, Mem. i. 15.
1775.—"The Moors in what is called Country ships in East India, have also their chearing songs; at work in hoisting, or in their boats a rowing."—Forrest, V. to N. Guinea, 305.
1793.—"The jolting springs of country-made carriages, or the grunts of country-made carriers, commonly called palankeen-boys."—Hugh Boyd, 146.
1809.—"The Rajah had a drawing of it made for me, on a scale, by a country Draftsman of great merit."—Ld. Valentia, i. 356.
" "... split country peas...."—Maria Graham, 25.
1817.—"Since the conquest (of Java) a very extensive trade has been carried on by the English in country ships."—Raffles, H. of Java, i. 210.
COUNTRY-CAPTAIN, s. This is in Bengal the name of a peculiar dry page 267bkind of curry, often served as a breakfast dish. We can only conjecture that it was a favourite dish at the table of the skippers of 'country ships,' who were themselves called 'country captains,' as in our first quotation. In Madras the term is applied to a spatchcock dressed with onions and curry stuff, which is probably the original form. [Riddell says: "Country-captain.—Cut a fowl in pieces; shred an onion small and fry it brown in butter; sprinkle the fowl with fine salt and curry powder and fry it brown; then put it into a stewpan with a pint of soup; stew it slowly down to a half and serve it with rice" (Ind. Dom. Econ. 176).]
COURSE, s. The drive usually frequented by European gentlemen and ladies at an Indian station.
COURTALLUM, n.p. The name of a town in Tinnevelly [used as an European sanatorium (Stuart, Man. of Tinnevelly, 96)]; written in vernacular Kuttālam. We do not know its etymology. [The Madras Gloss. gives Trikūtāchala, Skt., the 'Three-peaked Mountain.']
COVENANTED SERVANTS. This term is specially applied to the regular Civil Service of India, whose members used to enter into a formal covenant with the East India Company, and do now with the Secretary of State for India. Many other classes of servants now go out to India under a variety of contracts and covenants, but the term in question continues to be appropriated as before. [See CIVILIAN.]
COVID, s. Formerly in use as the name of a measure, varying much locally in value, in European settlements not only in India but in China, &c. The word is a corruption, probably an Indo-Portuguese form, of the Port. covado, a cubit or ell.
[1616.—"Clothes of gould: ... were worth 100 rupies a cobde."—Sir T. Roe, Hak. Soc. i. 203.
[1617.—Cloth "here affoorded at a rupie and two in a cobdee vnder ours."—Ibid. ii. 409.]
1672.—"Measures of Surat are only two; the Lesser and the Greater Coveld [probably misprint for Coveed], the former of 27 inches English, the latter of 36 inches English."—Fryer, 206.
1720.—"Item. I leave 200 pagodas for a tomb to be erected in the burial place in form as follows. Four large pillars, each to be six covids high, and six covids distance one from the other; the top to be arched, and on each pillar a cherubim; and on the top of the arch the effigy of Justice."—Testament of Charles Davers, Merchant, in Wheeler, ii. 338.
[1726.—"Cobidos." See quotation under LOONGHEE.]
c. 1760.—According to Grose the covid at Surat was 1 yard English [the greater coveed of Fryer], at Madras ½ a yard; but he says also: "At Bengal the same as at Surat and Madras."
The measure has long been forgotten under this name in Bengal, though used under the native name hāth. From Milburn (i. 334, 341, &c.) it seems to have survived on the West Coast in the early part of last century, and possibly may still linger.
COVIL, s. Tam. kō-v-il, 'God-house,' a Hindu temple; and also (in Malabar) a palace, [also in the form Colghum, for Kovilagam]. In colloquial page 268buse in S. India and Ceylon. In S. India it is used, especially among the French, for 'a church'; also among the uneducated English.
COWCOLLY, n.p. The name of a well-known lighthouse and landmark at the entrance of the Hoogly, in Midnapur District. Properly, according to Hunter, Geonkhālī. In Thornton's English Pilot (pt. iii. p. 7, of 1711) this place is called Cockoly.
COW-ITCH, s. The irritating hairs on the pod of the common Indian climbing herb Mucuna pruriens, D.C., N. O. Leguminosae, and the plant itself. Both pods and roots are used in native practice. The name is doubtless the Hind. kewānch (Skt. kapi-kachchhu), modified in Hobson-Jobson fashion, by the 'striving after meaning.'
COWLE, s. A lease, or grant in writing; a safe-conduct, amnesty, or in fact any written engagement. The Emperor Sigismund gave Cowle to John Huss—and broke it. The word is Ar. ḳaul, 'word, promise, agreement,' and it has become technical in the Indian vernaculars, owing to the prevalence of Mahommedan Law.
[1613.—"Procured a cowl for such ships as should come."—Foster, Letters, ii. 17.]
1680.—"A Cowle granted by the Right Worshipful Streynsham Master, Esq., Agent and Governour for affairs of the Honorable East India Company in ffort St. George at Chinapatnam, by and with the advice of his Councell to all the Pegu Ruby Marchants...."—Fort St. George Cons. Feb. 23, in Notes and Extracts, No. iii. p. 10.
1688.—"The President has by private correspondence procured a Cowle for renting the Town and customs of S. Thomé."—Wheeler, i. 176.
1758.—"The Nawaub ... having mounted some large guns on that hill ... sent to the Killadar a Kowl-nama, or a summons and terms for his surrender."—H. of Hydur Naik, 123.
Sir A. Wellesley often uses the word in his Indian letters. Thus:
COWRY, s. Hind. kauṛī (kauḍī), Mahr. kavaḍī, Skt. kaparda, kapardika. The small white shell, Cypraea moneta, current as money extensively in parts of S. Asia and of Africa.
By far the most ancient mention of shell currency comes from Chinese literature. It is mentioned in the famous "Tribute of Yü" (or Yü-Kung); in the Shu-King (about the 14th cent. B.C.); and in the "Book of Poetry" (Shi-King), in an ode of the 10th cent. B.C. The Chinese seem to have adopted the use from the aborigines in the East and South; and they extended the system to tortoise-shell, and to other shells, the cowry remaining the unit. In 338 B.C., the King of Tsin, the supply of shells failing, suppressed the cowry currency, and issued copper coin, already adopted in other States of China. The usurper Wang Mang, who ruled A.D. 9–23, tried to revive the old systems, and issued rules instituting, in addition to the metallic money, ten classes of tortoise-shell and five of smaller shells, the value of all based on the cowry, which was worth 3 cash. [Cowries were part of the tribute paid by the aborigines of Puanit to Metesouphis I. (Maspero, Dawn of Civ., p. 427).]
The currency of cowries in India does not seem to be alluded to by any Greek or Latin author. It is mentioned by Maṣ'ūdī (c. 943), and their use for small change in the Indo-Chinese countries is repeatedly spoken of by Marco Polo, who calls them pourcelaines, the name by which this kind of shell was known in Italy (porcellane) and France. When the Mahommedans conquered Bengal, early in the 13th century, they found the ordinary currency composed exclusively of cowries, and in some remote districts page 269bthis continued to the beginning of the last century. Thus, up to 1801, the whole revenue of the Silhet District, amounting then to Rs. 250,000, was collected in these shells, but by 1813 the whole was realised in specie. Interesting details in connection with this subject are given by the Hon. Robert Lindsay, who was one of the early Collectors of Silhet (Lives of the Lindsays, iii. 170).
The Sanskrit vocabulary called Trikāṇḍaśesha (iii. 3, 206) makes 20 kapardika (or kauṛīs) = ¼ paṇa; and this value seems to have been pretty constant. The cowry table given by Mr. Lindsay at Silhet, circa 1778, exactly agrees with that given by Milburn as in Calcutta use in the beginning of last century, and up to 1854 or thereabouts it continued to be the same:
| 4 | kauṛis | = 1 ganda |
| 20 | gandas | = 1 paṇ |
| 4 | paṇ | = 1 āna |
| 4 | ānas | = 1 kāhan, or about ¼ rupee. |
This gives about 5120 cowries to the Rupee. We have not met with any denomination of currency in actual use below the cowry, but it will be seen that, in a quotation from Mrs. Parkes, two such are indicated. It is, however, Hindu idiosyncrasy to indulge in imaginary submultiples as well as imaginary multiples. (See a parallel under LACK).
In Bastar, a secluded inland State between Orissa and the Godavery, in 1870, the following was the prevailing table of cowry currency, according to Sir W. Hunter's Gazetteer:
| 28 | kauṛis | = 1 borī |
| 12 | boris | = 1 dugānī |
| 12 | dugānīs | = 1 Rupee, i.e. 2880 cowries. |
Here we may remark that both the paṇ in Bengal, and the dugānī in this secluded Bastar, were originally the names of pieces of money, though now in the respective localities they represent only certain quantities of cowries. (For paṇ, see under FANAM; and as regards dugānī, see Thomas's Patan Kings of Delhī, pp. 218 seq.). ["Up to 1865 bee-a or cowries were in use in Siam; the value of these was so small that from 800 to 1500 went to a fuang (7½ cents.)."—Hallett, A Thousand Miles on an Elephant, p. 164. Mr. Gray has an interesting note on cowries in page 270ahis ed. of Pyrard de Laval, Hak. Soc. i. 236 seqq.]
Cowries were at one time imported into England in considerable quantities for use in the African slave-trade. "For this purpose," says Milburn, "they should be small, clean, and white, with a beautiful gloss" (i. 273). The duty on this importation was £53, 16s. 3d. per cent. on the sale value, with ⅓ added for war-tax. In 1803, 1418 cwt. were sold at the E. I. auctions, fetching £3,626; but after that few were sold at all. In the height of slave-trade, the great mart for cowries was at Amsterdam, where there were spacious warehouses for them (see the Voyage, &c., quoted 1747).
c. 1020.—"These isles are divided into two classes, according to the nature of their chief products. The one are called Dewa-Kauḍha, 'the Isles of the Cowries,' because of the Cowries that they collect on the branches of coco-trees planted in the sea."—Albirūnī, in J. As., Ser. IV. tom. iv. 266.
c. 1240.—"It has been narrated on this wise that as in that country (Bengal), the kauṛi [shell] is current in place of silver, the least gift he used to bestow was a lak of kauṛis. The Almighty mitigate his punishment [in hell]!"—Ṭabaḳāt-i-Nāṣiri, by Raverty, 555 seq.
c. 1350.—"The money of the Islanders (of the Maldives) consists of cowries (al-wada'). They so style creatures which they collect in the sea, and bury in holes dug on the shore. The flesh wastes away, and only a white shell remains. 100 of these shells are called siyāh, and 700 fāl; 12,000 they call kutta; and 100,000 bustū. Bargains are made with these cowries at the rate of 4 bustū for a gold dīnār. [This would be about 40,000 for a rupee.] Sometimes the rate falls, and 12 bustū are exchanged for a gold dīnār. The islanders barter them to the people of Bengal for rice, for they also form the currency in use in that country.... These cowries serve also for barter with the negroes in their own land. I have seen them sold at Mālī and Gūgū [on the Niger] at the rate of 1150 for a gold dīnār."—Ibn Batuta, iv. 122.
c. 1420.—"A man on whom I could rely assured me that he saw the people of one of the chief towns of the Said employ as currency, in the purchase of low-priced articles of provision, kaudas, which in Egypt are known as wada, just as people in Egypt use fals."—Makrizi, S. de Sacy, Chrest. Arabe, 2nd ed. i. 252.
[1510.—Mr. Whiteway writes: "In an abstract of an unpublished letter of Alboquerque which was written about 1510, and abstracted in the following year, occurs this sentence:—'The merchandize which they page 270bcarry from Cairo consists of snails (caracoes) of the Twelve Thousand Islands.' He is speaking of the internal caravan-trade of Africa, and these snails must be cowries."]
1554.—At the Maldives: "Cowries 12,000 make one cota; and 4½ cotas of average size weigh one quintal; the big ones something more."—A. Nunes, 35.
" "In these isles ... are certain white little shells which they call cauris."—Castanheda, iv. 7.
1561.—"Which vessels (Gundras, or palm-wood boats from the Maldives) come loaded with coir and caury, which are certain little white shells found among the Islands in such abundance that whole vessels are laden with them, and which make a great trade in Bengala, where they are current as money."—Correa, I. i. 341.
1586.—"In Bengal are current those little shells that are found in the islands of Maldiva, called here courim, and in Portugal Buzio."—Sassetti, in De Gubernatis, 205.
[c. 1590.—"Four kos from this is a well, into which if the bone of any animal be thrown it petrifies, like a cowrie shell, only smaller."—Āīn, ed. Jarrett, ii. 229.]
c. 1610.—"Les marchandises qu'ils portent le plus souvent sont ces petites coquilles des Maldives, dont ils chargent tous les ans grand nombre de nauires. Ceux des Maldives les appellent Boly, et les autres Indiens Caury."—Pyrard de Laval, i. 517; see also p. 165; [Hak. Soc. i. 438; also comp. i. 78, 157, 228, 236, 240, 250, 299; Boly is Singh. bella, a cowry].
c. 1664.—"... lastly, it (Indostan) wants those little Sea-cockles of the Maldives, which serve for common Coyne in Bengale, and in some other places...."—Bernier, E.T. 63; [ed. Constable, 204].
[c. 1665.—"The other small money consists of shells called Cowries, which have the edges inverted, and they are not found in any other part of the world save only the Maldive Islands.... Close to the sea they give up to 80 for the paisa, and that diminishes as you leave the sea, on account of carriage; so that at Agra you receive but 50 or 55 for the paisa."—Tavernier, ed. Ball, i. 27 seq.]
1672.—"Cowreys, like sea-shells, come from Siam, and the Philippine Islands."—Fryer, 86.
1683.—"The Ship Britannia—from the Maldiva Islands, arrived before the Factory ... at their first going ashore, their first salutation from the natives was a shower of Stones and Arrows, whereby 6 of their Men were wounded, which made them immediately return on board, and by ye mouths of their Guns forced them to a complyance, and permission to load what Cowries they would at Markett Price; so that in a few days time they sett sayle from thence for Surrat with above 60 Tunn of Cowryes."—Hedges, Diary, July 1; [Hak. Soc. i. 96].
1705.—"... Coris, qui sont des petits coquillages."—Luillier, 245.
page 271a1727.—"The Couries are caught by putting Branches of Cocoa-nut trees with their Leaves on, into the Sea, and in five or six Months the little Shell-fish stick to those leaves in Clusters, which they take off, and digging Pits in the Sand, put them in and cover them up, and leave them two or three Years in the Pit, that the Fish may putrefy, and then they take them out of the Pit, and barter them for Rice, Butter, and Cloth, which Shipping bring from Ballasore in Orisa near Bengal, in which Countries Couries pass for Money from 2500 to 3000 for a Rupee, or half a Crown English."—A. Hamilton [ed. 1744], i. 349.
1747.—"Formerly 12,000 weight of these cowries would purchase a cargo of five or six hundred Negroes: but those lucrative times are now no more; and the Negroes now set such a value on their countrymen, that there is no such thing as having a cargo under 12 or 14 tuns of cowries.
"As payments of this kind of specie are attended with some intricacy, the Negroes, though so simple as to sell one another for shells, have contrived a kind of copper vessel, holding exactly 108 pounds, which is a great dispatch to business."—A Voyage to the Id. of Ceylon on board a Dutch Indiaman in the year 1747, &c. &c. Written by a Dutch Gentleman. Transl. &c. London, 1754, pp. 21 seq.
1749.—"The only Trade they deal in is Cowries (or Blackamoor's Teeth as they call them in England), the King's sole Property, which the sea throws up in great abundance."—The Boscawen's Voyage to Bombay, by Philalethes (1750), p. 52.
1753.—"Our Hon'ble Masters having expressly directed ten tons of couries to be laden in each of their ships homeward bound, we ordered the Secretary to prepare a protest against Captain Cooke for refusing to take any on board the Admiral Vernon."—In Long, 41.
1762.—"The trade of the salt and butty wood in the Chucla of Sillett, has for a long time been granted to me, in consideration of which I pay a yearly rent of 40,000 caouns of cowries...."—Native Letter to Nabob, in Van Sittart, i. 203.
1770.—"... millions of millions of lires, pounds, rupees, and cowries."—H. Walpole's Letters, v. 421.
1780.—"We are informed that a Copper Coinage is now on the Carpet ... it will be of the greatest utility to the Public, and will totally abolish the trade of Cowries, which for a long time has formed so extensive a field for deception and fraud. A greviance (sic) the poor has long groan'd under."—Hicky's Bengal Gazette, April 29.
1786.—In a Calcutta Gazette the rates of payment at Pultah Ferry are stated in Rupees, Annas, Puns, and Gundas (i.e. of Cowries, see above).—In Seton-Karr, i. 140.
page 271b1791.—"Notice is hereby given, that on or before the 1st November next, sealed proposals of Contract for the remittance in Dacca of the cowries received on account of the Revenues of Sylhet ... will be received at the Office of the Secretary to the Board of Revenue.... All persons who may deliver in proposals, are desired to specify the rates per cowan or cowans of cowries (see kāhan above) at which they will engage to make the remittance proposed."—In Seton-Karr, ii. 53.
1803.—"I will continue to pay, without demur, to the said Government, as my annual peshkush or tribute, 12,000 kahuns of cowries in three instalments, as specified herein below."—Treaty Engagement by the Rajah of Kitta Keonghur, a Tributary subordinate to Cuttack, 16th December, 1803.
1833.—"May 1st. Notice was given in the Supreme Court that Messrs. Gould and Campbell would pay a dividend at the rate of nine gundahs, one cowrie, one cawg, and eighteen teel, in every sicca rupee, on and after the 1st of June. A curious dividend, not quite a farthing in the rupee!"—The Pilgrim (by Fanny Parkes), i. 273.
c. 1865.—"Strip him stark naked, and cast him upon a desert island, and he would manage to play heads and tails for cowries with the sea-gulls, if land-gulls were not to be found."—Zelda's Fortune, ch. iv.
COWRY, s. Used in S. India for the yoke to carry burdens, the Bangy (q.v.) of N. India. In Tamil, &c., kāvaḍi, [kāvu, 'to carry on the shoulder,' tadi, 'pole'].
COWTAILS, s. The name formerly in ordinary use for what we now more euphoniously call chowries (q.v.).
1665.—"Now that this King of the Great Tibet knows, that Aureng-Zebe is at Kachemire, and threatens him with War, he hath sent to him an Ambassador, with Presents of the Countrey, as Chrystal, and those dear White Cow-tails...."—Ibid. 135; [ed. Constable, 422].
1774.—"To send one or more pair of the cattle which bear what are called cowtails."—Warren Hastings, Instruction to Bogle, in Markham's Tibet, 8.
" "There are plenty of cowtailed cows (!), but the weather is too hot for them to go to Bengal."—Bogle, ibid. 52. 'Cowtailed cows' seem analogous to the 'dismounted mounted infantry' of whom we have recently heard in the Suakin campaign.
1784.—In a 'List of Imports probable from Tibet,' we find "Cow Tails."—In Seton-Karr, i. 4.
CRAN, s. Pers. krān. A modern Persian silver coin, worth about a franc, being the tenth part of a Tomaun.
CRANCHEE, s. Beng. H. karānchī. This appears peculiar to Calcutta, [but the word is also used in N. India]. A kind of ricketty and sordid carriage resembling, as Bp. Heber says below, the skeleton of an old English hackney-coach of 1800–35 (which no doubt was the model), drawn by wretched ponies, harnessed with rope, and standing for native hire in various parts of the city.
CRANGANORE, n.p. Properly (according to Dr. Gundert), Koḍuṅrīlūr, more generally Koduṅgalūr; [the Madras Gloss. gives Mal. Kotannallūr, kota, 'west,' kovil, 'palace,' ūr, 'village']. An ancient city and port of Malabar, identical with the Mūyiri-kkoḍu of an ancient copper-plate inscription, with the Μουζιρὶς of Ptolemy's Tables and the Periplus, and with the Muziris primum emporium Indiae of Pliny (Bk. vi. cap. 23 or 26) [see Logan, Malabar, i. 80]. "The traditions of Jews, Christians, Brahmans, and of the Kérala Ulpatti (legendary History of Malabar) agree in making Kodungalūr the residence of the Perumāls (ancient sovereigns of Malabar), and the first resort of Western shipping" (Dr. Gundert in Madras Journal, vol. xiii. p. 120). It was apparently the earliest settlement of Jew and Christian immigrants. It is prominent in all the earlier narratives of the 16th century, especially in connection with the Malabar Christians; and it was the site of one of the seven churches alleged in the legends of the latter to have been founded by St. Thomas. Cranganor was already in decay when the Portuguese arrived. They eventually established themselves there with a strong fort (1523), which the Dutch took from them in 1662. This fort was dismantled by Tippoo's troops in 1790, and there is now hardly a trace left of it. In Baldaeus (Malabar und Coromandel, p. 109, Germ. ed.) there are several good views of Cranganore as it stood in the 17th century. [See SHINKALI.]
(Before 1500, see as in above quotation, p. 334.).—"I Erveh Barmen ... sitting this day in Canganúr...." (Madras Journal, xiii. pt. ii. p. 12). This is from an old Hebrew translation of the 8th century copper-grant to the Jews, in which the Tamil has "The page 273aking ... Sri Bhaskara Ravi Varman ... on the day when he was pleased to sit in Muyiri-kódu...."—thus identifying Muyiri or Muziris with Cranganore, an identification afterwards verified by tradition ascertained on the spot by Dr. Burnell.
1498.—"Quorongoliz belongs to the Christians, and the king is a Christian; it is 3 days distant from Calecut by sea with fair wind; this king could muster 4,000 fighting men; here is much pepper...."—Roteiro de Vasco da Gama, 108.
1503.—"Nostra autem regio in qua Christiani commorantur Malabar appellatur, habetque xx circiter urbes, quarum tres celebres sunt et firmæ, Carongoly, Palor, et Colom, et aliæ illis proximæ sunt."—Letter of Nestorian Bishops on mission to India, in Assemani, iii. 594.
1516.—"... a place called Crongolor, belonging to the King of Calicut ... there live in it Gentiles, Moors, Indians, and Jews, and Christians of the doctrine of St. Thomas."—Barbosa, 154.
c. 1535.—"Crancanor fu antichamente honorata, e buon porto, tien molte genti ... la città e grande, ed honorata con grã traffico, auãti che si facesse Cochin, cõ la venuta di Portoghesi, nobile."—Sommario de' Regni, &c. Ramusio, i. f. 332v.
1554.—"Item ... paid for the maintenance of the boys in the College, which is kept in Cranguanor, by charter of the King our Lord, annually 100 000 reis...."—S. Botelho, Tombo, &c., 27.
c. 1570.—"... prior to the introduction of Islamism into this country, a party of Jews and Christians had found their way to a city of Malabar called Cadungaloor."—Tohfat-ul-Mujahideen, 47.
1572.—
"A hum Cochin, e a outro Cananor, A qual Chale, a qual a ilha da pimenta, A qual Coulão, a qual dá Cranganor, E os mais, a quem o mais serve e contenta...." Camões, vii. 35.
1614.—"The Great Samorine's Deputy came aboord ... and ... earnestly persuaded vs to stay a day or two, till he might send to the Samorine, then at Crangelor, besieging a Castle of the Portugals."—Peyton, in Purchas, i. 531.
CRANNY, s. In Bengal commonly used for a clerk writing English, and thence vulgarly applied generically to the East Indians, or half-caste class, from among whom English copyists are chiefly recruited. The original is Hind. karānī, kirānī, which Wilson derives from Skt. karan, 'a doer.' page 273bKaraṇa is also the name of one of the (so-called) mixt castes of the Hindus, sprung from a Sudra mother and Vaisya father, or (according to some) from a pure Kshatriya mother by a father of degraded Kshatriya origin. The occupation of the members of this mixt caste is that of writers and accountants; [see Risley, Tribes and Castes of Bengal, i. 424 seqq.].
The word was probably at one time applied by natives to the junior members of the Covenanted Civil Service—"Writers," as they were designated. See the quotations from the "Seir Mutaqherin" and from Hugh Boyd. And in our own remembrance the "Writers' Buildings" in Calcutta, where those young gentlemen were at one time quartered (a range of apartments which has now been transfigured into a splendid series of public offices, but, wisely, has been kept to its old name), was known to the natives as Karānī kī Bārik.
" "The second day after our arrival at the port of Kailūkari, the princess escorted the nakhodāh (or skipper), the kirānī, or clerk...."—Ibid. iv. 250.
c. 1590.—"The Karrání is a writer who keeps the accounts of the ship, and serves out the water to the passengers."—Āīn (Blochmann), i. 280.
c. 1610.—"Le Secretaire s'apelle carans...."—Pyrard de Laval, i. 152; [Hak. Soc. i. 214].
[1611.—"Doubt you not but it is too true, howsoever the Cranny flatters you with better hopes."—Danvers, Letters, i. 117, and see also i. 190.
[1684.—"Ye Noceda and Cranee."—Pringle, Diary of Ft. St. George, iii. 111.]
c. 1781.—"The gentlemen likewise, other than the Military, who are in high offices and employments, have amongst themselves degrees of service and work, which have not come minutely to my knowledge; but the whole of them collectively are called Carranis."—Seir Mutaqherin, ii. 543.
1793.—"But, as Gay has it, example gains where precept fails. As an encouragement therefore to my brother crannies, I will offer an instance or two, which are remembered as good Company's jokes."—Hugh Boyd, The Indian Observer, 42.
1810.—"The Cranny, or clerk, may be either a native Armenian, a native Portuguese, or a Bengallee."—Williamson, V. M. i. 209.
It is curious to find this word explained by an old French writer, in almost the modern application to East Indians. This shows that the word was used at Goa in something of its Hindu sense of one of mixt blood.
CRAPE, s. This is no Oriental word, though crape comes from China. It is the French crêpe, i.e. crespe, Lat. crispus, meaning frizzed or minutely curled. As the word is given in a 16th century quotation by Littré, it is probable that the name was first applied to a European texture. [Its use in English dates from 1633, according to the N.E.D.]
"I own perhaps I might desire Some shawls of true Cashmere— Some narrowy crapes of China silk, Like wrinkled skins, or scalded milk." O. W. Holmes, 'Contentment.'
CREASE, CRIS, &c., s. A kind of dagger, which is the characteristic weapon of the Malay nations; from the Javanese name of the weapon, adopted in Malay, krīs, kirīs, or kres (see Favre, Dict. Javanais-Français, 137b, Crawfurd's Malay Dict. s.v., Jansz, Javaansch-Nederl. Woordenboek, 202). The word has been generalised, and is often applied to analogous weapons of other nations, as 'an Arab crease,' &c. It seems probable that the H. word kirich, applied to a straight sword, and now almost specifically to a sword of European make, is identical with the Malay word krīs. See the form of the latter word in Barbosa, almost exactly kirich. Perhaps Turki kīlīch is the original. [Platts gives Skt. kṛiti, 'a sort of knife or dagger.'] If Reinaud is right in his translation of the Arab Relations of the 9th and 10th centuries, in correcting a reading, otherwise unintelligible, to khrī, we page 274bshall have a very early adoption of this word by Western travellers. It occurs, however, in a passage relating to Ceylon.
It is curious to find the cris adopted by Alboquerque as a piece of state costume. When he received the ambassadors of Sheikh Ismael, i.e. the Shāh of Persia, Ismael Sūfī, at Ormuz, we read:
The portrait of Alboquerque in the 1st vol. of Mr. Birch's Translation of the Commentaries, realises the snow-white beard, tunic, and black surcoat, but the cris is missing. [The Malay Creese is referred to in iii. 85.]
1516.—"They are girt with belts, and carry daggers in their waists, wrought with rich inlaid work, these they call querix."—Barbosa, 193.
1552.—"And the quartermaster ran up to the top, and thence beheld the son of Timuta raja to be standing over the Captain Major with a cris half drawn."—Castanheda, ii. 363.
1572.—
"... assentada Lá no gremio da Aurora, onde nasceste, Opulenta Malaca nomeada! As settas venenosas que fizeste! Os crises, com que já te vejo armáda...." Camões, x. 44.
By Burton:
"... so strong thy site there on Aurora's bosom, whence they rise, thou Home of Opulence, Malacca hight! The poysoned arrows which thine art supplies, the krises thirsting, as I see, for fight...."
1580.—A vocabulary of "Wordes of the naturall language of Iaua" in the voyage of page 275aSir Fr. Drake, has Cricke, 'a dagger.'—Hakl. iv. 246.
[1584.—"Crise." See quotation under A MUCK.]
1586–88.—"The custom is that whenever the King (of Java) doth die ... the wives of the said King ... every one with a dagger in her hand (which dagger they call a crese, and is as sharp as a razor) stab themselves to the heart."—Cavendish, in Hakl. iv. 337.
1591.—"Furthermore I enjoin and order in the name of our said Lord ... that no servant go armed whether it be with staves or daggers, or crisses."—Procl. of Viceroy Mathias d'Alboquerque in Archiv. Port. Oriental, fasc. 3, p. 325.
1598.—"In the Western part of the Island (Sumatra) is Manancabo where they make Poinyards, which in India are called Cryses, which are very well accounted and esteemed of."—Linschoten, 33; [with some slight differences of reading, Hak. Soc. i. 110].
1602.—"... Chinesische Dolchen, so sie Cris nennen."—Hulsius, i. 33.
c. 1610.—"Ceux-là ont d'ordinaire à leur costé vn poignard ondé qui s'apelle cris, et qui vient d'Achen en Sumatra, de Iaua, et de la Chine."—Pyrard de Laval, i. 121; [Hak. Soc. i. 164]; also see ii. 101; [ii. 162, 170].
1634.—"Malayos crises, Arabes alfanges."—Malaca Conquistada, ix. 32.
1686.—"The Cresset is a small thing like a Baggonet which they always wear in War or Peace, at Work or Play, from the greatest of them to the poorest or meanest person."—Dampier, i. 337.
1690.—"And as the Japanners ... rip up their Bowels with a Cric...."—Ovington, 173.
1727.—"A Page of twelve Years of Age ... (said) that he would shew him the Way to die, and with that he took a Cress, and ran himself through the body."—A. Hamilton, ii. 99; [ed. 1744, ii. 98].
1770.—"The people never go without a poniard which they call cris."—Raynal (tr. 1777), i. 97.
The Portuguese also formed a word crisada, a blow with a cris (see Castanheda, iii. 379). And in English we find a verb to 'crease'; see in Purchas, i. 532, and this:
page 275bAlso in Braddel's Abstract of the Sijara Malayu:
CREDERE, DEL. An old mercantile term.
CREOLE, s. This word is never used by the English in India, though the mistake is sometimes made in England of supposing it to be an Anglo-Indian term. The original, so far as we can learn, is Span. criollo, a word of uncertain etymology, whence the French créole, a person of European blood but colonial birth. See Skeat, who concludes that criollo is a negro corruption of criadillo, dim. of criado, and is = 'little nursling.' Criados, criadas, according to Pyrard de Laval, [Hak. Soc. ii. 89 seq.] were used at Goa for male and female servants. And see the passage quoted under NEELAM from Correa, where the words 'apparel and servants' are in the original 'todo o fato e criados.'
CROCODILE, s. This word is seldom used in India; alligator (q.v.) being the term almost invariably employed.
1590.—"One Crocodile was so huge and greedy that he devoured an Alibamba, that is a chained company of eight or nine slaves; but the indigestible Iron paid him his wages, and murthered the murtherer."—Andrew Battel (West Africa), in Purchas, ii. 985.
page 276aCRORE, s. One hundred lakhs, i.e. 10,000,000. Thus a crore of rupees was for many years almost the exact equivalent of a million sterling. It had once been a good deal more, and has now been for some years a good deal less. The H. is karoṛ, Skt. koṭi.
c. 1343.—"They told me that a certain Hindu farmed the revenue of the city and its territories (Daulatābād) for 17 karōr ... as for the karōr it is equivalent to 100 laks, and the lak to 100,000 dīnārs."—Ibn Batuta, iv. 49.
c. 1350.—"In the course of three years he had misappropriated about a kror of tankas from the revenue."—Ziā-uddīn-Barnī, in Elliot, iii. 247.
c. 1590.—"Zealous and upright men were put in charge of the revenues, each over one Krōr of dams." (These, it appears, were called krōris.)—Āīn-i-Akbari, i. 13.
1609.—"The King's yeerely Income of his Crowne Land is fiftie Crou of Rupias, every Crou is an hundred Leckes, and every Lecke is an hundred thousand Rupias."—Hawkins, in Purchas, i. 216.
1628.—"The revenue of all the territories under the Emperors of Delhi amounts, according to the Royal registers, to six arbs and thirty krors of dāms. One arb is equal to a hundred krors (a kror being ten millions) and a hundred Krors of dāms are equivalent to two krors and fifty lacs of rupees."—Muhammad Sharīf Hanafi, in Elliot, vii. 138.
1690.—"The Nabob or Governour of Bengal was reputed to have left behind him at his Death, twenty Courous of Roupies: A kourou is an hundred thousand lacks."—Ovington, 189.
1757.—"In consideration of the losses which the English Company have sustained ... I will give them one crore of rupees."—Orme, ii. 162 (ed. 1803).
c. 1785.—"The revenues of the city of Decca, once the capital of Bengal, at a low estimation amount annually to two kherore."—Carraccioli's Life of Clive, i. 172.
1797.—"An Englishman, for H. E.'s amusement, introduced the elegant European diversion of a race in sacks by old women: the Nabob was delighted beyond measure, and declared that though he had spent a crore of rupees ... in procuring amusement, he had never found one so pleasing to him."—Teignmouth, Mem. i. 407.
page 276b1879.—
"'Tell me what lies beyond our brazen gates.' Then one replied, 'The city first, fair Prince! * * * * * *  And next King Bimbasâra's realm, and then The vast flat world with crores on crores of folk.'" Sir E. Arnold, The Light of Asia, iii.
[CRORI, s. "The possessor or collector of a kror, or ten millions, of any given kind of money; it was especially applied as an official designation, under the Mohammedan government, to a collector of revenue to the extent of a kror of dāms, or 250,000 rupees, who was also at various times invested with the general superintendence of the lands in his district, and the charge of the police." (Wilson.)
[CROTCHEY, KURACHEE,> properly Karāchi, the sea-port and chief town of the province of Sind, which is a creation of the British rule, no town appearing to have existed on the site before 1725. In As Suyūti's History of the Caliphs (E.T. p. 229) the capture of Kīrakh or Kīraj is mentioned. Sir H. M. Elliot thinks that this place was probably situated in if not named from Kachh. Jarrett (Āīn, ii. 344, note) supposes this to be Karāchi, which Elliot identified with the Krokala of Arrian. Here, according to Curtius, dwelt the Arabioi or Arabitai. The harbour of Karāchi was possibly the Porus Alexandri, where Nearchus was detained by the monsoon for twenty-four days (see McCrindle, Ancient India, 167, 262).
CROW-PHEASANT, s. The popular Anglo-Indian name of a somewhat ignoble bird (Fam. Cuculidae), common all over the plains of India, in Burma, and the Islands, viz. page 277aCentropus rufipennis, Illiger. It is held in India to give omens.
CUBEB, s. The fruit of the Piper Cubeba, a climbing shrub of the Malay region. [Its Hind. name kabāb chīnī marks its importation from the East by Chinese merchants.] The word and the articles were well known in Europe in the Middle Ages, the former being taken directly from the Arab. kabābah. It was used as a spice like other peppers, though less common. The importation into Europe had become infinitesimal, when it revived in last century, owing to the medicinal power of the article having become known to our medical officers during the British occupation of Java (1811–15). Several particulars of interest will be found in Hanbury and Flückiger's Pharmacog. 526, and in the notes to Marco Polo, ii. 380.
13th cent.—
"Theo canel and the licoris And swete savoury meynte I wis, Theo gilofre, quybibe and mace...." King Alesaunder, in Weber's Metr. Rom., i. 279.
1298.—"This Island (Java) is of surpassing wealth, producing black pepper, nutmegs, spikenard, galingale, cubebs, cloves...."—Marco Polo, ii. 254.
c. 1328.—"There too (in Jaua) are produced cubebs, and nutmegs, and mace, and all the other finest spices except pepper."—Friar Jordanus, 31.
c. 1340.—"The following are sold by the pound. Raw silk; saffron; clove-stalks and cloves; cubebs; lign-aloes...."—Pegolotti, in Cathay, &c., p. 305.
" "Cubebs are of two kinds, i.e. domestic and wild, and both should be entire and light, and of good smell; and the domestic are known from the wild in this page 277bway, that the former are a little more brown than the wild; also the domestic are round, whilst the wild have the lower part a little flattened underneath like flattened buttons."—Pegolotti, in Cathay, &c.; in orig. 374 seq.
c. 1390.—"Take fresh pork, seethe it, chop it small, and grind it well; put to it hard yolks of eggs, well mixed together, with dried currants, powder of cinnamon, and maces, cubebs, and cloves whole."—Recipe in Wright's Domestic Manners, 350.
1563.—"R. Let us talk of cubebs; although, according to Sepulveda, we seldom use them alone, and only in compounds.
"O. 'Tis not so in India; on the contrary they are much used by the Moors soaked in wine ... and in their native region, which is Java, they are habitually used for coldness of stomach; you may believe me they hold them for a very great medicine."—Garcia, f. 80–80v.
1572.—"The Indian physicians use Cubebs as cordials for the stomach...."—Acosta, p. 138.
1612.—"Cubebs, the pound ... xvi. s."—Rates and Valuatioun (Scotland).
CUBEER BURR, n.p. This was a famous banyan-tree on an island of the Nerbudda, some 12 m. N.E. of Baroch, and a favourite resort of the English there in the 18th century. It is described by Forbes in his Or. Mem. i. 28; [2nd ed. i. 16, and in Pandurang Hari, ed. 1873, ii. 137 seqq.]. Forbes says that it was thus called by the Hindus in memory of a favourite saint (no doubt Kabīr). Possibly, however, the name was merely the Ar. kabīr, 'great,' given by some Mahommedan, and misinterpreted into an allusion to the sectarian leader.
CUCUYA, CUCUYADA, s. A cry of alarm or warning; Malayāl. kūkkuya, 'to cry out'; not used by English, but found among Portuguese writers, who formed cucuyada from the native page 278aword, as they did Crisada from kris (see CREASE). See Correa, Lendas, ii. 2. 926. See also quotation from Tennent, under COSS, and compare Australian cooey.
CUDDALORE, n.p. A place on the marine backwater 16 m. S. of Pondicherry, famous in the early Anglo-Indian history of Coromandel. It was settled by the Company in 1682–3, and Fort St. David's was erected there soon after. Probably the correct name is Kaḍal-ūr, 'Sea-Town.' [The Madras Gloss. gives Tam. kūḍal, 'junction,' ūr, 'village,' because it stands on the confluence of the Kadilam and Paravanar Rivers.]
CUDDAPAH, n.p. Tel. kaḍapa, ['threshold,' said to take its name from the fact that it is situated at the opening of the pass which leads to the holy town of Tripatty (Gribble, Man. of Cuddapah, p. 3); others connect it with Skt. kṛipa, 'pity,' and the Skt. name is Kripanagara]. A chief town and district of the Madras Presidency. It is always written Kurpah in Kirkpatrick's Translation of Tippoo's Letters, [and see Wilks, Mysore, ed. 1869, i. 303]. It has been suggested as possible that it is the ΚΑΡΙΓΗ (for ΚΑΡΙΠΗ) of Ptolemy's Tables. [Kurpah indigo is quoted on the London market.]
page 278bCUDDOO, s. A generic name for pumpkins, [but usually applied to the musk-melon, cucurbita moschata (Watt, Econ. Dict. ii. 640)]. Hind. Kaddū.
CUDDY, s. The public or captain's cabin of an Indiaman or other passenger ship. We have not been able to trace the origin satisfactorily. It must, however, be the same with the Dutch and Germ. kajute, which has the same signification. This is also the Scandinavian languages, Sw. in kajuta, Dan. kahyt, and Grimm quotes kajute, "Casteria," from a vocabulary of Saxon words used in the first half of 15th century. It is perhaps originally the same with the Fr. cahute, 'a hovel,' which Littré quotes from 12th century as quahute. Ducange has L. Latin cahua, 'casa, tugurium,' but a little doubtfully. [Burton (Ar. Nights, xi. 169) gives P. kadah, 'a room,' and compares Cumra. The N.E.D. leaves the question doubtful.]
1769.—"It was his (the Captain's) invariable practice on Sunday to let down a canvas curtain at one end of the cuddy ... and to read the church service,—a duty which he considered a complete clearance of the sins of the preceding week."—Life of Lord Teignmouth, i. 12.
CULGEE, s. A jewelled plume surmounting the sirpesh or aigrette upon the turban. Shakespear gives kalghī as a Turki word. [Platts gives kalghā, kalghī, and refers it to Skt. kalaśa, 'a spire.']
1715.—"John Surman received a vest and Culgee set with precious stones."—Wheeler, ii. 246.
page 279a1759.—"To present to Omed Roy, viz.:—
| 1 Culgah | 1200 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 Surpage (sirpesh, or aigrette) | 600 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 Killot (see Killut) | 250 | 0 | 0 | " |
—Expenses of Nabob's Entertainment. In Long, 193.
1786.—"Three Kulgies, three Surpaishes (see Sirpech), and three Puduks (?) [padak, H. 'a badge, a flat piece of gold, a neck ornament'] of the value of 36,320 rupees have been despatched to you in a casket."—Tippoo's Letters, 263.
[The word was also applied to a rich silk cloth imported from India.
CULMUREEA, KOORMUREEA, s. Nautical H. kalmarīya, 'a calm,' taken direct from Port. calmaria (Roebuck).
CULSEY, s. According to the quotation a weight of about a candy (q.v.). We have traced the word, which is rare, also in Prinsep's Tables (ed. Thomas, p. 115), as a measure in Bhūj, kalsī. And we find R. Drummond gives it: "Kulsee or Culsy (Guz.). A weight of sixteen maunds" (the Guzerat maunds are about 40 lbs., therefore kalsi = about 640 lbs.). [The word is probably Skt. kalaśi, 'a water jar,' and hence a grain measure. The Madras Gloss. gives Can. kalasi as a measure of capacity holding 14 Seers.]
CUMBLY, CUMLY, CUMMUL, s. A blanket; a coarse woollen cloth. Skt. kambala, appearing in the vernaculars in slightly varying forms, e.g. H. kamlī. Our first quotation shows a curious attempt to connect this word with the Arab. ḥammāl, 'a porter' (see HUMMAUL), and with the camel's hair of John Baptist's raiment. The word is introduced into Portuguese as cambolim, 'a cloak.'
1606.—"We wear nothing more frequently than those cambolins."—Gouvea, f. 132.
[c. 1610.—"Of it they make also good store of cloaks and capes, called by the Indians Mansaus, and by the Portuguese 'Ormus cambalis.'"—Pyrard de Laval, Hak. Soc. ii. 240.]
1673.—"Leaving off to wonder at the natives quivering and quaking after Sunset wrapping themselves in a combly or Hair-Cloth."—Fryer, 54.
1690.—"Camlees, which are a sort of Hair Coat made in Persia...."—Ovington, 455.
1718.—"But as a body called the Cammul-poshes, or blanket wearers, were going to join Qhandaoran, their commander, they fell in with a body of troops of Mahratta horse, who forbade their going further."—Seir Mutaqherin, i. 143.
1781.—"One comley as a covering ... 4 fanams, 6 dubs, 0 cash."—Prison Expenses of Hon. J. Lindsay, Lives of Lindsays, iii.
1798.—"... a large black Kummul, or blanket."—G. Forster, Travels, i. 194.
1800.—"One of the old gentlemen, observing that I looked very hard at his cumly, was alarmed lest I should think he possessed numerous flocks of sheep."—Letter of Sir T. Munro, in Life, i. 281.
CUMMERBUND, s. A girdle. H. from P. kamar-band, i.e. 'loin-band.' Such an article of dress is habitually worn by domestic servants, peons, and irregular troops; but any waist-belt is so termed.
1552.—"The Governor arriving at Goa received there a present of a rich cloth of Persia which is called comarbãdos, being of gold and silk."—Castanheda, iii. 396.
page 280a1616.—"The nobleman of Xaxma sent to have a sample of gallie pottes, jugges, podingers, lookinglasses, table bookes, chint bramport, and combarbands, with the prices."—Cocks's Diary, i. 147.
1638.—"Ils serrent la veste d'vne ceinture, qu'ils appellent Commerbant."—Mandelslo, 223.
1648.—"In the middle they have a well adjusted girdle, called a Commerbant."—Van Twist, 55.
1727.—"They have also a fine Turband, embroidered Shoes, and a Dagger of Value, stuck into a fine Cummerband, or Sash."—A. Hamilton, i. 229; [ed. 1744, ii. 233].
1810.—"They generally have the turbans and cummer-bunds of the same colour, by way of livery."—Williamson, V. M. i. 274.
[1826.—"My white coat was loose, for want of a kumberbund."—Pandurang Hari, ed. 1873, i. 275.]
CUMQUOT, s. The fruit of Citrus japonica, a miniature orange, often sent in jars of preserved fruits, from China. Kumkwat is the Canton pronunciation of kin-kü, 'gold orange,' the Chinese name of the fruit.
CUMRA, s. H. kamrā, from Port. camara; a chamber, a cabin. [In Upper India the drawing-room is the gol kamrā, so called because one end of it is usually semi-circular.]
CUMRUNGA, s. See CARAMBOLA.
CUMSHAW, s. Chin. Pigeon-English for bucksheesh (q.v.), or a present of any kind. According to Giles it is the Amoy pron. (kam-siā) of two characters signifying 'grateful thanks.' Bp. Moule suggests kan-siu (or Cantonese) kăm-sau, 'thank-gift.'
page 280bCUNCHUNEE, s. H. kanchanī. A dancing-girl. According to Shakespear, this is the feminine of a caste, Kanchan, whose women are dancers. But there is doubt as to this: [see Crooke, Tribes and Castes, N.W.P. iv. 364, for the Kanchan caste.] Kanchan is 'gold'; also a yellow pigment, which the women may have used; see quot. from Bernier. [See DANCING-GIRL.]
c. 1660.—"But there is one thing which seems to me a little too extravagant ... the publick Women, I mean not those of the Bazar, but those more retired and considerable ones that go to the great marriages at the houses of the Omrahs and Mansebdars to sing and dance, those that are called Kenchen, as if you should say the guilded the blossoming ones...."—Bernier, E.T. 88; [ed. Constable, 273 seq.].
c. 1661.—"On regala dans le Serrail, toutes ces Dames Etrangères, de festins et des dances des Quenchenies, qui sont des femmes et des filles d'une Caste de ce nom, qui n'ont point d'autre profession que celle de la danse."—Thevenot, v. 151.
1689.—"And here the Dancing Wenches, or Quenchenies, entertain you, if you please."—Ovington, 257.
1799.—"In the evening the Canchanis ... have exhibited before the Prince and court."—Diary in Life of Colebrooke, 153.
CURIA MURIA, n.p. The name of a group of islands off the S.E. coast of Arabia (Kharyān Maryān, of Edrisi).
c. 1535.—"Dopo Adem è Fartaque, e le isole Curia, Muria...."—Sommario de' Regni, in Ramusio, f. 325.
1540.—"We letted not to discover the Isles of Curia, Muria, and Avedalcuria (in orig. Abedalcuria)."—Mendez Pinto, E.T. p. 4.
[1553.—See quotation under ROSALGAT.]
1554.—"... it is necessary to come forth between Súkara and the islands Khúr or Múria (Khōr Mōriyā)."—The Mohit, in Jour. As. Soc. Beng. v. 459.
page 281a[1833.—"The next place to Saugra is Koorya Moorya Bay, which is extensive, and has good soundings throughout; the islands are named Jibly, Hallanny, Soda, and Haskee."—Owen, Narr. i. 348.]
CURNUM, s. Tel. karaṇamu; a village accountant, a town-clerk. Acc. to Wilson from Skt. karaṇa; (see CRANNY). [It corresponds to the Tam. kanakan (see CONICOPOLY).]
CUROUNDA, s. H. karaundā. A small plum-like fruit, which makes good jelly and tarts, and which the natives pickle. It is borne by Carissa carandas, L., a shrub common in many parts of India (N.O. Apocynaceae).
[CURRIG JEMA, adj. A corr. of H. khārij jama, "separated or detached from the rental of the State, as lands exempt from rent, or of which the revenue has been assigned to individuals or institutions" (Wilson).
CURRUMSHAW HILLS, n.p. This name appears in Rennell's Bengal Atlas, applied to hills in the Gaya district. It is ingeniously supposed by F. Buchanan to have been a mistake of the geographer's, in taking Karna-Chaupār ('Karna's place of meeting or teaching'), the name of an ancient ruin on the hills in question, for Karnachau Pahār (Pahār = Hill).—(Eastern India, i. 4).
CURRY, s. In the East the staple food consists of some cereal, either (as in N. India) in the form of flour baked into unleavened cakes, or boiled in the grain, as rice is. Such food having page 281blittle taste, some small quantity of a much more savoury preparation is added as a relish, or 'kitchen,' to use the phrase of our forefathers. And this is in fact the proper office of curry in native diet. It consists of meat, fish, fruit, or vegetables, cooked with a quantity of bruised spices and turmeric [see MUSSALLA]; and a little of this gives a flavour to a large mess of rice. The word is Tam. kari, i.e. 'sauce'; [kari, v. 'to eat by biting']. The Canarese form karil was that adopted by the Portuguese, and is still in use at Goa. It is remarkable in how many countries a similar dish is habitual; pilāo [see PILLAU] is the analogous mess in Persia, and kuskussu in Algeria; in Egypt a dish well known as ruzz mufalfal [Lane, Mod. Egypt., ed. 1871, i. 185], or "peppered rice." In England the proportions of rice and "kitchen" are usually reversed, so that the latter is made to constitute the bulk of the dish.
The oldest indication of the Indian cuisine in this kind, though not a very precise one, is cited by Athenaeus from Megasthenes: "Among the Indians, at a banquet, a table is set before each individual ... and on the table is placed a golden dish on which they throw, first of all, boiled rice ... and then they add many sorts of meat dressed after the Indian fashion" (Athen., by Yonge, iv. 39). The earliest precise mention of curry is in the Mahavanso (c. A.D. 477), where it is said of Kassapo that "he partook of rice dressed in butter, with its full accompaniment of curries." This is Turnour's translation, the original Pali being sūpa.
It is possible, however, that the kind of curry used by Europeans and Mahommedans is not of purely Indian origin, but has come down from the spiced cookery of medieval Europe and Western Asia. The medieval spiced dishes in question were even coloured like curry. Turmeric, indeed, called by Garcia de Orta, Indian saffron, was yet unknown in Europe, but it was represented by saffron and sandalwood. A notable incident occurs in the old English poem of King Richard, wherein the Lion-heart feasts on the head of a Saracen—
"soden full hastily With powder and with spysory, And with saffron of good colour."
page 282aMoreover, there is hardly room for doubt that capsicum or red pepper (see CHILLY) was introduced into India by the Portuguese (see Hanbury and Flückiger, 407); and this spice constitutes the most important ingredient in modern curries. The Sanskrit books of cookery, which cannot be of any considerable antiquity, contain many recipes for curry without this ingredient. A recipe for curry (caril) is given, according to Bluteau, in the Portuguese Arte de Cozinha, p. 101. This must be of the 17th century.
It should be added that kari was, among the people of S. India, the name of only one form of 'kitchen' for rice, viz. of that in consistency resembling broth, as several of the earlier quotations indicate. Europeans have applied it to all the savoury concoctions of analogous spicy character eaten with rice. These may be divided into three classes—viz. (1), that just noticed; (2), that in the form of a stew of meat, fish or vegetables; (3), that called by Europeans 'dry curry.' These form the successive courses of a Hindu meal in S. India, and have in the vernaculars several discriminating names.
In Java the Dutch, in their employment of curry, keep much nearer to the original Hindu practice. At a breakfast, it is common to hand round with the rice a dish divided into many sectoral spaces, each of which contains a different kind of curry, more or less liquid.
According to the Fankwae at Canton (1882), the word is used at the Chinese ports (we presume in talking with Chinese servants) in the form kāārle (p. 62).
1563.—"They made dishes of fowl and flesh, which they call caril."—Garcia, f. 68.
c. 1580.—"The victual of these (renegade soldiers) is like that of the barbarous people; that of Moors all bringe [birinj, 'rice']; that page 282bof Gentoos rice-carril."—Primor e Honra, &c., f. 9v.
1598.—"Most of their fish is eaten with rice, which they seeth in broth, which they put upon the rice, and is somewhat soure, as if it were sodden in gooseberries, or unripe grapes, but it tasteth well, and is called Carriel [v.l. Carriil], which is their daily meat."—Linschoten, 88; [Hak. Soc. ii. 11]. This is a good description of the ordinary tamarind curry of S. India.
1606.—"Their ordinary food is boiled rice with many varieties of certain soups which they pour upon it, and which in those parts are commonly called caril."—Gouvea, 61b.
1608–1610.—"... me disoit qu'il y auoit plus de 40 ans, qu'il estoit esclaue, et auoit gagné bon argent à celuy qui le possedoit; et toute fois qu'il ne luy donnoit pour tout viure qu'vne mesure de riz cru par iour sans autre chose ... et quelquefois deux baseruques, qui sont quelque deux deniers (see BUDGROOK), pour auoir du Caril à mettre auec le riz."—Mocquet, Voyages, 337.
1623.—"In India they give the name of caril to certain messes made with butter, with the kernel of the coco-nut (in place of which might be used in our part of the world milk of almonds) ... with spiceries of every kind, among the rest cardamom and ginger ... with vegetables, fruits, and a thousand other condiments of sorts; ... and the Christians, who eat everything, put in also flesh or fish of every kind, and sometimes eggs ... with all which things they make a kind of broth in the fashion of our guazzetti (or hotch-potches) ... and this broth with all the said condiments in it they pour over a good quantity of rice boiled simply with water and salt, and the whole makes a most savoury and substantial mess."—P. della Valle, ii. 709; [Hak. Soc. ii. 328.]
1681.—"Most sorts of these delicious Fruits they gather before they be ripe, and boyl them to make Carrees, to use the Portuguese word, that is somewhat to eat with and relish their Rice."—Knox, p. 12. This perhaps indicates that the English curry is formed from the Port. caris, plural of caril.
c. 1690.—"Curcuma in Indiâ tam ad cibum quam ad medecinam adhibetur, Indi enim ... adeo ipsi adsueti sunt ut cum cunctis admiscent condimentis et piscibus, praesertim autem isti quod karri ipsis vocatur."—Rumphius, Pars Vta. p. 166.
c. 1759–60.—"The currees are infinitely various, being a sort of fricacees to eat with rice, made of any animals or vegetables."—Grose, i. 150.
1781.—"To-day have curry and rice for my dinner, and plenty of it as C——, my messmate, has got the gripes, and cannot eat his share."—Hon. J. Lindsay's Imprisonment, in Lives of Lindsays, iii. 296.
1794–97.—
"The Bengal squad he fed so wondrous nice, Baring his currie took, and Scott his rice." Pursuits of Literature, 5th ed., p. 287.
page 283aThis shows that curry was not a domesticated dish in England at the date of publication. It also is a sample of what the wit was that ran through so many editions!
c. 1830.—"J'ai substitué le lait à l'eau pour boisson ... c'est une sorte de contre-poison pour l'essence de feu que forme la sauce enragée de mon sempiternel cari."—Jacquemont, Correspondance, i. 196.
1848.—"Now we have seen how Mrs. Sedley had prepared a fine curry for her son."—Vanity Fair, ch. iv.
1860.—"... Vegetables, and especially farinaceous food, are especially to be commended. The latter is indeed rendered attractive by the unrivalled excellence of the Singhalese in the preparation of innumerable curries, each tempered by the delicate creamy juice expressed from the flesh of the cocoa-nut, after it has been reduced to a pulp."—Tennent's Ceylon, i. 77. N.B. Tennent is misled in supposing (i. 437) that chillies are mentioned in the Mahavanso. The word is maricha, which simply means "pepper," and which Turnour has translated erroneously (p. 158).
The Dutch use the word as Kerrie or Karrie; and Kari à l'Indienne has a place in French cartes.
CURRY-STUFF, s. Onions, chillies, &c.; the usual material for preparing curry, otherwise mussalla (q.v.), represented in England by the preparations called curry-powder and curry-paste.
CUSBAH, s. Ar.—H. ḳaṣba, ḳaṣaba; the chief place of a pergunnah (q.v.).
[c. 1590.—"In the fortieth year of his Majesty's reign, his dominions consisted of one hundred and five Sircars, sub-divided into two thousand seven hundred and thirty-seven kusbahs."—Ayeen, tr. Gladwin, ii. 1; Jarrett, ii. 115.]
1644.—"On the land side are the houses of the Vazador (?) or Possessor of the Casabe, which is as much as to say the town or aldea of Mombaym (Bombay). This town of Mombaym is a small and scattered affair."—Bocarro, MS. fol. 227.
CUSCUSS, CUSS, s. Pers.—H. k̲h̲ask̲h̲as. The roots of a grass [called in N. India senṭhā or tīn,] which abounds in the drier parts of India, Anatherum muricatum (Beauv.), Andropogon muricatus (Retz), used in India during the hot dry winds to make screens, which are kept constantly wet, in the window openings, and the fragrant evaporation from which greatly cools the house (see TATTY). This device seems to be ascribed by Abul Faẓl to the invention of Akbar. These roots are well known in France by the name vetyver, which is the Tam. name veṭṭivēru, 'the root which is dug up.' In some of the N. Indian vernaculars khaskhas is 'a poppy-head'; [but this is a different word, Skt. khaskhasa, and compare P. k̲h̲ashk̲h̲ash].
1663.—"Kas kanays." See quotation under TATTY.
1810.—"The Kuss-Kuss ... when fresh, is rather fragrant, though the scent is somewhat terraceous."—Williamson, V. M. i. 235.
It is curious that the coarse grass which covers the more naked parts of the Islands of the Indian Archipelago appears to be called kusu-kusu (Wallace, 2nd ed. ii. 74). But we know not if there is any community of origin in these names.
In the sense of poppy-seed or poppy-head, this word is P.; De Orta says Ar.; [see above.]
CUSPADORE, s. An old term for a spittoon. Port. cuspadeira, from cuspir, [Lat. conspuere], to spit. Cuspidor would be properly qui multum spuit.
1672.—"Here maintain themselves three of the most powerful lords and Naiks of this kingdom, who are subject to the Crown of Velour, and pay it tribute of many hundred Pagodas ... viz. Vitipa-naik of Madura, the King's Cuspidoor-bearer, 200 Pagodas, Cristapa-naik of Chengier, the King's Betel-server, 200 pagodas, the Naik of Tanjouwer, the King's Warder and Umbrella carrier, 400 Pagodas...."—Baldaeus, Germ. ed. 153.
1735.—In a list of silver plate we have "5 cuspadores."—Wheeler, iii. 139.
1775.—"Before each person was placed a large brass salver, a black earthen pot of water, and a brass cuspadore."—Forrest, V. to N. Guinea, &c. (at Magindanao), 235.
CUSTARD-APPLE, s. The name in India of a fruit (Anona squamosa, L.) originally introduced from S. America, but which spread over India during the 16th century. Its commonest name in Hindustan is sharīfa, i.e. 'noble'; but it is also called Sītap'hal, i.e. 'the page 284bFruit of Sītā,' whilst another Anona ('bullock's heart,' A. reticulata, L., the custard-apple of the W. Indies, where both names are applied to it) is called in the south by the name of her husband Rāma. And the Sītap'hal and Rāmp'hal have become the subject of Hindu legends (see Forbes, Or. Mem. iii. 410). The fruit is called in Chinese Fan-li-chi, i.e. foreign leechee.
A curious controversy has arisen from time to time as to whether this fruit and its congeners were really imported from the New World, or were indigenous in India. They are not mentioned among Indian fruits by Baber (c. A.D. 1530), but the translation of the Āīn (c. 1590) by Prof. Blochmann contains among the "Sweet Fruits of Hindustan," Custard-apple (p. 66). On referring to the original, however, the word is sadāp'hal (fructus perennis), a Hind. term for which Shakespear gives many applications, not one of them the anona. The bel is one (Aegle marmelos), and seems as probable as any (see BAEL). The custard-apple is not mentioned by Garcia de Orta (1563), Linschoten (1597), or even by P. della Valle (1624). It is not in Bontius (1631), nor in Piso's commentary on Bontius (1658), but is described as an American product in the West Indian part of Piso's book, under the Brazilian name Araticu. Two species are described as common by P. Vincenzo Maria, whose book was published in 1672. Both the custard-apple and the sweet-sop are fruits now generally diffused in India; but of their having been imported from the New World, the name Anona, which we find in Oviedo to have been the native West Indian name of one of the species, and which in various corrupted shapes is applied to them over different parts of the East, is an indication. Crawfurd, it is true, in his Malay Dictionary explains nona or buah- ("fruit") nona in its application to the custard-apple as fructus virginalis, from nona, the term applied in the Malay countries (like missy in India) to an unmarried European lady. But in the face of the American word this becomes out of the question.
It is, however, a fact that among the Bharhut sculptures, among the carvings dug up at Muttra by General Cunningham, and among the copies page 285afrom wall-paintings at Ajanta (as pointed out by Sir G. Birdwood in 1874, (see Athenaeum, 26th October), [Bombay Gazetteer, xii. 490]) there is a fruit represented which is certainly very like a custard-apple (though an abnormally big one), and not very like anything else yet pointed out. General Cunningham is convinced that it is a custard-apple, and urges in corroboration of his view that the Portuguese in introducing the fruit (which he does not deny) were merely bringing coals to Newcastle; that he has found extensive tracts in various parts of India covered with the wild custard-apple; and also that this fruit bears an indigenous Hindi name, ātā or āt, from the Sanskrit ātṛipya.
It seems hard to pronounce about this ātṛipya. A very high authority, Prof. Max Müller, to whom we once referred, doubted whether the word (meaning 'delightful') ever existed in real Sanskrit. It was probably an artificial name given to the fruit, and he compared it aptly to the factitious Latin of aureum malum for "orange," though the latter word really comes from the Sanskrit nāranga. On the other hand, ātṛipya is quoted by Rāja Rādhakant Deb, in his Sanskrit dictionary, from a medieval work, the Dravyaguna. And the question would have to be considered how far the MSS. of such a work are likely to have been subject to modern interpolation. Sanskrit names have certainly been invented for many objects which were unknown till recent centuries. Thus, for example, Williams gives more than one word for cactus, or prickly pear, a class of plants which was certainly introduced from America (see Vidara and Viśvasaraka, in his Skt. Dictionary).
A new difficulty, moreover, arises as to the indigenous claims of ātā, which is the name for the fruit in Malabar as well as in Upper India. For, on turning for light to the splendid works of the Dutch ancients, Rheede and Rumphius, we find in the former (Hortus Malabaricus, part iv.) a reference to a certain author, 'Recchus de Plantis Mexicanis,' as giving a drawing of a custard-apple tree, the name of which in Mexico was ahaté or até, "fructu apud Mexicanos praecellenti arbor nobilis" (the expressions are noteworthy, for the popular Hindustani page 285bname of the fruit is sharīfa = "nobilis"). We also find in a Manilla Vocabulary that ate or atte is the name of this fruit in the Philippines. And from Rheede we learn that in Malabar the ātā was sometimes called by a native name meaning "the Manilla jack-fruit"; whilst the Anona reticulata, or sweet-sop, was called by the Malabars "the Parangi (i.e. Firingi or Portuguese) jack-fruit."
These facts seem to indicate that probably the ātā and its name came to India from Mexico viâ the Philippines, whilst the anona and its name came to India from Hispaniola viâ the Cape. In the face of these probabilities the argument of General Cunningham from the existence of the tree in a wild state loses force. The fact is undoubted and may be corroborated by the following passage from "Observations on the nature of the Food of the Inhabitants of South India," 1864, p. 12:—"I have seen it stated in a botanical work that this plant (Anona sq.) is not indigenous, but introduced from America, or the W. Indies. If so, it has taken most kindly to the soil of the Deccan, for the jungles are full of it": [also see Watt, Econ. Dict. ii. 259 seq., who supports the foreign origin of the plant]. The author adds that the wild custard-apples saved the lives of many during famine in the Hyderabad country. But on the other hand, the Argemone Mexicana, a plant of unquestioned American origin, is now one of the most familiar weeds all over India. The cashew (Anacardium occidentale), also of American origin, and carrying its American name with it to India, not only forms tracts of jungle now (as Sir G. Birdwood has stated) in Canara and the Concan (and, as we may add from personal knowledge, in Tanjore), but was described by P. Vincenzo Maria, more than two hundred and twenty years ago, as then abounding in the wilder tracts of the western coast.
The question raised by General Cunningham is an old one, for it is alluded to by Rumphius, who ends by leaving it in doubt. We cannot say that we have seen any satisfactory suggestion of another (Indian) plant as that represented in the ancient sculpture of Bharhut. [Dr. Watt says: "They may prove to be conventional representations of the jack-fruit tree page 286aor some other allied plant; they are not unlike the flower-heads of the sacred kadamba or Anthocephalus," (loc. cit. i. 260)]. But it is well to get rid of fallacious arguments on either side.
In the "Materia Medica of the Hindus by Udoy Chand Dutt, with a Glossary by G. King, M.B., Calc. 1877," we find the following synonyms given:—
1690.—"They (Hindus) feed likewise upon Pine-Apples, Custard-apples, so called because they resemble a Custard in Colour and Taste...."—Ovington, 303.
c. 1830.—"... the custard-apple, like russet bags of cold pudding."—Tom Cringle's Log, ed. 1863, p. 140.
CUSTOM, s. Used in Madras as the equivalent of Dustoor, Dustoory, of which it is a translation. Both words illustrate the origin of Customs in the solemn revenue sense.
CUSTOMER, s. Used in old books of Indian trade for the native official who exacted duties. [The word was page 286bin common use in England from 1448 to 1748; see N.E.D.]
[1615.—"The Customer should come and visitt them."—Sir T. Roe, Hak. Soc. i. 44.]
CUTCH, s. See CATECHU.
CUTCH, n.p. Properly Kachchh, a native State in the West of India, immediately adjoining Sind, the Rājput ruler of which is called the Rāo. The name does not occur, as far as we have found, in any of the earlier Portuguese writers, nor in Linschoten, [but the latter mentions the gulf under the name of Jaqueta (Hak. Soc. i. 56 seq.)]. The Skt. word kachchha seems to mean a morass or low, flat land.
The port mentioned in the next three extracts was probably Mandavi (this name is said to signify "Custom-House"); [manḍwī, 'a temporary hut,' is a term commonly applied to a bazaar in N. India].
[1612.—"The other ship which proved of Cuts-nagana."—Danvers, Letters, i. 179.]
c. 1615.—"Francisco Sodre ... who was serving as captain-major of the fortress of Dio, went to Cache, with twelve ships and a sanguicel, to inflict chastisement for the arrogance and insolence of these blacks ("... pela soberbia e desaforos d'estes negros...."—"Of these niggers!"), thinking that he might do it as easily as Gaspar de Mello had punished those of Por."—Bocarro, 257.
[c. 1661.—"Dara ... traversing with speed the territories of the Raja Katche soon reached the province of Guzarate...."—Bernier, ed. Constable, 73.]
page 287CUTCH GUNDAVA, n.p. Kachchh Gandāva or Kachchī, a province of Biluchistan, under the Khan of Kela't, adjoining our province of Sind; a level plain, subject to inordinate heat in summer, and to the visitation of the simūm. Across the northern part of this plain runs the railway from Sukkur to Sibi. Gandāva, the chief place, has been shown by Sir H. Elliot to be the Kandābīl or Kandhābel of the Arab geographers of the 9th and 10th centuries. The name in its modern shape, or what seems intended for the same, occurs in the Persian version of the Chachnāmah, or H. of the Conquest of Sind, made in A.D. 1216 (see Elliot, i. 166).
CUTCHA, KUTCHA, adj. Hind. kachchā, 'raw, crude, unripe, uncooked.' This word is with its opposite pakkā (see PUCKA) among the most constantly recurring Anglo-Indian colloquial terms, owing to the great variety of metaphorical applications of which both are susceptible. The following are a few examples only, but they will indicate the manner of use better than any attempt at comprehensive definition:—
| A cutcha | Brick is a sun-dried brick. | A pucka | Brick is a properly kiln-burnt brick. |
| " | House is built of mud, or of sun-dried brick. | " | House is of burnt brick or stone with lime, and generally with a terraced plaster roof. |
| " | Road is earthwork only. | " | Road is a Macadamised one. |
| " | Appointment is acting or temporary. | " | Appointment is permanent. |
| " | Settlement is one where the land is held without lease. | " | Settlement is one fixed for a term of years. |
| " | Account or Estimate, is one which is rough, superficial, and untrustworthy. | " | Account, or Estimate, is carefully made, and claiming to be relied on. |
| " | Maund, or Seer, is the smaller, where two weights are in use, as often happens. | " | Maund, or Seer, is the larger of two in use. |
| " | Major is a brevet or local Major. | " | Major, is a regimental Major. |
| " | Colour is one that won't wash. | " | Colour, is one that will wash. |
| " | Fever is a simple ague or a light attack. | " | Fever, is a dangerous remittent or the like (what the Italians call pernizziosa). |
| " | Pice generally means one of those amorphous coppers, current in up-country bazars at varying rates of value. | " | Pice; a double copper coin formerly in use; also a proper pice (= ¼ anna) from the Govt. mints. |
| " | Coss—see analogy under Maund above. | " | Coss—see under Maund above. |
| " | Roof. A roof of mud laid on beams; or of thatch, &c. | " | Roof; a terraced roof made with cement. |
| " | Scoundrel, a limp and fatuous knave. | " | Scoundrel, one whose motto is "Thorough." |
| " | Seam (silāī) is the tailor's tack for trying on. | " | Seam is the definite stitch of the garment. |
Captain Burton, in a letter dated Aug. 26, 1879, and printed in the "Academy" (p. 177), explains the gypsy word gorgio, for a Gentile or non-Rommany, as being kachhā or cutcha. This may be, but it does not carry conviction.
CUTCHA-PUCKA, adj. This term is applied in Bengal to a mixt kind of building in which burnt brick is used, but which is cemented with mud instead of lime-mortar.
CUTCHÉRRY, and in Madras CUT′CHERY, s. An office of administration, a court-house. Hind. kachahrī; used also in Ceylon. The word is not usually now, in Bengal, applied to a merchant's counting-house, which is called dufter, but it is applied to the office of an Indigo-Planter or a Zemindar, the business in which is page 288amore like that of a Magistrate's or Collector's Office. In the service of Tippoo Sahib cutcherry was used in peculiar senses besides the ordinary one. In the civil administration it seems to have been used for something like what we should now call Department (see e.g. Tippoo's Letters, 292); and in the army for a division or large brigade (e.g. ibid. 332; and see under JYSHE and quotation from Wilks below).
1673.—"At the lower End the Royal Exchange or Queshery ... opens its folding doors."—Fryer, 261.
[1702.—"But not makeing an early escape themselves were carried into the Cacherra or publick Gaol."—Hedges, Diary, Hak. Soc. ii. cvi.]
1763.—"The Secretary acquaints the Board that agreeably to their orders of the 9th May, he last Saturday attended the Court of Cutcherry, and acquainted the Members with the charge the President of the Court had laid against them for non-attendance."—In Long, 316.
" "The protection of our Gomastahs and servants from the oppression and jurisdiction of the Zemindars and their Cutcherries has been ever found to be a liberty highly essential both to the honour and interest of our nation."—From the Chief and Council at Dacca, in Van Sittart, i. 247.
c. 1765.—"We can truly aver that during almost five years that we presided in the Cutchery Court of Calcutta, never any murder or atrocious crime came before us but it was proved in the end a Bramin was at the bottom of it."—Holwell, Interesting Historical Events, Pt. II. 152.
1783.—"The moment they find it true that the English Government shall remain as it is, they will divide sugar and sweetmeats among all the people in the Cutcheree; then every body will speak sweet words."—Native Letter, in Forbes, Or. Mem. iv. 227.
1786.—"You must not suffer any one to come to your house; and whatever business you may have to do, let it be transacted in our Kuchurry."—Tippoo's Letters, 303.
1791.—"At Seringapatam General Matthews was in confinement. James Skurry was sent for one day to the Kutcherry there, and some pewter plates with marks on them were shown to him to explain; he saw on them words to this purport, 'I am indebted to the Malabar Christians on account of the Public Service 40,000 Rs.; the Company owes me (about) 30,000 Rs.; I have taken Poison and am now within a page 288bshort time of Death; whoever communicates this to the Bombay Govt. or to my wife will be amply rewarded. (Signed) Richard Matthews.'"—Narrative of Mr. William Drake, and other Prisoners (in Mysore), in Madras Courier, 17th Nov.
c. 1796.—"... the other Asof Mirán Hussein, was a low fellow and a debauchee, ... who in different ... towns was carried in his pálkí on the shoulders of dancing girls as ugly as demons to his Kutcheri or hall of audience."—H. of Tipú Sultán, E.T. by Miles, 246.
" "... the favour of the Sultan towards that worthy man (Dundia Wágh) still continued to increase ... but although, after a time, a Kutcheri, or brigade, was named after him, and orders were issued for his release, it was to no purpose."—Ibid. 248.
[c. 1810.—"Four appears to have been the fortunate number with Tippoo; four companies (yeuz), one battalion (teep), four teeps, one cushoon (see KOSHOON): ... four cushoons, one Cutcherry. The establishment ... of a cutcherry ... 5,688, but these numbers fluctuated with the Sultaun's caprices, and at one time a cushoon, with its cavalry attached, was a legion of about 3,000."—Wilks, Mysore, ed. 1869, ii. 132.]
1834.—"I mean, my dear Lady Wroughton, that the man to whom Sir Charles is most heavily indebted, is an officer of his own Kucheree, the very sircar who cringes to you every morning for orders."—The Baboo, ii. 126.
1860.—"I was told that many years ago, what remained of the Dutch records were removed from the record-room of the Colonial Office to the Cutcherry of the Government Agent."—Tennent's Ceylon, i. xxviii.
1873.—"I'd rather be out here in a tent any time ... than be stewing all day in a stuffy Kutcherry listening to Ram Buksh and Co. perjuring themselves till they are nearly white in the face."—The True Reformer, i. 4.
CUTCHNAR, s. Hind. kachnār, Skt. kānchanāra (kānchana, 'gold') the beautiful flowering tree Bauhinia variegata, L., and some other species of the same genus (N. O. Leguminosae).
page 289aCUTTACK, n.p. The chief city of Orissa, and district immediately attached. From Skt. kaṭaka, 'an army, a camp, a royal city.' This name Al-kataka is applied by Ibn Batuta in the 14th century to Deogīr in the Deccan (iv. 46), or at least to a part of the town adjoining that ancient fortress.
[c. 1590.—"Attock on the Indus is called Atak Benares in contra distinction to Katak Benares in Orissa at the opposite extremity of the Empire."—Āīn, ed. Jarrett, ii. 311.]
1633.—"The 30 of April we set forward in the Morning for the City of Coteka (it is a city of seven miles in compasse, and it standeth a mile from Malcandy where the Court is kept."—Bruton, in Hakl. v. 49.
CUTTANEE, s. Some kind of piece-goods, apparently either of silk or mixed silk and cotton. Kuttān, Pers., is flax or linen cloth. This is perhaps the word. [Kattan is now used in India for the waste selvage in silk weaving, which is sold to Patwas, and used for stringing ornaments, such as joshans (armlets of gold or silver beads), bāzūbands (armlets with folding bands), &c. (Yusuf Ali, Mon. on Silk Fabrics, 66).] Cutanees appear in Milburn's list of Calcutta piece-goods.
[1648.—"Contenijs." See under ALCATIF.
[1673.—"Cuttanee breeches." See under ATLAS.
[1690.—"... rich Silks, such as Atlasses, Cuttanees...."—See under ALLEJA.
CUTTRY. See KHUTTRY.
CYRUS, SYRAS, SARUS, &c. A common corruption of Hind. sāras, [Skt. sarasa, the 'lake bird,'] or (corruptly) sārhans, the name of the great gray crane, Grus Antigone, L., generally found in pairs, held almost sacred in some parts of India, and whose "fine trumpet-like call, uttered when alarmed or on the wing, can be heard a couple of miles off" (Jerdon). [The British soldier calls the bird a "Serious," and is fond of shooting him for the pot.]
1807.—"The argeelah as well as the cyrus, and all the aquatic tribe are extremely fond of snakes, which they ... swallow down their long throats with great despatch."—Williamson, Or. Field Sports, 27.
[1809.—"Saros." See under coolung.]
1813.—In Forbes's Or. Mem. (ii. 277 seqq.; [2nd ed. i. 502 seqq.]), there is a curious story of a Cyrus or Sahras (as he writes it) which Forbes had tamed in India, and which nine years afterwards recognised its master when he visited General Conway's menagerie at Park Place near Henley.
* ↑ Thus: "Chomandarla (i.e. Coromandel) he de Christãoos e o rey Christãoo." So also Ceylam Camatarra, Melequa (Malacca), Peguo, &c., are all described as Christian states with Christian kings. Also the so-called Indian Christians who came on board Da Gama at Melinde seem to have been Hindu banians.
* ↑ It may be observed, however, that kwāla in Malay indicates the estuary of a navigable river, and denominates many small ports in the Malay region. The Kalah of the early Arabs is probably the Κῶλι πόλις of Ptolemy's Tables.
* ↑ "Capitale des établissements Anglais dans le Bengale. Les Anglais prononcent et écrivent Golgota"(!)
* ↑ Not 'a larger kind of cinnamon,' or 'cinnamon which is known there by the name of crassa' (canellae quae grossae appellantur), as Mr. Winter Jones oddly renders, but canella grossa, i.e. 'coarse' cinnamon, alias cassia.
* ↑ Sir J. Hooker observes that the fact that there is an acid and a sweet-fruited variety (blimbee) of this plant indicates a very old cultivation.
* ↑ Dr. R. Rost observes to us that the Arabic letter ẓwād is pronounced by the Malays like ll (see also Crawfurd's Malay Grammar, p. 7). And it is curious to find a transfer of the same letter into Spanish as ld. In Malay ḳāḍī becomes ḳāllī.
* ↑ These are probably the same as Milburn, under Tuticorin, calls ketchies. We do not know the proper name. [See Putton Ketchies, under PIECE-GOODS.]
* ↑ The court for chaugān is ascribed by Codinus (see below) to Theodosius Parvus. This could hardly be the son of Arcadius (A.D. 408–450), but rather Theodosius III. (716–718).
* ↑ It may be well to append here the whole list which I find on a scrap of paper in Dr. Burnell's handwriting (Y): Pohālapura. Chīnavallī. Avantikshetra (Ujjain). Nāgapaṭṭana (Negapatam?) Pāṇḍyadeśa (Madura). Allikākara. Simhaladvīpa (Ceylon). Gopākasthāna (! ?). Gujaṇasthāna. Ṭhāṇaka (Thana?) Aṇitavāta (Anhilvād). Sunāpura. Mūlasthāna (Multan). Toṭṭideśa. Pañchapaṭṭana. Chīna. Mahāchīna. Kalingadeśa (Telugu Country). Vaṅgadeśa (Bengal).
* ↑ I leave this passage as Dr. Burnell wrote it. But though limited to a specific locality, of which I doubt not it was true, it conveys an idea of the entire extinction of the ancient chintz production which I find is not justified by the facts, as shown in a most interesting letter from Mr. Purdon Clarke, C.S.I., of the India Museum. One kind is still made at Masulipatam, under the superintendence of Persian merchants, to supply the Ispahan market and the "Moghul" traders at Bombay. At Pulicat very peculiar chintzes are made, which are entirely Ḳalam Kārī work, or hand-painted (apparently the word now used instead of the Calmendār of Tavernier,—see above, and under CALAMANDER). This is a work of infinite labour, as the ground has to be stopped off with wax almost as many times as there are colours used. At Combaconum Sarongs (q.v.) are printed for the Straits. Very bold printing is done at Wālājāpet in N. Arcot, for sale to the Moslem at Hyderabad and Bangalore. An anecdote is told me by Mr. Clarke which indicates a caution as to more things than chintz printing. One particular kind of chintz met with in S. India, he was assured by the vendor, was printed at W——; but he did not recognize the locality. Shortly afterwards, visiting for the second time the city of X. (we will call it), where he had already been assured by the collector's native aids that there was no such manufacture, and showing the stuff, with the statement of its being made at W——, 'Why,' said the collector, 'that is where I live!' Immediately behind his bungalow was a small bazar, and in this the work was found going on, though on a small scale. Just so we shall often find persons "who have been in India, and on the spot"—asseverating that at such and such a place there are no missions or no converts; whilst those who have cared to know, know better.—(H. Y.) [For Indian chintzes, see Forbes Watson, Textile Manufactures, 90 seqq.; Mukharji, Art Manufactures of India, 348 seqq.; S. H. Hadi, Mon. on Dyes and Dyeing in the N.W.P. and Oudh, 44 seqq.; Francis, Mon. on Punjab Cotton Industry, 6.]
* ↑ There is no reason to suppose that Linschoten had himself been to Chittagong. My friend, Dr. Burnell, in his (posthumous) edition of Linschoten for the Hakluyt Society has confounded Chātigam in this passage with Satgaon—see Porto Piqueno (H. Y.).
* ↑ The chātak which figures in Hindu poetry, is, according to the dictionaries, Cuculus melanoleucos, which must be the pied cuckoo, Coccystes melanoleucos, Gm., in Jerdon; but this surely cannot be Sir William's "most beautiful little bird he ever saw"?
* ↑ Thus, in Shakspeare, "This is Monsieur Parolles, the gallant militarist ... that had the whole theorie of war in the knot of his scarf, the practice in the chape of his dagger."—All's Well that Ends Well, iv. 3. And, in the Scottish Rates and Valuatiouns, under 1612: "Lockattis and Chapes for daggers."
* ↑ "... e quanto á moeda, ser chapada de sua sica (by error printed sita), pois já lhe concedea, que todo o proveyto serya del Rey de Portuguall, como soya a ser dos Reis dos Guzarates, e ysto nas terras que nos tiuermos em Canbaya, e a nós quisermos bater."—Treaty (1537) in S. Botelho, Tombo, 226.
* ↑ H. Ṭikiyā is a little cake of charcoal placed in the bowl of the hooka, or hubble-bubble.
* ↑ See Fergusson & Burgess, Cave Temples, pp. 168 & 349. See also Mr. James Campbell's excellent Bombay Gazetteer, xiv. 52, where reasons are stated against the view of Dr. Burgess.
* ↑ Stat. and Geog. Rep. of the 24 Pergunnahs District, Calcutta, 1857, p. 57.
* ↑ Lingue di San Paolo is a name given to fossil sharks' teeth, which are commonly found in Malta, and in parts of Sicily.
* ↑ I have seen more snakes in a couple of months at the Bagni di Lucca, than in any two years passed in India.—H. Y.
* ↑ Duarte Pacheco Pereira, whose defence of the Fort at Cochin (c. 1504) against a great army of the Zamorin's, was one of the great feats of the Portuguese in India. [Comm. Alboquerque, Hak. Soc. i. 5.]
* ↑ MS. communication from Prof. Terrien de la Couperie.
* ↑ It may be noted that Theophrastus describes under the names of κύκας and κόϊξ a palm of Ethiopia, which was perhaps the Doom palm of Upper Egypt (Theoph. H. P. ii. 6, 10). Schneider, the editor of Theoph., states that Sprengel identified this with the coco-palm. See the quotation from Pliny below.
* ↑ This mythical story of the unique tree producing this nut curiously shadows the singular fact that one island only (Praslin) of that secluded group, the Seychelles, bears the Lodoicea as an indigenous and spontaneous product. (See Sir L. Pelly, in J.R.G.S., xxxv. 232.)
* ↑ Kalāpā, or Klāpā, is the Javanese word for coco-nut palm, and is that commonly used by the Dutch.
* ↑ It is curious that Ducange has a L. Latin word cahua, 'vinum album et debile.'
* ↑ See the extract in De Sacy's Chrestomathie Arabe cited below. Playfair, in his history of Yemen, says coffee was first introduced from Abyssinia by Jamāluddīn Ibn Abdalla, Kāḍī of Aden, in the middle of the 15th century: the person differs, but the time coincides.
* 1 2 There seems no foundation for this.
* ↑ i.e. Bacca Lauri; laurel berry.
* ↑ There is here a doubtful reading. The next paragraph shows that the word should be κομαρεὶ. [We should also read for βριάριον, φρούριον, a watch-post, citadel.]
* ↑ I had this from one of the party, my respected friend Bishop Caldwell.—H. Y.
* ↑ On the origin of this word for a long time different opinions were held by my lamented friend Burnell and by me. And when we printed a few specimens in the Indian Antiquary, our different arguments were given in brief (see I. A., July 1879, pp. 202, 203). But at a later date he was much disposed to come round to the other view, insomuch that in a letter of Sept. 21, 1881, he says: "Compound can, I think, after all, be Malay Kampong; take these lines from a Malay poem"—then giving the lines which I have transcribed on the following page. I have therefore had no scruple in giving the same unity to this article that had been unbroken in almost all other cases.—H. Y.
* ↑ "This elephant is a very pious animal"—a German friend once observed in India, misled by the double sense of his vernacular fromm ('harmless, tame' as well as 'pious or innocent').
* ↑ J.R.A.S., N.S. v. 148. He had said the same in earlier writings, and was apparently the original author of this suggestion. [But see above.]
* ↑ See Bp. Caldwell's Comp. Gram., 18, 95, &c.
* ↑ See Tennent, i. 395.
* ↑ "This coast bears commonly the corrupted name of Choromandel, and is now called only thus; but the right name is Sjola-mandalam, after Sjola, a certain kingdom of that name, and mandalam, 'a kingdom,' one that used in the old times to be an independent and mighty empire."—Val. v. 2.
* ↑ e.g. 1675.—"Hence the country ... has become very rich, wherefore the Portuguese were induced to build a town on the site of the old Gentoo (Jentiefze) city Chiormandelan."—Report on the Dutch Conquests in Ceylon and S. India, by Rykloof Van Goens in Valentijn, v. (Ceylon) 234.
* ↑ "It is characteristic of this region (central forests of Ceylon) that in traversing the forest they calculate their march, not by the eye, or by measures of distance, but by sounds. Thus a 'dog's cry' indicates a quarter of a mile; a 'cock's crow,' something more; and a 'hoo' implies the space over which a man can be heard when shouting that particular monosyllable at the pitch of his voice."—Tennent's Ceylon, ii. 582. In S. Canara also to this day such expressions as "a horn's blow," "a man's call," are used in the estimation of distances. [See under GOW.]
* ↑ Le Nord de la Sibérie, i. 82.
* ↑ "... that Royal Alley of Trees planted by the command of Jehan-Guire, and continued by the same order for 150 leagues, with little Pyramids or Turrets erected every half league."—Bernier, E.T. 91; [ed. Constable, 284].
* ↑ This gloss is a mistake.
* ↑ Note communicated by Professor Terrien de la Couperie.
* ↑ Kāhan, see above = 1280 cowries.
* ↑ A Kāg would seem here to be equivalent to ¼ of a cowry. Wilson, with (?) as to its origin [perhaps P. kāk, 'minute'], explains it as "a small division of money of account, less than a ganḍa of Kauris." Til is properly the sesamum seed, applied in Bengal, Wilson says, "in account to $^1$⁄$_{80}$ of a kauri." The Table would probably thus run: 20 til = 1 kāg, 4 kāg = 1 kauri, and so forth. And 1 rupee = 409,600 til!
* ↑ See Madras Journal, xiii. 127.
* ↑ Ind. Ant. iii. 309.
* ↑ Camalli (= facchini) survives from the Arabic in some parts of Sicily.
* ↑ Sir Joseph Hooker observes that the use of the terms Custard-apple, Bullock's heart, and Sweet-sop has been so indiscriminate or uncertain that it is hardly possible to use them with unquestionable accuracy.