A GLOSSARY OF ANGLO-INDIAN COLLOQUIAL TERMS AND PHRASES OF ANALOGOUS ORIGIN.

ABADA, s. A word used by old Spanish and Portuguese writers for a 'rhinoceros,' and adopted by some of the older English narrators. The origin is a little doubtful. If it were certain that the word did not occur earlier than c. 1530-40, it would most probably be an adoption from the Malay badak, 'a rhinoceros.' The word is not used by Barros where he would probably have used it if he knew it (see quotation under GANDA); and we have found no proof of its earlier existence in the language of the Peninsula; if this should be established we should have to seek an Arabic origin in such a word as abadat, ābid, fem. ābida, of which one meaning is (v. Lane) 'a wild animal.' The usual form abada is certainly somewhat in favour of such an origin. [Prof. Skeat believes that the a in abada and similar Malay words represents the Arabic article, which was commonly used in Spanish and Portuguese prefixed to Arabic and other native words.] It will be observed that more than one authority makes it the female rhinoceros, and in the dictionaries the word is feminine. But so Barros makes Ganda. [Mr W. W. Skeat suggests that the female was the more dangerous animal, or the one most frequently met with, as is certainly the case with the crocodile.]

1541.—"Mynes of Silver, Copper, Tin, and Lead, from whence great quantities thereof were continually drawn, which the Merchants carried away with Troops of Elephants and Rhinoceroses (em cafilas de elefantes e badas) for to transport into the Kingdoms of Sornau, by us called Siam, Passiloco, Sarady, (Savady in orig.), Tangu, Prom, Calaminham and other Provinces...."—Pinto (orig. cap. xli.) in Cogan, p. 49. The kingdoms named here are Siam (see under SARNAU); Pitchalok and Sawatti (now two provinces of Siam); Taungu and Prome in B. Burma; Calaminham, in the interior of Indo-China, more or less fabulous.

1544.—"Now the King of Tartary was fallen upon the city of Pequin with so great an army as the like had never been seen since Adam's time; in this army ... were seven and twenty Kings, under whom marched 1,800,000 men ... with four score thousand Rhinoceroses" (donde partirão com oitenta mil badas).—Ibid. (orig. cap. cvii.) in Cogan, p. 149.

[1560.—See quotation under LAOS.]

1585.—"It is a very fertile country, with great stoare of prouisioun; there are elephants in great number and abadas, which is a kind of beast so big as two great buls, and hath vppon his snowt a little horne."—Mendoza, ii. 311.

1592.—"We sent commodities to their king to barter for Amber-greese, and for the hornes of Abath, whereof the Kinge onely hath the traffique in his hands. Now this Abath is a beast that hath one horne only in her forehead, and is thought to be the female Vnicorne, and is highly esteemed of all the Moores in those parts as a most soveraigne remedie against poyson."—Barker in Hakl. ii. 591.

1598.—"The Abada, or Rhinoceros, is not in India,^[21] but onely in Bengala and Patane."—Linschoten, 88. [Hak. Soc. ii. 8.]

"Also in Bengala we found great numbers of the beasts which in Latin are called Rhinocerotes, and of the Portingalles Abadas."—Ibid. 28. [Hak. Soc. i. 96.]

c. 1606.—"... ove portano le loro mercanzie per venderle a' Cinesi, particolarmente ... molti corni della Bada, detto Rinoceronte...."—Carletti, p. 199.

1611.—"Bada, a very fierce animal, called by another more common name Rhinoceros. In our days they brought to the King Philip II., now in glory, a Bada which was long at Madrid, having his horn sawn off, and being blinded, for fear he should hurt anybody.... The name of Bada is one imposed by the Indians themselves; but assuming that there is no language but had its origin from the Hebrew in the confusion of tongues ... it will not be out of the way to observe that Bada is an Hebrew word, from Badad, 'solus, solitarius,' for this animal is produced in desert and very solitary places."—Cobarruvias, s.v.

1613.—"And the woods give great timber, and in them are produced elephants, badas...."—Godinho de Eredia, 10 v.

1618.—"A China brought me a present of a cup of abado (or black unecorns horne) with sugar cakes."—Cocks's Diary, ii. 56.

1626.—On the margin of Pigafetta's Congo, as given by Purchas (ii. 1001), we find: "Rhinoceros or Abadas."

1631.—"Lib. v. cap. 1. De Abada seu Rhinocerote."—Bontii Hist. Nat. et Med.

1726.—"Abada, s. f. La hembra del Rhinoceronte."—Dicc. de la Lengua Castellana.

ABCÁREE, ABKÁRY. H. from P. āb-kārī, the business of distilling or selling (strong) waters, and hence elliptically the excise upon such business. This last is the sense in which it is used by Anglo-Indians. In every district of India the privilege of selling spirits is farmed to contractors, who manage the sale through retail shopkeepers. This is what is called the 'Abkary System.' The system has often been attacked as promoting tippling, and there are strong opinions on both sides. We subjoin an extract from a note on the subject, too long for insertion in integrity, by one of much experience in Bengal—Sir G. U. Yule.

June, 1879.—"Natives who have expressed their views are, I believe, unanimous in ascribing the increase of drinking to our Abkaree system. I don't say that this is putting the cart before the horse, but they are certainly too forgetful of the increased means in the country, which, if not the sole cause of the increased consumption, has been at least a very large factor in that result. I myself believe that more people drink now than formerly; but I knew one gentleman of very long and intimate knowledge of Bengal, who held that there was as much drinking in 1820 as in 1860."

In any case exaggeration is abundant. All Sanskrit literature shows that tippling is no absolute novelty in India. [See the article on "Spirituous Drinks in Ancient India," by Rajendralala Mitra, Indo-Aryans, i. 389 seqq.]

1790.—"In respect to Abkarry, or Tax on Spirituous Liquors, which is reserved for Taxation ... it is evident that we cannot establish a general rate, since the quantity of consumption and expense of manufacture, etc., depends upon the vicinity of principal stations. For the amount leviable upon different Stills we must rely upon officers' local knowledge. The public, indeed, cannot suffer, since, if a few stills are suppressed by over-taxation, drunkenness is diminished."—In a Letter from Board of Revenue (Bengal) to Government, 12th July. MS. in India Office.

1797.—"The stamps are to have the words 'Abcaree licenses' inscribed in the Persian and Hindu languages and character."—Bengal Regulations, x. 33.

ABIHÓWA. Properly P. āb-o-hawā, 'water and air.' The usual Hindustani expression for 'climate.'

1786.—"What you write concerning the death of 500 Koorgs from small-pox is understood ... they must be kept where the climate [āb-o-hawā] may best agree with them."—Tippoo's Letters, 269.

ABYSSINIA, n.p. This geographical name is a 16-century Latinisation of the Arabic Ḥabash, through the Portuguese Abex, bearing much the same pronunciation, minus the aspirate. [See HUBSHEE.]

[1598.—"The countrey of the Abexynes, at Prester John's land."—Linschoten, Hak. Soc. i. 38.

1617.—"He sent mee to buy three Abassines."—Sir T. Roe, Travels, Hak. Soc. ii. 445.]

A. C. (i.e. 'after compliments'). In official versions of native letters these letters stand for the omitted formalities of native compliments.

ACHÁNOCK, n.p. H. Chānak and Achānak. The name by which the station of Barrackpore is commonly known to Sepoys and other natives. Some have connected the name with that of Job Charnock, or, as A. Hamilton calls him, Channock, the founder of Calcutta, and the quotations render this probable. Formerly the Cantonment of Secrole at Benares was also known, by a transfer no doubt, as Chhotā (or 'Little') Achānak. Two additional remarks may be relevantly made: (1) Job's name was certainly Charnock, and not Channock. It is distinctly signed "Job Charnock," in a MS. letter from the factory at "Chutta," i.e. Chuttanuttee (or Calcutta) in the India Office records, which I have seen. (2) The map in Valentijn which shows the village of Tsjannok, though published in 1726, was apparently compiled by Van der Broecke in 1662. Hence it is not probable that it took its name from Job Charnock, who seems to have entered the Company's service in 1658. When he went to Bengal we have not been able to ascertain. [See Diary of Hedges, edited by Sir H. Yule, ii., xcix. In some "Documentary Memoirs of Job Charnock," which form part of vol. lxxv. (1888) of the Hakluyt Soc., Job is said to have "arrived in India in 1655 or 1656."]

1677.—"The ship Falcone to go up the river to Hughly, or at least to Channock."—Court's Letter to Ft. St. Geo. of 12th December. In Notes and Extracts, Madras, 1871, No. 1., p. 21; see also p. 23.

1711.—"Chanock-Reach hath two shoals, the upper one in Chanock, and the lower one on the opposite side ... you must from below Degon as aforesaid, keep the starboard shore aboard until you come up with a Lime-Tree ... and then steer over with Chanock Trees and house between the two shoals, until you come mid-river, but no nearer the house."—The English Pilot, 55.

1726.—"'t stedeken Tsjannock."—Valentijn, v. 153. In Val.'s map of Bengal also, we find opposite to Oegli (Hoogly), Tsjannok, and then Collecatte, and Calcula.

1758.—"Notwithstanding these solemn assurances from the Dutch it was judged expedient to send a detachment of troops ... to take possession of Tanna Fort and Charnoc's Battery opposite to it."—Narrative of Dutch attempt in the Hoogly, in Malcolm's Life of Clive, ii. 76.

1810.—"The old village of Achanock stood on the ground which the post of Barrackpore now occupies."—M. Graham, 142.

1848.—"From an oral tradition still prevalent among the natives at Barrackpore ... we learn that Mr. Charnock built a bungalow there, and a flourishing bazar arose under his patronage, before the settlement of Calcutta had been determined on. Barrackpore is at this day best known to the natives by the name of Chanock."—The Bengal Obituary, Calc. p. 2.

ACHÁR, s. P. āchār, Malay ắchār, adopted in nearly all the vernaculars of India for acid and salt relishes. By Europeans it is used as the equivalent of 'pickles,' and is applied to all the stores of Crosse and Blackwell in that kind. We have adopted the word through the Portuguese; but it is not impossible that Western Asiatics got it originally from the Latin acetaria.—(See Plin. Hist. Nat. xix. 19).

1563.—"And they prepare a conserve of it (Anacardium) with salt, and when it is green (and this they call Achar), and this is sold in the market just as olives are with us."—Garcia, f. 17.

1596.—Linschoten in the Dutch gives the word correctly, but in the English version (Hak. Soc. ii. 26) it is printed Machar.

[1612.—"Achar none to be had except one jar."—Danvers, Letters, i. 230.]

1616.—"Our jurebasso's (Juribasso) wife came and brought me a small jarr of Achar for a present, desyring me to exskews her husband in that he abcented hymselfe to take phisik."—Cocks, i. 135.

1623.—"And all these preserved in a way that is really very good, which they call acciao."—P. della Valle, ii. 708. [Hak. Soc. ii. 327.]

1653.—"Achar est vn nom Indistanni, ou Indien, que signifie des mangues, ou autres fruits confis avec de la moutarde, de l'ail, du sel, et du vinaigre à l'Indienne."—De la Boullaye-le-Gouz, 531.

1687.—"Achar I presume signifies sauce. They make in the East Indies, especially at Siam and Pegu, several sorts of Achar, as of the young tops of Bamboes, &c. Bambo-Achar and Mango-Achar are most used."—Dampier, i. 391.

1727.—"And the Soldiery, Fishers, Peasants, and Handicrafts (of Goa) feed on a little Rice boiled in Water, with a little bit of Salt Fish, or Atchaar, which is pickled Fruits or Roots."—A. Hamilton, i. 252. [And see under KEDGEREE.]

1783.—We learn from Forrest that limes, salted for sea-use against scurvy, were used by the Chulias (Choolia), and were called atchar (Voyage to Mergui, 40). Thus the word passed to Java, as in next quotation:

1768-71.—"When green it (the mango) is made into attjar; for this the kernel is taken out, and the space filled in with ginger, pimento, and other spicy ingredients, after which it is pickled in vinegar."—Stavorinus, i. 237.

ACHEEN, n.p. (P. Āchīn [Tam. Attai, Malay Acheh, Achih] 'a wood-leech'). The name applied by us to the State and town at the N.W. angle of Sumatra, which was long, and especially during the 16th and 17th centuries, the greatest native power on that Island. The proper Malay name of the place is Acheh. The Portuguese generally called it Achem (or frequently by the adhesion of the genitive preposition, Dachem, so that Sir F. Greville below makes two kingdoms), but our Acheen seems to have been derived from mariners of the P. Gulf or W. India, for we find the name so given (Āchīn) in the Āīn-i-Akbari, and in the Geog. Tables of Ṣādiḳ Isfahānī. This form may have been suggested by a jingling analogy, such as Orientals love, with Māchīn (Macheen). See also under LOOTY.

1549.—"Piratarum Acenorum nec periculum nec suspicio fuit."—S. Fr. Xav. Epistt. 337.

1552.—"But after Malacca was founded, and especially at the time of our entry into India, the Kingdom of Pacem began to increase in power, and that of Pedir to diminish. And that neighbouring one of Achem, which was then insignificant, is now the greatest of all."—Barros, III. v. 8.

1563.—

c. 1569.—"Upon the headland towards the West is the Kingdom of Assi, governed by a Moore King."—Cæsar Frederike, tr. in Hakluyt, ii. 355.

c. 1590.—"The zabád (civet), which is brought from the harbour-town of Sumatra, from the territory of Achín, goes by the name of Sumatra-zabád, and is by far the best."—Āīn, i. 79.

1597.—"... do Pegu como do Dachem."—King's Letter, in Arch. Port. Or. fasc. 3, 669.

1599.—"The iland of Sumatra, or Taprobuna, is possessed by many Kynges, enemies to the Portugals; the cheif is the Kinge of Dachem, who besieged them in Malacca.... The Kinges of Acheyn and Tor (read Jor for Johore) are in lyke sort enemies to the Portugals."—Sir Fulke Greville to Sir F. Walsingham (in Bruce, i. 125).

[1615.—"It so proved that both Ponleema and Governor of Tecoo was come hither for Achein."—Foster, Letters, iv. 3.

1623.—"Acem which is Sumatra."—P. della Valle, Hak. Soc. ii. 287.]

c. 1635.—"Achín (a name equivalent in rhyme and metre to 'Máchín') is a well-known island in the Chinese Sea, near to the equinoctial line."—Ṣādiḳ Isfahānī (Or. Tr. F.), p. 2.

1780.—"Archin." See quotation under BOMBAY MARINE.

1820.—"In former days a great many junks used to frequent Achin. This trade is now entirely at an end."—Crawfurd, H. Ind. Arch. iii. 182.

ADAM'S APPLE. This name (Pomo d'Adamo) is given at Goa to the fruit of the Mimusops Elengi, Linn. (Birdwood); and in the 1635 ed. of Gerarde's Herball it is applied to the Plantain. But in earlier days it was applied to a fruit of the Citron kind.—(See Marco Polo, 2nd ed., i. 101), and the following:

c. 1580.—"In his hortis (of Cairo) ex arboribus virescunt mala citria, aurantia, limonia sylvestria et domestica poma Adami vocata."—Prosp. Alpinus, i. 16.

c. 1712.—"It is a kind of lime or citron tree ... it is called Pomum Adami, because it has on its rind the appearance of two bites, which the simplicity of the ancients imagined to be the vestiges of the impression which our forefather made upon the forbidden fruit...." Bluteau, quoted by Tr. of Alboquerque, Hak. Soc. i. 100. The fruit has nothing to do with zamboa, with which Bluteau and Mr. Birch connect it. See JAMBOO.

ADATI, s. A kind of piece-goods exported from Bengal. We do not know the proper form or etymology. It may have been of half-width (from H. ādhā, 'half'). [It may have been half the ordinary length, as the Salampore (Salempoory) was half the length of the cloth known in Madras as Punjum. (Madras Man. of Ad. iii. 799). Also see Yule's note in Hedges' Diary, ii. ccxl.]

1726.—"Casseri (probably Kasiári in Midnapur Dist.) supplies many Taffatshelas (Alleja, Shalee), Ginggangs, Allegias, and Adathays, which are mostly made there."—Valentijn, v. 159.

1813.—Among piece-goods of Bengal: "Addaties, Pieces 700" (i.e. pieces to the ton).—Milburn, ii. 221.

ADAWLUT, s. Ar.—H.—'adālat, 'a Court of Justice,' from 'adl, 'doing justice.' Under the Mohammedan government there were 3 such courts, viz., Nizāmat 'Adālat, Dīwānī 'Adālat, and Faujdārī 'Adālat, so-called from the respective titles of the officials who nominally presided over them. The first was the chief Criminal Court, the second a Civil Court, the third a kind of Police Court. In 1793 regular Courts were established under the British Government, and then the Sudder Adawlut (Ṣadr 'Adālat) became the chief Court of Appeal for each Presidency, and its work was done by several European (Civilian) Judges. That Court was, on the criminal side, termed Nizamut Adawlat, and on the civil side Dewanny Ad. At Madras and Bombay, Foujdarry was the style adopted in lieu of Nizamut. This system ended in 1863, on the introduction of the Penal Code, and the institution of the High Courts on their present footing. (On the original history and constitution of the Courts see Fifth Report, 1812, p. 6.)

What follows applies only to the Bengal Presidency, and to the administration of justice under the Company's Courts beyond the limits of the Presidency town. Brief particulars regarding the history of the Supreme Courts and those Courts which preceded them will be found under SUPREME COURT.

The grant, by Shāh 'Ālam, in 1765, of the Dewanny of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa to the Company, transferred all power, civil and military, in those provinces, to that body. But no immediate attempt was made to undertake the direct detailed administration of either revenue or justice by the agency of the European servants of the Company. Such superintendence, indeed, of the administration was maintained in the prior acquisitions of the Company—viz., in the Zemindary of Calcutta, in the Twenty-four Pergunnas, and in the Chucklas (Chucklah) or districts of Burdwan, Midnapoor, and Chittagong, which had been transferred by the Nawab, Kāsim 'Ali Khān, in 1760; but in the rest of the territory it was confined to the agency of a Resident at the Moorshedabad Durbar, and of a 'Chief' at Patna. Justice was administered by the Mohammedan courts under the native officials of the Dewanny.

In 1770, European officers were appointed in the districts, under the name of Supervisors, with powers of control over the natives employed in the collection of the Revenue and the administration of justice, whilst local councils, with superior authority in all branches, were established at Moorshedabad and Patna. It was not till two years later that, under express orders from the Court of Directors, the effective administration of the provinces was undertaken by the agency of the Company's covenanted servants. At this time (1772) Courts of Civil Justice (Mofussil Dewanny Adawlut) were established in each of the Districts then recognised. There were also District Criminal Courts (Foujdary Adawlut) held by Cazee or Mufty under the superintendence, like the Civil Court, of the Collectors, as the Supervisors were now styled; whilst Superior Courts (Sudder Dewanny, Sudder Nizamut Adawlut) were established at the Presidency, to be under the superintendence of three or four members of the Council of Fort William.

In 1774 the Collectors were recalled, and native 'Amils (Aumil) appointed in their stead. Provincial Councils were set up for the divisions of Calcutta, Burdwan, Dacca, Moorshedabad, Dinagepore, and Patna, in whose hands the superintendence, both of revenue collection and of the administration of civil justice, was vested, but exercised by the members in rotation.

The state of things that existed under this system was discreditable. As Courts of Justice the provincial Councils were only "colourable imitations of courts, which had abdicated their functions in favour of their own subordinate (native) officers, and though their decisions were nominally subject to the Governor-General in Council, the Appellate Court was even a more shadowy body than the Courts of first instance. The Court never sat at all, though there are some traces of its having at one time decided appeals on the report of the head of the Khalsa, or native exchequer, just as the Provincial Council decided them on the report of the Cazis and Muftis."^[23]

In 1770 the Government resolved that Civil Courts, independent of the Provincial Councils, should be established in the six divisions named above,^[24] each under a civilian judge with the title of Superintendent of the Dewanny Adawlut; whilst to the Councils should still pertain the trial of causes relating to the public revenue, to the demands of zemindars upon their tenants, and to boundary questions. The appeal from the District Courts still lay to the Governor-General and his Council, as forming the Court of Sudder Dewanny; but that this might be real, a judge was appointed its head in the person of Sir Elijah Impey, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, an appointment which became famous. For it was represented as a transaction intended to compromise the acute dissensions which had been going on between that Court and the Bengal Government, and in fact as a bribe to Impey. It led, by an address from the House of Commons, to the recall of Impey, and constituted one of the charges in the abortive impeachment of that personage. Hence his charge of the Sudder Dewanny ceased in November, 1782, and it was resumed in form by the Governor-General and Council.

In 1787, the first year of Lord Cornwallis's government, in consequence of instructions from the Court of Directors, it was resolved that, with an exception as to the Courts at Moorshedabad, Patna, and Dacca, which were to be maintained independently, the office of judge in the Mofussil Courts was to be attached to that of the collection of the revenue; in fact, the offices of Judge and Collector, which had been divorced since 1774, were to be reunited. The duties of Magistrate and Judge became mere appendages to that of Collector; the administration of justice became a subordinate function; and in fact all Regulations respecting that administration were passed in the Revenue Department of the Government.

Up to 1790 the criminal judiciary had remained in the hands of the native courts. But this was now altered; four Courts of Circuit were created, each to be superintended by two civil servants as judges; the Sudder Nizamut Adawlut at the Presidency being presided over by the Governor-General and the members of Council.

In 1793 the constant succession of revolutions in the judicial system came to something like a pause, with the entire reformation which was enacted by the Regulations of that year. The Collection of Revenue was now entirely separated from the administration of justice; Zillah Courts under European judges were established (Reg. iii.) in each of 23 Districts and 3 cities, in Bengal, Behar, and Orissa; whilst Provincial Courts of Appeal, each consisting of three judges (Reg. v.), were established at Moorshedabad, Patna, Dacca, and Calcutta. From these Courts, under certain conditions, further appeal lay to the Sudder Dewanny Adawluts at the Presidency.

As regarded criminal jurisdiction, the judges of the Provincial Courts were also (Reg. ix., 1793) constituted Circuit Courts, liable to review by the Sudder Nizamut. Strange to say, the impracticable idea of placing the duties of both of the higher Courts, civil and criminal, on the shoulders of the executive Government was still maintained, and the Governor-General and his Council were the constituted heads of the Sudder Dewanny and Sudder Nizamut. This of course continued as unworkable as it had been; and in Lord Wellesley's time, eight years later, the two Sudder Adawluts were reconstituted, with three regular judges to each, though it was still ruled (Reg. ii., 1801) that the chief judge in each Court was to be a member of the Supreme Council, not being either the Governor-General or the Commander-in-Chief. This rule was rescinded by Reg. x. of 1805.

The number of Provincial and Zillah Courts was augmented in after years with the extension of territory, and additional Sudder Courts, for the service of the Upper Provinces, were established at Allahabad in 1831 (Reg. vi.), a step which may be regarded as the inception of the separation of the N.W. Provinces into a distinct Lieutenant-Governorship, carried out five years later. But no change that can be considered at all organic occurred again in the judiciary system till 1862; for we can hardly consider as such the abolition of the Courts of Circuit in 1829 (Reg. i.), and that of the Provincial Courts of Appeal initiated by a section in Reg. v. of 1831, and completed in 1833.

1822.—"This refers to a traditional story which Mr. Elphinstone used to relate.... During the progress of our conquests in the North-West many of the inhabitants were encountered flying from the newly-occupied territory. 'Is Lord Lake coming?' was the enquiry. 'No,' was the reply, 'the Adawlut is coming.'"—Life of Ephinstone, ii. 131.

1826.—"The adawlut or Court-house was close by."—Pandurang Hari, 271 [ed. 1873, ii. 90].

ADIGAR, s. Properly adhikār, from Skt. adhikārin, one possessing authority; Tam. adhikāri, or -kāren. The title was formerly in use in South India, and perhaps still in the native States of Malabar, for a rural headman. [See quot. from Logan below.] It was also in Ceylon (adikārama, adikār) the title of chief minister of the Candyan Kings. See PATEL.

1544.—"Fac te comem et humanum cum isti Genti praebeas, tum praesertim magistratibus eorum et Praefectis Pagorum, quos Adigares vocant."—S. Fr. Xav. Epistt. 113.

1583.—"Mentre che noi erauamo in questa città, l'assalirono sù la mezza notte all' improuiso, mettendoui il fuoco. Erano questi d'una città uicina, lontana da S. Thomè, doue stanno i Portoghesi, un miglio, sotto la scorta d'un loro Capitano, che risiede in detta città ... et questo Capitano è da loro chiamato Adicario."—Balbi, f. 87.

1681.—"There are two who are the greatest and highest officers in the land. They are called Adigars; I may term them Chief Judges."—Knox, 48.

1726.—" Adigaar. This is as it were the second of the Dessave."—Valentijn (Ceylon), Names of Officers, &c., 9.

1796.—"In Malabar esiste oggidi l'uffizio ... molti Káriakárer o ministri; molti Adhigári o ministri d'un distretto...."—Fra Paolino, 237.

1803.—"The highest officers of State are the Adigars or Prime Ministers. They are two in number."—Percival's Ceylon, 256.

[1810-17.—"Announcing in letters ... his determination to exercise the office of Serv Adikar."—Wilks, Mysoor, i. 264.

1887.—"Each amsam or parish has now besides the Adhikāri or man of authority, headman, an accountant."—Logan, Man. of Malabar, i. 90.]

ADJUTANT, s. A bird so called (no doubt) from its comical resemblance to a human figure in a stiff dress pacing slowly on a parade-ground. It is the H. haṛgīla, or gigantic crane, and popular scavenger of Bengal, the Leptoptilus argala of Linnæus. The H. name is by some dictionaries derived from a supposed Skt. word haḍḍa-gila, 'bone-swallower.' The compound, however appropriate, is not to be found in Böhtlingk and Roth's great Dictionary. The bird is very well described by Aelian, under the name of Κήλα, which is perhaps a relic of the still preserved vernacular one. It is described by another name, as one of the peculiarities of India, by Sultan Baber. See PELICAN.

"The feathers known as Marabou or Comercolly feathers, and sold in Calcutta, are the tail-coverts of this, and the Lept. Javanica, another and smaller species" (Jerdon). The name marabout (from the Ar. murābit, 'quiet,' and thence 'a hermit,' through the Port. marabuto) seems to have been given to the bird in Africa on like reason to that of adjutant in India. [Comercolly, properly Kumārkhāli, is a town in the Nadiya District, Bengal. See Balfour, Cycl. i. 1082.]

c. A.D. 250.—"And I hear that there is in India a bird Kēla, which is 3 times as big as a bustard; it has a mouth of a frightful size, and long legs, and it carries a huge crop which looks like a leather bag; it has a most dissonant voice, and whilst the rest of the plumage is ash-coloured, the tail-feathers are of a pale (or greenish) colour."—Aelian, de Nat. Anim. xvi. 4.

c. 1530.—"One of these (fowls) is the dīng, which is a large bird. Each of its wings is the length of a man; on its head and neck there is no hair. Something like a bag hangs from its neck; its back is black, its breast white; it frequently visits Kābul. One year they caught and brought me a dīng, which became very tame. The flesh which they threw it, it never failed to catch in its beak, and swallowed without ceremony. On one occasion it swallowed a shoe well shod with iron; on another occasion it swallowed a good-sized fowl right down, with its wings and feathers."—Baber, 321.

1754.—"In the evening excursions ... we had often observed an extraordinary species of birds, called by the natives Argill or Hargill, a native of Bengal. They would majestically stalk along before us, and at first we took them for Indians naked.... The following are the exact marks and dimensions.... The wings extended 14 feet and 10 inches. From the tip of the bill to the extremity of the claw it measured 7 feet 6 inches.... In the craw was a Terapin or land-tortoise, 10 inches long; and a large black male cat was found entire in its stomach."—Ives, 183-4.

1798.—"The next is the great Heron, the Argali or Adjutant, or Gigantic Crane of Latham.... It is found also in Guinea."—Pennant's View of Hindostan, ii. 156.

1810.—"Every bird saving the vulture, the Adjutant (or argeelah) and kite, retires to some shady spot."—Williamson, V. M. ii. 3.

[1880.—Ball (Jungle Life, 82) describes the "snake-stone" said to be found in the head of the bird.]

AFGHÁN, n.p. P.—H—Afghān. The most general name of the predominant portion of the congeries of tribes beyond the N.W. frontier of India, whose country is called from them Afghānistān. In England one often hears the country called Afguníst-un, which is a mispronunciation painful to an Anglo-Indian ear, and even Af'gann, which is a still more excruciating solecism. [The common local pronunciation of the name is Aoghān, which accounts for some of the forms below. Bellew insists on the distinction between the Afghān and the Pathān (PUTTAN). "The Afghan is a Pathan merely because he inhabits a Pathan country, and has to a great extent mixed with its people and adopted their language" (Races of Af., p. 25). The name represents Skt. asvaka in the sense of a 'cavalier,' and this reappears scarcely modified in the Assakani or Assakeni of the historians of the expedition of Alexander.]

c. 1020.—"... Afgháns and Khiljis...."—'Utbi in Elliot, ii. 24; see also 50, 114.

c. 1265.—"He also repaired the fort of Jalálí, which he garrisoned with Afgháns."—Táríkh-i-Fírozsháhí in do. iii. 106.

14th cent.—The Afghans are named by the continuator of Rashiduddin among the tribes in the vicinity of Herat (see N. & E. xiv. 494).

1504.—"The Afghans, when they are reduced to extremities in war, come into the presence of their enemy with grass between their teeth; being as much as to say, 'I am your ox.'"^[25]—Baber, 159.

c. 1556.—"He was afraid of the Afgháns."—Sidi 'Ali, in J. As., 1st S., ix. 201.

1609.—"Agwans and Potans."—W. Finch, in Purchas, i. 521.

c. 1665.—"Such are those petty Sovereigns, who are seated on the Frontiers of Persia, who almost never pay him anything, no more than they do to the King of Persia. As also the Balouches and Augans, and other Mountaineers, of whom the greatest part pay him but a small matter, and even care but little for him: witness the Affront they did him, when they stopped his whole Army by cutting off the Water ... when he passed from Atek on the River Indus to Caboul to lay siege to Kandahar...."—Bernier, E. T. 64 [ed. Constable, 205].

1676.—"The people called Augans who inhabit from Candahar to Caboul ... a sturdy sort of people, and great robbers in the night-time."—Tavernier, E. T. ii. 44; [ed. Ball, i. 92].

1767.—"Our final sentiments are that we have no occasion to take any measures against the Afghans' King if it should appear he comes only to raise contributions, but if he proceeds to the eastward of Delhi to make an attack on your allies, or threatens the peace of Bengal, you will concert such measures with Sujah Dowla as may appear best adapted for your mutual defence."—Court's Letter, Nov. 20. In Long, 486; also see ROHILLA.

1838.—"Professor Dorn ... discusses severally the theories that have been maintained of the descent of the Afghauns: 1st, from the Copts; 2nd, the Jews; 3rd, the Georgians; 4th, the Toorks; 5th, the Moguls; 6th, the Armenians: and he mentions more cursorily the opinion that they are descended from the Indo-Scythians, Medians, Sogdians, Persians, and Indians: on considering all which, he comes to the rational conclusion, that they cannot be traced to any tribe or country beyond their present seats and the adjoining mountains."—Elphinstone's Caubool, ed. 1839, i. 209.

AFRICO, n.p. A negro slave.

1682.—"Here we met with y^e Barbadoes Merchant ... James Cock, Master, laden with Salt, Mules, and Africos."—Hedges, Diary, Feb. 27. [Hak. Soc. i. 16.]

[AGAM, adj. A term applied to certain cloths dyed in some particular way. It is the Ar. 'ajam (lit. "one who has an impediment or difficulty in speaking Arabic"), a foreigner, and in particular, a Persian. The adj. 'ajamī thus means "foreign" or "Persian," and is equivalent to the Greek βάρβαρος and the Hind. mleććha. Sir G. Birdwood (Rep. on Old Rec., p. 145) quotes from Hieronimo di Santo Stefano (1494-99), "in company with some Armenian and Azami merchants": and (ibid.) from Varthema: "It is a country of very great traffic in merchandise, and particularly with the Persians and Azamini, who come so far as there."]

[1614.—"Kerseys, Agam colours."—Foster, Letters, ii. 237.

1614.—"Persia will vent five hundred cloths and one thousand kerseys, Agam colours, per annum."—Ibid. ii. 237.]

AGAR-AGAR, s. The Malay name of a kind of sea-weed (Spherococcus lichenoïdes). It is succulent when boiled to a jelly; and is used by the Chinese with birdsnest (q.v.) in soup. They also employ it as a glue, and apply it to silk and paper intended to be transparent. It grows on the shores of the Malay Islands, and is much exported to China.—(See Crawfurd, Dict. Ind. Arch., and Milburn, ii. 304).

AGDAUN, s. A hybrid H. word from H. āg and P. dān, made in imitation of pīk-dān, ḳalam-dān, shama-dān ('spittoon, pencase, candlestick'). It means a small vessel for holding fire to light a cheroot.

ĀG-GĀRI, s. H. 'Fire carriage.' In native use for a railway train.

AGUN-BOAT, s. A hybrid word for a steamer, from H. agan, 'fire,' and Eng. boat. In Bombay Ag-bōt is used.

1853.—"... Agin boat."—Oakfield, i. 84.

[AJNĀS, s. Ar. plur. of jins, 'goods, merchandise, crops,' etc. Among the Moguls it was used in the special sense of pay in kind, not in cash.]

[c. 1665.—"It (their pay) is, however, of a different kind, and not thought so honourable, but the Rouzindars are not subject, like the Mansebdars (Munsubdar) to the Agenas; that is to say, are not bound to take, at a valuation, carpets, and other pieces of furniture, that have been used in the King's palace, and on which an unreasonable value is sometimes set."—Bernier (ed. Constable), 215-6.]

AK, s. H. āk and ark, in Sindi ăk: the prevalent name of the madār (MUDDAR) in Central and Western India. It is said to be a popular belief (of course erroneous) in Sind, that Akbar was so called after the āk, from his birth in the desert. [Ives (488) calls it Ogg.] The word appears in the following popular rhyme quoted by Tod (Rajasthan, i. 669):—

AKALEE, or Nihang ('the naked one'), s. A member of a body of zealots among the Sikhs, who take this name 'from being worshippers of Him who is without time, eternal' (Wilson). Skt. a privative, and kāl, 'time.' The Akālis may be regarded as the Wahābis of Sikhism. They claim their body to have been instituted by Guru Govind himself, but this is very doubtful. Cunningham's view of the order is that it was the outcome of the struggle to reconcile warlike activity with the abandonment of the world; the founders of the Sikh doctrine rejecting the inert asceticism of the Hindu sects. The Akālis threw off all subjection to the earthly government, and acted as the censors of the Sikh community in every rank. Runjeet Singh found them very difficult to control. Since the annexation of the Panjab, however, they have ceased to give trouble. The Akalee is distinguished by blue clothing and steel armlets. Many of them also used to carry several steel chakras (CHUCKER) encircling their turbans. [See Ibbetson, Panjab Ethnog., 286; Maclagan, in Panjab Census Rep., 1891, i. 166.]

1832.—"We received a message from the Acali who had set fire to the village.... These fanatics of the Seik creed acknowledge no superior, and the ruler of the country can only moderate their frenzy by intrigues and bribery. They go about everywhere with naked swords, and lavish their abuse on the nobles as well as the peaceable subjects.... They have on several occasions attempted the life of Runjeet Singh."—Burnes, Travels, ii. 10-11.

1840.—"The Akalis being summoned to surrender, requested a conference with one of the attacking party. The young Khan bravely went forward, and was straightway shot through the head."—Mrs Mackenzie, Storms and Sunshine, i. 115.

AKYÁB, n.p. The European name of the seat of administration of the British province of Arakan, which is also a port exporting rice largely to Europe. The name is never used by the natives of Arakan (of the Burmese race), who call the town Tsit-htwé, 'Crowd (in consequence of) War.' This indicates how the settlement came to be formed in 1825, by the fact of the British force encamping on the plain there, which was found to be healthier than the site of the ancient capital of the kingdom of Arakan, up the valley of the Arakan or Kaladyne R. The name Akyáb had been applied, probably by the Portuguese, to a neighbouring village, where there stands, about 1½ miles from the present town, a pagoda covering an alleged relique of Gautama (a piece of the lower jaw, or an induration of the throat), the name of which pagoda, taken from the description of relique, is Au-kyait-dau, and of this Akyáb was probably a corruption. The present town and cantonment occupy dry land of very recent formation, and the high ground on which the pagoda stands must have stood on the shore at no distant date, as appears from the finding of a small anchor there about 1835. The village adjoining the pagoda must then have stood at the mouth of the Arakan R., which was much frequented by the Portuguese and the Chittagong people in the 16th and 17th centuries, and thus probably became known to them by a name taken from the Pagoda.—(From a note by Sir Arthur Phayre.) [Col. Temple writes—"The only derivation which strikes me as plausible, is from the Agyattaw Phaya, near which, on the island of Sittwé, a Cantonment was formed after the first Burmese war, on the abandonment of Mrohaung or Arakan town in 1825, on account of sickness among the troops stationed there. The word Agyattaw is spelt Akhyap-taw, whence probably the modern name."]

[1826.—"It (the despatch) at length arrived this day (3rd Dec. 1826), having taken two months in all to reach us, of which forty-five days were spent in the route from Akyab in Aracan."—Crawfurd, Ava, 289.]

ALA-BLAZE PAN, s. This name is given in the Bombay Presidency to a tinned-copper stew-pan, having a cover, and staples for straps, which is carried on the march by European soldiers, for the purpose of cooking in, and eating out of. Out on picnics a larger kind is frequently used, and kept continually going, as a kind of pot-au-feu. [It has been suggested that the word may be a corr. of some French or Port. term—Fr. braiser; Port. brazeiro, 'a fire-pan,' braza, 'hot coals.']

ALBACORE, s. A kind of rather large sea-fish, of the Tunny genus (Thynnus albacora, Lowe, perhaps the same as Thynnus macropterus, Day); from the Port. albacor or albecora. The quotations from Ovington and Grose below refer it to albo, but the word is, from its form, almost certainly Arabic, though Dozy says he has not found the word in this sense in Arabic dictionaries, which are very defective in the names of fishes (p. 61). The word albacora in Sp. is applied to a large early kind of fig, from Ar. al-bākūr, 'praecox' (Dozy), Heb. bikkūra, in Micah vii. 1.—See Cobarruvias, s.v. Albacora. [The N.E.D. derives it from Ar. al-bukr, 'a young camel, a heifer,' whence Port. bacoro, 'a young pig.' Also see Gray's note on Pyrard, i. 9.]

1579.—"These (flying fish) have two enemies, the one in the sea, the other in the aire. In the sea the fish which is called Albocore, as big as a salmon."—Letter from Goa, by T. Stevens, in Hakl. ii. 583.

1592.—"In our passage over from S. Laurence to the maine, we had exceeding great store of Bonitos and Albocores."—Barker, in Hakl. ii. 592.

1696.—"We met likewise with shoals of Albicores (so call'd from a piece of white Flesh that sticks to their Heart) and with multitudes of Bonettoes, which are named from their Goodness and Excellence for eating; so that sometimes for more than twenty Days the whole Ship's Company have feasted on these curious fish."—Ovington, p. 48.

c. 1760.—"The Albacore is another fish of much the same kind as the Bonito ... from 60 to 90 pounds weight and upward. The name of this fish too is taken from the Portuguese, importing its white colour."—Grose, i. 5.

ALBATROSS, s. The great sea-bird (Diomedea exulans, L.), from the Port. alcatraz, to which the forms used by Hawkins and Dampier, and by Flacourt (according to Marcel Devic) closely approach. [Alcatras 'in this sense altered to albi-, albe-, albatross (perhaps with etymological reference to albus, "white," the albatross being white, while the alcatras was black.') N.E.D. s.v.] The Port. word properly means 'a pelican.' A reference to the latter word in our Glossary will show another curious misapplication. Devic states that alcatruz in Port. means 'the bucket of a Persian wheel,'^[26] representing the Ar. al-ḳādūs, which is again from κάδος. He supposes that the pelican may have got this name in the same way that it is called in ordinary Ar. saḳḳa, 'a water-carrier.' It has been pointed out by Dr Murray, that the alcatruz of some of the earlier voyagers, e.g., of Davis below, is not the Diomedea, but the Man-of-War (or Frigate) Bird (Fregatus aquilus). Hawkins, at p. 187 of the work quoted, describes, without naming, a bird which is evidently the modern albatross. In the quotation from Mocquet again, alcatruz is applied to some smaller sea-bird. The passage from Shelvocke is that which suggested to Coleridge "The Ancient Mariner."

1564.—"The 8th December we ankered by a small Island called Alcatrarsa, wherein at our going a shoare, we found nothing but sea-birds, as we call them Ganets, but by the Portugals called Alcatrarses, who for that cause gave the said Island the same name."—Hawkins (Hak. Soc.), 15.

1593.—"The dolphins and bonitoes are the houndes, and the alcatrarces the hawkes, and the flying fishes the game."—Ibid. 152.

1604.—"The other foule called Alcatrarzi is a kind of Hawke that liueth by fishing. For when the Bonitos or Dolphines doe chase the flying fish vnder the water ... this Alcatrarzi flyeth after them like a Hawke after a Partridge."—Davis (Hak. Soc.), 158.

c. 1608-10.—"Alcatraz sont petis oiseaux ainsi comme estourneaux."—Mocquet, Voyages, 226.

1672.—"We met with those feathered Harbingers of the Cape ... Albetrosses ... they haue great Bodies, yet not proportionate to their Wings, which mete out twice their length."—Fryer, 12.

1690.—"They have several other Signs, whereby to know when they are near it, as by the Sea Fowl they meet at Sea, especially the Algatrosses, a very large long-winged Bird."—Dampier, i. 531.

1719.—"We had not had the sight of one fish of any kind, since we were come Southward of the Streights of Le Mair, nor one sea-bird, except a disconsolate black Albitross, who accompanied us for several days, hovering about us as if he had lost himself, till Hatley (my second Captain) observing, in one of his melancholy fits, that this bird was always hovering near us, imagin'd from his colour, that it might be some ill omen.... But be that as it would, he after some fruitless attempts, at length shot the Albitross, not doubting (perhaps) that we should have a fair wind after it...."—Shelvocke's Voyage, 72, 73.

1740.—"... a vast variety of sea-fowl, amongst which the most remarkable are the Penguins; they are in size and shape like a goose, but instead of wings they have short stumps like fins ... their bills are narrow like those of an Albitross, and they stand and walk in an erect posture. From this and their white bellies, Sir John Narborough has whimsically likened them to little children standing up in white aprons."—Anson's Voyage, 9th ed. (1756), p. 68.

1754.—"An albatrose, a sea-fowl, was shot off the Cape of Good Hope, which measured 17½ feet from wing to wing."—Ives, 5.

1803.—

c. 1861.—

ALCATIF, s. This word for 'a carpet' was much used in India in the 16th century, and is treated by some travellers as an Indian word. It is not however of Indian origin, but is an Arabic word (ḳatīf, 'a carpet with long pile') introduced into Portugal through the Moors.

c. 1540.—"There came aboard of Antonio de Faria more than 60 batels, and balloons, and manchuas (q.q.v.) with awnings and flags of silk, and rich alcatifas."—Pinto, ch. lxviii. (orig.).

1560.—"The whole tent was cut in a variety of arabesques, inlaid with coloured silk, and was carpeted with rich alcatifas."—Tenreiro, Itin., c. xvii.

1578.—"The windows of the streets by which the Viceroy passes shall be hung with carpets (alcatifadas), and the doors decorated with branches, and the whole adorned as richly as possible."—Archiv. Port. Orient., fascic. ii. 225.

[1598.—"Great store of rich Tapestrie, which are called alcatiffas."—Linschoten, Hak. Soc. i. 47.]

1608-10.—"Quand elles vont à l'Eglise on les porte en palanquin ... le dedans est d'vn grand tapis de Perse, qu'ils appellent Alcatif...."—Pyrard, ii. 62; [Hak. Soc. ii. 102].

1648.—"... many silk stuffs, such as satin, contenijs (Cuttanee) attelap (read attelas), alegie ... ornijs [H. oṛhnî, 'A woman's sheet'] of gold and silk for women's wear, gold alacatijven...."—Van Twist, 50.

1726.—"They know nought of chairs or tables. The small folks eat on a mat, and the rich on an Alcatief, or carpet, sitting with their feet under them, like our Tailors."—Valentijn, v. Chorom, 55.

ALCORANAS, s. What word does Herbert aim at in the following? [The Stanf. Dict. regards this as quite distinct from Alcorān, the Korān, or sacred book of Mohammedans (for which see N.E.D. s.v.), and suggests Al-qorūn, 'the horns,' or al-qirān, 'the vertices.']

1665.—"Some (mosques) have their Alcorana's high, slender, round steeples or towers, most of which are terrassed near the top, like the Standard in Cheapside, but twice the height."—Herbert, Travels, 3rd ed. 164.

ALCOVE, s. This English word comes to us through the Span. alcova and Fr. alcove (old Fr. aucube), from Ar. al-ḳubbàh, applied first to a kind of tent (so in Hebr. Numbers xxv. 8) and then to a vaulted building or recess. An edifice of Saracenic construction at Palermo is still known as La Cuba; and another, a domed tomb, as La Cubola. Whatever be the true formation of the last word, it seems to have given us, through the Italian, Cupola. [Not so in N.E.D.]

1738.—"Cubba, commonly used for the vaulted tomb of marab-butts" [Adjutant.]—Shaw's Travels, ed. 1757, p. 40.

ALDEA, s. A village; also a villa. Port. from the Ar. al-ḍai'a, 'a farm or villa.' Bluteau explains it as 'Povoção menor que lugar.' Lane gives among other and varied meanings of the Ar. word: 'An estate consisting of land or of land and a house, ... land yielding a revenue.' The word forms part of the name of many towns and villages in Spain and Portugal.

1547.—"The Governor (of Baçaem) Dom João de Castro, has given and gives many aldeas and other grants of land to Portuguese who served and were wounded at the fortress of Dio, and to others of long service...."—Simão Botelho, Cartas 3.

[1609.—"Aldeas in the Country."—Danvers, Letters, i. 25.]

1673.—"Here ... in a sweet Air, stood a Magnificent Rural Church; in the way to which, and indeed all up and down this Island, are pleasant Aldeas, or villages and hamlets that ... swarm with people."—Valentijn, v. (Malabar), 11.

1753.—"Les principales de ces qu'on appelle Aldées (terme que les Portugals ont mis en usage dans l'Inde) autour de Pondichéri et dans sa dependance sont...."—D'Anville, Éclaircissemens, 122.

1780.—"The Coast between these is filled with Aldees, or villages of the Indians."—Dunn, N. Directory, 5th ed., 110.

1782.—"Il y a aussi quelques Aldées considérables, telles que Navar et Portenove, qui appartiennent aux Princes du pays."—Sonnerat, Voyage, i. 37.

ALEPPEE, n.p. On the coast of Travancore; properly Alappuḷi. [Mal. alappuzha, 'the broad river"—(Mad. Adm. Man. Gloss. s.v.)].

[ALFANDICA, s. A custom-house and resort for foreign merchants in an oriental port. The word comes through the Port. alfandega, Span. fundago, Ital. fondaco, Fr. fondeque or fondique, from Ar. al-funduḳ, 'the inn,' and this from Gk. πανδοκεῖον or πανδοχεῖον, 'a pilgrim's hospice.']

[c. 1610.—"The conveyance of them thence to the alfandigue."—Pyrard della Valle, Hak. Soc. i. 361.]

[1615.—"The Iudge of the Alfandica came to invite me."—Sir T. Roe, Embassy, Hak. Soc. i. 72.]

[1615.—"That the goods of the English may be freely landed after dispatch in the Alfandiga."—Foster, Letters, iv. 79.]

ALGUADA, n.p. The name of a reef near the entrance to the Bassein branch of the Irawadi R., on which a splendid lighthouse was erected by Capt. Alex. Fraser (now Lieut.-General Fraser, C.B.) of the Engineers, in 1861-65. See some remarks and quotations under NEGRAIS.

ALJOFAR, s. Port. 'seed-pearl.' Cobarruvias says it is from Ar. al-jauhar, 'jewel.'

1404.—"And from these bazars (alcacerias) issue certain gates into certain streets, where they sell many things, such as cloths of silk and cotton, and sendals, and tafetanas, and silk, and pearl (alxofar)."—Clavijo, § lxxxi. (comp. Markham, 81).

1508.—"The aljofar and pearls that (your Majesty) orders me to send you I cannot have as they have them in Ceylon and in Caille, which are the sources of them: I would buy them with my blood, and with my money, which I have only from your giving. The Sinabaffs (sinabafos), porcelain vases (porcellanas), and wares of that sort are further off. If for my sins I stay here longer I will endeavour to get everything. The slave girls that you order me to send you must be taken from prizes,^[27] for the heathen women of this country are black, and are mistresses to everybody by the time they are ten years old."—Letter of the Viceroy D. Francisco d'Almeida to the King, in Correa, i. 908-9.

[1665.—"As it (the idol) was too deformed, they made hands for it of the small pearls which we call 'pearls by the ounce.'"—Tavernier, ed. Ball, ii. 228.]

ALLAHABAD, n.p. This name, which was given in the time of Akbar to the old Hindu Prayāg or Prāg (PRAAG) has been subjected to a variety of corrupt pronunciations, both European and native. Illahābāz is a not uncommon native form, converted by Europeans into Halabas, and further by English soldiers formerly into Isle o' bats. And the Illiabad, which we find in the Hastings charges, survives in the Elleeabad still heard occasionally.

c. 1666.—"La Province de Halabas s'appelloit autrefois Purop (Poorub)."—Thevenot, v. 197.

[ " "Elabas (where the Gemna (Jumna) falls into the Ganges.)"—Bernier (ed. Constable), p. 36.]

1726.—"This exceptionally great river (Ganges) ... comes so far from the N. to the S. ... and so further to the city Halabas."—Valentijn.

1753.—"Mais ce qui interesse davantage dans la position de Helabas, c'est d'y retrouver celle de l'ancienne Palibothra. Aucune ville de l'Inde ne paroit égaler Palibothra ou Palimbothra, dans l'Antiquité.... C'est satisfaire une curiosité géographique bien placée, que de retrouver l'emplacement d'une ville de cette considération: mais j'ai lieu de croire qu'il faut employer quelque critique, dans l'examen des circonstances que l'Antiquité a fourni sur ce point.... Je suis donc persuadé, qu'il ne faut point chercher d'autre emplacement à Palibothra que celui de la ville d'Helabas...."—D'Anville, Eclaircissemens, pp. 53-55.

(Here D'Anville is in error. But see Rennell's Memoir, pp. 50-54, which clearly identifies Palibothra with Patna.)

1786.—"... an attack and invasion of the Rohillas ... which nevertheless the said Warren Hastings undertook at the very time when, under the pretence of the difficulty of defending Corah and Illiabad, he sold these provinces to Sujah Dowla."—Articles of Charge, &c., in Burke, vi. 577.

" "You will see in the letters from the Board ... a plan for obtaining Illabad from the Vizier, to which he had spirit enough to make a successful resistance."—Cornwallis, i. 238.

ALLEJA, s. This appears to be a stuff from Turkestan called (Turki) alchah, alajah, or alāchah. It is thus described: "a silk cloth 5 yards long, which has a sort of wavy line pattern running in the length on either side." (Baden-Powell's Punjab Handbook, 66). [Platts in his Hind. Dict. gives ilācha, "a kind of cloth woven of silk and thread so as to present the appearance of cardamoms (ilāchī)." But this is evidently a folk etymology. Yusuf Ali (Mon. on Silk Fabrics, 95) accepts the derivation from Alcha or Alācha, and says it was probably introduced by the Moguls, and has historical associations with Agra, where alone in the N.W.P. it is manufactured. "This fabric differs from the Doriya in having a substantial texture, whereas the Doriya is generally flimsy. The colours are generally red, or bluish-red, with white stripes." In some of the western Districts of the Panjab various kinds of fancy cotton goods are described as Lacha. (Francis, Mon. on Cotton, p. 8). It appears in one of the trade lists (see PIECE-GOODS) as Elatches.]

c. 1590.—"The improvement is visible ... secondly in the Safid Alchahs also called Tarhdárs...."—Āīn, i. 91. (Blochmann says: "Alchah or Alāchah, any kind of corded stuff. Tarhdár means corded.")

[1612.—"Hold the Allesas at 50 Rs."—Danvers, Letters, i. 205.]

1613.—"The Nabob bestowed upon him 850 Mamoodies, 10 fine Baftas, 30 Topseiles and 30 Allizaes."—Dowton, in Purchas, i. 504. "Topseiles are Tafçilah (a stuff from Mecca)."—Āīn, i. 93. [See ADATI, PIECE-GOODS].

1615.—"1 pec. alleia of 30 Rs...."—Cocks's Diary, i. 64.

1648.—See Van Twist above, under ALCATIF. And 1673, see Fryer under ATLAS.

1653.—"Alaias (Alajas) est vn mot Indien, qui signifie des toiles de cotton et de soye: meslée de plusieurs couleurs."—De la Boullaye-le-Gouz, ed. 1657, p. 532.

[c. 1666.—"Alachas, or silk stuffs interwoven with gold and silver."—Bernier (ed. Constable), p. 120-21.]

1690.—"It (Suratt) is renown'd ... both for rich Silks, such as Atlasses, Cuttanees, Sooseys, Culgars, Allajars...."—Ovington, 218.

1712.—"An Allejah petticoat striped with green and gold and white."—Advert. in Spectator, cited in Malcolm, Anecdotes, 429.

1726.—"Gold and silver Allegias."—Valentijn (Surat), iv. 146.

1813.—"Allachas (pieces to the ton) 1200."—Milburn, ii. 221.

1885.—"The cloth from which these pyjamas are made (in Swāt) is known as Alacha, and is as a rule manufactured in their own houses, from 2 to 20 threads of silk being let in with the cotton; the silk as well as the cotton is brought from Peshawur and spun at home."—M‘Nair's Report on Explorations, p. 5.

ALLIGATOR, s. This is the usual Anglo-Indian term for the great lacertine amphibia of the rivers. It was apparently in origin a corruption, imported from S. America, of the Spanish el or al lagarto (from Lat. lacerta), 'a lizard.' The "Summary of the Western Indies" by Pietro Martire d'Angheria, as given in Ramusio, recounting the last voyage of Columbus, says that, in a certain river, "they sometimes encountered those crocodiles which they call Lagarti; these make away when they see the Christians, and in making away they leave behind them an odour more fragrant than musk." (Ram. iii. f. 17v.). Oviedo, on another page of the same volume, calls them "Lagarti o dragoni" (f. 62).

Bluteau gives "Lagarto, Crocodilo" and adds: "In the Oriente Conquistado (Part I. f. 823) you will find a description of the Crocodile under the name of Lagarto."

One often, in Anglo-Indian conversation, used to meet with the endeavour to distinguish the two well-known species of the Ganges as Crocodile and Alligator, but this, like other applications of popular and general terms to mark scientific distinctions, involves fallacy, as in the cases of 'panther, leopard,' 'camel, dromedary,' 'attorney, solicitor,' and so forth. The two kinds of Gangetic crocodile were known to Aelian (c. 250 A.D.), who writes: "It (the Ganges) breeds two kinds of crocodiles; one of these is not at all hurtful, while the other is the most voracious and cruel eater of flesh; and these have a horny prominence on the top of the nostril. These latter are used as ministers of vengeance upon evil-doers; for those convicted of the greatest crimes are cast to them; and they require no executioner."

1493.—"In a small adjacent island ... our men saw an enormous kind of lizard (lagarto muy grande), which they said was as large round as a calf, and with a tail as long as a lance ... but bulky as it was, it got into the sea, so that they could not catch it."—Letter of Dr. Chanca, in Select Letters of Columbus by Major, Hak. Soc. 2nd ed., 43.

1539.—"All along this River, that was not very broad, there were a number of Lizards (lagartos), which might more properly be called Serpents ... with scales upon their backs, and mouths two foot wide ... there be of them that will sometimes get upon an almadia ... and overturn it with their tails, swallowing up the men whole, without dismembering of them."—Pinto, in Cogan's tr. 17 (orig. cap. xiv.).

1552.—"... aquatic animals such as ... very great lizards (lagartos), which in form and nature are just the crocodiles of the Nile."—Barros, I. iii. 8.

1568.—"In this River we killed a monstrous Lagarto, or Crocodile ... he was 23 foote by the rule, headed like a hogge...."—Iob Hortop, in Hakl. iii. 580.

1579.—"We found here many good commodities ... besides alagartoes, munckeyes, and the like."—Drake, World Encompassed, Hak. Soc. 112.

1591.—"In this place I have seen very great water aligartos (which we call in English crocodiles), seven yards long."—Master Antonie Knivet, in Purchas, iv. 1228.

1593.—"In this River (of Guayaquill) and all the Rivers of this Coast, are great abundance of Alagartoes ... persons of credit have certified to me that as small fishes in other Rivers abound in scoales, so the Alagartoes in this...."—Sir Richard Hawkins, in Purchas, iv. 1400.

c. 1593.—

1595.—"Vpon this river there were great store of fowle ... but for lagartos it exceeded, for there were thousands of those vgly serpents; and the people called it for the abundance of them, the riuer of Lagartos in their language."—Raleigh, The Discoverie of Guiana, in Hakl. iv. 137.

1596.—"Once he would needs defend a rat to be animal rationale ... because she eate and gnawd his bookes.... And the more to confirme it, because everie one laught at him ... the next rat he seaz'd on hee made an anatomie of, and read a lecture of 3 dayes long upon everie artire or musckle, and after hanged her over his head in his studie in stead of an apothecarie's crocodile or dride Alligatur."—T. Nashe's 'Have with you to Saffron Walden.' Repr. in J. Payne Collier's Misc. Tracts, p. 72.

1610.—"These Blackes ... told me the River was full of Aligatas, and if I saw any I must fight with him, else he would kill me."—D. Midleton, in Purchas, i. 244.

1613.—"... mais avante ... por distancia de 2 legoas, esta o fermoso ryo de Cassam de lagarthos o crocodillos."—Godinho de Eredia, 10.

1673.—"The River was full of Aligators or Crocodiles, which lay basking in the Sun in the Mud on the River's side."—Fryer, 55.

1727.—"I was cleaning a vessel ... and had Stages fitted for my People to stand on ... and we were plagued with five or six Allegators, which wanted to be on the Stage."—A. Hamilton, ii. 133.

1761.—

1881.—"The Hooghly alone has never been so full of sharks and alligators as now. We have it on undoubted authority that within the past two months over a hundred people have fallen victims to these brutes."—Pioneer Mail, July 10th.

ALLIGATOR-PEAR, s. The fruit of the Laurus persea, Lin., Persea gratissima, Gaertn. The name as here given is an extravagant, and that of avocato or avogato a more moderate, corruption of aguacate or ahuacatl (see below), which appears to have been the native name in Central America, still surviving there. The Quichua name is palta, which is used as well as aguacaté by Cieza de Leon, and also by Joseph de Acosta. Grainger (Sugarcane, Bk. I.) calls it "rich sabbaca," which he says is "the Indian name of the avocato, avocado, avigato, or as the English corruptly call it, alligator pear. The Spaniards in S. America call it Aguacate, and under that name it is described by Ulloa." In French it is called avocat. The praise which Grainger, as quoted below, "liberally bestows" on this fruit, is, if we might judge from the specimens occasionally met with in India, absurd. With liberal pepper and salt there may be a remote suggestion of marrow: but that is all. Indeed it is hardly a fruit in the ordinary sense. Its common sea name of 'midshipman's butter' [or 'subaltern's butter'] is suggestive of its merits, or demerits.

Though common and naturalised throughout the W. Indies and E. coasts of tropical S. America, its actual native country is unknown. Its introduction into the Eastern world is comparatively recent; not older than the middle of 18th century. Had it been worth eating it would have come long before.

1532-50.—"There are other fruits belonging to the country, such as fragrant pines and plantains, many excellent guavas, caymitos, aguacates, and other fruits."—Cieza de Leon, 16.

1608.—"The Palta is a great tree, and carries a faire leafe, which hath a fruite like to great peares; within it hath a great stone, and all the rest is soft meate, so as when they are full ripe, they are, as it were, butter, and have a delicate taste."—Joseph de Acosta, 250.

c. 1660.—

1680.—"This Tavoga is an exceeding pleasant Island, abounding in all manner of fruits, such as Pine-apples ... Albecatos, Pears, Mammes."—Capt. Sharpe, in Dampier, iv.

1685.—"The Avogato Pear-tree is as big as most Pear-trees ... and the Fruit as big as a large Lemon.... The Substance in the inside is green, or a little yellowish, and soft as Butter...."—Dampier, i. 203.

1736.—"Avogato, Baum.... This fruit itself has no taste, but when mixt with sugar and lemon juice gives a wholesome and tasty flavour."—Zeidler's Lexicon, s.v.

1761.—

1830.—"The avocada, with its Brobdignag pear, as large as a purser's lantern."—Tom Cringle, ed. 1863, 40.

[1861.—"There is a well-known West Indian fruit which we call an avocado or alligator pear."—Tylor, Anahuac, 227.]

1870.—"The aguacate or Alligator pear."—Squier, Honduras, 142.

1873.—"Thus the fruit of the Persea gratissima was called Ahucatl' by the ancient Mexicans; the Spaniards corrupted it to avocado, and our sailors still further to 'Alligator pears.'"—Belt's Nicaragua, 107.

[ALLYGOLE, ALIGHOL, ALLYGOOL, ALLEEGOLE, s. H.—P. 'aligol, from 'ālī 'lofty, excellent,' Skt. gola, a troop; a nondescript word used for "irregular foot in the Maratha service, without discipline or regular arms. According to some they are so named from charging in a dense mass and invoking 'Ali, the son-in-law of Mohammed, being chiefly Mohammedans."—(Wilson.)

1796.—"The Nezibs (Nujeeb) are matchlockmen, and according to their different casts are called Allegoles or Rohillas; they are indifferently formed of high-cast Hindoos and Musselmans, armed with the country Bandook (bundook), to which the ingenuity of De Boigne had added a Bayonet."—W. H. Tone, A Letter on the Maratta People, p. 50.

1804.—"Alleegole, A sort of chosen light infantry of the Rohilla Patans: sometimes the term appears to be applied to troops supposed to be used generally for desperate service."—Fraser, Military Memoirs of Skinner, ii. 71 note, 75, 76.

1817.—"The Allygools answer nearly the same description."—Blacker, Mem. of Operations in India, p. 22.]

ALMADIA, s. This is a word introduced into Portuguese from Moorish Ar. al-ma'dīya. Properly it means 'a raft' (see Dozy, s.v.). But it is generally used by the writers on India for a canoe, or the like small native boat.

1514.—"E visto che non veniva nessuno ambasciata, solo venia molte abadie, cioè barche, a venderci galline...."—Giov. da Empoli, in Archiv. Stor. Ital., p. 59.

[1539.—See quotation from Pinto under ALLIGATOR.

c. 1610.—"Light vessels which they call almadia."—Pyrard della Valle, Hak. Soc. i. 122; and also see under DONEY.]

1644.—"Huma Almadia pera serviço do dito Baluarte, com seis marinheiros que cada hum ven-se hum x(erafi)^m por mes ... x^s 72."—Expenses of Diu, in Bocarro (Sloane MSS. 197, fol. 175).

ALMANACK, s. On this difficult word see Dozy's Oosterlingen and N.E.D. In a passage quoted by Eusebius from Porphyry (Praep. Evangel. t. iii. ed. Gaisford) there is mention of Egyptian calendars called ἀλμενιχιανὰ. Also in the Vocabular Arauigo of Pedro de Alcala (1505) the Ar. Manāk is given as the equivalent of the Span. almanaque, which seems to show that the Sp. Arabs did use manākh in the sense required, probably having adopted it from the Egyptian, and having assumed the initial al to be their own article.

ALMYRA, s. H. almārī. A wardrobe, chest of drawers, or like piece of (closed) furniture. The word is in general use, by masters and servants in Anglo-Indian households, in both N. and S. India. It has come to us from the Port. almario, but it is the same word as Fr. armoire, Old E. ambry [for which see N.E.D.] &c., and Sc. awmry, orginating in the Lat. armarium, or -ria, which occurs also in L. Gr. as ἀρμαρὴ, ἀρμάριον.

c. B.C. 200.—"Hoc est quod olim clanculum ex armario te surripuisse aiebas uxori tuae...."—Plautus, Men. iii. 3.

A.D. 1450.—"Item, I will my chambre prestes haue ... the thone of thame the to almer, & the tothir of yame the tother almar whilk I ordnyd for kepyng of vestmentes."—Will of Sir T. Cumberlege, in Academy, Sept. 27, 1879, p. 231.

1589.—"—— item ane langsettle, item ane almarie, ane Kist, ane sait burde...."—Ext. Records Burgh of Glasgow, 1876, 130.

1878.—"Sahib, have you looked in Mr Morrison's almirah?"—Life in Mofussil, i. 34.

ALOES, s. The name of aloes is applied to two entirely different substances: a. the drug prepared from the inspissated bitter juice of the Aloë Socotrina, Lam. In this meaning (a) the name is considered (Hanbury and Flückiger, Pharmacographia, 616) to be derived from the Syriac 'elwai (in P. alwā). b. Aloes-wood, the same as Eagle-wood. This is perhaps from one of the Indian forms, through the Hebrew (pl. forms) ahālim, akhālim and ahālōth, akhālōth. Neither Hippocrates nor Theophrastus mentions aloes, but Dioscorides describes two kinds of it (Mat. Med. iii. 3). "It was probably the Socotrine aloes with which the ancients were most familiar. Eustathius says the aloe was called ἱερὰ, from its excellence in preserving life (ad. Il. 630). This accounts for the powder of aloes being called Hiera picra in the older writers on Pharmacy."—(Francis Adams, Names of all Minerals, Plants, and Animals desc. by the Greek authors, etc.)

(a) c. A.D. 70.—"The best Aloe (Latin the same) is brought out of India.... Much use there is of it in many cases, but principally to loosen the bellie; being the only purgative medicine that is comfortable to the stomach...."—Pliny, Bk. xxvii (Ph. Holland, ii. 212).

(b) "Ἤλθε δὲ καὶ Νικόδημος ... φέρων μίγμα σμύρνης και ἀλόης ὠσεὶ λίτρας ἑκατόν."—John xix. 39.

c. A.D. 545.—"From the remoter regions, I speak of Tzinista and other places, the imports to Taprobane are silk Aloes-wood (ἀλόη), cloves, sandal-wood, and so forth."—Cosmas, in Cathay, p. clxxvii.

[c. 1605.—"In wch Iland of Allasakatrina are good harbors faire depth and good Anchor ground."—Discription in Birdwood, First Letter Book, 82. (Here there is a confusion of the name of the island Socotra with that of its best-known product—Aloes Socotrina).]

1617.—"... a kind of lignum Allowaies."—Cocks's Diary, i. 309 [and see i. 3].

ALOO, s. Skt.—H. ālū. This word is now used in Hindustani and other dialects for the 'potato.' The original Skt. is said to mean the esculent root Arum campanulatum.

ALOO BOKHARA, s. P. ālū-bokhāra, 'Bokh. plum'; a kind of prune commonly brought to India by the Afghan traders.

[c. 1666.—"Usbec being the country which principally supplies Delhi with ... many loads of dry fruit, as Bokara prunes...."—Bernier, ed. Constable, 118.]

1817.—

ALPEEN, s. H. alpīn, used in Bombay. A common pin, from Port. alfinete (Panjab N. & Q., ii. 117).

AMAH, s. A wet nurse; used in Madras, Bombay, China and Japan. It is Port. ama (comp. German and Swedish amme).

1839.—"... A sort of good-natured housekeeper-like bodies, who talk only of ayahs and amahs, and bad nights, and babies, and the advantages of Hodgson's ale while they are nursing: seeming in short devoted to 'suckling fools and chronicling small beer.'"—Letters from Madras, 294. See also p. 106.

AMBAREE, s. This is a P. word ('amārī) for a Howdah, and the word occurs in Colebrooke's letters, but is quite unusual now. Gladwin defines Amaree as "an umbrella over the Howdeh" (Index to Ayeen, i.). The proper application is to a canopied howdah, such as is still used by native princes.

[c. 1661.—"Aurengzebe felt that he might venture to shut his brother up in a covered embary, a kind of closed litter in which women are carried on elephants."—Bernier (ed. Constable), 69.]

c. 1665.—"On the day that the King went up the Mountain of Pire-ponjale ... being followed by a long row of elephants, upon which sat the Women in Mikdembers and Embarys...."—Bernier, E.T. 130 [ed. Constable, 407].

1798.—"The Rajah's Sowarree was very grand and superb. He had twenty elephants, with richly embroidered ambarrehs, the whole of them mounted by his sirdars,—he himself riding upon the largest, put in the centre."—Skinner, Mem. i. 157.

1799.—"Many of the largest Ceylon and other Deccany Elephants bore ambáris on which all the chiefs and nobles rode, dressed with magnificence, and adorned with the richest jewels."—Life of Colebrooke, p. 164.

1805.—"Amaury, a canopied seat for an elephant. An open one is called Houza or Howda."—Dict. of Words used in E. Indies, 2nd ed. 21.

1807.—"A royal tiger which was started in beating a large cover for game, sprang up so far into the umbarry or state howdah, in which Sujah Dowlah was seated, as to leave little doubt of a fatal issue."—Williamson, Orient. Field Sports, 15.

AMBARREH, s. Dekh. Hind. and Mahr. ambāṛā, ambāṛī [Skt. amla-vāṭika], the plant Hibiscus cannabinus, affording a useful fibre.

AMBOYNA, n.p. A famous island in the Molucca Sea, belonging to the Dutch. The native form of the name is Ambun [which according to Marsden means 'dew'].

[1605.—"He hath sent hither his forces which hath expelled all the Portingalls out of the fforts they here hould att Ambweno and Tydore."—Birdwood, First Letter Book, 68.]

AMEEN, s. The word is Ar. amīn, meaning 'a trustworthy person,' and then an inspector, intendant, &c. In India it has several uses as applied to native officials employed under the Civil Courts, but nearly all reducible to the definition of fide-commissarius. Thus an ameen may be employed by a Court to investigate accounts connected with a suit, to prosecute local enquiries of any kind bearing on a suit, to sell or to deliver over possession of immovable property, to carry out legal process as a bailiff, &c. The name is also applied to native assistants in the duties of land-survey. But see Sudder Ameen (SUDDER).

[1616.—"He declared his office of Amin required him to hear and determine differences."—Foster, Letters, iv. 351.]

1817.—"Native officers called aumeens were sent to collect accounts, and to obtain information in the districts. The first incidents that occurred were complaints against these aumeens for injurious treatment of the inhabitants...."—Mill. Hist., ed. 1840, iv. 12.

1861.—"Bengallee dewans, once pure, are converted into demons; Ameens, once harmless, become tigers; magistrates, supposed to be just, are converted into oppressors."—Peterson, Speech for Prosecution in Nil Durpan case.

1878.—"The Ameen employed in making the partition of an estate."—Life in the Mofussil, i. 206.

1882.—"A missionary ... might, on the other hand, be brought to a standstill when asked to explain all the terms used by an amin or valuator who had been sent to fix the judicial rents."—Saty. Rev., Dec. 30, p. 866.

AMEER, s. Ar. Amīr (root amr, 'commanding,' and so) 'a commander, chief, or lord,' and, in Ar. application, any kind of chief from the Amīru' l-mūminīn, 'the Amīr of the Faithful' i.e. the Caliph, downwards. The word in this form perhaps first became familiar as applied to the Princes of Sind, at the time of the conquest of that Province by Sir C. J. Napier. It is the title affected by many Musulman sovereigns of various calibres, as the Amīr of Kābul, the Amīr of Bokhārā, &c. But in sundry other forms the word has, more or less, taken root in European languages since the early Middle Ages. Thus it is the origin of the title 'Admiral,' now confined to generals of the sea service, but applied in varying forms by medieval Christian writers to the Amīrs, or lords, of the court and army of Egypt and other Mohammedan States. The word also came to us again, by a later importation from the Levant, in the French form, Emir or Emer.—See also Omrah, which is in fact Umarā, the pl. of Amīr. Byzantine writers use Ἀμὲρ, Ἀμηρᾶς, Ἀμυράς, Ἀμηραῖος, &c. (See Ducange, Gloss. Græcit.) It is the opinion of the best scholars that the forms Amiral, Ammiraglio, Admiral &c., originated in the application of a Low Latin termination -alis or -alius, though some doubt may still attach to this question. (See Marcel Devic, s.v. Amiral, and Dozy, Oosterlingen, s.v. Admiraal [and N.E.D. s.v. Admiral].) The d in admiral probably came from a false imagination of connection with admirari.

1250.—"Li grand amiraus des galies m'envoia querre, et me demanda si j'estoie cousins le roy; et je le di que nanin...."—Joinville, p. 178. This passage illustrates the sort of way in which our modern use of the word admiral originated.

c. 1345.—"The Master of the Ship is like a great amīr; when he goes ashore the archers and the blackamoors march before him with javelins and swords, with drums and horns and trumpets."—Ibn Batuta, iv. 93.

Compare with this description of the Commander of a Chinese Junk in the 14th century, A. Hamilton's of an English Captain in Malabar in the end of the 17th:

"Captain Beawes, who commanded the Albemarle, accompanied us also, carrying a Drum and two Trumpets with us, so as to make our Compliment the more solemn."—i. 294.

And this again of an "interloper" skipper at Hooghly, in 1683:

1683.—"Alley went in a splendid Equipage, habitted in scarlet richly laced. Ten Englishmen in Blue Capps and Coats edged with Red, all armed with Blunderbusses, went before his pallankeen, 80 (? 8) Peons before them, and 4 Musicians playing on the Weights with 2 Flaggs, before him, like an Agent...."—Hedges, Oct. 8 (Hak. Soc. i. 123).

1384.—"Il Soldano fu cristiano di Grecia, e fu venduto per schiavo quando era fanciullo a uno ammiraglio, come tu dicessi 'capitano di guerra.'"—Frescobaldi, p. 39.

[1510.—See quotation from Varthema under XERAFINE.]

1615.—"The inhabitants (of Sidon) are of sundry nations and religions; governed by a succession of Princes whom they call Emers; descended, as they say, from the Druses."—Sandys, Iourney, 210.

AMOY, n.p. A great seaport of Fokien in China, the name of which in Mandarin dialect is Hia-men, meaning 'Hall Gate,' which is in the Changchau dialect A-muiⁿ. In some books of the last century it is called Emwy and the like. It is now a Treaty-Port.

1687.—"Amoy or Anhay, which is a city standing on a Navigable River in the Province of Fokien in China, and is a place of vast trade."—Dampier, i. 417. (This looks as if Dampier confounded the name of Amoy, the origin of which (as generally given) we have stated, with that of An-hai, one of the connected ports, which lies to the N.E., about 30 m., as the crow flies, from Amoy).

1727.—"There are some curiosities in Amoy. One is a large Stone that weighs above forty Tuns ... in such an Equilibrium, that a Youth of twelve Years old can easily make it move."—A. Hamilton, ii. 243.

AMSHOM, s. Malayāl. am̃śam, from Skt. āmśah, 'a part,' defined by Gundert as "part of a Talook, formerly called hobili, greater than a taṛa." [Logan (Man. Malabar, i. 87) speaks of the amsam as a 'parish.'] It is further explained in the following quotation:—

1878.—"The amshom is really the smallest revenue division there is in Malabar, and is generally a tract of country some square miles in extent, in which there is no such thing as a village, but a series of scattered homesteads and farms, where the owner of the land and his servants reside ... separate and apart, in single separate huts, or in scattered collections of huts."—Report of Census Com. in India.

A MUCK, to run, v. There is we believe no room for doubt that, to us at least, this expression came from the Malay countries, where both the phrase and the practice are still familiar. Some valuable remarks on the phenomenon, as prevalent among the Malays, were contributed by Dr Oxley of Singapore to the Journal of the Indian Archipelago, vol. iii. p. 532; see a quotation below. [Mr W. W. Skeat writes—"The best explanation of the fact is perhaps that it was the Malay national method of committing suicide, especially as one never hears of Malays committing suicide in any other way. This form of suicide may arise from a wish to die fighting and thus avoid a 'straw death, a cow's death'; but it is curious that women and children are often among the victims, and especially members of the suicide's own family. The act of running amuck is probably due to causes over which the culprit has some amount of control, as the custom has now died out in the British Possessions in the Peninsula, the offenders probably objecting to being caught and tried in cold blood. I remember hearing of only about two cases (one by a Sikh soldier) in about six years. It has been suggested further that the extreme monotonous heat of the Peninsula may have conduced to such outbreaks as those of Running amuck and Latah.]

The word is by Crawfurd ascribed to the Javanese, and this is his explanation:

"Amuk (J.). An a-muck; to run a-muck; to tilt; to run furiously and desperately at any one; to make a furious onset or charge in combat."—(Malay Dict.) [The standard Malay, according to Mr Skeat, is rather amok (mengāmok).]

Marsden says that the word rarely occurs in any other than the verbal form mengāmuk, 'to make a furious attack' (Mem. of a Malayan Family, 96).

There is reason, however, to ascribe an Indian origin to the term; whilst the practice, apart from the term, is of no rare occurrence in Indian history. Thus Tod records some notable instances in the history of the Rājputs. In one of these (1634) the eldest son of the Raja of Mārwār ran a-muck at the court of Shāh Jahān, failing in his blow at the Emperor, but killing five courtiers of eminence before he fell himself. Again, in the 18th century, Bījai Singh, also of Mārwār, bore strong resentment against the Tālpura prince of Hyderabad, Bījar Khān, who had sent to demand from the Rājput tribute and a bride. A Bhattī and a Chondāwat offered their services for vengeance, and set out for Sind as envoys. Whilst Bījar Khān read their credentials, muttering, 'No mention of the bride!' the Chondāwat buried a dagger in his heart, exclaiming 'This for the bride!' 'And this for the tribute!' cried the Bhattī, repeating the blow. The pair then plied their daggers right and left, and 26 persons were slain before the envoys were hacked to pieces (Tod, ii. 45 & 315).

But it is in Malabar that we trace the apparent origin of the Malay term in the existence of certain desperadoes who are called by a variety of old travellers amouchi or amuco. The nearest approach to this that we have been able to discover is the Malayālam amar-kkan, 'a warrior' (from amar, 'fight, war'). [The proper Malayālam term for such men was Chaver, literally those who took up or devoted themselves to death.] One of the special applications of this word is remarkable in connection with a singular custom in Malabar. After the Zamorin had reigned 12 years, a great assembly was held at Tirunāvāyi, when that Prince took his seat surrounded by his dependants, fully armed. Any one might then attack him, and the assailant, if successful in killing the Zamorin, got the throne. This had often happened. [For a full discussion of this custom see Frazer, Golden Bough, 2nd ed., ii. 14 sq.] In 1600 thirty such assailants were killed in the enterprise. Now these men were called amar-kkār (pl. of amar-kkan, see Gundert s.v.). These men evidently ran a-muck in the true Malay sense; and quotations below will show other illustrations from Malabar which confirm the idea that both name and practice originated in Continental India. There is indeed a difficulty as to the derivation here indicated, in the fact that the amuco or amouchi of European writers on Malabar seems by no means close enough to amarkkan, whilst it is so close to the Malay āmuk; and on this further light may be hoped for. The identity between the amoucos of Malabar and the amuck runners of the Malay peninsula is clearly shown by the passage from Correa given below. [Mr Whiteway adds—"Gouvea (1606) in his Iornada (ch. 9, Bk. ii.) applies the word amouques to certain Hindus whom he saw in S. Malabar near Quilon, whose duty it was to defend the Syrian Christians with their lives. There are reasons for thinking that the worthy priest got hold of the story of a cock and a bull; but in any case the Hindus referred to were really Jangadas."] (See JANCADA).

De Gubernatis has indeed suggested that the word amouchi was derived from the Skt. amokshya, 'that cannot be loosed'; and this would be very consistent with several of the passages which we shall quote, in which the idea of being 'bound by a vow' underlies the conduct of the persons to whom the term was applicable both in Malabar and in the Archipelago. But amokshya is a word unknown to Malayālam, in such a sense at least.

We have seen a-muck derived from the Ar. aḥmaḳ, 'fatuous' [(e.g. Ball, Jungle Life, 358).] But this is etymology of the kind which scorns history.

The phrase has been thoroughly naturalised in England since the days of Dryden and Pope. [The earliest quotation for "running amuck" in the N.E.D. is from Marvell (1672).]

c. 1430.—Nicolo Conti, speaking of the greater Islands of the Archipelago under the name of the Two Javas, does not use the word, but describes a form of the practice:—

"Homicide is here a jest, and goes without punishment. Debtors are made over to their creditors as slaves; and some of these, preferring death to slavery, will with drawn swords rush on, stabbing all whom they fall in with of less strength than themselves, until they meet death at the hands of some one more than a match for them. This man, the creditors then sue in Court for the dead man's debt."—In India in the XVth C. 45.

1516.—"There are some of them (Javanese) who if they fall ill of any severe illness vow to God that if they remain in health they will of their own accord seek another more honourable death for his service, and as soon as they get well they take a dagger in their hands, and go out into the streets and kill as many persons as they meet, both men, women, and children, in such wise that they go like mad dogs, killing until they are killed. These are called Amuco. And as soon as they see them begin this work, they cry out, saying Amuco, Amuco, in order that people may take care of themselves, and they kill them with dagger and spear thrusts."—Barbosa, Hak. Soc. 194. This passage seems to show that the word amuk must have been commonly used in Malay countries before the arrival of the Portuguese there, c. 1511.

1539.—"... The Tyrant (o Rey Ache) sallied forth in person, accompanied with 5000 resolute men (cinco mil Amoucos) and charged the Bataes very furiously."—Pinto (orig. cap. xvii.) in Cogan, p. 20.

1552.—De Barros, speaking of the capture of the Island of Beth (Beyt, off the N.W. point of Kāthiāwār) by Nuno da Cunha in 1531, says: "But the natives of Guzarat stood in such fear of Sultan Badur that they would not consent to the terms. And so, like people determined on death, all that night they shaved their heads (this is a superstitious practice of those who despise life, people whom they call in India Amaucos) and betook themselves to their mosque, and there devoted their persons to death ... and as an earnest of this vow, and an example of this resolution, the Captain ordered a great fire to be made, and cast into it his wife, and a little son that he had, and all his household and his goods, in fear lest anything of his should fall into our possession." Others did the like, and then they fell upon the Portuguese.—Dec. IV. iv. 13.

c. 1561.—In war between the Kings of Calicut and Cochin (1503) two princes of Cochin were killed. A number of these desperadoes who have been spoken of in the quotations were killed.... "But some remained who were not killed, and these went in shame, not to have died avenging their lords ... these were more than 200, who all, according to their custom, shaved off all their hair, even to the eyebrows, and embraced each other and their friends and relations, as men about to suffer death. In this case they are as madmen—known as amoucos—and count themselves as already among the dead. These men dispersed, seeking wherever they might find men of Calicut, and among these they rushed fearless, killing and slaying till they were slain. And some of them, about twenty, reckoning more highly of their honour, desired to turn their death to better account; and these separated, and found their way secretly to Calicut, determined to slay the king. But as it became known that they were amoucos, the city gave the alarm, and the King sent his servants to slay them as they slew others. But they like desperate men played the devil (fazião diabruras) before they were slain, and killed many people, with women and children. And five of them got together to a wood near the city, which they haunted for a good while after, making robberies and doing much mischief, until the whole of them were killed."—Correa, i. 364-5.

1566.—"The King of Cochin ... hath a great number of gentlemen which he calleth Amocchi, and some are called Nairi: these two sorts of men esteem not their lives anything, so that it may be for the honour of their King."—M. Cæsar Frederike in Purchas, ii. 1708. [See Logan, Man. Malabar, i. 138.]

1584.—"Their forces (in Cochin) consist in a kind of soldiers whom they call amocchi, who are under obligation to die at the King's pleasure, and all soldiers who in war lose their King or their general lie under this obligation. And of such the King makes use in urgent cases, sending them to die fighting."—Letter of F. Sassetti to Francesco I., Gd. D. of Tuscany, in De Gubernatis, 154.

c. 1584.—"There are some also who are called Amocchi ... who being weary of living, set themselves in the way with a weapon in their hands, which they call a Crise, and kill as many as they meete with, till somebody killeth them; and this they doe for the least anger they conceive, as desperate men."—G. Balbi in Purchas, ii. 1724.

1602.—De Couto, speaking of the Javanese: "They are chivalrous men, and of such determination that for whatever offence may be offered them they make themselves amoucos in order to get satisfaction thereof. And were a spear run into the stomach of such an one he would still press forward without fear till he got at his foe."—Dec. IV. iii. 1.

" In another passage (ib. vii. 14) De Couto speaks of the amoucos of Malabar just as Della Valle does below. In Dec. VI. viii. 8 he describes how, on the death of the King of Pimenta, in action with the Portuguese, "nearly 4000 Nairs made themselves amoucos with the usual ceremonies, shaving their heads on one side, and swearing by their pagoda to avenge the King's death."

1603.—"Este es el genero de milicia de la India, y los Reyes señalan mas o menos Amoyos (ò Amacos, que todo es uno) para su guarda ordinaria."—San Roman, Historia, 48.

1604.—"Auia hecho vna junta de Amocos, con sus ceremonias para venir a morir adonde el Panical auia sedo muerto."—Guerrero, Relacion, 91.

1611.—"Viceroy. What is the meaning of amoucos? Soldier. It means men who have made up their mind to die in killing as many as they can, as is done in the parts about Malaca by those whom they call amoucos in the language of the country."—Couto, Dialogo do Soldado Pratico, 2nd part, p. 9.—(Printed at Lisbon in 1790).

1615.—"Hos inter Nairos genus est et ordo quem Amocas vocant quibus ob studium rei bellicae praecipua laus tribuitur, et omnium habentur validissimi."—Jarric, Thesaurus, i. 65.

1624.—"Though two kings may be at war, either enemy takes great heed not to kill the King of the opposite faction, nor yet to strike his umbrella, wherever it may go ... for the whole kingdom of the slain or wounded king would be bound to avenge him with the complete destruction of the enemy, or all, if needful, to perish in the attempt. The greater the king's dignity among these people, the longer period lasts this obligation to furious revenge ... this period or method of revenge is termed Amoco, and so they say that the Amoco of the Samori lasts one day; the Amoco of the king of Cochin lasts a life-time; and so of others."—P. della Valle, ii. 745 [Hak. Soc., ii. 380 seq.].

1648.—"Derrière ces palissades s'estoit caché un coquin de Bantamois qui estoit revenu de la Mecque et jouoit à Moqua ... il court par les rues et tue tous ceux qu'il rencontre...."—Tavernier, V. des Indes, liv. iii. ch. 24 [Ed. Ball, ii. 361 seq.].

1659.—"I saw in this month of February at Batavia the breasts torn with red-hot tongs off a black Indian by the executioner; and after this he was broken on the wheel from below upwards. This was because through the evil habit of eating opium (according to the godless custom of the Indians) he had become mad and raised the cry of Amocle (misp. for Amock) ... in which mad state he had slain five persons.... This was the third Amock-cryer whom I saw during that visit to Batavia (a few months) broken on the wheel for murder."

* * * * *

... "Such a murderer and Amock-runner has sometimes the fame of being an invincible hero because he has so manfully repulsed all who tried to seize him.... So the Netherlands Government is compelled when such an Amock-runner is taken alive to punish him in a terrific manner."—Walter Schulzens Ost-Indische Reise-Beschreibung (German ed.), Amsterdam, 1676, pp. 19-20 and 227.

1672.—"Every community (of the Malabar Christians), every church has its own Amouchi, which ... are people who take an oath to protect with their own lives the persons and places put under their safeguard, from all and every harm."—P. Vicenzo Maria, 145.

" "If the Prince is slain the amouchi, who are numerous, would avenge him desperately. If he be injured they put on festive raiment, take leave of their parents, and with fire and sword in hand invade the hostile territory, burning every dwelling, and slaying man, woman, and child, sparing none, until they themselves fall."—Ibid. 237-8.

1673.—"And they (the Mohammedans) are hardly restrained from running a muck (which is to kill whoever they meet, till they be slain themselves), especially if they have been at Hodge [Hadgee] a Pilgrimage to Mecca."—Fryer, 91.

1687.—Dryden assailing Burnet:—

1689.—"Those that run these are called Amouki, and the doing of it Running a Muck."—Ovington, 237.

1712.—"Amouco (Termo da India) val o mesmo que homem determinado e apostado que despreza a vida e não teme a morte."—Bluteau, s.v.

1727.—"I answered him that I could no longer bear their Insults, and, if I had not Permission in three Days, I would run a Muck (which is a mad Custom among the Mallayas when they become desperate)."—A. Hamilton, ii. 231.

1737.—

1768-71.—"These acts of indiscriminate murder are called by us mucks, because the perpetrators of them, during their frenzy, continually cry out amok, amok, which signifies kill, kill...."—Stavorinus, i. 291.

1783.—At Bencoolen in this year (1760)—"the Count (d'Estaing) afraid of an insurrection among the Buggesses ... invited several to the Fort, and when these had entered the Wicket was shut upon them; in attempting to disarm them, they mangamoed, that is ran a muck; they drew their cresses, killed one or two Frenchmen, wounded others, and at last suffered themselves, for supporting this point of honour."—Forrest's Voyage to Mergui, 77.