1858.—"On the 19th June (1857) I advocated, in the search for new Military classes, the raising of a corps of Muzzubees.... The idea was ultimately carried out, and improved by making them pioneers."—Letter from Col. H. B. Edwardes to R. Montgomery, Esq., March 23.
" "To the same destination (Delhi) was sent a strong corps of Muzhubee (low-caste) Sikhs, numbering 1200 men, to serve as pioneers."—Letter from R. Temple, Secretary to Punjab Govt., dd. Lahore, May 25, 1858.
MYDAN, MEIDAUN, s. Hind. from Pers. maidān. An open space, an esplanade, parade-ground or green, in or adjoining a town; a piazza (in the Italian sense); any open plain with grass on it; a chaugān (see CHICANE) ground; a battle-field. In Ar., usually, a hippodrome or race-course.
c. 1330.—"But the brethren were meanwhile brought out to the Medan, i.e., the piazza of the City, where an exceeding great fire had been kindled. And Friar Thomas went forward to cast himself into the fire, but as he did so a certain Saracen caught him by the hood...."—Friar Odoric, in Cathay, 63.
1618.—"When it is the hour of complines, or a little later to speak exactly, it is the time for the promenade, and every one goes on horseback to the meidan, which is always kept clean, watered by a number of men whose business this is, who water it carrying the water in skins slung over the shoulder, and usually well shaded and very cool."—P. della Valle, i. 707.
c. 1665.—"Celui (Quervansera) des Étrangers est bien plus spacieux que l'autre et est quarré, et tous deux font face au Meidan."—Thevenot, v. 214.
1670.—"Before this house is a great square meidan or promenade, planted on all sides with great trees, standing in rows."—Andriesz, 35.
1673.—"The Midan, or open Space before the Caun's Palace, is an Oblong and Stately Piatzo, with real not belied Cloisters."—Fryer, 249.
1828.—"All this was done with as much coolness and precision, as if he had been at exercise upon the maidaun."—The Kuzzilbash, i. 223.
[1859.—"A 24-pound howitzer, hoisted on to the maintop of the Shannon, looked menacingly over the Maidan (at Calcutta) ..."—Oliphant, Narrative of Ld. Elgin's Mission, i. 60.
MYNA, MINA, &c. s. Hind. mainā. A name applied to several birds of the family of starlings. The common myna is the Acridotheres tristis of Linn.; the southern Hill-Myna is the Gracula, also Eulabes religiosa of Linn.; the Northern Hill-Myna, Eulabes intermedia of Hay (see Jerdon's Birds, ii. Pt. i. 325, 337, 339). Of both the first and last it may be said that they are among the most teachable of imitative birds, articulating words with great distinctness, and without Polly's nasal tone. We have heard a wild one (probably the first), on a tree in a field, spontaneously echoing the very peculiar call of the black partridge from an adjoining jungle, with unmistakable truth. There is a curious description in Aelian (De Nat. An. xvi. 2) of an Indian talking bird which we thought at one time to be the Myna; but it seems to be nearer the Shāmā, and under that head the quotation will be found. [Mr. M‘Crindle (Invasion of India, 186) is in favour of the Myna.]
[1590.—"The Mynah is twice the size of the Shárak, with glossy black plumage, but with the bill, wattles and tail coverts yellow. It imitates the human voice and speaks with great distinctness."—Āīn, ed. Jarrett, iii. 121.]
1631.—Jac. Bontius describes a kind of Myna in Java, which he calls Pica, seu potius Sturnus Indicus. "The owner, an old Mussulman woman, only lent it to the author to be drawn, after great persuasion, and on a stipulation that the beloved bird should get no swine's flesh to eat. And when he had promised accordingly, the avis pessima immediately began to chaunt: Orang Nasarani catjor macan babi! i.e. 'Dog of a Christian, eater of swine!'"—Lib. v. cap. 14, p. 67.
[1664.—"In the Duke's chamber there is a bird, given him by Mr. Pierce, the surgeon, comes from the East Indys, black the greatest part, with the finest collar of white about the neck; but talks many things and neyes like the horse, and other things, the best almost that ever I heard bird in my life."—Pepys, Diary, April 25. Prof. Newton in Mr. Wheatley's ed. (iv. 118) is inclined to identify this with the Myna, and notes that one of the earliest figures of the bird is by Eleazar Albin (Nat. Hist. of Birds, ii. pl. 38) in 1738.
[1703.—"Among singing birds that which in Bengall is called the Minaw is the only one that comes within my knowledge."—In Yule, Hedges' Diary, Hak. Soc. ii. cccxxxiv.]
1803.—"During the whole of our stay two minahs were talking almost incessantly, to the great delight of the old lady, who often laughed at what they said, and praised their talents. Her hookah filled up the interval."—Ld. Valentia, i. 227-8.
1813.—"The myneh is a very entertaining bird, hopping about the house, and articulating several words in the manner of the starling."—Forbes, Or. Mem. i. 47; [2nd ed. i. 32.]
1817.—"Of all birds the chiong (miner) is the most highly prized."—Raffles, Java, i. 260.
1875.—"A talking mina in a cage, and a rat-trap, completed the adornments of the veranda."—The Dilemma, ch. xii.
1878.—"The myna has no wit.... His only way of catching a worm is to lay hold of its tail and pull it out of its hole,—generally breaking it in the middle and losing the bigger half."—Ph. Robinson, In My Indian Garden, 28.
1879.—"So the dog went to a mainá, and said: 'What shall I do to hurt this cat!'"—Miss Stokes, Indian Fairy Tales, 18.
"
"... beneath
Striped squirrels raced, the mynas perked and picked.
The nine brown sisters chattered in the thorn ..."
E. Arnold, The Light of Asia, Book i.
See SEVEN SISTERS in Gloss. Mr. Arnold makes too many!
MYROBALAN, s. A name applied to certain dried fruits and kernels of astringent flavour, but of several species, and not even all belonging to the same Natural Order, which were from an early date exported from India, and had a high reputation in the medieval pharmacopoeia. This they appear (some of them) to retain in native Indian medicine; though they seem to have disappeared from English use and have no place in Hanbury and Flückiger's great work, the Pharmacographia. They are still, to some extent, imported into England, but for use in tanning and dyeing, not in pharmacy.
It is not quite clear how the term myrobalan, in this sense, came into use. For the people of India do not seem to have any single name denoting these fruits or drugs as a group; nor do the Arabic dictionaries afford one either (but see further on). Μυροβάλανος is spoken of by some ancient authors, e.g. Aristotle, Dioscorides and Pliny, but it was applied by them to one or more fruits[179] entirely unconnected with the subjects of this article. This name had probably been preserved in the laboratories, and was applied by some early translator of the Arabic writers on Materia Medica to these Indian products. Though we have said that (so far as we can discover) the dictionaries afford no word with the comprehensive sense of Myrobalan, it is probable that the physicians had such a word, and Garcia de Orta, who is trustworthy, says explicitly that the Arab practitioners whom he had consulted applied to the whole class the name delegi, a word which we cannot identify, unless it originated in a clerical error for alelegi, i.e. ihlīlaj. The last word may perhaps be taken as covering all myrobalans; for according to the Glossary to Rhazes at Leyden (quoted by Dozy, Suppt. i. 43) it applies to the Kābulī, the yellow, and the black (or Indian), whilst the Emblic is also called Ihlīlaj amlaj.
In the Kashmīr Customs Tariff (in Punjab Trade Report, ccxcvi.) we have entries of
"Hulela (Myrobalan).
Bulela (Bellerick ditto).
Amla (Emblica Phyllanthus)."
The kinds recognised in the Medieval pharmacopoeia were five, viz.:—
(1) The Emblic myrobalan; which is the dried astringent fruit of the Ānwulā, ānwlā of Hind., the Emblica officinalis of Gaertner (Phyllanthus Emblica, L., N. O. Euphorbiaceae). The Persian name of this is āmlah, but, as the Arabic amlaj suggests, probably in older Persian amlag, and hence no doubt Emblica. Garcia says it was called by the Arab physicians embelgi (which we should write ambaljī).
(2) The Belleric Myrobalan; the fruit of Terminalia Bellerica, Roxb. (N.O. Combretaceae), consisting of a small nut enclosed in a thin exterior rind. The Arabic name given in Ibn Baithar is balīlij; in the old Latin version of Avicenna belilegi; and in Persian it is called balīl and balīla. Garcia says the Arab physicians called it beleregi (balīrij, and in old Persian probably balīrig) which accounts for Bellerica.
(3) The Chebulic Myrobalan; the fruit of Terminalia Chebula, Roxb. The derivation of this name which we have given under CHEBULI is confirmed by the Persian name, which is Halīla-i-Kābulī. It can hardly have been a product of Kabul, but may have been imported into Persia by that route, whence the name, as calicoes got their name from Calicut. Garcia says these myrobalans were called by his Arabs quebulgi. Ibn Baithar calls them halīlaj, and many of the authorities whom he quotes specify them as Kābulī.
(4) and (5). The Black Myrobalan, otherwise called 'Indian,' and the Yellow or Citrine. These, according to Royle (Essay on Antiq. of Hindoo Medicine, pp. 36-37), were both products of T. Chebula in different states; but this does not seem quite certain. Further varieties were sometimes recognised, and nine are said to be specified in a paper in an early vol. of the Philos. Transactions.[180] One kind called Ṣīnī or Chinese, is mentioned by one of the authorities of Ibn Baithar, quoted below, and is referred to by Garcia.
The virtues of Myrobalans are said to be extolled by Charaka, the oldest of the Sanskrit writers on Medicine. Some of the Arabian and Medieval Greek authors, referred to by Royle, also speak of a combination of different kinds of Myrobalan called Tryphera or Tryphala; a fact of great interest. For this is the triphala ('Three-fruits') of Hindu medicine, which appears in Amarakosha (c. A.D. 500), as well as in a prescription of Susruta, the disciple of Charaka, and which is still, it would seem, familiar to the native Indian practitioners. It is, according to Royle, a combination of the black, yellow and Chebulic; but Garcia, who calls it tinepala (tīn-phal in Hind. = 'Three-fruits'), seems to imply that it consisted of the three kinds known in Goa, viz. citrine (or yellow), the Indian (or black), and the belleric. [Watt, Econ. Dict. vi. pt. iv. 32 seqq.] The emblic, he says, were not used in medicine there, only in tanning, like sumach. The Myrobalans imported in the Middle Ages seem often to have been preserved (in syrup?).
c. B.C. 340.—"διότι ἡ γέννησις τοῦ καρποῦ ἐν τῇ ἀρχῇ ἐστὶ χωρὶς γλυκύτητος. Τῶν μυραβαλάνων δὲ δένδρων ἐν τῇ ἀρχῇ, ὅταν φανῶσιν, οἱ καρποί εἰσι γλυκεῖς· κοινῶς δὲ εἰσι στρυφνοὶ καὶ ἐν τῇ κράσει αὐτῶν πικροὶ..."—Aristoteles, De Plantis, ii. 10.
c. A.D. 60.—"φοῖνιξ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ γίνεται· τρυγᾶται δε μετοπωρούσης τῆς κατὰ τὴν ὀπώραν ἀκμῆς, παρεμφέρων τῇ Ἀραβικῇ μυροβαλάνῳ, πόμα δὲ λέγεται."—Dioscorides, de Mat. Medica, i. cxlviii.
c. A.D. 70.—"Myrobalanum Troglodytis et Thebaidi et Arabiae quae Iudaeam ab Aegypto disterminat commune est, nascens unguento, ut ipso nomine apparet, quo item indicatur et glandem esse. Arbor est heliotropio ... simili folio, fructus magnitudine abellanae nucis," &c.—Pliny, xii. 21 (46).
c. 540.—A prescription of Aëtius of Amida, which will be found transcribed under ZEDOARY, includes myrobalan among a large number of ingredients, chiefly of Oriental origin; and one doubts whether the word may not here be used in the later sense.
c. 1343.—"Preserved Mirabolans (mirabolani conditi) should be big and black, and the envelope over the nut tender to the tooth; and the bigger and blacker and tenderer to the tooth (like candied walnuts), the better they are.... Some people say that in India they are candied when unripe (acerbe), just as we candy[181] the unripe tender walnuts, and that when they are candied in this way they have no nut within, but are all through tender like our walnut-comfits. But if this is really done, anyhow none reach us except those with a nut inside, and often very hard nuts too. They should be kept in brown earthen pots glazed, in a syrop made of cassia fistula[182] and honey or sugar; and they should remain always in the syrop, for they form a moist preserve and are not fit to use dry."—Pegolotti, p. 377.
c. 1343.—(At Alexandria) "are sold by the ten mans (mene, see MAUND), ... amomum, mirobalans of every kind, camphor, castor...."—Ibid. 57.
1487.—"... Vasi grandi di confectione, mirobolani e gengiovo."—Letter on presents sent by the Sultan to L. de' Medici, in Roscoe's Lorenzo, ed. 1825, ii. 372.
1505.—(In Calicut) "li nasce mirabolani, emblici e chebali, li quali valeno ducati do' el baar (see BAHAR.)"—Lionardo Ca' Masser, p. 27.
1552.—"La campagne de Iericho est entournée de mõtaignes de tous costez: poignant laquelle, et du costé de midy est la mer morte.... Les arbres qui portent le Licion, naissent en ceste plaine, et aussi les arbres qui portent les Myrobalans Citrins, du noyau desquels les habitants font de l'huille."[183]—P. Belon, Observations, ed. 1554, f. 144.
1560.—"Mais pource que le Ben, que les Grecz appellent Balanus Myrepsica, m'a fait souvenir des Myrabolans des Arabes, dont y en a cinq especes: et que d'ailleurs, on en vse ordinairement en Medecine, encores que les anciens Grecz n'en ayent fait aucune mention: il m'a semblé bon d'en toucher mot: car i'eusse fait grand tort à ces Commentaires de les priuer d'vn fruict si requis en Medecine. Il y a donques cinq especes de Myrabolans."—Matthioli, Com. on Dioscorides, old Fr. Tr. p. 394.
1610.—
"Kastril. How know you?
Subtle. By inspection on her forehead;
And subtlety of lips, which must be tasted
Often, to make a judgment.
[Kisses her again.]
'Slight, she melts
Like a Myrabolane."—The Alchemist, iv. 1.
[c. 1665.—"Among other fruits, they preserve (in Bengal) large citrons ... small Mirobolans, which are excellent...."—Bernier, ed. Constable, 438.]
1672.—"Speaking of the Glans Unguentaria, otherwise call'd Balanus Mirepsica or Ben Arabum, a very rare Tree, yielding a most fragrant and highly esteem'd Oyl; he is very particular in describing the extraordinary care he used in cultivating such as were sent to him in Holland."—Notice of a Work by Abraham Munting, M.D., in Philosoph. Trans. ix. 249.
MYSORE, n.p. Tam. Maisūr, Can. Maisūru. The city which was the capital of the Hindu kingdom, taking its name, and which last was founded in 1610 by a local chief on the decay of the Vijayanagar (see BISNAGAR, NARSINGA) dynasty. C. P. Brown gives the etym. as Maisi-ūr, Maisi being the name of a local goddess like Pomona or Flora; ūr, 'town, village.' It is however usually said to be a corruption of Mahish-āsura, the buffalo demon slain by the goddess Durga or Kali. [Rice (Mysore, i. 1) gives Can. Maisa, from Skt. Mahisha, and ūru, 'town.']
[1696.—"Nabob Zulphecar Cawn is gone into the Mizore country after the Mahratta army...."—Letter in Wilks, Hist. Sketches, Madras reprint, i. 60.]
MYSORE THORN. The Caesalpinia sepiaria, Roxb. It is armed with short, sharp, recurved prickles; and is much used as a fence in the Deccan. Hyder Ali planted it round his strongholds in Mysore, and hence it is often called "Hyder's Thorn," Haidar kā jhār.
[1857.—"What may be termed the underwood consisted of milk bushes, prickly pears, mysore thorn, intermingled in wild confusion...."—Lady Falkland, Chow-chow, 2nd ed. i. 300.]
N
NABÓB, s. Port. Nabâbo, and Fr. Nabab, from Hind. Nawāb, which is the Ar. pl. of sing. Nāyab (see NAIB), 'a deputy,' and was applied in a singular sense[184] to a delegate of the supreme chief, viz. to a Viceroy or chief Governor under the Great Mogul, e.g. the Nawāb of Surat, the Nawāb of Oudh, the Nawāb of Arcot, the Nawāb Nāzim of Bengal. From this use it became a title of rank without necessarily having any office attached. It is now a title occasionally conferred, like a peerage, on Mahommedan gentlemen of distinction and good service, as Rāī and Rājā are upon Hindus.
Nabob is used in two ways: (a) simply as a corruption and representative of Nawāb. We get it direct from the Port. nabâbo, see quotation from Bluteau below. (b) It began to be applied in the 18th century, when the transactions of Clive made the epithet familiar in England, to Anglo-Indians who returned with fortunes from the East; and Foote's play of 'The Nabob' (Nábob) (1768) aided in giving general currency to the word in this sense.
a.—
1604.—"... delante del Nauabo que es justicia mayor."—Guerrero, Relacion, 70.
1615.—"There was as Nababo in Surat a certain Persian Mahommedan (Mouro Parsio) called Mocarre Bethião, who had come to Goa in the time of the Viceroy Ruy Lourenço de Tavora, and who being treated with much familiarity and kindness by the Portuguese ... came to confess that it could not but be that truth was with their Law...."—Bocarro, p. 354.
1616.—"Catechumeni ergo parentes viros aliquot inducunt honestos et assessores Nauabi, id est, judicis supremi, cui consiliarii erant, uti et Proregi, ut libellum famosum adversus Pinnerum spargerent."—Jarric, Thesaurus, iii. 378.
1652.—"The Nahab[185] was sitting, according to the custom of the Country, barefoot, like one of our Taylors, with a great number of Papers sticking between his Toes, and others between the Fingers of his left hand, which Papers he drew sometimes from between his Toes, sometimes from between his Fingers, and order'd what answers should be given to every one."—Tavernier, E. T. ii. 99; [ed. Ball, i. 291].
1653.—"... il prend la qualité de Nabab qui vault autant à dire que monseigneur."—De la Boullaye-le-Gouz (ed. 1657), 142.
1666.—"The ill-dealing of the Nahab proceeded from a scurvy trick that was play'd me by three Canary-birds at the Great Mogul's Court. The story whereof was thus in short ..."—Tavernier, E.T. ii. 57; [ed. Ball, i. 134].
1673.—"Gaining by these steps a nearer intimacy with the Nabob, he cut the new Business out every day."—Fryer, 183.
1675.—"But when we were purposing next day to depart, there came letters out of the Moorish Camp from the Nabab, the field-marshal of the Great Mogul...."—Heiden Vervaarlijke Schíp-Breuk, 52.
1682.—"... Ray Nundelall ye Nábabs Duan, who gave me a most courteous reception, rising up and taking of me by ye hands, and ye like at my departure, which I am informed is a greater favour than he has ever shown to any Franke...."—Hedges, Diary, Oct. 27; [Hak. Soc. i. 42]. Hedges writes Nabob, Nabab, Navab, Navob.
1716.—"Nabâbo. Termo do Mogol. He o Titolo do Ministro que he Cabeca."—Bluteau, s.v.
1727.—"A few years ago, the Nabob or Vice-Roy of Chormondel, who resides at Chickakal, and who superintends that Country for the Mogul, for some Disgust he had received from the Inhabitants of Diu Islands, would have made a Present of them to the Colony of Fort St. George."—A. Hamilton, i. 374; [ed. 1744].
1742.—"We have had a great man called the Nabob (who is the next person in dignity to the Great Mogul) to visit the Governor.... His lady, with all her women attendance, came the night before him. All the guns fired round the fort upon her arrival, as well as upon his; he and she are Moors, whose women are never seen by any man upon earth except their husbands."—Letter from Madras in Mrs. Delany's Life, ii. 169.
1743.—"Every governor of a fort, and every commander of a district had assumed the title of Nabob ... one day after having received the homage of several of these little lords, Nizam ul muluck said that he had that day seen no less than eighteen Nabobs in the Carnatic."—Orme, Reprint, Bk. i. 51.
1752.—"Agreed ... that a present should be made the Nobab that might prove satisfactory."—In Long, 33.
1773.—
"And though my years have passed in this hard duty,
No Benefit acquired—no Nabob's booty."
Epilogue at Fort Marlborough, by W. Marsden, in Mem. 9.
1787.—
"Of armaments by flood and field;
Of Nabobs you have made to yield."
Ritson, in Life and Letters, i. 124.
1807.—"Some say that he is a Tailor who brought out a long bill against some of Lord Wellesley's staff, and was in consequence provided for; others say he was an adventurer, and sold knicknacks to the Nabob of Oude."—Sir T. Munro, in Life, i. 371.
1809.—"I was surprised that I had heard nothing from the Nawaub of the Carnatic."—Ld. Valentia, i. 381.
c. 1858.—
"Le vieux Nabab et la Begum d'Arkate."
Leconte de Lisle, ed. 1872, p. 156.
b.—
[1764.—"Mogul Pitt and Nabob Bute."—Horace Walpole, Letters, ed. 1857, iv. 222 (Stanf. Dict.).]
1773.—"I regretted the decay of respect for men of family, and that a Nabob would not carry an election from them.
"Johnson: Why, sir, the Nabob will carry it by means of his wealth, in a country where money is highly valued, as it must be where nothing can be had without money; but if it comes to personal preference, the man of family will always carry it."—Boswell, Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, under Aug. 25.
1777.—"In such a revolution ... it was impossible but that a number of individuals should have acquired large property. They did acquire it; and with it they seem to have obtained the detestation of their countrymen, and the appellation of nabobs as a term of reproach."—Price's Tracts, i. 13.
1780.—"The Intrigues of a Nabob, or Bengal the Fittest Soil for the Growth of Lust, Injustice, and Dishonesty. Dedicated to the Hon. the Court of Directors of the East India Company. By Henry Fred. Thompson. Printed for the Author." (A base book).
1783.—"The office given to a young man going to India is of trifling consequence. But he that goes out an insignificant boy, in a few years returns a great Nabob. Mr. Hastings says he has two hundred and fifty of that kind of raw material, who expect to be speedily manufactured into the merchantlike quality I mention."—Burke, Speech on Fox's E.I. Bill, in Works and Corr., ed. 1852, iii. 506.
1787.—"The speakers for him (Hastings) were Burgess, who has completely done for himself in one day; Nichols, a lawyer; Mr. Vansittart, a nabob; Alderman Le Mesurier, a smuggler from Jersey; ... and Dempster, who is one of the good-natured candid men who connect themselves with every bad man they can find."—Ld. Minto, in Life, &c., i. 126.
1848.—"'Isn't he very rich?' said Rebecca.
"'They say all Indian Nabobs are enormously rich.'"—Vanity Fair, ed. 1867, i. 17.
1872.—"Ce train de vie facile ... suffit à me faire décerner ... le surnom de Nabob par les bourgeois et les visiteurs de la petite ville."—Rev. des Deux Mondes, xcviii. 938.
1874.—"At that time (c. 1830) the Royal Society was very differently composed from what it is now. Any wealthy or well-known person, any M.P. ... or East Indian Nabob, who wished to have F.R.S. added to his name, was sure to obtain admittance."—Geikie, Life of Murchison, i. 197.
1878.—"... A Tunis?—interrompit le duc.... Alors pourquoi ce nom de Nabab?—Bah! les Parisiens n'y regardent pas de si près. Pour eux tout riche étranger est un Nabab, n'importe d'où il vienne."—Le Nabab, par Alph. Daudet, ch. i.
It is purism quite erroneously applied when we find Nabob in this sense miswritten Nawab; thus:
1878.—"These were days when India, little known still in the land that rules it, was less known than it had been in the previous generation, which had seen Warren Hastings impeached, and burghs[186] bought and sold by Anglo-Indian Nawabs."—Smith's Life of Dr John Wilson, 30.
But there is no question of purism in the following delicious passage:
1878.—"If ... the spirited proprietor of the Daily Telegraph had been informed that our aid of their friends the Turks would have taken the form of a tax upon paper, and a concession of the Levis to act as Commanders of Regiments of Bashi-Bozouks, with a request to the Generalissimo to place them in as forward a position as Nabob was given in the host of King David, the harp in Peterborough Court would not have twanged long to the tune of a crusade in behalf of the Sultan of Turkey."—Truth, April 11, p. 470. In this passage in which the wit is equalled only by the scriptural knowledge, observe that Nabob = Naboth, and Naboth = Uriah.
NACODA, NACODER, &c., s. Pers. nā-khudā (navis dominus) 'a skipper'; the master of a native vessel. (Perhaps the original sense is rather the owner of the ship, going with it as his own supercargo.) It is hard to understand why Reinaud (Relation, ii. 42) calls this a "Malay word ... derived from the Persian," especially considering that he is dealing with a book of the 9th and 10th centuries. [Mr. Skeat notes that the word is sometimes, after the manner of Hobson-Jobson, corrupted by the Malays into Anak kuda, 'son of a horse.']
c. 916.—"Bientôt l'on ne garda pas même de ménagements pour les patrons de navires (nawākhuda, pl. of nākhudā) Arabes, et les maîtres de batiments marchands furent en butte à des pretensions injustes."—Relation, &c., i. 68.
c. 1348.—"The second day after our arrival at the port of Kailūkarī, this princess invited the nākhodha, or owner of the ship (ṣāḥib-al-markab), the karānī (see CRANNY) or clerk, the merchants, the chief people, the tandail (see TINDAL) or commander of the crew, the sipasalār (see SIPAHSELAR) or commander of the fighting men."—Ibn Batuta, iv. 250.
1502.—"But having been seen by our fleet, the caravels made for them, and the Moors being laden could no longer escape. So they brought them to the Captain General, and all struck sail, and from six of the Zambucos (see SAMBOOK) the nacodas came to the Captain General."—Correa, i. 302.
1540.—"Whereupon he desired us that the three necodas of the Junks, so are the commanders of them called in that country...."—Pinto, (orig. cap. xxxv.) in Cogan, p. 42.
[c. 1590.—"In large ships there are twelve classes. 1. The Nakhuda, or owner of the ship. This word is evidently a short form of Nāvkhudā. He fixes the course of the ship."—Āīn, ed. Blochmann, i. 280.]
1610.—"The sixth Nohuda Melech Ambor, Captaine of a great ship of Dabull (see DABUL), came ashore with a great many of Merchants with him, he with the rest were carried about the Towne in pompe."—Sir H. Middleton, in Purchas, i. 260.
[1616.—"Nohody Chinhonne's voyage for Syam was given over."—Foster, Letters, iv. 187.]
1623.—"The China Nocheda hath too long deluded you through your owne simplicitie to give creditt unto him."—Council at Batavia, to Rich. Cocks, in his Diary, ii. 341.
1625.—Purchas has the word in many forms; Nokayday, Nahoda, Nohuda, &c.
1638.—"Their nockado or India Pilot was stab'd in the Groyne twice."—In Hakl. iv. 48.
1649.—"In addition to this a receipt must be exacted from the Nachodas."—Secret Instructions in Baldaeus (Germ.), p. 6.
1758.—"Our Chocarda[187] (?) assured us they were rogues; but our Knockaty or pilot told us he knew them."—Ives, 248. This word looks like confusion, in the manner of the poet of the "Snark," between nākhuda and (Hind.) arkātī, "a pilot," [so called because many came from Arcot.]
[1822.—"The Knockada was very attentive to Thoughtless and his family...."—Wallace, Fifteen Years in India, 241.
[1831.—"The Roban (Ar. rubbān, 'the master of a ship') and Nockader being afraid to keep at sea all night ..."—Life and Adventures of Nathaniel Pearce, written by himself, ii. 303.]
1880.—"That a pamphlet should be printed, illustrated by diagrams, and widely circulated, commends itself to the Government of India ... copies being supplied to Nakhudas and tindals of native craft at small cost."—Resn. of Govt. of India as to Lights for Shipping, 28 Jan.
NAGA, n.p. The name applied to an extensive group of uncivilised clans of warlike and vindictive character in the eastern part of the hill country which divides Assam Proper (or the valley of the Brahmaputra) from Kachār and the basin of the Surma. A part of these hills was formed into a British district, now under Assam, in 1867, but a great body of the Nāga clans is still independent. The etymology of the name is disputed; some identifying it with the Nāga or Snake Aborigines, who are so prominent in the legends and sculptures of the Buddhists. But it is, perhaps, more probable that the word is used in the sense of 'naked' (Skt. nagna, Hind. nangā, Beng. nengṭā, &c.), which, curiously enough, is that which Ptolemy attributes to the name, and which the spelling of Shihābuddīn also indicates. [The word is also used for a class of ascetics of the Dādupanthī sect, whose head-quarters are at Jaypur.]
c. A.D. 50.—"Καὶ μέχρι τοῦ Μαιάνδρου, ... Ναγγα λόγαι ὃ σημαίνει γυμνῶν κόσμος."—Ptol. VII. ii. 18.
c. 1662.—"The Rájah had first intended to fly to the Nágá Hills, but from fear of our army the Nágás[188] would not afford him an asylum. 'The Nágás live in the southern mountains of Asám, have a light brown complexion, are well built, but treacherous. In number they equal the helpers of Yagog and Magog, and resemble in hardiness and physical strength the 'Ádis (an ancient Arabian tribe). They go about naked like beasts.... Some of their chiefs came to see the Nawáb. They wore dark hip-clothes (lung), ornamented with cowries, and round about their heads they wore a belt of boar's tusks, allowing their black hair to hang down their neck.'"—Shihábuddín Tálísh, tr. by Prof. Blochmann, in J. As. Soc. Beng., xli. Pt. i. p. 84. [See Plate xvi. of Dalton's Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal; Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xxvi. 161 seqq.]
1883.—A correspondent of the "Indian Agriculturist" (Calcutta), of Sept. 1, dates from the Naga Hills, which he calls "Noga, from Nok, not Naga, ..." an assertion which one is not bound to accept. "One on the Spot" is not bound to know the etymology of a name several thousand years old.
[Of the ascetic class:
[1879.—"The Nágás of Jaipur are a sect of militant devotees belonging to the Dádú Panthi sect, who are enrolled in regiments to serve the State; they are vowed to celibacy and to arms, and constitute a sort of military order in the sect."—Rajputana Gazetteer, ii. 147.]
NAGAREE, s. Hind. from Skt. nāgarī. The proper Sanskrit character, meaning literally 'of the city'; and often called deva-nāgarī, 'the divine city character.'
[1623.—"An antique character ... us'd by the Brachmans, who in distinction from other vulgar Characters ... call it Nagheri."—P. della Valle, Hak. Soc. i. 75.
[1781.—"The Shanskrit alphabet ... is now called Diewnāgar, or the Language of Angels...."—Halhed, Code, Intro. xxiii.]
[c. 1805.—"As you sometimes see Mr. Wilkins, who was the inventor of printing with Bengal and Nagree types...."—Letter of Colebrooke, in Life, 227.]
NAIB, s. Hind. from Ar. nāyab, a deputy; (see also under NABOB).
[c. 1610.—In the Maldives, "Of these are constituted thirteen provinces, over each of which is a chief called a Naybe."—Pyrard de Laval, Hak. Soc. i. 198.]
1682.—"Before the expiration of this time we were overtaken by ye Caddie's Neip, ye Meerbar's (see MEARBAR) deputy, and ye Dutch Director's Vakill (see VAKEEL) (by the way it is observable ye Dutch omit no opportunity to do us all the prejudice that lyes in their power)."—Hedges, Diary, Oct. 11; [Hak. Soc. i. 35].
1765.—"... this person was appointed Niab, or deputy governor of Orissa."—Holwell, Hist. Events, i. 53.
[1856.—"The Naib gave me letters to the chiefs of several encampments, charging them to provide me with horses."—Ferrier, Caravan Journeys, 237.]
NAIK, NAIQUE, &c. s. Hind. nāyak. A term which occurs in nearly all the vernacular languages; from Skt. nāyaka, 'a leader, chief, general.' The word is used in several applications among older writers (Portuguese) referring to the south and west of India, as meaning a native captain or headman of some sort (a). It is also a title of honour among Hindus in the Deccan (b). It is again the name of a Telugu caste, whence the general name of the Kings of Vijayanagara (A.D. 1325-1674), and of the Lords of Madura (1559-1741) and other places (c). But its common Anglo-Indian application is to the non-commissioned officer of Sepoys who corresponds to a corporal, and wears the double chevron of that rank (d).
(a)—
c. 1538.—"Mandou tambem hũ Nayque com vinti Abescins, que nos veio guardando dos ladrões."—Pinto, ch. iv.
1548.—"With these four captains there are 12 naiques, who receive as follows—to wit, for 7 naiques who have 37 pardaos and 1 tanga a year ... 11,160 reis. For Cidi naique, who has 30 pardaos, 4 tangas ... and Madguar naique the same ... and Salgy naique 24 pardaos a year, and two nafares [Ar. nafar, 'servant'] who have 8 vintens a month, equal to 12 pardaos 4 tangas a year."—S. Botelho, Tombo, 215.
1553.—"To guard against these he established some people of the same island of the Canarese Gentoos with their Naiques, who are the captains of the footmen and of the horsemen."—Barros, Dec. II. Liv. v. cap. 4.
c. 1565.—"Occorse l'anno 1565, se mi ricordo bene, che il Naic cioè il Signore della Città li mandi a domandami certi caualli Arabi."—C. Federici, in Ramusio, iii. 391.
c. 1610.—"Ie priay donc ce capitaine ... qu'il me fit bailler vne almadie ou basteau auec des mariniers et vn Naique pour truchement."—Mocquet, 289.
1646.—"Il s'appelle Naïque, qui signifie Capitaine, doutant que c'est vn Capitaine du Roy du Narzingue."—Barretto, Rel. du Prov. de Malabar, 255.
(b)—
1598.—"The Kings of Decam also have a custome when they will honour a man or recompense [recompence] their service done, and rayse him to dignitie and honour. They give him the title of Naygue, which signifieth a Capitaine."—Linschoten, 51; [Hak. Soc. i. 173].
1673.—"The Prime Nobility have the title of Naiks or Naigs."—Fryer, 162.
c. 1704.—"Hydur Sáhib, the son of Muhammad Ilias, at the invitation of the Ministers of the Polygar of Mysore, proceeded to that country, and was entertained by them in their service ... he also received from them the honourable title of Naik, a term which in the Hindu dialect signifies an officer or commander of foot soldiers."—H. of Hydur Naik, p. 7. This was the uncle of the famous Haidar Naik or Hyder Ali Khan.
(c)—
1604.—"Maduré; corte del Naygue Señor destas terras."—Guerrero, Relacion, 101.
1616.—"... and that orders should be given for issuing a proclamation at Negapatam that no one was to trade at Tevenapatam, Porto Novo, or other port belonging to the Naique of Ginja or the King of Massulapatam."—Bocarro, 619.
1646.—"Le Naique de Maduré, à qui appartient la coste de la pescherie, a la pesche d'vn jour par semaine pour son tribut."—Barretto, 248.
c. 1665.—"Il y a plusieurs Naiques au Sud de Saint-Thomé, qui sont Souverains: Le Naique de Madure en est un."—Thevenot, v. 317.
1672.—"The greatest Lords and Naiks of this kingdom (Carnataca) who are subject to the Crown of Velour ... namely Vitipa naik of Madura, the King's Cuspidore- (see CUSPADORE) bearer ... and Cristapa naik of Chengier, the King's Betel-holder ... the naik of Tanjower the King's Shield-bearer."—Baldaeus (Germ.), p. 153.
1809.—"All I could learn was that it was built by a Naig of the place."—Ld. Valentia, i. 398.
(d)—
[c. 1610.—"These men are hired, whether Indians or Christians, and are called Naicles."—Pyrard de Laval, Hak. Soc. ii. 42.]
1787.—"A Troop of Native Cavalry on the present Establishment consists of 1 European subaltern, 1 European sergeant, 1 Subidar, 3 Jemidars, 4 Havildars, 4 Naigues, 1 Trumpeter, 1 Farrier, and 68 Privates."—Regns. for H. Co.'s Troops on the Coast of Coromandel, &c., 6.
1834.—"... they went gallantly on till every one was shot down except the one naik, who continued hacking at the gate with his axe ... at last a shot from above ... passed through his body. He fell, but in dying hurled his axe against the enemy."—Mrs. Mackenzie, Storms and Sunshine of a Soldier's Life, i. 37-38.