# Hobson-Jobson/L

L
LAC, s. Hind. lākh, from Skt. lākshā, for rākshā. The resinous incrustation produced on certain trees (of which the dhāk (see DHAWK) is one, but chiefly Peepul, and khossum [kusum, kusumb], i.e. Schleichera bijuga, trijuga) by the puncture of the Lac insect (Coccus Lacca, L.). See Roxburgh, in Vol. III. As. Res., 384 seqq.; [and a full list of the trees on which the insect feeds, in Watt, Econ. Dict. ii. 410 seq.]. The incrustation contains 60 to 70 per cent. of resinous lac, and 10 per cent. of dark red colouring matter from which is manufactured lac-dye. The material in its original crude form is called stick-lac; when boiled in water it loses its red colour, and is then termed seed-lac; the melted clarified substance, after the extraction of the dye, is turned out in thin irregular laminae called shell-lac. This is used to make sealing-wax, in the fabrication of varnishes, and very largely as a stiffening for men's hats.
Though lāk bears the same sense in Persian, and lak or luk are used in modern Arabic for sealing-wax, it would appear from Dozy (Glos., pp. 295-6, and Oosterlingen, 57), that identical or approximate forms are used in various Arabic-speaking regions for a variety of substances giving a red dye, including the coccus ilicis or Kermes. Still, we have seen no evidence that in India the word was applied otherwise than to the lac of our heading. (Garcia says that the page 499bArabs called it loc-sumutri, 'lac of Sumatra'; probably because the Pegu lac was brought to the ports of Sumatra, and purchased there.) And this the term in the Periplus seems unquestionably to indicate; whilst it is probable that the passage quoted from Aelian is a much misconceived account of the product. It is not nearly so absurd as De Monfart's account below. The English word lake for a certain red colour is from this. So also are lacquer and lackered ware, because lac is used in some of the varnishes with which such ware is prepared.
"Σίδηρος Ἰνδικὸς καὶ στόμωμα (Indian iron and steel) * * * * *  Λάκκος χρωμάτινος (Lac-dye)." Periplus, § 6.
c. 250.—"There are produced in India animals of the size of a beetle, of a red colour, and if you saw them for the first time you would compare them to cinnabar. They have very long legs, and are soft to the touch; they are produced on the trees that bear electrum, and they feed on the fruit of these. The Indians catch them and crush them, and with these dye their red cloaks, and the tunics under these, and everything else that they wish to turn to this colour, and to dye. And this kind of clothing is carried also to the King of Persia."—Aelian, de Nat. Animal. iv. 46.
c. 1343.—The notice of lacca in Pegolotti is in parts very difficult to translate, and we do not feel absolutely certain that it refers to the Indian product, though we believe it to be so. Thus, after explaining that there are two classes of lacca, the matura and acerba, or ripe and unripe, he goes on: "It is produced attached to stalks, i.e. to the branches of shrubs, but it ought to be clear from stalks, and earthy dust, and sand, and from costiere (?). The stalks are the twigs of the wood on which it is produced, the costiere or figs, as the Catalans call them, are composed of the dust of the thing, which when it is fresh heaps together and hardens like pitch; only that pitch is black, and those costiere or figs are red and of the colour of unripe lacca. And more of these costiere is found in the unripe than the ripe lacca," and so on.—Della Decima, iii. 365.
1510.—"There also grows a very large quantity of lacca (or lacra) for making red colour, and the tree of this is formed like our trees which produce walnuts."—Varthema, 238.
1516.—"Here (in Pegu) they load much fine laquar, which grows in the country."—Barbosa, Lisbon Acad., 366.
page 500a1519.—"And because he had it much in charge to get all the lac (alacre) that he could, the governor knowing through information of the merchants that much came to the Coast of Choromandel by the ships of Pegu and Martaban that frequented that coast...."—Correa, ii. 567.
1563.—"Now it is time to speak of the lacre, of which so much is consumed in this country in closing letters, and for other seals, in the place of wax."—Garcia, f. 112v.
1582.—"Laker is a kinde of gum that procedeth of the ant."—Castañeda, tr. by N.L., f. 33.
c. 1590.—(Recipe for Lac varnish). "Lac is used for chighs (see CHICK, a). If red, 4 ser of lac, and 1 s. of vermilion; if yellow, 4 s. of lac, and 1 s. zarnīkh."—Āīn, ed. Blochmann, i. 226.
1615.—"In this Iland (Goa) is the hard Waxe made (which we call Spanish Waxe), and is made in the manner following. They inclose a large plotte of ground, with a little trench filled with water; then they sticke up a great number of small staues vpon the sayd plot, that being done they bring thither a sort of pismires, farre biggar than ours, which beeing debar'd by the water to issue out, are constrained to retire themselves vppon the said staues, where they are kil'd with the Heate of the Sunne, and thereof it is that Lacka is made."—De Monfart, 35-36.
c. 1610.—"... Vne manière de boëte ronde, vernie, et lacrèe, qui est vne ouurage de ces isles."—Pyrard de Laval, i. 127; [Hak. Soc. i. 170].
1627.—"Lac is a strange drugge, made by certain winged Pismires of the gumme of Trees."—Purchas, Pilgrimage, 569.
1644.—"There are in the territories of the Mogor, besides those things mentioned, other articles of trade, such as Lacre, both the insect lacre and the cake" (de formiga e de pasta).—Bocarro, MS.
1663.—"In one of these Halls you shall find Embroiderers ... in another you shall see Goldsmiths ... in a fourth Workmen in Lacca."—Bernier E.T. 83; [ed. Constable, 259].
LACCADIVE ISLANDS, n.p. Probably Skt. Lakśadvīpa, '100,000 Islands'; a name however which would apply much better to the Maldives, for the former are not really very numerous. There is not, we suspect, any ancient or certain native source for the name as specifically applied to the northern group of islands. Barbosa, the oldest authority we know as mentioning the group (1516), calls them Malandiva, and the Maldives Palandiva. Several of the page 500bindividual islands are mentioned in the Tuhfat-al-Majāhidīn (E.T. by Rowlandson, pp. 150-52), the group itself being called "the islands of Malabar."
LACK, s. One hundred thousand, and especially in the Anglo-Indian colloquial 100,000 Rupees, in the days of better exchange the equivalent of £10,000. Hind. lākh, lak, &c., from Skt. laksha, used (see below) in the same sense, but which appears to have originally meant "a mark." It is necessary to explain that the term does not occur in the earlier Skt. works. Thus in the Talavakāra Brāhmaṇā, a complete series of the higher numerical terms is given. After śata (100), sahasra (1000), comes ayuta (10,000), prayuta (now a million), niyuta (now also a million), arbuda (100 millions), nyarbuda (not now used), nikharṇa (do.), and padma (now 10,000 millions). Laksha is therefore a modern substitute for prayuta, and the series has been expanded. This was probably done by the Indian astronomers between the 5th and 10th centuries A.D.
The word has been adopted in the Malay and Javanese, and other languages of the Archipelago. But it is remarkable that in all of this class of languages which have adopted the word it is used in the sense of 10,000 instead of 100,000 with the sole exception of the Lampungs of Sumatra, who use it correctly. (Crawfurd). (See CRORE.)
We should observe that though a lack, used absolutely for a sum of money, in modern times always implies rupees, this has not always been the case. Thus in the time of Akbar and his immediate successors the revenue was settled and reckoned in laks of dams (q.v.). Thus:
At Ormuz again we find another lack in vogue, of which the unit was apparently the dīnār, not the old gold coin, but a degenerate dīnār of small value. Thus:
Here the azar is the Persian hazār or 1000 (dīnārs); the çadi Pers. sad or 100 (dīnārs); the leque or lak, 100,000 (dīnārs); and the tomān (see TOMAUN), which does not appear here, is 10,000 (dīnārs).
c. 1300.—"They went to the Kāfir's tent, killed him, and came back into the town, whence they carried off money belonging to the Sultan amounting to 12 laks. The lak is a sum of 100,000 (silver) dīnārs, equivalent to 10,000 Indian gold dīnārs."—Ibn Batuta, iii. 106.
In these examples from Pinto the word is used apart from money, in the Malay form, but not in the Malay sense of 10,000:
c. 1546.—"... he ruined in 4 months space all the enemies countries, with such a destruction of people as, if credit may be given to our histories ... there died fifty Laquesaas of persons."—Ibid. p. 224.
1615.—"And the whole present was worth ten of their Leakes, as they call them; a Leake being 10,000 pounds sterling; the whole 100,000 pounds sterling."—Coryat's Letters from India (Crudities, iii. f. 25v).
1616.—"He received twenty lecks of roupies towards his charge (two hundred thousand pounds sterling)."—Sir T. Roe, reprint, p. 35; [Hak. Soc. i. 201, and see i. 95, 183, 238].
1651.—"Yeder Lac is hondert duysend."—Rogerius, 77.
c. 1665.—"Il faut cent mille roupies pour faire un lek, cent mille leks pour faire un courou, cent mille courous pour faire un padan, et cent mille padan pour faire un nil."—Thevenot, v. 54.
1673.—"In these great Solemnities, it is usual for them to set it around with Lamps to the number of two or three Leaques, which is so many hundred thousand in our account."—Fryer, [p. 104, reading Lecques].
1684.—"They have by information of the servants dug in severall places of the house, page 501bwhere they have found great summes of money. Under his bed were found Lacks 4½. In the House of Office two Lacks. They in all found Ten Lacks already, and make no doubt but to find more."—Hedges, Diary, Jan. 2; [Hak. Soc. i. 145].
1692.—"... a lack of Pagodas...."—In Wheeler, i. 262.
1747.—"The Nabob and other Principal Persons of this Country are of such an extreme lacrative (sic) Disposition, and ... are so exceedingly avaritious, occasioned by the large Proffers they have received from the French, that nothing less than Lacks will go near to satisfie them."—Letter from Ft. St. David to the Court, May 2 (MS. Records in India Office).
1778.—"Sir Matthew Mite will make up the money already advanced in another name, by way of future mortgage upon his estate, for the entire purchase, 5 lacks of roupees."—Foote, The Nabob, Act I. sc. i.
1785.—"Your servants have no Trade in this country; neither do you pay them high wages, yet in a few years they return to England with many lacs of pagodas."—Nabob of Arcot, in Burke's Speech on his Debts, Works, iv. 18.
1833.—"Tout le reste (et dans le reste il y a des intendants riches de plus de vingt laks) s'assied par terre."—Jacquemont, Correspond. ii. 120.
1879.—"In modern times the only numbers in practical use above 'thousands' are laksa ('lac' or 'lakh') and koṭi ('crore'); and an Indian sum is wont to be pointed thus: 123, 45, 67, 890, to signify 123 crores, 45 lakhs, + 67 thousand, eight hundred and ninety."—Whitney, Sansk. Grammar, 161.
LACKERAGE. (See KHIRAJ.)
LALL-SHRAUB, s. Englishman's Hind. lāl-sharāb, 'red wine.' The universal name of claret in India.
LALLA, s. P.—H. lālā. In Persia this word seems to be used for a kind of domestic tutor; now for a male nurse, or as he would be called in India, 'child's bearer.' In N. India it is usually applied to a native clerk writing the vernacular, or to a page 502arespectable merchant. [For the Pers. usage see Blochmann, Āīn, i. 426 note.]
LAMA, s. A Tibetan Buddhist monk. Tibet. bLama (b being silent). The word is sometimes found written Llama; but this is nonsense. In fact it seems to be a popular confusion, arising from the name of the S. American quadruped which is so spelt. See quotation from Times below.
1664.—"This Ambassador had in his suit a Physician, which was said to be of the Kingdom of Lassa, and of the Tribe Lamy or Lama, which is that of the men of the Law in that country, as the Brahmans are in the Indies ... he related of his great Lama that when he was old, and ready to die, he assembled his council, and declared to them that now he was passing into the Body of a little child lately born...."—Bernier, E.T. 135; [ed. Constable, 424].
1716.—"Les Thibetaines ont des Religieux nommés Lamas."—In Lettres Edif. xii. 438.
1774.—"... ma questo primo figlio ... rinunziò la corona al secondo e lui difatti si fece religioso o lama del paese."—Della Tomba, 61.
c. 1818.—
"The Parliament of Thibet met— The little Lama, called before it, Did there and then his whipping get, And, as the Nursery Gazette Assures us, like a hero bore it." T. Moore, The Little Grand Lama.
1876.—"... Hastings ... touches on the analogy between Tibet and the high valley of Quito, as described by De la Condamine, an analogy which Mr. Markham brings out in interesting detail.... But when he enlarges on the wool which is a staple of both countries, and on the animals producing it, he risks confirming in careless readers that popular impression which might be expressed in the phraseology of Fluelen—''Tis all one; 'tis alike as my fingers is to my fingers, and there is Llamas in both."—Rev. of Markham's Tibet, in Times, May 15.
The passage last quoted is in jesting vein, but the following is serious and delightful:—
LAMASERY, LAMASERIE, s. This is a word, introduced apparently by the French R. C. Missionaries, for a lama convent. Without being positive, I would say that it does not represent any Oriental word (e.g. compound of lami and serai), but is a factitious French word analogous to nonnerie, vacherie, laiterie, &c.
LAMBALLIE, LOMBALLIE, LOMBARDIE, LUMBANAH, &c., s. Dakh. Hind. Lāmbāṛā, Mahr. Lambāṇ, with other forms in the languages of the Peninsula. [Platts connects the name with Skt. lamba, 'long, tall'; the Madras Gloss. with Skt. lampata, 'greedy.'] A wandering tribe of dealers in grain, salt, &c., better known as Banjārās (see BRINJARRY). As an Anglo-Indian word this is now obsolete. It was perhaps a corruption of Lubhāna, the name of one of the great clans or divisions of the Banjārās. [Another suggestion made is that the name is derived from their business of carrying salt (Skt. lavaṇa); see Crooke, Tribes of N.W.P. i. 158.]
LANCHARA, s. A kind of small vessel often mentioned in the Portuguese histories of the 16th and 17th centuries. The derivation is probably Malay lanchār, 'quick, nimble.' [Mr. Skeat writes: "The real Malay form is Lanchar-an, which is regularly formed from Malay lanchār, 'swift,' and lanchara I believe to be a Port. form of lanchar-an, as lanchara could not possibly, in Malay, be formed from lanchār, as has hitherto been implied or suggested."]
LANDWIND, s. Used in the south of India. A wind which blows seaward during the night and early morning. [The dangerous effects of it are described in Madras Gloss. s.v.] In Port. Terrenho.
[1598.—"The East winds beginne to blow from off the land into the seas, whereby they are called Terreinhos."—Linschoten, Hak. Soc. i. 234.
[1612.—"Send John Dench ... that in the morning he may go out with the landtorne and return with the seatorne."—Danvers, Letters, i. 206.]
1644.—"And as it is between monsoon and monsoon (monsam) the wind is quite uncertain only at the beginning of summer. The N.W prevails more than any other wind ... and at the end of it begin the land winds (terrenhos) from midnight to about noon, and these are E. winds."—Bocarro, MS.
1673.—"... we made for the Land, to gain the Land Breezes. They begin about Midnight, and hold till Noon, and are by the Portugals named Terrhenoes."—Fryer, 23.
[1773.—See the account in Ives, 76.]
LANGASAQUE, n.p. The most usual old form for the Japanese city which we now call Nagasaki (see Sainsbury, passim).
1613.—The Journal of Capt. John Saris has both Nangasaque and Langasaque.—Ibid. 366.
1614.—"Geve hym counsell to take heed of one Pedro Guzano, a papist Christian, whoe is his hoste at Miaco; for a lyinge page 503bfryre (or Jesuit) tould Mr. Peacock at Langasaque that Capt. Adams was dead in the howse of the said Guzano, which now I know is a lye per letters I received...."—Cocks, to Wickham, in Diary, &c., ii. 264.
1618.—"It has now com to passe, which before I feared, that a company of rich usurers have gotten this sentence against us, and com doune together every yeare to Langasaque and this place, and have allwais byn accustomed to buy by the pancado (as they call it), or whole sale, all the goodes which came in the carick from Amacan, the Portingales having no prevelegese as we have."—The same to the E.I. Co., ii. 207-8.
LAN JOHN, LANGIANNE, &c., n.p. Such names are applied in the early part of the 17th century to the Shan or Laos State of Luang Praban on the Mekong. Lan-chan is one of its names signifying in Siamese, it is said, 'a million of elephants.' It is known to the Burmese by the same name (Len-Shen). It was near this place that the estimable French traveller Henri Mouhot died, in 1861.
c. 1598.—"Thus we arrived at Lanchan, the capital of the Kingdom (Lao) where the King resides. It is a Kingdom of great extent, but thinly inhabited, because it has been frequently devastated by Pegu."—De Morga, 98.
1613.—"There reigned in Pegu in the year 1590 a King called Ximindo ginico, Lord reigning from the confines and roots of Great Tartary, to the very last territories bordering on our fortress of Malaca. He kept at his court the principal sons of the Kings of Ová, Tangu, Porão, Lanjão (i.e. Ava, Taungu, Prome, Lanjang), Jangomá, Siam, Camboja, and many other realms, making two and thirty of the white umbrella."—Bocarro, 117.
1617.—"The merchants of the country of Lan John, a place joining to the country of Jangoma (JANGOMAY) arrived at the city of Judea ... and brought great store of merchandize."—Sainsbury, ii. 90.
1663.—"Entre tant et de si puissans Royaumes du dernier Orient, desquels on n'a presque iamais entendu parler en Europe, il y en a vn qui se nomme Lao, et plus proprement le Royaume des Langiens ... le Royaume n'a pris son nom que du grand nombre d'Elephants qui s'y rencontrent: de vray ce mot de Langiens signifie proprement, miliers d'Elephants."—Marini, H. Novvelle et Cvrievse des Royaumes de Tunquin et de Lao (Fr. Tr., Paris, 1666), 329, 337.
page 504a1668.—Lanchang appears in the Map of Siam in De la Loubère's work, but we do not find it in the book itself.
LANTEA, s. A swift kind of boat frequently mentioned by F. M. Pinto and some early writers on China; but we are unable to identify the word.
LAOS, n.p. A name applied by the Portuguese to the civilised people who occupied the inland frontier of Burma and Siam, between those countries on the one hand and China and Tongking on the other; a people called by the Burmese Shans, a name which we have in recent years adopted. They are of the same race of Thai to which the Siamese belong, and which extends with singular identity of manners and language, though broken into many separate communities, from Assam to the Malay Peninsula. The name has since been frequently used as a singular, and applied as a territorial name to the region occupied by this people immediately to the North of Siam. There have been a great number of separate principalities in this region, of which now one and now another predominated and conquered its neighbours. Before the rise of Siam the most important was that of which Sakotai was the capital, afterwards represented by Xieng-mai, the Zimmé of the Burmese and the Jangomay of some old English documents. In later times the chief States were Muang Luang Praban (see LAN JOHN) and Vien-shan, both upon the Mekong. page 504bIt would appear from Lieut. Macleod's narrative, and from Garnier, that the name of Lao is that by which the branch of these people on the Lower Mekong, i.e. of those two States, used to designate themselves. Muang Praban is still quasi independent; Vien-Shan was annexed with great cruelties by Siam, c. 1828.
1553.—"... certain very rugged mountain ranges, like the Alps, inhabited by the people called Gueos who fight on horseback, and with whom the King of Siam is continually at war. They are near him only on the north, leaving between the two the people called Laos, who encompass this Kingdom of Siam, both on the North, and on the East along the river Mecon ... and on the south adjoin these Laos the two Kingdoms of Camboja and Choampa (see CHAMPA), which are on the sea-board. These Laos ... though they are lords of so great territories, are all subject to this King of Siam, though often in rebellion against him."—Ibid. III. ii. 5.
" "Three Kingdoms at the upper part of these, are those of the Laos, who (as we have said) obey Siam through fear: the first of these is called Jangoma (see JANGOMAY), the chief city of which is called Chiamay ... the second Chancray Chencran: the third Lanchaa (see LAN JOHN) which is below the others, and adjoins the Kingdom of Cacho, or Cauchichina...."—Ibid.
c. 1560.—"These Laos came to Camboia, downe a River many daies Iournie, which they say to have his beginning in China as many others which runne into the Sea of India; it hath eight, fifteene, and twentie fathome water, as myselfe saw by experience in a great part of it; it passeth through manie vnknowne and desart Countries of great Woods and Forests where there are innumerable Elephants, and many Buffes ... and certayne beastes which in that Countrie they call Badas (see ABADA)."—Gaspar da Cruz, in Purchas, iii. 169.
c. 1598.—"... I offered to go to the Laos by land, at my expense, in search of the King of Cambodia, as I knew that that was the road to go by...."—Blas de Herman Gonzalez, in De Morga (E.T. by Hon. H. Stanley, Hak. Soc.), p. 97.
1641.—"Concerning the Land of the Louwen, and a Journey made thereunto by our Folk in Anno 1641" (&c.).—Valentijn, III. Pt. ii. pp. 50 seqq.
1663.—"Relation Novvele et Cvrievse dv Royavme de Lao.—Traduite de l'Italien du P. de Marini, Romain. Paris, 1666."
LAR, n.p. This name has had several applications.
(a). To the region which we now call Guzerat, in its most general application. In this sense the name is now quite obsolete; but it is that used by most of the early Arab geographers. It is the Λαρικὴ of Ptolemy; and appears to represent an old Skt. name Laṭa, adj. Laṭaka, or Laṭika. ["The name Láṭa appears to be derived from some local tribe, perhaps the Lattas, who, as r and l are commonly used for each other, may possibly be the well-known Rashṭrakúṭas since their great King Amoghavarsha (A.D. 851-879) calls the name of the dynasty Ratta."—Bombay Gazetteer, I. pt. i. 7.]
c. 940.—"On the coast, e.g. at Ṣaimūr, at Sūbāra, and at Tāna, they speak Lārī; these provinces give their name to the Sea of Lār (Lārawī) on the coast of which they are situated."—Maṣ'ūdi, i. 381.
c. 1020.—"... to Kach the country producing gum (moḳl, i.e. Bdellium, q.v.), and bárdrúd (?) ... to Somnát, fourteen (parasangs); to Kambáya, thirty ... to Tána five. There you enter the country of Lárán, where is Jaimúr" (i.q. Ṣaimúr, see CHOUL).—Al-Birūni, in Elliot, i. 66.
c. 1190.—"Udaya the Parmâr mounted and came. The Dors followed him from Lār...."—The Poem of Chand Bardai, E.T. by Beames, in Ind. Antiq. i. 275.
(b). To the Delta region of the Indus, and especially to its western part. Sir H. Elliot supposes the name in this use, which survived until recently, to be identical with the preceding, and that the name had originally extended continuously over the coast, from the western part of the Delta to beyond page 505bBombay (see his Historians, i. 378). We have no means of deciding this question (see LARRY BUNDER).
(c). To a Province on the north of the Persian Gulf, with its capital.
c. 1330.—"We marched for three days through a desert ... and then arrived at Lār, a big town having springs, considerable streams, and gardens, and fine bazars. We lodged in the hermitage of the pious Shaikh Abu Dulaf Muḥammad...."—Ibn Batuta, ii. 240.
c. 1487.—"Retorneing alongest the coast, forneagainst Ormuos there is a towne called Lar, a great and good towne of merchaundise, about ij$^{ml}$. houses...."—Josafa Barbaro, old E.T. (Hak. Soc.) 80.
[c. 1590.—"Lár borders on the mountains of Great Tibet. To its north is a lofty mountain which dominates all the surrounding country, and the ascent of which is arduous...."—Āīn, ed. Jarrett, ii. 363.]
1553.—"These benefactions the Kings of Ormuz ... pay to this day to a mosque which that Caciz (see CASIS) had made in a district called Hongez of Sheikh Doniar, adjoining the city of Lara, distant from Ormuz over 40 leagues."—Barros, II. ii. 2.
1602.—"This man was a Moor, a native of the Kingdom of Lara, adjoining that of Ormuz: his proper name was Cufo, but as he was a native of the Kingdom of Lara he took a surname from the country, and called himself Cufo Larym."—Couto, IV. vii. 6.
1622.—"Lar, as I said before, is capital of a great province or kingdom, which till our day had a prince of its own, who rightfully or wrongfully reigned there absolutely; but about 23 years since, for reasons rather generous than covetous, as it would seem, it was attacked by Abbas K. of Persia, and the country forcibly taken.... Now Lar is the seat of a Sultan dependent on the Khan of Shiraz...."—P. della Valle, ii. 322.
LARĀĪ, s. This Hind. word, meaning 'fighting,' is by a curious idiom applied to the biting and annoyance of fleas and the like. [It is not mentioned in the dictionaries of either Fallon or Platts.] There is a similar idiom (jang kardan) in Persian.
LAREK, n.p. Lārak; an island in the Persian Gulf, not far from the island of Jerun or Ormus.
LARIN, s. Pers. lārī. A peculiar kind of money formerly in use on the Persian Gulf, W. Coast of India, and in the Maldive Islands, in which last it survived to the last century. The name is there retained still, though coins of the ordinary form are used. It is sufficiently described in the quotations, and representations are given by De Bry and Tavernier. The name appears to have been derived from the territory of Lar on the Persian Gulf. (See under that word, [and Mr. Gray's note on Pyrard de Laval, Hak. Soc. i. 232 seq.].)
c. 1563.—"I have seen the men of the Country who were Gentiles take their children, their sonnes and their daughters, and have desired the Portugalls to buy them, and I have seene them sold for eight or ten larines apiece, which may be of our money x s. or xiii s. iiii d."—Master Caesar Frederike, in Hakl. ii. 343.
1583.—Gasparo Balbi has an account of the Larino, the greater part of which seems to be borrowed literatim by Fitch in the succeeding quotation. But Balbi adds: "The first who began to strike them was the King of Lar, who formerly was a powerful King in Persia, but is now a small one."—f. 35.
1587.—"The said Larine is a strange piece of money, not being round, as all other current money in Christianitie, but is a small rod of silver, of the greatnesse of the pen of a goose feather ... which is wrested so that two endes meet at the just half part, and in the head thereof is a stamp Turkesco, and these be the best current page 506bmoney in all the Indias, and 6 of these Larines make a duckat."—R. Fitch, in Hakl. ii. 407.
1598.—"An Oxe or a Cowe is there to be bought for one Larijn, which is as much as halfe a Gilderne."—Linschoten, 28; [Hak. Soc. i. 94; in i. 48 Larynen; see also i. 242].
c. 1610.—"La monnoye du Royaume n'est que d'argent et d'vne sorte. Ce sont des pieces d'argent qu'ils appellent larins, de valeur de huit sols ou enuiron de nostre monnoye ... longues comme le doigt mais redoublées...."—Pyrard de Laval, i. 163; [Hak. Soc. i. 232].
1613.—"We agreed with one of the Governor's kinred for twenty laries (twenty shillings) to conduct us...."—N. Whithington, in Purchas, i. 484.
LARKIN, s. (obsolete). A kind of drink—apparently a sort of punch—which was popular in the Company's old factories. We know the word only on the authority of Pietro della Valle; but he is the most accurate of travellers. We are in the dark as to the origin of the name. On the one hand its form suggests an eponymus among the old servants of the Company, such as Robert Larkin, whom we find to have been engaged for the service in 1610, and to have died chief of the Factory of Patani, on the E. coast of the Malay Peninsula, in 1616. But again we find in a Vocabulary of "Certaine Wordes of the Naturall Language of Iaua," in Drake's Voyage (Hak. iv. 246): "Larnike = Drinke." Of this word we can trace nothing nearer than (Javan.) larih, 'to pledge, or invite to drink at an entertainment,' and (Malay) larih-larahan, 'mutual pledging to drink.' It will be observed that della Valle assigns the drink especially to Java.
LARRY-BUNDER, n.p. The name of an old seaport in the Delta of the Indus, which succeeded Daibul (see DIUL-SIND) as the chief haven of Sind. We are doubtful of the proper orthography. It was in later Mahommedan times called Lāhorī-bandar, probably from presumed connection with Lahore as the port of the Punjab (Elliot, i. 378). At first sight M‘Murdo's suggestion that the original name may have been Lārī-bandar, from Lār, the local name of the southern part of Sind, seems probable. M‘Murdo, indeed, writing about 1820, says that the name Lārī-Bandar was not at all familiar to natives; but if accustomed to the form Lāhorī-bandar they might not recognize it in the other. The shape taken however by what is apparently the same name in our first quotation is adverse to M‘Murdo's suggestion.
c. 1333.—"I travelled five days in his company with Alā-ul-Mulk, and we arrived at the seat of his Government, i.e. the town of Lāhari, a fine city situated on the shore of the great Sea, and near which the River Sind enters the sea. Thus two great waters join near it; it possesses a grand haven, frequented by the people of Yemen, of Fārs (etc).... The Amir Alā-ul-Mulk ... told me that the revenue of this place amounted to 60 laks a year."—Ibn Batuta, iii. 112.
1565.—"Blood had not yet been spilled, when suddenly, news came from Thatta, that the Firingis had passed Lāhorī-bandar, and attacked the city."—Táríkh-i-Táhiri, in Elliot, i. 277.
page 507b[1607.—"Then you are to saile for Lawrie in the Bay of the River Syndus."—Birdwood, First Letter-book, 251.
[1611.—"I took ... Larree, the port town of the River Sinda."—Danvers, Letters, i. 162.]
1613.—"In November 1613 the Expedition arrived at Laurebunder, the port of Sinde, with Sir Robert Shirley and his company."—Sainsbury, i. 321.
c. 1665.—"Il se fait aussi beaucoup de trafic au Loure-bender, qui est à trois jours de Tatta sur la mer, où la rade est plus excellente pour Vaisseaux, qu'en quelque autre lieu que ce soit des Indes."—Thevenot, v. 159.
1679.—"... If Suratt, Baroach, and Bundurlaree in Scinda may be included in the same Phyrmaund to be customs free ... then that they get these places and words inserted."—Ft. St. Geo. Consns., Feb. 20. In Notes and Exts., No. 1. Madras, 1871.
1727.—"It was my Fortune ... to come to Larribunder, with a Cargo from Mallebar, worth above £10,000."—A. Hamilton, i. 116; [ed. 1744, i. 117, Larribundar].
1739.—"But the Castle and town of Lohre Bender, with all the country to the eastward of the river Attok, and of the waters of the Scind, and Nala Sunkhra, shall, as before, belong to the Empire of Hindostan."—H. of Nadir, in Hanway, ii. 387.
1753.—"Le bras gauche du Sind se rend à Laheri, où il s'épanche en un lac; et ce port, qui est celui de Tattanagar, communément est nommé Laûrébender."—D'Anville, p. 40.
1763.—"Les Anglois ont sur cette côte encore plusieurs petits établissement (sic) où ils envoyent des premiers Marchands, des sous-Marchands, ou des Facteurs, comme en Scindi, à trois endroits, à Tatta, une grande ville et la résidence du Seigneur du païs, à Lar Bunder, et à Schah-Bunder."—Niebuhr, Voyage, ii. 8.
1780.—"The first place of any note, after passing the bar, is Laribunda, about 5 or 6 leagues from the sea."—Dunn's Oriental Navigator, 5th ed. p. 96.
1813.—"Laribunder. This is commonly called Scindy River, being the principal branch of the Indus, having 15 feet water on the bar, and 6 or 7 fathoms inside; it is situated in latitude about 24° 30′ north. ... The town of Laribunder is about 5 leagues from the sea, and vessels of 200 tons used to proceed up to it."—Milburn, i. 146.
LASCAR, s. The word is originally from Pers. lashkar, 'an army,' 'a camp.' This is usually derived from Ar. al 'askar, but it would rather seem that page 508aAr. 'askar, 'an army' is taken from this Pers. word: whence lashkarī, 'one belonging to an army, a soldier.' The word lascár or láscár (both these pronunciations are in vogue) appears to have been corrupted, through the Portuguese use of lashkarī in the forms lasquarin, lascari, &c., either by the Portuguese themselves, or by the Dutch and English who took up the word from them, and from these laskār has passed back again into native use in this corrupt shape. The early Portuguese writers have the forms we have just named in the sense of 'soldier'; but lascar is never so used now. It is in general the equivalent of khalāsī, in the various senses of that word (see CLASSY), viz. (1) an inferior class of artilleryman ('gun-lascar'); (2) a tent-pitcher, doing other work which the class are accustomed to do; (3) a sailor. The last is the most common Anglo-Indian use, and has passed into the English language. The use of lascar in the modern sense by Pyrard de Laval shows that this use was already general on the west coast at the beginning of the 17th century, [also see quotation from Pringle below]; whilst the curious distinction which Pyrard makes between Lascar and Lascari, and Dr. Fryer makes between Luscar and Lascar (accenting probably Lúscar and Lascár) shows that lashkarī for a soldier was still in use. In Ceylon the use of the word lascareen for a local or civil soldier long survived; perhaps is not yet extinct. The word lashkari does not seem to occur in the Āīn.
[1538.—"My mother only bore me to be a Captain, and not your Lascar (lascarin)."—Letter of Nuno da Cunha, in Barros, Dec. IV. bk. 10, ch. 21.]
1541.—"It is a proverbial saying all over India (i.e. Portuguese India, see s.v.) that the good Lasquarim, or 'soldier' as we should call him, must be an Abyssinian."—Castro, Roteiro, 73.
1546.—"Besides these there were others (who fell at Diu) whose names are unknown, being men of the lower rank, among whom I knew a lascarym (a man getting only 500 reis of pay!) who was the first man to lay his hand on the Moorish wall, and shouted aloud that they might see him, as many have told me. And he was immediately thrown down wounded in five places with stones and bullets, but still lived; and a page 508bnoble gentleman sent and had him rescued and carried away by his slaves. And he survived, but being a common man he did not even get his pay!"—Correa, iv. 567.
1552.—"... eles os reparte polos lascarins de suas capitanias, q̃ assi chamão soldados."—Castanheda, ii. 67. [Mr. Whiteway notes that in the orig. repartem for reparte, and the reference should be ii. 16.]
1554.—"Moreover the Senhor Governor conceded to the said ambassador that if in the territories of Idalshaa (see IDALCAN), or in those of our Lord the King there shall be any differences or quarrels between any Portuguese lascarins or peons (piães) of ours, and lascarins of the territories of Idalshaa and peons of his, that the said Idalshaa shall order the delivery up of the Portuguese and peons that they may be punished if culpable. And in like manner ..."—S. Botelho, Tombo, 44.
1572.—"Erant in eo praesidio Lasquarini circiter septingenti artis scolopettariae peritissimi."—E. Acosta, f. 236v.
1598.—"The soldier of Ballagate, which is called Lascarin...."—Linschoten, 74; [in Hak. Soc. i. 264, Lascariin].
1600.—"Todo a mais churma e meneyo das naos são Mouros que chamão Laschãres...."—Lucena, Life of St. Franc. Xav., liv. iv. p. 223.
[1602.—"... because the Lascars (lascaris), for so they call the Arab sailors."—Couto, Dec. X. bk. 3, ch. 13.]
c. 1610.—"Mesmes tous les mariniers et les pilotes sont Indiens, tant Gentils que Mahometans. Tous ces gens de mer les appellent Lascars, et les soldats Lascarits."—Pyrard de Laval, i. 317; [Hak. Soc. i. 438; also see ii. 3, 17].
[1615.—"... two horses with six Lasceras and two caffres (see CAFFER)."—Foster, Letters, iv. 112.]
1644.—"... The aldeas of the jurisdiction of Damam, in which district there are 4 fortified posts defended by Lascars (Lascarīs) who are mostly native Christian soldiers, though they may be heathen as some of them are."—Bocarro, MS.
1673.—"The Seamen and Soldiers differ only in a Vowel, the one being pronounced with an u, the other with an a, as Luscar, a soldier, Lascar, a seaman."—Fryer, 107.
[1683-84.—"The Warehousekeeper having Seaverall dayes advised the Council of Ship Welfares tardynesse in receiving & stowing away the Goods, ... alledging that they have not hands Sufficient to dispatch them, though we have spared them tenn Laskars for that purpose...."—Pringle, Diary Ft. St. Geo., 1st ser. iii. 7 seq.; also see p. 43.]
1685.—"They sent also from Sofragan D. Antonio da Motta Galvaon with 6 companies, which made 190 men; the Dissava (see DISSAVE) of the adjoining provinces joined him with 4000 Lascarins."—Ribeyro, H. of the I. of Ceylan (from French Tr., p. 241).
page 509a1690.—"For when the English Sailers at that time perceiv'd the softness of the Indian Lascarrs; how tame they were ... they embark'd again upon a new Design ... to ... rob these harmless Traffickers in the Red Sea."—Ovington, 464.
1726.—"Lascaryns, or Loopers, are native soldiers, who have some regular maintenance, and in return must always be ready."—Valentijn, Ceylon, Names of Offices, &c., 10.
1755.—"Some Lascars and Sepoys were now sent forward to clear the road."—Orme, ed. 1803, i. 394.
1787.—"The Field Pieces attached to the Cavalry draw up on the Right and Left Flank of the Regiment; the Artillery Lascars forming in a line with the Front Rank the full Extent of the Drag Ropes, which they hold in their hands."—Regns. for the Hon. Company's Troops on the Coast of Coromandel, by M.-Gen. Sir Archibald Campbell, K.B. Govr. & C. in C. Madras, p. 9.
1803.—"In those parts (of the low country of Ceylon) where it is not thought requisite to quarter a body of troops, there is a police corps of the natives appointed to enforce the commands of Government in each district; they are composed of Conganies, or sergeants, Aratjies, or corporals, and Lascarines, or common soldiers, and perform the same office as our Sheriff's men or constables."—Percival's Ceylon, 222.
1807.—"A large open boat formed the van, containing his excellency's guard of lascoreens, with their spears raised perpendicularly, the union colours flying, and Ceylon drums called tomtoms beating."—Cordiner's Ceylon, 170.
In the following passages the original word lashkar is used in its proper sense for 'a camp.'
[1615.—"We came to the Lasker the 7th of February in the evening."—Ibid. iii. 85.]
1616.—"I tooke horse to auoyd presse, and other inconvenience, and crossed out of the Leskar, before him."—Sir T. Roe, in Purchas, i. 559; see also 560; [Hak. Soc. ii. 324].
LĀT, LĀT SĀHIB, s. This, a popular corruption of Lord Sahib, or Lārd Sāhib, as it is written in Hind., is the usual form from native lips, at least in the Bengal Presidency, of the title by which the Governor-General has long been known in the page 509bvernaculars. The term also extends nowadays to Lieutenant-Governors, who in contact with the higher authority become Chhoṭā ('Little') Lāt, whilst the Governor-General and the Commander-in-Chief are sometimes discriminated as the Mulkī Lāt Sāhib [or Barē Lāt], and the Jangī Lāt Sāhib ('territorial' and 'military'), the Bishop as the Lāt Pādrē Sāhib, and the Chief Justice as the Lāt Justy Sāhib. The title is also sometimes, but very incorrectly, applied to minor dignitaries of the supreme Government, [whilst the common form of blessing addressed to a civil officer is "Huzūr Lāt Guvnar, Lāt Sikritar ho-jāeṅ."
1837.—"The Arab, thinking I had purposely stolen his kitten, ran after the buggy at full speed, shouting as he passed Lord Auckland's tents, 'Dohā'ī, dohā'ī, Sāhib! dohā'ī, Lord Sāhib!' (see DOAI). 'Mercy, mercy, sir! mercy, Governor-General!' The faster the horse rushed on, the faster followed the shouting Arab."—Wanderings of a Pilgrim, ii. 142.
1868.—"The old barber at Roorkee, after telling me that he had known Strachey when he first began, added, 'Ab Lāt-Sekretur hai! Ah! hum bhi boodda hogya!' ('Now he is Lord Secretary! Ah! I too have become old!')"—Letter from the late M.-Gen. W. W. H. Greathed.
LAT, s. Hind. lāt, used as a corruption of the English lot, in reference to an auction (Carnegie).
LĀṬ, LĀṬH, s. This word, meaning a staff or pole, is used for an obelisk or columnar monument; and is specifically used for the ancient Buddhist columns of Eastern India.
page 510aLATERITE, s. A term, first used by Dr. Francis Buchanan, to indicate a reddish brick-like argillaceous formation much impregnated with iron peroxide, and hardening on exposure to the atmosphere, which is found in places all over South India from one coast to the other, and the origin of which geologists find very obscure. It is found in two distinct types: viz. (1) High-level Laterite, capping especially the trap-rocks of the Deccan, with a bed from 30 or 40 to 200 feet in thickness, which perhaps at one time extended over the greater part of Peninsular India. This is found as far north as the Rajmahal and Monghyr hills. (2). Low-level Laterite, forming comparatively thin and sloping beds on the plains of the coast. The origin of both is regarded as being, in the most probable view, modified volcanic matter; the low-level laterite having undergone a further rearrangement and deposition; but the matter is too complex for brief statement (see Newbold, in J.R.A.S., vol. viii.; and the Manual of the Geol. of India, pp. xlv. seqq., 348 seqq.). Mr. King and others have found flint weapons in the low-level formation. Laterite is the usual material for road-metal in S. India, as kunkur (q.v.) is in the north. In Ceylon it is called cabook (q.v.).
LATTEE, s. A stick; a bludgeon, often made of the male bamboo (Dendrocalamus strictus), and sometimes bound at short intervals with iron rings, forming a formidable weapon. page 510bThe word is Hind. lāṭhī and laṭhī, Mahr. laṭhṭha. This is from Prakrit laṭṭhī, for Skt. yashṭi, 'a stick,' according to the Prakrit grammar of Vararuchi (ed. Cowell, ii. 32); see also Lassen, Institutiones, Ling. Prakrit, 195. Jiskī lāṭhī, us kī bhaiṇs, is a Hind. proverb (cujus baculum ejus bubalus), equivalent to the "good old rule, the simple plan."
LATTEEAL, s. Hind. lāṭhīyāl, or, more cumbrously, lāṭhīwālā, 'a club-man,' a hired ruffian. Such gentry were not many years ago entertained in scores by planters in some parts of Bengal, to maintain by force their claims to lands for sowing indigo on.
LAW-OFFICER. This was the official designation of a Mahommedan officer learned in the (Mahommedan) law, who was for many years of our Indian administration an essential functionary of the judges' Courts in the districts, as well as of the Sudder or Courts of Review at the Presidency.
It is to be remembered that the law administered in Courts under the Company's government, from the assumption of the Dewanny of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, was the Mahommedan law; at first by the hands of native Cazees and Mufties, with some superintendence from the higher European servants of the Company; a superintendence which, while undergoing sundry vicissitudes of system during the next 30 years, developed gradually into a European judiciary, which again was set on an extended and quasi-permanent footing by Lord Cornwallis's Government, in Regulation IX. of 1793 page 511a(see ADAWLUT). The Mahommedan law continued, however, to be the professed basis of criminal jurisprudence, though modified more and more, as years went on, by new Regulations, and by the recorded constructions and circular orders of the superior Courts, until the accomplishment of the great changes which followed the Mutiny, and the assumption of the direct government of India by the Crown (1858). The landmarks of change were (a) the enactment of the Penal Code (Act XLV. of 1860), and (b) that of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Act XXV. of 1861), followed by (c) the establishment of the High Court (July 1, 1862), in which became merged both the Supreme Court with its peculiar jurisdiction, and the (quondam-Company's) Sudder Courts of Review and Appeal, civil and criminal (Dewanny Adawlvt, and Nizamat Adawlut).
The authoritative exposition of the Mahommedan Law, in aid and guidance of the English judges, was the function of the Mahommedan Law-officer. He sat with the judge on the bench at Sessions, i.e. in the hearing of criminal cases committed by the magistrate for trial; and at the end of the trial he gave in his written record of the proceedings with his Futwa (q.v.) (see Regn. IX. 1793, sect. 47), which was his judgment as to the guilt of the accused, as to the definition of the crime, and as to its appropriate punishment according to Mahommedan Law. The judge was bound attentively to consider the futwa, and if it seemed to him to be consonant with natural justice, and also in conformity with the Mahommedan Law, he passed sentence (save in certain excepted cases) in its terms, and issued his warrant to the magistrate for execution of the sentence, unless it were one of death, in which case the proceedings had to be referred to the Sudder Nizamut for confirmation. In cases also where there was disagreement between the civilian judge and the Law-officer, either as to finding or sentence, the matter was referred to the Sudder Court for ultimate decision.
In 1832, certain modifications were introduced by law (Regn. VI. of that year), which declared that the futwa might be dispensed with either by page 511breferring the case for report to a punchayet (q.v.), which sat apart from the Court; or by constituting assessors in the trial (generally three in number). The frequent adoption of the latter alternative rendered the appearance of the Law-officer and his futwa much less universal as time went on. The post of Law-officer was indeed not actually abolished till 1864. But it would appear from enquiry that I have made, among friends of old standing in the Civil Service, that for some years before the issue of the Penal Code and the other reforms already mentioned, the Moolvee (maulavī) or Mahommedan Law-officer had, in some at least of the Bengal districts, practically ceased to sit with the judge, even in cases where no assessors were summoned. I cannot trace any legislative authority for this, nor any Circular of the Sudder Nizamut; and it is not easy, at this time of day, to obtain much personal testimony. But Sir George Yule (who was Judge of Rungpore and Bogra about 1855-56) writes thus:
Mr. Seton-Karr, again, who was Civil and Sessions Judge of Jessore (1857-1860), writes:
The office of Law-officer was formally abolished by Act XI. of 1864.
In respect of civil litigation, it had been especially laid down (Regn. of April 11, 1780, quoted below) that in suits regarding successions, inheritance, marriage, caste, and all religious usages page 512aand institutions, the Mahommedan laws with respect to Mahommedans, and the Hindū laws with respect to Hindūs, were to be considered as the general rules by which the judges were to form their decisions. In the respective cases, it was laid down, the Mahommedan and Hindū law-officers of the court were to attend and expound the law.
In this note I have dealt only with the Mahommedan law-officer, whose presence and co-operation was so long (it has been seen) essential in a criminal trial. In civil cases he did not sit with the judge (at least in memory of man now living), but the judge could and did, in case of need, refer to him on any point of Mahommedan Law. The Hindū law-officer (Pundit) is found in the legislation of 1793, and is distinctly traceable in the Regulations down at least to 1821. In fact he is named in the Act XI. of 1864 (see quotation under CAZEE) abolishing Law-officers. But in many of the districts it would seem that he had very long before 1860 practically ceased to exist, under what circumstances exactly I have failed to discover. He had nothing to do with criminal justice, and the occasions for reference to him were presumably not frequent enough to justify his maintenance in every district. A Pundit continued to be attached to the Sudder Dewanny, and to him questions were referred by the District Courts when requisite. Neither Pundit nor Moolvee is attached to the High Court, but native judges sit on its Bench. It need only be added that under Regulation III. of 1821, a magistrate was authorized to refer for trial to the Law-officer of his district a variety of complaints and charges of a trivial character. The designation of the Law-officer was Maulavi. (See ADAWLUT, CAZEE, FUTWA, MOOLVEE, MUFTY.)
1793.—"II. The Law Officers of the Sudder Dewanny Adawlut, the Nizamut Adawlut, the provincial Courts of Appeal, page 512bthe courts of circuit, and the zillah and city courts ... shall not be removed but for incapacity or misconduct...."—Reg. XII. of 1793.
In §§ iv., v., vi. Cauzy and Mufty are substituted for Law-Officer, but referring to the same persons.
LAXIMANA, LAQUESIMENA, &c., s. Malay Laksamana, from Skt. lakshmaṇa, 'having fortunate tokens' (which was the name of a mythical hero, brother of Rāma). This was the title of one of the highest dignitaries in the Malay State, commander of the forces.
c. 1539.—"The King accordingly set forth a Fleet of two hundred Sails.... And of this Navy he made General the great Laque Xemena, his Admiral, of whose Valor the History of the Indiaes hath spoken in divers places."—Pinto, in Cogan, p. 38.
1553.—"Lacsamana was harassed by the King to engage Dom Garcia; but his reply was: Sire, against the Portuguese and their high-sided vessels it is impossible to engage with low-cut lancharas like ours. Leave me (to act) for I know this people well, seeing how much blood they have cost me; good fortune is now with thee, and I am about to avenge you on them. And so he did."—Barros, III. viii. 7.
LEAGUER, s. The following use of this word is now quite obsolete, we believe, in English; but it illustrates the now familiar German use of Lager-Bier, i.e. 'beer for laying down, for keeping' (primarily in cask). The word in this sense is neither in Minshew (1627), nor in Bayley (1730).
page 513aLECQUE, s. We do not know what the word used by the Abbé Raynal in the following extract is meant for. It is perhaps a mistake for last, a Dutch weight.
LEE, s. Chin. lī. The ordinary Chinese itinerary measure. Books of the Jesuit Missionaries generally interpret the modern lī as $^1$⁄$_{10}$ of a league, which gives about 3 lī to the mile; more exactly, according to Mr. Giles, 27$^4$⁄$_5$ lī = 10 miles; but it evidently varies a good deal in different parts of China, and has also varied in the course of ages. Thus in the 8th century, data quoted by M. Vivien de St. Martin, from Père Gaubil, show that the lī was little more than $^1$⁄$_5$ of an English mile. And from several concurrent statements we may also conclude that the lī is generalised so that a certain number of lī, generally 100, stand for a day's march. [Archdeacon Gray (China, ii. 101) gives 10 lī as the equivalent of 3⅓ English miles; Gen. Cunningham (Arch. Rep. i. 305) asserts that Hwen Thsang converts the Indian yojanas into Chinese lī at the rate of 40 lī per yojana, or of 10 lī per kos.]
1861.—"In this part of the country a day's march, whatever its actual distance, is called 100 li; and the li may therefore be taken as a measure of time rather than of distance."—Col. Sarel, in J. R. Geog. Soc. xxxii. 11.
LEECHEE, LYCHEE, s. Chin. li-chi, and in S. China (its native region) page 513blai-chi; the beautiful and delicate fruit of the Nephelium litchi, Cambessèdes (N. O. Sapindaceae), a tree which has been for nearly a century introduced into Bengal with success. The dried fruit, usually ticketed as lychee, is now common in London shops.
1563.—"R. Of the things of China you have not said a word; though there they have many fruits highly praised, such as are lalichias (lalixias) and other excellent fruits.
"O. I did not speak of the things of China, because China is a region of which there is so much to tell that it never comes to an end...."—Garcia, f. 157.
1585.—"Also they have a kinde of plummes that they doo call lechias, that are of an exceeding gallant tast, and never hurteth anybody, although they should eate a great number of them."—Parke's Mendoza, i. 14.
1598.—"There is a kind of fruit called Lechyas, which are like Plums, but of another taste, and are very good, and much esteemed, whereof I have eaten."—Linschoten, 38; [Hak. Soc. i. 131].
1631.—"Adfertur ad nos præterea fructus quidam Lances (read Laices) vocatus, qui racematim, ut uvæ, crescit."—Jac. Bontii, Dial. vi. p. 11.
1684.—"Latsea, or Chinese Chestnuts."—Valentijn, iv. (China) 12.
1750-52.—"Leicki is a species of trees which they seem to reckon equal to the sweet orange trees.... It seems hardly credible that the country about Canton (in which place only the fruit grows) annually makes 100,000 tel of dried leickis."—Olof Toreen, 302-3.
1824.—"Of the fruits which this season offers, the finest are leeches (sic) and mangoes; the first is really very fine, being a sort of plum, with the flavour of a Frontignac grape."—Heber, i. 60.
c. 1858.—
"Et tandis que ton pied, sorti de la babouche, Pendait, rose, au bord du manchy (see MUNCHEEL) À l'ombre des bois noirs touffus, et du Letchi, Aux fruits moins pourpres que ta bouche." Leconte de Lisle.
1878.—"... and the lichi hiding under a shell of ruddy brown its globes of translucent and delicately fragrant flesh."—Ph. Robinson, In My Indian Garden, 49.
LEMON, s. Citrus medica, var. Limonum, Hooker. This is of course page 514anot an Anglo-Indian word. But it has come into European languages through the Ar. leimūn, and is, according to Hehn, of Indian origin. In Hind. we have both līmū and nīmbū, which last, at least, seems to be an indigenous form. The Skt. dictionaries give nimbūka. In England we get the word through the Romance languages, Fr. limon, It. limone, Sp. limon, &c., perhaps both from the Crusades and from the Moors of Spain. [Mr. Skeat writes: "The Malay form is limau, 'a lime, lemon, or orange.' The Port. limão may possibly come from this Malay form. I feel sure that limau, which in some dialects is limar, is an indigenous word which was transferred to Europe."] (See LIME.)
c. 1328.—"I will only say this much, that this India, as regards fruit and other things, is entirely different from Christendom; except, indeed, that there be lemons in some places, as sweet as sugar, whilst there be other lemons sour like ours."—Friar Jordanus, 15.
1331.—"Profunditas hujus aquae plena est lapidibus preciosis. Quae aqua multum est yrudinibus et sanguisugis plena. Hos lapides non accipit rex, sed pro animâ suâ semel vel bis in anno sub aquas ipsos pauperes ire permittit.... Et ut ipsi pauperes ire sub aquam possint accipiunt limonem et quemdam fructum quem bene pistant, et illo bene se ungunt.... Et cum sic sint uncti yrudines et sanguisugæ illos offendere non valent."—Fr. Odoric, in Cathay, &c., App., p. xxi.
LEMON-GRASS, s. Andropogon citratus, D.C., a grass cultivated in Ceylon and Singapore, yielding an oil much used in perfumery, under the name of Lemon-Grass Oil, Oil of Verbena, or Indian Melissa Oil. Royle (Hind. Medicine, 82) has applied the name to another very fragrant grass, Andropogon schoenanthus, L., according to him the σχοῖνος of Dioscorides. This last, which grows wild in various parts of India, yields Rūsa Oil, alias O. of Ginger-grass or of Geranium, which page 514bis exported from Bombay to Arabia and Turkey, where it is extensively used in the adulteration of "Otto of Roses."
LEOPARD, s. We insert this in order to remark that there has been a great deal of controversy among Indian sportsmen, and also among naturalists, as to whether there are or are not two species of this Cat, distinguished by those who maintain the affirmative, as panther (F. pardus) and leopard (Felis leopardus), the latter being the smaller, though by some these names are reversed. Even those who support this distinction of species appear to admit that the markings, habits, and general appearance (except size) of the two animals are almost identical. Jerdon describes the two varieties, but (with Blyth) classes both as one species (Felis pardus). [Mr. Blanford takes the same view: "I cannot help suspecting that the difference is very often due to age.... I have for years endeavoured to distinguish the two forms, but without success." (Mammalia of India, 68 seq.)]
LEWCHEW, LIU KIU, LOO-CHOO, &c., n.p. The name of a group of islands to the south of Japan, a name much more familiar than in later years during the 16th century, when their people habitually navigated the China seas, and visited the ports of the Archipelago. In the earliest notices they are perhaps mixt up with the Japanese. [Mr. Chamberlain writes the name Luchu, and says that it is pronounced Dūchū by the natives and Ryūkyū by the Japanese (Things Japanese, 3rd ed. p. 267). Mr. Pringle traces the name in the "Gold flowered loes" which appear in a Madras list of 1684, and which he supposes to be "a name invented for the occasion to describe some silk stuff brought from the Liu Kiu islands." (Diary Ft. St. Geo. 1st ser. iii. 174).]
1540.—"And they, demanding of him whence he came, and what he would have, he answered them that he was of the Kingdom of Siam [of the settlement of the Tanaucarim foreigners, and that he came from Veniaga] and as a merchant was going to traffique in the Isle of Lequios."—Pinto (orig. cap. x. xli), in Cogan, 49.
1553.—"Fernao Peres ... whilst he remained at that island of Beniaga, saw there certain junks of the people called Lequios, of whom he had already got a good deal of information at Malaca, as that they inhabited certain islands adjoining that coast of China; and he observed that the most part of the merchandize that they brought was a great quantity of gold ... and they appeared to him a better disposed people than the Chinese...."—Barros, III. ii. 8. See also II. vi. 6.
1556.—(In this year) "a Portugal arrived at Malaca, named Pero Gomez d'Almeyda, servant to the Grand Master of Santiago, with a rich Present, and letters from the Nautaquim, Prince of the Island of Tanixumaa, directed to King John the third ... to have five hundred Portugals granted to him, to the end that with them, and his own Forces, he might conquer the Island of Lequio, for which he would remain tributary to him at 5000 Kintals of Copper and 1000 of Lattin, yearly...."—Pinto, in Cogan, p. 188.
1615.—"The King of Mashona (qu. Shashma?) ... who is King of the westermost islands of Japan ... has conquered the Leques Islands, which not long since were under the Government of China."—Sainsbury, i. 447.
" "The King of Shashma ... a man of greate power, and hath conquered the islandes called the Leques, which not long since were under the government of China. Leque Grande yeeldeth greate store of amber greece of the best sorte, and will vent 1,000 or 15,000 (sic) ps. of coarse cloth, as dutties and such like, per annum."—Letter of Raphe Coppindall, in Cocks, ii. 272.
LIAMPO, n.p. This is the name which the older writers, especially Portuguese, give to the Chinese port which we now call Ning-Po. It is a form of corruption which appears in other cases of names used by the Portuguese, or of those who learned from them. Thus Nanking is similarly called Lanchin in the publications of the same age, and Yunnan appears in Mendoza as Olam.
What Cogan renders 'Ports of Liampoo' is portas, i.e. Gates. And the expression is remarkable as preserving a very old tradition of Eastern navigation; the oldest document regarding Arab trade to China (the Relation, tr. by Reinaud) says that the ships after crossing the Sea of Sanji 'pass the Gates of China. These Gates are in fact mountains washed by the sea; between these mountains is an opening, through which the ships pass' (p. 19). This phrase was perhaps a translation of a term used by the Chinese themselves—see under BOCCA TIGRIS.
1553.—"The eighth (division of the coasts of the Indies) terminates in a notable cape, the most easterly point of the whole continent so far as we know at present, and which stands about midway in the whole coast of that great country China. This our people call Cabo de Liampo, after an illustrious city which lies in the bend of the cape. It is called by the natives Nimpo, which our countrymen have corrupted into Liampo."—Barros, i. ix. 1.
1696.—"Those Junks commonly touch at Lympo, from whence they bring Petre, Geelongs, and other Silks."—Bowyear, in Dalrymple, i. 87.
1701.—"The Mandarine of Justice arrived late last night from Limpo."—Fragmentary MS. Records of China Factory (at Chusan?), in India Office, Oct. 24.
1727.—"The Province of Chequiam, whose chief city is Limpoa, by some called Nimpoa, and by others Ningpoo."—A. Hamilton, ii. 283; [ed. 1744, ii. 282].
LIKIN, LEKIN, s. We borrow from Mr. Giles: "An arbitrary tax, originally of one cash per tael on all kinds of produce, imposed with a view of making up the deficiency in the page 516aland-tax of China caused by the T'aiping and Nienfei troubles. It was to be set aside for military purposes only—hence its common name of 'war tax'.... The Chefoo Agreement makes the area of the Foreign concessions at the various Treaty Ports exempt from the tax of Lekin" (Gloss. of Reference, s.v.). The same authority explains the term as "li (le, i.e. a cash or $^1$⁄$_{1000}$ of a tael)-money," because of the original rate of levy. The likin is professedly not an imperial customs-duty, but a provincial tax levied by the governors of the provinces, and at their discretion as to amount; hence varying in local rate, and from time to time changeable. This has been a chief difficulty in carrying out the Chefoo Agreement, which as yet has never been authoritatively interpreted or finally ratified by England. [It was ratified in 1886. For the conditions of the Agreement see Ball, Things Chinese, 3rd ed. 629 seqq.] We quote the article of the Agreement which deals with opium, which has involved the chief difficulties, as leaving not only the amount to be paid, but the line at which this is to be paid, undefined.
LILAC, s. This plant-name is eventually to be identified with anil (q.v.), and with the Skt. nīla, 'of a dark colour (especially dark blue or black)'; a fact which might be urged in favour of the view that the ancients in Asia, as has been alleged of them in Europe, belonged to the body of the colour-blind (like the writer of this article). The Indian word takes, page 516bin the sense of indigo, in Persian the form līlang; in Ar. this, modified into līlak and līlāk, is applied to the lilac (Syringa spp.). Marcel Devic says the Ar. adj. līlak has the modified sense 'bleuâtre.' See a remark under BUCKYNE. We may note that in Scotland the 'striving after meaning' gives this familiar and beautiful tree the name among the uneducated of 'lily-oak.'
LIME, s. The fruit of the small Citrus medica, var. acida, Hooker, is that generally called lime in India, approaching as it does very nearly to the fruit of the West India Lime. It is often not much bigger than a pigeon's egg, and one well-known miniature lime of this kind is called by the natives from its thin skin kāghazī nīmbū, or 'paper lime.' This seems to bear much the same relation to the lemon that the miniature thin-skinned orange, which in London shops is called Tangerine, bears to the "China orange." But lime is also used with the characterising adjective for the Citrus medica, var. Limetta, Hooker, or Sweet Lime, an insipid fruit.
The word no doubt comes from the Sp. and Port. lima, which is from the Ar. līma; Fr. lime, Pers. līmū, līmūn (see LEMON). But probably it came into English from the Portuguese in India. It is not in Minsheu (2nd ed. 1727).
c. 1526.—"Another is the lime (līmū), which is very plentiful. Its size is about that of a hen's egg, which it resembles in shape. If one who is poisoned boils and eats its fibres, the injury done by the poison is averted."—Baber, 328.
1563.—"It is a fact that there are some Portuguese so pig-headed that they would rather die than acknowledge that we have here any fruit equal to that of Portugal; but there are many fruits here that bear the bell, as for instance all the fructas de espinho. For the lemons of those parts are so big that they look like citrons, besides being very tender and full of flavour, especially those of Baçaim; whilst the citrons themselves are much better and more tender (than those of Portugal); and the limes (limas) vastly better...."—Garcia, f. 133.
c. 1630.—"The Ile inricht us with many good things; Buffolls, Goats, Turtle, Hens, page 517ahuge Batts ... also with Oranges, Lemons, Lymes...."—Sir T. Herbert, 28.
1673.—"Here Asparagus flourish, as do Limes, Pomegranates, Genetins...."—Fryer, 110. ("Jenneting" from Fr. genétin, [or, according to Prof. Skeat, for jeanneton, a dimin. from Fr. pomme de S. Jean.]
LINGAIT, LINGAYET, LINGUIT, LINGAVANT, LINGADHARI, s. Mahr. Liñgā-īt, Can. Lingāyata, a member of a Sivaite sect in W. and S. India, whose members wear the liñga (see LINGAM) in a small gold or silver box suspended round the neck. The sect was founded in the 12th century by Bāsava. They are also called Jangama, or Vīra Śaiva, and have various subdivisions. [See Nelson, Madura, pt. iii. 48 seq.; Monier Williams, Brahmanism, 88.]
Lingua is given as the name or title of the King of Columbum (see QUILON) in the 14th century, by Friar Jordanus (p. 41), which might have been taken to denote that he belonged to this sect; but this seems never to have had followers in Malabar.
LINGAM, s. This is taken from the S. Indian form of the word, which in N. India is Skt. and Hind. liñga, 'a token, badge,' &c., thence the symbol of Śiva which is so extensively an object of worship among the Hindus, in the form of a cylinder of stone. The great idol of Somnāth, destroyed by Mahmūd of Ghazni, and the object of so much romantic narrative, was a colossal symbol of this kind. In the quotation of 1838 below, the word is used simply for a badge of caste, which is certainly the original Skt. meaning, but is probably a mistake as attributed in that sense to modern vernacular use. The man may have been a lingait (q.v.), so that his badge was actually a figure of the lingam. But this clever authoress often gets out of her depth.
1616.—"... above this there is elevated the figure of an idol, which in decency I abstain from naming, but which is called by the heathen Linga, and which they worship with many superstitions; and indeed they regard it to such a degree that the heathen of Canara carry well-wrought images of the kind round their necks. This abominable custom was abolished by a certain Canara King, a man of reason and righteousness."—Couto, Dec. VII. iii. 11.
1726.—"There are also some of them who wear a certain stone idol called Lingam ... round the neck, or else in the hair of the head...."—Valentijn, Choro. 74.
1781.—"These Pagodas have each a small chamber in the center of twelve feet square, with a lamp hanging over the Lingham."—Hodges, 94.
1799.—"I had often remarked near the banks of the rivulet a number of little altars, with a linga of Mahádeva upon them. It seems they are placed over the ashes of Hindus who have been burnt near the spot."—Colebrooke, in Life, p. 152.
1809.—"Without was an immense lingam of black stone."—Ld. Valentia, i. 371.
1814.—"... two respectable Brahmuns, a man and his wife, of the secular order; who, having no children, had made several religious pilgrimages, performed the accustomed ceremonies to the linga, and consulted the divines."—Forbes, Or. Mem. ii. 364; [2nd ed. ii. 4; in ii. 164, lingam].
1838.—"In addition to the preaching, Mr. G. got hold of a man's Lingum, or badge of caste, and took it away."—Letters from Madras, 156.
LINGUIST, s. An old word for an interpreter, formerly much used in the East. It long survived in China, and is there perhaps not yet obsolete. Probably adopted from the Port. lingua, used for an interpreter.
" "To the linguoa of this kingdom (Ormuz) a Portuguese.... To the linguoa of the custom-house, a bramen."—Ibid. 104.
[1612.—"Did Captain Saris' Linguist attend?"—Danvers, Letters, i. 68.]
page 518a1700.—"I carried the Linguist into a Merchant's House that was my Acquaintance to consult with that Merchant about removing that Remora, that stop'd the Man of War from entring into the Harbour."—A. Hamilton, iii. 254; [ed. 1744].
1711.—"Linguists require not too much haste, having always five or six to make choice of, never a Barrel the better Herring."—Lockyer, 102.
1760.—"I am sorry to think your Honour should have reason to think, that I have been anyway concerned in that unlucky affair that happened at the Negrais, in the month of October 1759; but give me leave to assure your Honour that I was no further concerned, than as a Linguister for the King's Officer who commanded the Party."—Letter to the Gov. of Fort St. George, from Antonio the Linguist, in Dalrymple, i. 396.
1760-1810.—"If the ten should presume to enter villages, public places, or bazaars, punishment will be inflicted on the linguist who accompanies them."—Regulations at Canton, from The Fankwae at Canton, p. 29.
LIP-LAP, s. A vulgar and disparaging nickname given in the Dutch Indies to Eurasians, and corresponding to Anglo-Indian chee-chee (q.v.). The proper meaning of lip-lap seems to be the uncoagulated pulp of the coco-nut (see Rumphius, bk. i. ch. 1). [Mr. Skeat notes that the word is not in the Dicts., but Klinkert gives Jav. lap-lap, 'a dish-clout.']
LISHTEE, LISTEE, s. Hind. lishtī, English word, 'a list.'
LONG-CLOTH, s. The usual name in India for (white) cotton shirtings, or Lancashire calico; but first applied to the Indian cloth of like kind exported to England, probably because it was made of length unusual in India; cloth for native use being ordinarily made in pieces sufficient only to clothe one person. Or it is just possible that it may have been a corruption or misapprehension of lungi (see LOONGHEE). [This latter view is accepted without page 518bquestion by Sir G. Birdwood (Rep. on Old Rec., 224), who dates its introduction to Europe about 1675.]
[1682.—"... for Long cloth brown English 72: Coveds long & 2¼ broad No. I. ..."—Pringle, Diary, Ft. St. Geo. 1st ser. i. 40.]
1727.—"Saderass, or Saderass Patam, a small Factory belonging to the Dutch, to buy up long cloth."—A. Hamilton, i. 358; [ed. 1744].
1785.—"The trade of Fort St. David's consists in long cloths of different colours."—Carraccioli's Life of Clive, i. 5.
1865.—"Long-cloth, as it is termed, is the material principally worn in the Tropics."—Waring, Tropical Resident, p. 111.
LONG-DRAWERS, s. This is an old-fashioned equivalent for pyjamas (q.v.). Of late it is confined to the Madras Presidency, and to outfitters' lists. [Mosquito drawers were probably like these.]
1711.—"The better sort wear long Drawers, and a piece of Silk, or wrought Callico, thrown loose over the Shoulders."—Lockyer, 57.
1774.—"... gave each private man a frock and long drawers of chintz."—Forrest, V. to N. Guinea, 100.
1780.—"Leroy, one of the French hussars, who had saved me from being cut down by Hyder's horse, gave me some soup, and a shirt, and long-drawers, which I had great want of."—Hon. John Lindsay in Lives of the Lindsays, iv. 266.
1789.—"It is true that they (the Sycs) wear only a short blue jacket, and blue long draws."—Note by Translator of Seir Mutaqherin, i. 87.
1810.—"For wear on board ship, pantaloons ... together with as many pair of wove cotton long-drawers, to wear under them."—Williamson, V. M. i. 9.
(See PYJAMAS, MOGUL BREECHES, SHULWAURS, SIRDRARS.)
page 519aLONG-SHORE WIND, s. A term used in Madras to designate the damp, unpleasant wind that blows in some seasons, especially July to September, from the south.
LONTAR, s. The palm leaves used in the Archipelago (as in S. India) for writing on are called lontar-leaves. Filet (No. 5179, p. 209) gives lontar as the Malay name of two palms, viz. Borassus flabelliformis (see PALMYRA, BRAB), and Livistona tundifolia. [See CADJAN.] [Mr. Skeat notes that Klinkert gives—"Lontar, metathesis of ron-tal, leaf of the tal tree, a fan-palm whose leaves were once used for writing on, borassus flabelliformis." Ron is thus probably equivalent to the Malay daun, or in some dialects don, 'leaf.' The tree itself is called p'hun (pohun) tar in the E. coast of the Malay Peninsula, tar and tal being only variants of the same word. Scott, Malayan Words in English, p. 121, gives: "Lontar, a palm, dial. form of dāun tāl (tāl, Hind.)." (See TODDY.)
LOOCHER, s. This is often used in Anglo-Ind. colloquial for a blackguard libertine, a lewd loafer. It is properly Hind. luchchā, having that sense. Orme seems to have confounded the word, more or less, with lūṭiya (see under LOOTY). [A rogue in Pandurang Hari (ed. 1873, ii. 168) is Loochajee. The place at Matheran originally called "Louisa Point" has become "Loocha Point!"]
LOONGHEE, s. Hind. lungī, perhaps originally Pers. lung and lunggī; [but Platts connects it with linga]. A scarf or web of cloth to wrap round the body, whether applied as what the French call pagne, i.e. a cloth simply wrapped once or twice round the hips and tucked in at the upper edge, which page 519bis the proper Mussulman mode of wearing it; or as a cloth tucked between the legs like a dhoty (q.v.), which is the Hindu mode, and often followed also by Mahommedans in India. The Qanoon-e-Islam further distinguishes between the lunggī and dhotī that the former is a coloured cloth worn as described, and the latter a cloth with only a coloured border, worn by Hindus alone. This explanation must belong to S. India. ["The lungi is really meant to be worn round the waist, and is very generally of a checked pattern, but it is often used as a paggri (see PUGGRY), more especially that known as the Kohat lungi" (Cookson, Mon. on Punjab Silk, 4). For illustrations of various modes of wearing the garment, see Forbes Watson, Textile Manufactures and Costumes, pl. iii. iv.]
1673.—"The Elder sat in a Row, where the Men and Women came down together to wash, having Lungies about their Wastes only."—Fryer, 101. In the Index, Fryer explains as a "Waste-Clout."
1726.—"Silk Longis with red borders, 160 pieces in a pack, 14 cobidos long and 2 broad."—Valentijn, v. 178.
1727.—"... For some coarse checquered Cloth, called Cambaya (see COMBOY), Lungies, made of Cotton-Yarn, the Natives would bring Elephant's Teeth."—A. Hamilton, i. 9; [ed. 1744].
" (In Pegu) "Under the Frock they have a Scarf or Lungee doubled fourfold, made fast about the Middle...."—Ibid. ii. 49.
c. 1760.—"Instead of petticoats they wear what they call a loongee, which is simply a long piece of silk or cotton stuff."—Grose, i. 143.
LOOT, s. & v. Plunder; Hind. lūṭ, and that from Skt. lotra, for loptra, root lup, 'rob, plunder'; [rather luṇṭ, 'to rob']. The word appears in Stockdale's Vocabulary, of 1788, as "Loot—plunder, pillage." It has thus long been a familiar item in the page 520aAnglo-Indian colloquial. But between the Chinese War of 1841, the Crimean War (1854-5), and the Indian Mutiny (1857-8), it gradually found acceptance in England also, and is now a recognised constituent of the English Slang Dictionary. Admiral Smyth has it in his Nautical Glossary (1867) thus: "Loot, plunder, or pillage, a term adopted from China."
1842.—"I believe I have already told you that I did not take any loot—the Indian word for plunder—so that I have nothing of that kind, to which so many in this expedition helped themselves so bountifully."—Colin Campbell to his Sister, in L. of Ld. Clyde, i. 120.
" "In the Saugor district the plunderers are beaten whenever they are caught, but there is a good deal of burning and 'looting,' as they call it."—Indian Administration of Ld. Ellenborough. To the D. of Wellington, May 17, p. 194.
1847.—"Went to see Marshal Soult's pictures which he looted in Spain. There are many Murillos, all beautiful."—Ld. Malmesbury, Mem. of an Ex-Minister, i. 192.
1858.—"There is a word called 'loot,' which gives, unfortunately, a venial character to what would in common English be styled robbery."—Ld. Elgin, Letters and Journals, 215.
1860.—"Loot, swag or plunder."—Slang Dict. s.v.
1864.—"When I mentioned the 'looting' of villages in 1845, the word was printed in italics as little known. Unhappily it requires no distinction now, custom having rendered it rather common of late."—Admiral W. H. Smyth, Synopsis, p. 52.
1875.—"It was the Colonel Sahib who carried off the loot."—The Dilemma, ch. xxxvii.
1876.—"Public servants (in Turkey) have vied with one another in a system of universal loot."—Blackwood's Mag. No. cxix. p. 115.
page 520b1878.—"The city (Hongkong) is now patrolled night and day by strong parties of marines and Sikhs, for both the disposition to loot and the facilities for looting are very great."—Miss Bird, Golden Chersonese, 34.
1883.—"'Loot' is a word of Eastern origin, and for a couple of centuries past ... the looting of Delhi has been the daydream of the most patriotic among the Sikh race."—Bos. Smith's Life of Ld. Lawrence, ii. 245.
LOOTY, LOOTIEWALLA, s.
a. A plunderer. Hind. lūṭī, lūṭīyā, lūṭīwālā.
1782.—"Even the rascally Looty wallahs, or Mysorean hussars, who had just before been meditating a general desertion to us, now pressed upon our flanks and rear."—Munro's Narrative, 295.
1792.—"The Colonel found him as much dismayed as if he had been surrounded by the whole Austrian army, and busy in placing an ambuscade to catch about six looties."—Letter of T. Munro, in Life.
" "This body (horse plunderers round Madras) had been branded generally by the name of Looties, but they had some little title to a better appellation, for they were ... not guilty of those sanguinary and inhuman deeds...."—Madras Courier, Jan. 26.
b. A different word is the Ar.—Pers. lūṭīy, bearing a worse meaning, 'one of the people of Lot,' and more generally 'a blackguard.'
[1858.—"The Loutis, who wandered from town to town with monkeys and other animals, taught them to cast earth upon their heads (a sign of the deepest grief among Asiatics) when they were asked whether they would be governors of Balkh or Akhcheh."—Ferrier, H. of the Afghans, 101.
The people of Shiraz are noted for a fondness for jingling phrases, common enough among many Asiatics, including the people of India, where one constantly hears one's servants speak of chaukī-aukī (for chairs and tables), naukar-chākar (where both are however real words), 'servants,' lakṛī-akṛī, 'sticks and staves,' and so forth. Regarding this Mr. Wills tells a story (Modern Persia, p. 239). The late Minister, Ḳawām-ud-Daulat, a Shirāzi, was asked by the Shāh:
LOQUOT, LOQUAT, s. A sub-acid fruit, a native of China and Japan, which has been naturalised in India and in Southern Europe. In Italy it is called nespola giapponese (Japan medlar). It is Eriobotrya japonica, Lindl. The name is that used in S. China, lu-küh, pron. at Canton lu-kwat, and meaning 'rush-orange.' Elsewhere in China it is called pi-pa.
1878.—"... the yellow loquat, peach-skinned and pleasant, but prodigal of stones."—Ph. Robinson, In My Indian Garden, 49.
LORCHA, s. A small kind of vessel used in the China coasting trade. Giles explains it as having a hull of European build, but the masts and sails Chinese fashion, generally with a European skipper and a Chinese crew. The word is said to have been introduced by the Portuguese from S. America (Giles, 81). But Pinto's passage shows how early the word was used in the China seas, a fact which page 521bthrows doubt on that view. [Other suggestions are that it is Chinese low-chuen, a sort of fighting ship, or Port. lancha, our launch (2 N. & Q. iii. 217, 236).]
" "Cõ isto nos partemos deste lugar de Laito muyto embandeirados, com as gavias toldadas de paños de seda, et os juncos e lorchas cõ duas ordens de paveses por banda"—Pinto, ch. lviii. i.e. "And so we started from Laito all dressed out, the tops draped with silk, and the junks and lorchas with two tiers of banners on each side."
1613.—"And they use smaller vessels called lorchas and lyolyo (?), and these never use more than 2 oars on each side, which serve both for rudders and for oars in the river traffic."—Godinho de Eredia, f. 26v.
LORY, s. A name given to various brilliantly-coloured varieties of parrot, which are found in the Moluccas and other islands of the Archipelago. The word is a corruption of the Malay nūri, 'a parrot'; but the corruption seems not to be very old, as Fryer retains the correct form. Perhaps it came through the French (see Luillier below). [Mr. Skeat writes: "Lūri is hardly a corruption of nūri; it is rather a parallel form. The two forms appear in different dialects. Nūri may have been first introduced, and lūri may be some dialectic form of it."] The first quotation shows that lories were imported into S. India as early as the 14th century. They are still imported thither, where they are called in the vernacular by a name signifying 'Five-coloured parrots.' [Can. panchavarnagini.]
c. 1430.—"In Bandan three kinds of parrot are found, some with red feathers and a yellow beak, and some parti-coloured which are called Nori, that is brilliant."—Conti, in India in the XVth Cent., 17. The last words, in Poggio's original Latin, are: "quos Noros appellant hoc est lucidos," showing that Conti connected the word with the Pers. nūr = "lux."
1516.—"In these islands there are many coloured parrots, of very splendid colours; they are tame, and the Moors call them nure, and they are much valued."—Barbosa, 202.
1555.—"There are hogs also with hornes (see BABI-ROUSSA), and parats which prattle much, which they call Noris."—Galvano, E.T. in Hakl. iv. 424.
[1598.—"There cometh into India out of the Island of Molucas beyond Malacca a kind of birdes called Noyras; they are like Parrattes...."—Linschoten, Hak. Soc. i. 307.]
1601.—"Psittacorum passim in sylvis multae turmae obvolitant. Sed in Moluccanis Insulis per Malaccam avis alia, Noyra dicta, in Indiam importatur, quae psittaci faciem universim exprimit, quem cantu quoque adamussim aemulatur, nisi quod pennis rubicundis crebrioribus vestitur."—De Bry, v. 4.
1673.—"... Cockatooas and Newries from Bantam."—Fryer, 116.
1682.—"The Lorys are about as big as the parrots that one sees in the Netherlands.... There are no birds that the Indians value more: and they will sometimes pay 30 rix dollars for one...."—Nieuhof, Zee en Lant-Reize, ii. 287.
1698.—"Brought ashore from the Resolution ... a Newry and four yards of broad cloth for a present to the Havildar."—In Wheeler, i. 333.
1705.—"On y trouve de quatre sortes de perroquets, sçavoir, perroquets, lauris, perruches, & cacatoris."—Luillier, 72.
1809.—
"'Twas Camdeo riding on his lory, 'Twas the immortal Youth of Love." Kehama, x. 19.
1817.—
"Gay sparkling loories, such as gleam between The crimson blossoms of the coral-tree In the warm isles of India's summer sea." Mokanna.
LOTA, s. Hind. loṭā. The small spheroidal brass pot which Hindus use for drinking, and sometimes for cooking. This is the exclusive page 522bAnglo-Indian application; but natives also extend it to the spherical pipkins of earthenware (see CHATTY or GHURRA.)
LOTE, s. Mod. Hind. lōṭ, being a corruption of Eng. 'note.' A bank-note; sometimes called bănklōṭ.
LOTOO, s. Burm. Hlwat-d'hau, 'Royal Court or Hall'; the Chief Council of State in Burma, composed nominally of four Wungyīs (see WOON) or Chief Ministers. Its name designates more properly the place of meeting; compare Star-Chamber.
1819.—"The first and most respectable of the tribunals is the Luttò, comprised of four presidents called Vunghì, who are chosen by the sovereign from the oldest and most experienced Mandarins, of four assistants, and a great chancery."—Sangermano, 164.
LOUTEA, LOYTIA, &c. s. A Chinese title of respect, used by the older writers on China for a Chinese official, much as we still use mandarin. It is now so obsolete that Giles, we see, omits it. "It would almost seem certain that this is the word given as follows in C. C. Baldwin's Manual of the Foochow Dialect: 'Lo-tia.' ... (in Mandarin Lao-tye) a general appellative used for an officer. It means 'Venerable Father' (p. 215). In the Court dialect Ta-lao-yé, 'Great Venerable Father' is the appellative used for any officer, up to the 4th rank. The ye of this expression is quite different from the tyé or tia of the former" (Note by M. Terrien de la Couperie). Mr. Baber, after giving the same explanation from Carstairs Douglas's Amoy Dict., adds: "It would seem ludicrous to a Pekingese. Certain local functionaries (Prefects, Magistrates, &c.) are, however, universally known in China as Fu-mu-kuan, 'Parental Officers' (lit. page 523a'Father-and-Mother Officers') and it is very likely that the expression 'Old Papa' is intended to convey the same idea of paternal government."
" "I shall have occasion to speake of a certain Order of gentlemen that are called Loutea; I will first therefor expound what this word signifieth. Loutea is as muche as to say in our language as Syr...."—Galeotto Pereyra, by R. Willes, in Hakl. ii.; [ed. 1810, ii. 548].
1585.—"And although all the Kinge's officers and justices of what sort of administration they are, be generally called by the name of Loytia; yet euerie one hath a speciall and a particular name besides, according vnto his office."—Mendoza, tr. by R. Parke, ii. 101.
1598.—"Not any Man in China is esteemed or accounted of, for his birth, family, or riches, but onely for his learning and knowledge, such as they that serve at every towne, and have the government of the same. They are called Loitias and Mandorijns."—Linschoten, 39; [Hak. Soc. i. 133].
1618.—"The China Capt. had letters this day per way of Xaxma (see SATSUMA) ... that the letters I sent are received by the noblemen in China in good parte, and a mandarin, or loytea, appointed to com for Japon...."—Cocks, Diary, ii. 44.
LOVE-BIRD, s. The bird to which this name is applied in Bengal is the pretty little lorikeet, Loriculus vernalis, Sparrman, called in Hind. laṭkan or 'pendant,' because of its quaint habit of sleeping suspended by the claws, head downwards.
LUBBYE, LUBBEE, s. [Tel. Labbi, Tam. Ilappai]; according to C. P. Brown and the Madras Gloss. a Dravidian corruption of 'Arabī. A name given in S. India to a race, Mussulmans in creed, but speaking Tamil, supposed to be, like the Moplahs of the west coast, the descendants of Arab emigrants by inter-marriage with native women. "There are few classes of natives in S. India, who in energy, industry, and perseverance, can compete with the Lubbay"; they often, as pedlars, go about selling beads, precious stones, &c.
1836.—"Mr. Boyd ... describes the Moors under the name of Cholias (see CHOOLIA); and Sir Alexander Johnston designates them by the appellation of Lubbes. 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 in their temples; and also as an honorary affix to the proper names of some of their chief men."—Simon Casie Chitty on the Moors of Ceylon, in J. R. As. Soc. iii. 338.
1868.—"The Labbeis are a curious caste, said by some to be the descendants of Hindus forcibly converted to the Mahometan faith some centuries ago. It seems most probable, however, that they are of mixed blood. They are, comparatively, a fine strong active race, and generally contrive to keep themselves in easy circumstances. Many of them live by traffic. Many are smiths, and do excellent work as such. Others are fishermen, boatmen and the like...."—Nelson, Madura Manual, Pt. ii. 86.
LUCKERBAUG, s. Hind. lakṛā, lagṛā, lakaṛbagghā, lagaṛbagghā, 'a hyena.' The form lakaṛbaghā is not in the older dicts. but is given by Platts. It is familiar in Upper India, and it occurs in Hickey's Bengal Gazette, June 24, 1781. In some parts the name is applied to the leopard, as the extract from Buchanan shows. This is the case among the Hindi-speaking people of the Himālaya also (see Jerdon). It is not clear what the etymology of the name is, lakaṛ, lakṛā meaning in their everyday sense, a stick or piece of timber. But both in page 524aHind. and Mahr., in an adjective form, the word is used for 'stiff, gaunt, emaciated,' and this may be the sense in which it is applied to the hyena. [More probably the name refers to the bar-like stripes on the animal.] Another name is haṛvāgh, or (apparently) 'bone-tiger,' from its habit of gnawing bones.
" "The hyaena or Lakravagh in this district has acquired an uncommon degree of ferocity."—F. Buchanan, Eastern India, iii. 142-3.
LUCKNOW, n.p. Properly Lakhnau; the well-known capital of the Nawābs and Kings of Oudh, and the residence of the Chief Commissioner of that British Province, till the office was united to that of the Lieut.-Governor of the N.W. Provinces in 1877. [The name appears to be a corruption of the ancient Lakshmanāvatī, founded by Lakshmana, brother of Rāmachandra of Ayodhya.]
[c. 1590.—"Lucknow is a large city on the banks of the Gúmti, delightful in its surroundings."—Āīn, ed. Jarrett, ii. 173.]
LUDDOO, s. H. laḍḍū. A common native sweetmeat, consisting of balls of sugar and ghee, mixt with wheat and gram flour, and with cocoanut kernel rasped.
page 524bLUGOW, TO, v. This is one of those imperatives transformed, in Anglo-Indian jargon, into infinitives, which are referred to under BUNOW, PUCKEROW. H. inf. lagā-nā, imperative lagā-o. The meanings of lagānā, as given by Shakespear, are: "to apply, close, attach, join, fix, affix, ascribe, impose, lay, add, place, put, plant, set, shut, spread, fasten, connect, plaster, put to work, employ, engage, use, impute, report anything in the way of scandal or malice"—in which long list he has omitted one of the most common uses of the verb, in its Anglo-Indian form lugow, which is "to lay a boat alongside the shore or wharf, to moor." The fact is that lagānā is the active form of the neuter verb lag-nā, 'to touch, lie, to be in contact with,' and used in all the neuter senses of which lagānā expresses the transitive senses. Besides neuter lagnā, active lagānā, we have a secondary casual verb, lagwānā, 'to cause to apply,' &c. Lagnā, lagānā are presumably the same words as our lie, and lay, A.-S. licgan, and lecgan, mod. Germ. liegen and legen. And the meaning 'lay' underlies all the senses which Shakespear gives of lagā-nā. [See Skeat, Concise Etym. Dict. s.v. lie.]
LUMBERDAR, s. Hind. lambardār, a word formed from the English word 'number' with the Pers. termination -dār, and meaning properly 'the man who is registered by a number.' "The registered representative of a coparcenary community, who is responsible for Government revenue." (Carnegy). "The cultivator who, either on his own account or as the representative of other members of the village, pays the Government dues and is registered in the Collector's Roll according to his number; as the representative of the rest he may hold the office by descent or by election." (Wilson).
LUNGOOR, s. Hind. langūr, from Skt. lāngūlin, 'caudatus.' The great white-bearded ape, much patronized page 525aby Hindus, and identified with the monkey-god Hanumān. The genus is Presbytes, Illiger, of which several species are now discriminated, but the differences are small. [See Blanford, Mammalia, 27, who classes the Langūr as Semnopithecus entellus.] The animal is well described by Aelian in the following quotation, which will recall to many what they have witnessed in the suburbs of Benares and other great Hindu cities. The Langūr of the Prasii is P. Entellus.
1825.—"An alarm was given by one of the sentries in consequence of a baboon drawing near his post. The character of the intruder was, however, soon detected by one of the Suwarrs, who on the Sepoy's repeating his exclamation of the broken English 'Who goes 'ere?' said with a laugh, 'Why do you challenge the lungoor? he cannot answer you.'"—Heber, ii. 85.
1859.—"I found myself in immediate proximity to a sort of parliament or general assembly of the largest and most human-like monkeys I had ever seen. There were at least 200 of them, great lungoors, some quite four feet high, the jetty black of their faces enhanced by a fringe of snowy whisker."—Lewin, A Fly on the Wheel, 49.
page 525bLUNGOOTY, s. Hind. langoṭī. The original application of this word seems to be the scantiest modicum of covering worn for decency by some of the lower classes when at work, and tied before and behind by a string round the waist; but it is sometimes applied to the more ample dhotī (see DHOTY). According to R. Drummond, in Guzerat the "Langoth or Lungota" (as he writes) is "a pretty broad piece of cotton cloth, tied round the breech by men and boys bathing.... The diminutive is Langotee, a long slip of cloth, stitched to a loin band of the same stuff, and forming exactly the T bandage of English Surgeons...." This distinction is probably originally correct, and the use of langūta by Abdurrazzāk would agree with it. The use of the word has spread to some of the Indo-Chinese countries. In the quotation from Mocquet it is applied in speaking of an American Indian near the R. Amazon. But the writer had been in India.
1526.—"Their peasants and the lower classes all go about naked. They tie on a thing which they call a langoti, which is a piece of clout that hangs down two spans from the navel, as a cover to their nakedness. Below this pendant modesty-clout is another slip of cloth, one end of which they fasten before to a string that ties on the langoti, and then passing the slip of cloth between the two legs, bring it up and fix it to the string of the langoti behind."—Baber, 333.
c. 1609.—"Leur capitaine auoit fort bonne façon, encore qu'il fust tout nud et luy seul auoit vn langoutin, qui est vne petite pièce de coton peinte."—Mocquet, 77.
1653.—"Langouti est une pièce de linge dont les Indou se seruent à cacher les parties naturelles."—De la Boullaye-le-Gouz, ed. 1657, p. 547.
[1822.—"The boatmen go nearly naked, seldom wearing more than a langutty...."—Wallace, Fifteen Years in India, 410.]
1869.—"Son costume se compose, comme celui de tous les Cambodgiens, d'une veste courte et d'un langouti."—Rev. des Deux Mondes, lxxix. 854.
page 526aLUNKA, n.p. Skt. Lañka. The oldest name of Ceylon in the literature both of Buddhism and Brahmanism. Also 'an island' in general.
——, s. A kind of strong cheroot much prized in the Madras Presidency, and so called from being made of tobacco grown in the 'islands' (the local term for which is lañka) of the Godavery Delta.
* ↑ It is possible that the island called Shaikh Shu'aib, which is off the coast of Lār, and not far from Sirāf, may be meant. Barbosa also mentions Lār among the islands in the Gulf subject to the K. of Ormuz (p. 37).
* ↑ Reg. I. of 1810 had empowered the Executive Government, by an official communication from its Secretary in the Judicial Department, to dispense with the attendance and futwa of the Law officers of the courts of circuit, when it seemed advisable. But in such case the judge of the court passed no sentence, but referred the proceedings with an opinion to the Nizamut Adawlut.