c. 1538.—"But the King of Bengal, seeing himself very powerful in the kingdom of the Patans, seized the king and took his kingdom from him ... and made Governor of the kingdom a great lord, a vassal of his, called Cotoxa, and then leaving everything in good order, returned to Bengal. The administrator Cotoxa took the field with a great array, having with him a Patan Captain called Xercansor, a valiant cavalier, much esteemed by all."—Correa, ii. 719.
The kingdom of the Patans appears to be Behar, where various Afghan chiefs tried to establish themselves after the conquest of Delhi by Baber. It would take more search than it is worth to elucidate the story as told by Correa, but see Elliot, iv. 333. Cotoxa (Koto sha) appears to be Ḳutb Khān of the Mahommedan historian there.
Another curious example of Portuguese nomenclature is that given to the first Mahommedan king of Malacca by Barros, Xaquem Darxá (II. vi. 1), by Alboquerque Xaquendarxa (Comm. Pt. III. ch. 17). This name is rendered by Lassen's ponderous lore into Skt. Sakanadhara, "d. h. Besitzer kräftiger Besinnungen" (or "Possessor, of strong recollections."—Ind. Alt. iv. 546), whereas it is simply the Portuguese way of writing Sikandar Shāh! [So Linschoten (Hak. Soc. ii. 183) writes Xatamas for Shāh Tamasp.]. For other examples, see Codovascam, Idalcan.
Y
YABOO, s. Pers. yābū, which is perhaps a corruption of Ar. ya'būb, defined by Johnson as 'a swift and long horse.' A nag such as we call 'a galloway,' a large pony or small hardy horse; the term in India is generally applied to a very useful class of animals brought from Afghanistan.
[c. 1590.—"The fifth class (yábú horses) are bred in this country, but fall short in strength and size. Their performances also are mostly bad. They are the offspring of Turki horses with an inferior breed."—Āīn, ed. Blochmann, i. 234.]
1754.—"There are in the highland country of Kandahar and Cabul a small kind of horses called Yabous, which are very serviceable."—Hanway, Travels, ii. 367.
[1839.—"A very strong and useful breed of ponies, called Yauboos, is however reared, especially about Baumiaun. They are used to carry baggage, and can bear a great load, but do not stand a long continuance of hard work so well as mules."—Elphinstone, Caubul, ed. 1842, i. 189.]
YAK, s. The Tibetan ox (Bos grunniens, L., Poëphagus of Gray), belonging to the Bisontine group of Bovinae. It is spoken of in Bogle's Journal under the odd name of the "cow-tailed cow," which is a literal sort of translation of the Hind. name chāorī gāo, chāorīs (see CHOWRY), having been usually called "cow-tails" in the 18th century. [The usual native name for the beast in N. India is suragā'o, which comes from Skt. surabhi, 'pleasing.'] The name yak does not appear in Buffon, who calls it the 'Tartarian cow,' nor is it found in the 3rd ed. of Pennant's H. of Quadrupeds (1793), though there is a fair account of the animal as Bos grunniens of Lin., and a poor engraving. Although the word occurs in Della Penna's account of Tibet, written in 1730, as quoted below, its first appearance in print was, as far as we can ascertain, in Turner's Mission to Tibet. It is the Tib. gYak, Jäsche's Dict. gyag. The animal is mentioned twice, though in a confused and inaccurate manner, by Aelian; and somewhat more correctly by Cosmas. Both have got the same fable about it. It is in medieval times described by Rubruk. The domestic yak is in Tibet the ordinary beast of burden, and is much ridden. Its hair is woven into tents, and spun into ropes; its milk a staple of diet, and its dung of fuel. The wild yak is a magnificent animal, standing sometimes 18 hands high, and weighing 1600 to 1800 lbs., and multiplies to an astonishing extent on the high plateaux of Tibet. The use of the tame yak extends from the highlands of Khokand to Kuku-khotan or Kwei-hwaching, near the great northern bend of the Yellow River.
c. A.D. 250.—"The Indians (at times) carry as presents to their King tame tigers, trained panthers, four-horned oryxes, and cattle of two different races, one kind of great swiftness, and another kind that are terribly wild, that kind of cattle from (the tails of) which they make fly-flaps...."—Aelian, de Animalibus, xv. cap. 14.
Again:
"There is in India a grass-eating[283] animal, which is double the size of the horse, and which has a very bushy tail very black in colour.[284] The hairs of the tail are finer than human hair, and the Indian women set great store by its possession.... When it perceives that it is on the point of being caught, it hides its tail in some thicket ... and thinks that since its tail is not seen, it will not be regarded as of any value, for it knows that the tail is the great object of fancy."—Ibid. xvi. 11.
c. 545.—"This Wild Ox is a great beast of India, and from it is got the thing called Tupha, with which officers in the field adorn their horses and pennons. They tell of this beast that if its tail catches in a tree he will not budge but stands stock-still, being horribly vexed at losing a single hair of its tail; so the natives come and cut his tail off, and then when he has lost it altogether, he makes his escape."—Cosmas Indicopleustes, Bk. xi. Transl. in Cathay, &c., p. clxxiv.
[c. 1590.—In a list of things imported from the "northern mountains" into Oudh, we have "tails of the Ḳutās cow."—Āīn, ed. Jarrett, ii. 172; and see 280.]
1730.—"Dopo di che per circa 40 giorni di camino non si trova più abitazioni di case, ma solo alcune tende con quantità di mandre di Iak, ossiano bovi pelosi, pecore, cavalli...."—Fra Orazio della Penna di Billi, Breve Notizia del Thibet (published by Klaproth in Journ. As. 2d. ser.) p. 17.
1783.—"... on the opposite side saw several of the black chowry-tailed cattle.... This very singular and curious animal deserves a particular description.... The Yak of Tartary, called Soora Goy in Hindostan...."—Turner's Embassy (pubd. 1800), 185-6. [Sir H. Yule identifies Soora Goy with Ch'āorī Gāī; but, as will be seen above, the H. name is surāgāo.]
In the publication at the latter date appears the excellent plate after Stubbs, called "the Yak of Tartary," still the standard representation of the animal. [Also see Turner's paper (1794) in the As. Res., London reprint of 1798, iv. 365 seqq.]
Though the two following quotations from Abbé Huc do not contain the word yak, they are pictures by that clever artist which we can hardly omit to reproduce:
1851.—"Les bœufs à long poils étaient de véritables caricatures; impossible de figurer rien de plus drôle; ils marchaient les jambes écartées, et portaient péniblement un énorme système de stalactites, qui leur pendaient sous le ventre jusqu'à terre. Ces pauvres bêtes étaient si informes et tellement recouvertes de glaçons qu'il semblait qu'on les eût mis confire dans du sucre candi."—Huc et Gabet, Souvenirs d'un Voyage, &c. ii. 201; [E.T. ii. 108].
" "Au moment où nous passâmes le Mouroui Oussou sur la glace, un spectacle assez bizarre s'offrit à nos yeux. Déjà nous avions remarqué de loin ... des objets informes et noirâtres rangés en file en travers de ce grand fleuve.... Ce fut seulement quand nous fûmes tout près, que nous pûmes reconnaître plus de 50 bœufs sauvages incrustés dans la glace. Ils avaient voulu, sans doute, traverser le fleuve à la nage, au moment de la concrétion des eaux, et ils s'étaient trouvés pris par les glaçons sans avoir la force de s'en débarrasser et de continuer leur route. Leur belle tête, surmontée de grandes cornes, était encore à découvert; mais la reste du corps était pris dans la glace, qui était si transparente qu'on pouvait distinguer facilement la position de ces imprudentes bêtes; on eût dit qu'elles étaient encore à nager. Les aigles et les corbeaux leur avaient arraché les yeux."—Ibid. ii. 219; [E.T. ii. 119 seq. and for a further account of the animal see ii. 81].
YAM, s. This general name in English of the large edible tuber Dioscorea seems to be a corruption of the name used in the W. Indies at the time of the discovery. [Mr. Platt (9 ser. N. & Q. v. 226 seq.) suggests that the original form was nyam or nyami, in the sense of 'food,' nyami meaning 'to eat' in the Fulah language of Senegal. The cannibal Nyam-Nyams, of whom Miss Kingsley gives an account (Travels in W. Africa, 330 seq.) appear to take their name from the same word.]
1600.—"There are great store of Iniamas growing in Guinea, in great fields."—Purchas, ii. 957.
1613.—"... Moreover it produces great abundance of inhames, or large subterranean tubers, of which there are many kinds, like the camottes of America, and these inhames boiled or roasted serve in place of bread."—Godinho de Eredia, 19.
1764.—
"In meagre lands
'Tis known the Yam will ne'er to bigness swell."
Grainger, Bk. i.
Z
ZABITA, s. Hind. from Ar. ẓābitā. An exact rule, a canon, but in the following it seems to be used for a tariff of assessment:
1799.—"I have established the Zabeta for the shops in the Fort as fixed by Macleod. It is to be paid annually."—Wellington, i. 49.
ZAMORIN, s. The title for many centuries of the Hindu sovereign of Calicut and the country round. The word is Malayāl. Sāmūtiri, Sāmūri, Tāmātiri, Tāmūri, a tadbhava (or vernacular modification) of Skt. Sāmundri, 'the Sea-King.' (See also Wilson, Mackenzie MSS. i. xcvii.) [Mr. Logan (Malabar, iii. Gloss. s.v.) suggests that the title Samudri is a translation of the Rāja's ancient Malayāl. title of Kunnalakkon, i.e. 'King (kon) of the hills (kunnu) and waves (ala).' The name has recently become familiar in reference to the curious custom by which the Zamorin was attacked by one of the candidates for his throne (see the account by A. Hamilton (ed. 1744, i. 309 seq. Pinkerton, viii. 374) quoted by Mr. Frazer (Golden Bough, 2nd ed. ii. 14 seq.).]
c. 1343.—"The sultan is a Kāfir called the Sāmarī.... When the time of our departure for China came, the sultan, the Sāmarī equipped for us one of the 13 junks which were lying in the port of Calicut."—Ibn Batuta, iv. 89-94.
1442.—"I saw a man with his body naked like the rest of the Hindus. The sovereign of this city (Calicut) bears the title of Sāmari. When he dies it is his sister's son who succeeds him."—Abdurrazzāk?, in India in the XVth. Cent. 17.
1498.—"First Calicut whither we went.... The King whom they call Camolim (for Çamorim) can muster 100,000 men for war, with the contingents that he receives, his own authority extending to very few."—Roteiro de Vasco da Gama.
1510.—"Now I will speak of the King here in Calicut, because he is the most important King of all those before mentioned, and is called Samory, which in the Pagan language means God on earth."—Varthema, 134. The traveller confounds the word with tamburān, which does mean 'Lord.' [Forbes (see below) makes the same mistake.]
1516.—"This city of Calicut is very large.... This King became greater and more powerful than all the others: he took the name of Zomodri, which is a point of honour above all other Kings."—Barbosa, 103.
[1552.—"Samarao." See under CELEBES.]
1553.—"The most powerful Prince of this Malebar was the King of Calecut, who par excellence was called Camarij, which among them is as among us the title Emperor."—Barros, I. iv. 7.
[1554.—Speaking of the Moluccas, "Camarao, which in their language means Admiral."—Castanheda, Bk. vi. ch. 66.]
" "I wrote him a letter to tell him ... that, please God, in a short time the imperial fleet would come from Egypt to the Sāmari, and deliver the country from the hands of the infidels."—Sidi 'Ali, p. 83. [Vambéry, who in his translation betrays a remarkable ignorance of Indian geography, speaks (p. 24) of "Samiri, the ruler of Calcutta," by which he means Calicut.]
1563.—"And when the King of Calecut (who has for title Samorim or Emperor) besieged Cochin...."—Garcia, f. 58b.
1572.—
"Sentado o Gama junto ao rico leito
Os seus mais affastados, prompto em vista
Estava o Samori no trajo, e geyto
Da gente, nunca dantes delle vista."
Camões, vii. 59.
By Burton:
"When near that splendid couch took place the guest
and others further off, prompt glance and keen
the Samorin cast on folk whose garb and gest
were like to nothing he had ever seen."
1616.—Under this year there is a note of a Letter from Underecoon-Cheete the Great Samorin or K. of Calicut to K. James.—Sainsbury, i. 462.
1673.—"Indeed it is pleasantly situated under trees, and it is the Holy See of their Zamerhin or Pope."—Fryer, 52.
1781.—"Their (the Christians') hereditary privileges were respected by the Zamorin himself."—Gibbon, ch. xlvii.
1785.—A letter of Tippoo's applies the term to a tribe or class, speaking of '2000 Samories'; who are these?—Select Letters, 274.
1787.—"The Zamorin is the only ancient sovereign in the South of India."—T. Munro, in Life, i. 59.
1810.—"On our way we saw one of the Zamorim's houses, but he was absent at a more favoured residence of Paniany."—Maria Graham, 110.
[1814.—"The King of Calicut was, in the Malabar language, called Samory, or Zamorine, that is to say, God on the earth."—Forbes, Or. Mem. 2nd ed. i. 263. See quotation above from Varthema.]
" "... nor did the conqueror (Hyder Ali) take any notice of the Zamorine's complaints and supplications. The unfortunate prince, after fasting three days, and finding all remonstrance vain, set fire to his palace, and was burned, with some of his women and their brahmins."—Ibid. iv. 207-8; [2nd ed. ii. 477]. This was a case of Traga.
[1900.—"The Zamorin of Calicut who succeeded to the gadi (Guddy) three months ago, has died."—Pioneer Mail, April 13.]
ZANZIBAR, n.p. This name was originally general, and applied widely to the East African coast, at least south of the River Jubb, and as far as the Arab traffic extended. But it was also specifically applied to the island on which the Sultan of Zanzibar now lives (and to which we now generally restrict the name); and this was the case at least since the 15th century, as we see from the Roteiro. The Pers. Zangī-bār, 'Region of the Blacks,' was known to the ancients in the form Zingis (Ptolemy, i. 17, 9; iv. 7, 11) and Zingium. The Arab softening of the g made the name into Zanjībār, and this the Portuguese made into Zanzibar.
c. 545.—"And those who navigate the Indian Sea are aware that Zingium, as it is called, lies beyond the country where the incense grows, which is called Barbary."—Cosmas, in Cathay, &c., clxvii.
c. 940.—"The land of the Zanj begins at the channel issuing from the Upper Nile" (by this the Jubb seems meant) "and extends to the country of Sofāla and of the Wakwak."—Maṣ'ūdī, Prairies d'Or, iii. 7.
c. 1190.—Alexander having eaten what was pretended to be the head of a black captive says:
"... I have never eaten better food than this!
Since a man of Zang is in eating so heart-attracting,
To eat any other roast meat to me is not agreeable!"
Sikandar-Nāmah of Nizāmī, by
Wilberforce Clarke, p. 104.
1298.—"Zanghibar is a great and noble Island, with a compass of some 2000 miles. The people ... are all black, and go stark naked, with only a little covering for decency. Their hair is as black as pepper, and so frizzly that even with water you can scarcely straighten it," &c., &c.—Marco Polo, ii. 215. Marco Polo regards the coast of Zanzibar as belonging to a great island like Madagascar.
1440.—"Kalikut is a very safe haven ... where one finds in abundance the precious objects brought from maritime countries, especially from Habshah (see HUBSHEE, ABYSSINIA, Zirbad, and Zanzibar." Abdurrazzāk, in Not. et Exts., xiv. 436.
1498.—"And when the morning came, we found we had arrived at a very great island called Jamgiber, peopled with many Moors, and standing good ten leagues from the coast."—Roteiro, 105.
1516.—"Between this island of San Lorenzo (i.e. Madagascar) and the continent, not very far from it are three islands, which are called one Manfia, another Zanzibar, and the other Penda; these are inhabited by Moors; they are very fertile islands."—Barbosa, 14.
1553.—"And from the streams of this river Quilimance towards the west, as far as the Cape of Currents, up to which the Moors of that coast do navigate, all that region, and that still further west towards the Cape of Good Hope (as we call it), the Arabians and Persians of those parts call Zanguebar, and the inhabitants they call Zanguy."—Barros, I. viii. 4.
" A few pages later we have "Isles of Pemba, Zanzibar, Monfia, Comoro," showing apparently that a difference had grown up, at least among the Portuguese, distinguishing Zanguebar the continental region from Zanzibar the Island.
c. 1586.
"And with my power did march to Zanzibar
The western (sic) part of Afric, where I view'd
The Ethiopian Sea, rivers, and lakes...."
Marlowe's Tamburlane the Great, 2d. part, i. 3.
1592.—"From hence we went for the Isle of Zanzibar on the coast of Melinde, where at wee stayed and wintered untill the beginning of February following."—Henry May, in Hakl. iv. 53.
ZEBU, s. This whimsical name, applied in zoological books, English as well as French, to the humped domestic ox (or Brahminy bull) of India, was taken by Buffon from the exhibitors of such a beast at a French fair, who perhaps invented the word, but who told him the beast had been brought from Africa, where it was called by that name. We have been able to discover no justification for this in African dialects, though our friend Mr. R. Cust has kindly made search, and sought information from other philologists on our account. Zebu passes, however, with most people as an Indian word; thus Webster's Dictionary says, "Zebu, the native Indian name." The only word at all like it that we can discover is zobo (q.v.) or zhobo, applied in the semi-Tibetan regions of the Himālaya to a useful hybrid, called in Ladak by the slightly modified form dsomo. In Jäschke's Tibetan Dict. we find "Ze'-ba ... 1. hump of a camel, zebu, etc." This is curious, but, we should think, only one of those coincidences which we have had so often to notice.
Isidore Geoffroy de St. Hilaire, in his work Acclimatation et Domestication des Animaux Utiles, considers the ox and the zebu to be two distinct species. Both are figured on the Assyrian monuments, and both on those of ancient Egypt. The humped ox also exists in Southern Persia, as Marco Polo mentions. Still, the great naturalist to whose work we have referred is hardly justified in the statement quoted below, that the "zebu" is common to "almost the whole of Asia" with a great part of Africa. [Mr. Blanford writes: "The origin of Bos indicus (sometimes called zebu by European naturalists) is unknown, but it was in all probability tropical or sub-tropical, and was regarded by Blyth as probably African. No ancestral form has been discovered among Indian fossil bovines, which ... comprise species allied to the gaur and buffalo" (Mammalia, 483 seq.).]
c. 1772.—"We have seen this small hunched ox alive.... It was shown at the fair in Paris in 1752 (sic, but a transcript from the French edition of 1837 gives 1772) under the name of Zebu; which we have adopted to describe the animal by, for it is a particular breed of the ox, and not a species of the buffalo."—Buffon's Nat. Hist., E.T. 1807, viii. 19, 20; see also p. 33.
1861.—"Nous savons donc positivement qu'à une époque où l'occident était encore couvert de forêts, l'orient, déjà civilisé, possédait dejà le boeuf et le Zebu; et par consequent c'est de l'orient que ces animaux sont sortis, pour devenir, l'un (le boeuf) cosmopolite, l'autre commun à presque toute l'Asie et à une grande partie de l'Afrique."—Geoffroy St. Hilaire (work above referred to, 4th ed. 1861).
[1898.—"I have seen a herd of Zebras (sic) or Indian humped cattle, but cannot say where they are kept."—In 9 ser. N. & Q. i. 468.]
ZEDOARY, and ZERUMBET, ss. These are two aromatic roots, once famous in pharmacy and often coupled together. The former is often mentioned in medieval literature. The former is Arabic jadwār, the latter Pers. zarambād. There seems some doubt about the scientific discrimination of the two. Moodeen Sheriff says that Zedoary (Curcuma zedoaria) is sold in most bazars under the name of anbehaldī, whilst jadvār, or zhadvār, is the bazar name of roots of varieties of non-poisonous aconites. There has been considerable confusion in the nomenclature of these drugs [see Watt, Econ. Dict. ii. 655, 670]. Dr. Royle, in his most interesting discourse on the Antiquity of Hindoo Medicine (p. 77), transcribes the following prescription of the physician Aetius, in which the name of Zedoary first occurs, along with many other Indian drugs:
c. A.D. 540.—"Zador (i.e. zedoariae), galangae, ligustici, seselis, cardamomi, piperis longi, piperis albi, cinnamomi, zingiberis, seminis Smyrnii, caryophylli, phylli, stachyos, myrobalani, phu, costi, scordii, silphii vel laserpitii, rhei barbarici, poeoniae; alii etiam arboris nucis viscum et paliuri semen, itemque saxifragum ac casiam addunt; ex his singulis stateres duos commisceto...."
c. 1400.—"Canell and setewale of price."—R. of the Rose.
1516.—"In the Kingdom of Calicut there grows much pepper ... and very much good ginger of the country, cardamoms, myrobolans of all kinds, bamboo canes, zerumba, zedoary, wild cinnamon."—Barbosa, 154.
1563.—"... da zedoaria faz capitulo Avicena e de Zerumbet; e isto que chamamos zedoaria, chama Avicena geiduar, e o outro nome não lhe sei, porque o não ha senão nas terras confins á China e este geiduar e uma mézinha de muito preço, e não achada senão nas mãos dos que os Gentios chamam jogues, ou outros a quem os Mouros chamam calandares."—Garcia, f. 216v-217.
[1605.—"Setweth," a copyist's error for Setwall.—Birdwood, First Letter Book, 200.]
ZEMINDAR, s. Pers. zamīn-dār, 'landholder.' One holding land on which he pays revenue to the Government direct, and not to any intermediate superior. In Bengal Proper the zemindars hold generally considerable tracts, on a permanent settlement of the amount to be paid to Government. In the N.W. Provinces there are often a great many zemindars in a village, holding by a common settlement, periodically renewable. In the N.W. Provinces the rustic pronunciation of the word zamīndār is hardly distinguishable from the ordinary Anglo-Indian pronunciation of jama'dār (see JEMADAR), and the form given to zamīndār in early English records shows that this pronunciation prevailed in Bengal more than two centuries ago.
1683.—"We lay at Bogatchera, a very pleasant and delightfull Country, ye Gemidar invited us ashore, and showed us Store of Deer, Peacocks, &c., but it was not our good fortune to get any of them."—Hedges, Diary, April 11; [Hak. Soc. i. 77, also i. 89].
[1686.—"He has ordered downe 300 horse under the conduct of three Jemidars."—In ditto, II. lvi.]
1697.—"Having tried all means with the Jemidar of the Country adjacent to us to let us have the town of De Calcutta at the usual Hire or Rent, rather than fail, having promised him ¼ Part more than the Place at present brings him in, and all to no Purpose, he making frivolous and idle Objections, that he will not let us have any Part of the Country in the Right Honourable Company's name, but that we might have it to our use in any of the Natives Names; the Reason he gives for it is, that the Place will be wholly lost to him—that we are a Powerful People—and that he cannot be possessed of his Country again when he sees Occasion—whereas he can take it from any of the Natives that rent any Part of his Country at his Pleasure.
* * * * *
October 31st, 1698. "The Prince having given us the three towns adjacent to our Settlement, viz. De Calcutta, Chutanutte, and Gobinpore, or more properly may be said the Jemmidarship of the said towns, paying the said Rent to the King as the Jemidars have successively done, and at the same time ordering the Jemmidar of the said towns to make over their Right and Title to the English upon their paying to the Jemidar(s) One thousand Rupees for the same, it was agreed that the Money should be paid, being the best Money that ever was spent for so great a Privilege; but the Jemmidar(s) making a great Noise, being unwilling to part with their Countrey ... and finding them to continue in their averseness, notwithstanding the Prince had an officer upon them to bring them to a Compliance, it is agreed that 1,500 Rupees be paid them, provided they will relinquish their title to the said towns, and give it under their Hands in Writing, that they have made over the same to the Right Honourable Company."—Ext. of Consns. at Chuttanutte, the 29th December (Printed for Parliament in 1788).
In the preceding extracts the De prefixed to Calcutta is Pers. deh, 'village,' or 'township,' a common term in the language of Indian Revenue administration. An 'Explanation of Terms' furnished by W. Hastings to the Fort William Council in 1759 thus explains the word:
"Deeh—the ancient limits of any village or parish. Thus, 'Deeh Calcutta' means only that part which was originally inhabited."—(In Long, p. 176.)
1707-8.—In a "List of Men's Names, &c., immediately in the Service of the Honble Vnited Compy. in their Factory of Fort William, Bengal
* * * * *
New Co. 170⅞
* * * * *
Mr. William Bugden ... Jemidar or rent gatherer.
* * * * *
1713.
Mr. Edward Page ... Jemendar."
MS. Records in India Office.
1762.—"One of the articles of the Treaty with Meer Jaffier says the Company shall enjoy the Zemidary of the Lands from Calcutta down to Culpee, they paying what is paid in the King's Books."—Holograph (unpublished) Letter of Ld. Clive, in India Office Records, dated Berkeley Square, Jan. 21.
1776.—"The Countrey Jemitdars remote from Calcutta, treat us frequently with great Insolence; and I was obliged to retreat with only an officer and 17 Sepoys near 6 Miles in the face of 3 or 400 Burgundasses (see BURKUNDAUZE), who lined the Woods and Kept a straggling Fire all ye Way."—MS. Letter of Major James Rennell, dd. August 5.
1778.—"This avaricious disposition the English plied with presents, which in 1698 obtained his permission to purchase from the Zemindar, or Indian proprietor, the town of Sootanutty, Calcutta and Govindpore."—Orme, ii. 17.
1809.—"It is impossible for a province to be in a more flourishing state: and I must, in a great degree, attribute this to the total absence of zemindars."—Ld. Valentia, i. 456. He means zemindars of the Bengal description.
1812.—"... the Zemindars, or hereditary Superintendents of Land."—Fifth Report, 13.
[1818.—"The Bengal farmers, according to some, are the tenants of the Honourable Company; according to others, of the Jumidarus, or land-holders."—Ward, Hindoos, i. 74.]
1822.—"Lord Cornwallis's system was commended in Lord Wellesley's time for some of its parts, which we now acknowledge to be the most defective. Surely you will not say it has no defects. The one I chiefly alluded to was its leaving the ryots at the mercy of the zemindars."—Elphinstone, in Life, ii. 182.
1843.—"Our plain clothing commands far more reverence than all the jewels which the most tawdry Zemindar wears."—Macaulay, Speech on Gates of Somnauth.
1871.—"The Zemindars of Lower Bengal, the landed proprietary established by Lord Cornwallis, have the worst reputation as landlords, and appear to have frequently deserved it."—Maine, Village Communities, 163.
ZENANA, s. Pers. zanāna, from zan, 'woman'; the apartments of a house in which the women of the family are secluded. This Mahommedan custom has been largely adopted by the Hindus of Bengal and the Mahrattas. Zanāna is also used for the women of the family themselves. The growth of the admirable Zenana Missions has of late years made this word more familiar in England. But we have heard of more than one instance in which the objects of this Christian enterprise have been taken to be an amiable aboriginal tribe—"the Zenanas."
[1760.—"I am informed the Dutch chief at Bimlipatam has ... embarked his jenninora on board a sloop bound to Chinsurah...."—In Long, 236.]
1761.—"... I asked him where the Nabob was? Who replied, he was asleep in his Zunana."—Col. Coote, in Van Sittart, i. 111.
1780.—"It was an object with the Omrahs or great Lords of the Court, to hold captive in their Zenanahs, even hundreds of females."—Hodges, Travels, 22.
1782.—"Notice is hereby given that one Zoraveer, consumah to Hadjee Mustapha of Moorshedabad these 13 years, has absconded, after stealing.... He has also carried away with him two Women, heretofore of Sujah Dowlah's Zenana; purchased by Hadjee Mustapha when last at Lucknow, one for 300 and the other for 1200 Rupees."—India Gazette, March 9.
1786.—
"Within the Zenana, no longer would they
In a starving condition impatiently stay,
But break out of prison, and all run away."
Simpkin the Second, 42.
" "Their behaviour last night was so furious, that there seemed the greatest probability of their proceeding to the uttermost extremities, and that they would either throw themselves from the walls, or force open the doors of the zenanahs."—Capt. Jaques, quoted in Articles of Charge against Hastings, in Burke, vii. 27.
1789.—"I have not a doubt but it is much easier for a gentleman to support a whole zenana of Indians than the extravagance of one English lady."—Munro's Narr. 50.
1790.—"In a Mussleman Town many complaints arise of the Passys or Toddy Collectors climbing the Trees and overlooking the Jenanas or Women's apartments of principal Natives."—Minute in a letter from Bd. of Revenue to Govt. of Bengal, July 12.—MS. in India Office.
1809.—"Musulmauns ... even carried their depravity so far as to make secret enquiries respecting the females in their districts, and if they heard of any remarkable for beauty, to have them forcibly removed to their zenanas."—Lord Valentia, i. 415.
1817.—"It was represented by the Rajah that they (the bailiffs) entered the house, and endeavoured to pass into the zenana, or women's apartments."—J. Mill, Hist. iv. 294.
1826.—"The women in the zananah, in their impotent rage, flew at Captain Brown, who came off minus a considerable quantity of skin from his face."—John Shipp, iii. 49.
1828.—"'Thou sayest Tippoo's treasures are in the fort?' 'His treasures and his Zenana; I may even be able to secure his person.'"—Sir W. Scott, The Surgeon's Daughter, ch. xii.
ZEND, ZENDAVESTA, s. Zend is the name which has been commonly applied, for more than a hundred years to that dialect of the ancient Iranian (or Persian) language in which the Avesta or Sacred Books of Zorastrianism or the old Persian religion are written. The application of the name in this way was quite erroneous, as the word Zand when used alone in the Parsi books indicates a 'commentary or explanation,' and is in fact applied only to some Pahlavi translation, commentary, or gloss. If the name Zend were now to be used as the designation of any language it would more justly apply to the Pahlavi itself. At the same time Haug thinks it probable that the term Zand was originally applied to a commentary written in the same language as the Avesta itself, for in the Pahlavi translations of the Yasna, a part of the Avesta, where the scriptures are mentioned, Avesta and Zend are coupled together, as of equal authority, which could hardly have been the case if by Zend the translator meant his own work. No name for the language of the ancient scriptures has been found in the Parsi books; and Avesta itself has been adopted by scholars in speaking of the language. The fragments of these scriptures are written in two dialects of the Eastern Iranian, one, the more ancient, in which the Gāthas or hymns are written; and a later one which was for many centuries the spoken and written language of Bactria.
The word Zand, in Haug's view, may be referred to the root zan, 'to know'; Skt. jnā, Gr. γνω, Lat. gno (as in agnosco, cognosco), so that its meaning is 'knowledge.' Prof. J. Oppert, on the other hand, identifies it with old Pers. zannda, 'prayer.'
Zendavesta is the name which has been by Europeans popularly applied to the books just spoken of as the Avesta. The term is undoubtedly an inversion, as, according to Haug, "the Pahlavi books always style them Avistâk va Zand (Avesta and Zend)" i.e. the Law with its traditional and authoritative explanation. Abastâ, in the sense of law, occurs in the funeral inscription of Darius at Behistūn; and this seems now the most generally accepted origin of the term in its application to the Parsi sacred books. (This is not, however, the explanation given by Haug.) Thus, 'Avesta and Zend' signify together 'The Law and the Commentary.'
The Avesta was originally much more extensive than the texts which now exist, which are only fragments. The Parsi tradition is that there were twenty-one books called Nasks, the greater part of which were burnt by Alexander in his conquest of Persia; possibly true, as we know that Alexander did burn the palace at Persepolis. The collection of fragments which remains, and is known as the Zend-avesta, is divided, in its usual form, into two parts. I. The Avesta properly so called, containing (a) the Vendîdâd, a compilation of religious laws and of mythical tales; (b) the Vispêrad, a collection of litanies for the sacrifice; and (c) the Yasna, composed of similar litanies and of 5 hymns or Gâthas in an old dialect. II. The Khorda, or small, Avesta, composed of short prayers for recitation by the faithful at certain moments of the day, month, or year, and in presence of the different elements, with which certain other hymns and fragments are usually included.
The term Zendavesta, though used, as we see below, by Lord in 1630, first became familiar in Europe through the labours of Anquetil du Perron, and his publication of 1771. [The Zend-Avesta has now been translated in Sacred Books of the East, by J. Darmesteter, L. H. Mills; Pahlavi Texts, by E. W. West.]
c. 930.—"Zarādasht, the son of Asbimām, ... had brought to the Persians the book al-Bastāh in the old Fārsī tongue. He gave a commentary on this, which is the Zand, and to this commentary yet another explanation which was called Bazand...."—Maṣ'ūdī, ii. 167. [See Haug, Essays, p. 11.]
c. 1030.—"The chronology of this same past, but in a different shape, I have also found in the book of Hamza ben Alhusain Alisfahâni, which he calls 'Chronology of great nations of the past and present.' He says that he has endeavoured to correct his account by means of the Abastâ, which is the religious code (of the Zoroastrians). Therefore I have transferred it into this place of my book."—Al-Birûnî, Chronology of Ancient Nations, by Sachau, p. 112.
" "Afterwards the wife gave birth to six other children, the names of whom are known in the Avastâ."—Ibid. p. 108.
1630.—"Desirous to add anything to the ingenious that the opportunities of my Travayle might conferre vpon mee, I ioyned myselfe with one of their Church men called their Daroo, and by the interpretation of a Parsee, whose long imployment in the Companies Service, had brought him to mediocrity in the English tongue, and whose familiarity with me, inclined him to further my inquiries: I gained the knowledge of what hereafter I shall deliver as it was compiled in a booke writ in the Persian Characters containing their Scriptures, and in their own language called their ZVNDAVASTAVV."—Lord, The Religion of the Persees, The Proeme.
[c. 1630.—"Being past the Element of Fire and the highest Orbs (as saith their Zundavastaio)...."—Sir T. Herbert, 2nd ed. 1677, p. 54.]
1653.—"Les ottomans appellent gueuures vne secte de Payens que nous connoissons sous le nom d'adorateurs du feu, les Persans sous celuy d'Atechperes, et les Indou sous celuy de Parsi, terme dont ils se nommẽt eux-mesmes.... Ils ont leur Saincte Escriture ou Zundeuastavv, en deux volumes composée par vn nommé Zertost, conduit par vn Ange nommé Abraham ou plus-tost Bahaman Vmshauspan...."—De la Boullaye-le-Gouz, ed. 1657, pp. 200-201.
1700.—"Suo itaque Libro (Zerdusht) ... alium affixit specialem Titulum Zend, seu alias Zendavestâ; vulgus sonat Zund et Zundavastaw. Ita ut quamvis illud ejus Opus variis Tomis, sub distinctis etiam nominibus, constet, tamen quidvis ex dictorum Tomorum quovis, satis propriè et legitimè citari possit, sub dicto generali nomine, utpote quod, hac ratione, in operum ejus complexu seu Syntagmate contineri intelligatur.... Est autem Zend nomen Arabicum: et Zendavestâ conflatum est ex superaddito nomine Hebraeo-Chaldaico, Eshta, i.e. ignis, unde Εστία ... supra dicto nomine Zend apud Arabes, significatur Igniarium seu Focile.... Cum itaque nomine Zend significetur Igniarium, et Zendavestâ Igniarium et Ignis," &c.—T. Hyde, Hist. Rel. Vet. Persarum eorumque Magorum, cap. xxv., ed. Oxon. 1760, pp. 335-336.
1771.—"Persuadé que les usages modernes de l'Asie doivent leur origine aux Peuples et aux Religions qui l'ont subjuguée, je me suis proposé d'étudier dans les sources l'ancienne Théologie des Nations habituées dans les Contrées immenses qui sont à l'Est de l'Euphrate, et de consulter sur leur Histoire, les livres originaux. Ce plan m'a engagé à remonter aux Monumens les plus anciens. Je les ai trouvé de deux espèces: les prémiers écrits en Samskretan; ce sont les Vedes, Livres sacrés des Pays, qui de l'Indus s'étendent aux frontières de la Chine: les seconds écrits en Zend, ancienne Langue du Nord de la Perse; c'est le Zend Avesta, qui passe pour avoir été la Loi des Contrées bornées par l'Euphrate, le Caucase, l'Oxus, et la mer des Indes."—Anquetil du Perron, Zend-Avesta, Ouvrage de Zoroastre—Documens Préliminaires, p. iii.
" "Dans deux cens ans, quand les Langues Zend et Pehlvie (Pahlavi) seront devenues en Europe familières aux Sçavans, on pourra, en rectifiant les endroits où je me serai trompé, donner une Traduction plus exacte du Zend-Avesta, et ci ce que je dis ici excitant l'émulation, avance le terme que je viens de fixer, mes fautes m'auront conduit au but que je me suis proposé."—Ibid. Preface, xvii.
1884.—"The supposition that some of the books were destroyed by Alexander the Great is contained in the introductory chapter of the Pehlevi Viraf-Nama, a book written in the Sassanian times, about the 6th or 7th century, and in which the event is thus chronicled:—'The wicked, accursed Guna Mino (the evil spirit), in order to make the people sceptical about their religion, instigated the accursed Alexiedar (Alexander) the Ruman, the inhabitant of Egypt, to carry war and hardships to the country of Iran (Persia). He killed the monarch of Iran, and destroyed and made desolate the royal court. And this religion, that is, all the books of Avesta and Zend, written with gold ink upon prepared cow-skins, was deposited in the archives of Stakhar (Istakhar or Persepolis) of Papak. The accursed, wretched, wicked Ashmogh (destroyer of the pious), Alexiedar the evil-doer, took them (the books) out and burnt them."—Dosabhai Framji, H. of the Parsis, ii. 158-159.