pingo
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈpɪŋɡəʊ/
ipa: /ˈpɪŋɡoʊ/
rhymes: -ɪŋɡəʊ
Forms: form: pingoes
form: pingos
Etymology: Apparently from Sinhalese [Term?] (?), but the word has not yet been identified.
Senses: examples: text: This done, he [an elephant] took up the pingo and moved away from the spot; but at the distance of about a fathom or two, laid it down again, and ripping open one of the bundles, took out of it all the contents, somans [footnote: Woman's robe], cambāyas [footnote: The figured cloth worn by men], handkerchiefs, and several pieces of white cambrick cloth, all which he tore to small pieces, and flung them wildly here and there. He did the same with all the other pingoes.
ref: 1861, J[ames] Emerson Tennent, “Appendix to Chapter III. Narratives of the Natives of Ceylon Relative to Encounters with Rogue Elephants.”, in Sketches of the Natural History of Ceylon with Narratives and Anecdotes Illustrative of the Habits and Instincts of the Mammalia, Birds, Reptiles, Fishes, Insects, &c. Including a Monograph of the Elephant and a Description of the Modes of Capturing and Training It. With Engravings from Original Drawings, London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, →OCLC, page 138:
text: The Gańga-vaṇṣa minissu are the washers of the Oliya caste, who are not only a low caste, but come below the Paduvó and Berawáyó, and are the only caste who will carry the pingoes of the smiths.
ref: 1887, S. M. Burrows, “A Year’s Work at Polonnáruwa”, in Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, volume X, number 34, Colombo, Ceylon: G. J. A. Skeen, government printer, Ceylon, published 1888, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 49:
text: The following are only a few of the countless uses of this invaluable tree [the coconut]. […] The stem of the leaf, for fences, for pingoes (or yokes) for carrying burthens on the shoulders, for fishing-rods, and innumerable domestic utensils.
ref: 1859, James Emerson Tennent, “Vegetation.—Trees and Plants.”, in Ceylon: An Account on the Island Physical, Historical, and Topographical with Notices of Its Natural History, Antiquities and Productions, volume I, London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, →OCLC, part I (Physical Geography), footnote 2, page 109:
text: Ceremonial pingoes may also be silver tipped, as in the case of a beautiful example at the Embekke Devale[…].
ref: 1908, Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy, Mediaeval Sinhalese Art: Being a Monograph on Mediaeval Sinhalese Arts and Crafts, Mainly as Surviving in the Eighteenth Century, with an Account of the Structure of Society and the Status of the Craftsmen, Broad Campden, Gloucestershire: Essex House Press, →OCLC, page 206:
text: Pingo bearers walk to and fro with their burdens of fruit and vegetables, representing many varieties quite strange to us. The pingo is a long and flat piece of wood from the kittul palm, very tough and pliable. The coolie, having suspended his load to the two ends in baskets or nets, places the stave upon his shoulder at the middle, and is thus enabled by the elastic spring and easy balance of the pingo to carry great weights for a considerable distance. Some pingoes are made from the leaf-stalk of the coconut palm, which is even more pliable than the kittul.
ref: 1926, Ali Foad Toulba, “The Beautiful Mountain Railway to Kandy”, in Ceylon: The Land of Eternal Charm, London: Hutchinson & Co. (Publishers) Ltd., Paternoster Row, E.C., →OCLC; reprinted New Delhi; Madras: J. Jetley, Asian Educational Services, 2000, →ISBN, page 145:
synonyms: carrying pole
milkmaid's yoke
shoulder pole
glosses: A flexible pole supported on one shoulder, with a load suspended from each end.
examples: text: Upon reaching this quantity, the tribute decreased one pingo annually until the number was reduced to five.
ref: 1833, “The Chaliah Caste in Ceylon”, in The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register for British and Foreign India, page 275:
text: About an hour or so before a bridegroom accompanied by his friends arrives at the house of the bride, a person, named for the occasion Gamana or messenger, is sent forward with a number of betel leaves equal to the number of people, who accompany the bridegroom. The Gamana is to give these betel leaves to the bride's friends, together with the large pingo of plantains called Gira-mul-tada, which in the Maritime districts is always a sine qua non of the presents, which a Singhalese bridegroom carries to his bride's house.
ref: 1866, Dandris De Silva Goonaratne, “On Demonology and Witchcraft in Ceylon”, in Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Colombo, Ceylon: F. Fonseka, printer, Fort, Colombo, →ISSN, →OCLC, footnote, page 36:
text: He […] paid the lord of the village three pingos worth one larim and four fanões.
ref: 2007, Karunasena Dias Paranavitana, “The Portuguese Tombos as a Source of Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-century Sri Lankan History”, in Jorge Flores, editor, Re-exploring the Links: History and Constructed Histories between Portugal and Sri Lanka (Maritime Asia; 18), Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 74:
text: A certain Wieremunie Joan testified about facts which already had occurred in 1772 when he had delivered four and a half pingo [footnote: A "pingo" is circa fifty-five pound of cinnamon.[…]] of cinnamon above the fixed duty of five and that the Durea still owed him four and a half rixdollar.
ref: 2013, Lodewijk Wagenaar, “The Apparition of the Cinnamon Peelers: Dutch Colonial Presence in Eighteenth-century Ceylon and Its Reflection in Non-literary Prose”, in Jeroen Dewulf, Ole Praamstra, Michiel van Kempen, editors, Shifting the Compass: Pluricontinental Connections in Dutch Colonial and Postcolonial Literature, Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, →ISBN, page 125:
synonyms: picul
glosses: A measure of weight equivalent to that which can be carried using a pingo, perhaps about 55 pounds (25 kilograms) (see the 2013 quotation).