[1667.—"... 2 patch of ye finest with what colours you thinke handsome for my own wear Chockoles and susaes."—In Yule, Hedges' Diary, Hak. Soc. ii. cclxii.
[1690.—"It (Suratt) is renown'd ... for Sooseys...."—Ovington, 218.
[1714-20.—In an inventory of Sir J. Fellowes: "A Susa window-curtain."—2nd ser. N. & Q. vi. 244.]
1784.—"Four cassimeers of different colours; Patna dimity, and striped Soosies."—In Seton-Karr, i. 42.
SOPHY, n.p. The name by which the King of Persia was long known in Europe—"The Sophy," as the Sultan of Turkey was "The Turk" or "Grand Turk," and the King of Delhi the "Great Mogul." This title represented Sūfī, Safavī, or Safī, the name of the dynasty which reigned over Persia for more than two centuries (1449-1722, nominally to 1736). The first king of the family was Isma'il, claiming descent from 'Ali and the Imāms, through a long line of persons of saintly reputation at Ardebil. The surname of Sūfī or Safī assumed by Isma'il is generally supposed to have been taken from Shaikh Safī-ud-dīn, the first of his more recent ancestors to become famous, and who belonged to the class of Sūfīs or philosophic devotees. After Isma'il the most famous of the dynasty was Shāh Abbās (1585-1629).
c. 1524.—"Susiana, quae est Shushan Palatium illud regni Sophii."—Abraham Peritsol, in Hyde, Syntagma Dissertt. i. 76.
1560.—"De que o Sufi foy contente, e mandou gente em su ajuda."—Terceiro, ch. i.
" "Quae regiones nomine Persiae ei regnantur quem Turcae Chislibas, nos Sophi vocamus."—Busbeq. Epist. iii. (171).
1561.—"The Queenes Maiesties Letters to the great Sophy of Persia, sent by M. Anthonie Ienkinson.
"Elizabetha Dei gratia Angliae Franciae et Hiberinae Regina, &c. Potentissimo et inuictissimo Principi, Magno Sophi Persarum, Medorum, Hircanorum, Carmanorum, Margianorum, populorum cis et vltra Tygrim fluuium, et omnium intra Mare Caspium et Persicum Sinum nationum atque Gentium Imperatori salutem et rerum prosperarum foelicissimum incrementum."—In Hakl. i. 381.
[1568.—"The King of Persia (whom here we call the great Sophy) is not there so called, but is called the Shaugh. It were dangerous to call him by the name of Sophy, because that Sophy in the Persian tongue is a beggar, and it were as much as to call him The great beggar."—Geffrey Ducket, ibid. i. 447.]
1598.—"And all the Kings continued so with the name of Xa, which in Persia is a King, and Ishmael is a proper name, whereby Xa Ismael, and Xa Thamas are as much as to say King Ismael, and King Thamas, and of the Turkes and Rumes are called Suffy or Soffy, which signifieth a great Captaine."—Linschoten, ch. xxvii.; [Hak. Soc. i. 173].
1601.—"Sir Toby. Why, man, he's a very devil: I have not seen such a firago....
"They say, he has been fencer to the Sophy."—Twelfth Night, III. iv.
[c. 1610.—"This King or Sophy, who is called the Great Chaa."—Pyrard de Laval, Hak. Soc. ii. 253.]
1619.—"Alla porta di Sciah Sofì, si sonarono nacchere tutto il giorno: ed insomma tutta la città e tutto il popolo andò in allegrezza, concorrendo infinita gente alla meschita di Schia Sofì, a far Gratiarum actionem."—P. della Valle, i. 808.
1626.—
"Were it to bring the Great Turk bound in chains
Through France in triumph, or to couple up
The Sophy and great Prester-John together;
I would attempt it."
Beaum. & Fletch., The Noble Gentleman, v. 1.
c. 1630.—"Ismael at his Coronation proclaim'd himself King of Persia by the name of Pot-shaw (Padshaw)-Ismael-Sophy. Whence that word Sophy was borrowed is much controverted. Whether it be from the Armenian idiom, signifying Wooll, of which the Shashes are made that ennobled his new order. Whether the name was from Sophy his grandsire, or from the Greek word Sophos imposed upon Aydar at his conquest of Trebizond by the Greeks there, I know not. Since then, many have called the Kings of Persia Sophy's: but I see no reason for it; since Ismael's son, grand and great grandsons Kings of Persia never continued that name, till this that now reigns, whose name indeed is Soffee, but casuall."—Sir T. Herbert, ed. 1638, 286.
1643.—"Y avoit vn Ambassadeur Persien qui auoit esté enuoyé en Europe de la part du Grand Sophy Roy de Perse."—Mocquet, Voyages, 269.
1665.—
"As when the Tartar from his Russian foe,
By Astracan, over the snowy plains
Retires; or Bactrian Sophy, from the horns
Of Turkish crescent, leaves all waste beyond
The realm of Aladule, in his retreat
To Tauris or Casbeen...."
Paradise Lost, x. 431 seqq.
1673.—"But the Suffee's Vicar-General is by his Place the Second Person in the Empire, and always the first Minister of State."—Fryer, 338.
1681.—"La quarta parte comprehende el Reyno de Persia, cuyo Señor se llama en estos tiempos, el Gran Sophi."—Martinez, Compendio, 6.
1711.—"In Consideration of the Company's good Services ... they had half of the Customs of Gombroon given them, and their successors, by a Firman from the Sophi or Emperor."—Lockyer, 220.
1727.—"The whole Reign of the last Sophi or King, was managed by such Vermin, that the Ballowches and Mackrans ... threw off the Yoke of Obedience first, and in full Bodies fell upon their Neighbours in Caramania."—A. Hamilton, i. 108; [ed. 1744, i. 105].
1815.—"The Suffavean monarchs were revered and deemed holy on account of their descent from a saint."—Malcolm, H. of Pers. ii. 427.
1828.—"It is thy happy destiny to follow in the train of that brilliant star whose light shall shed a lustre on Persia, unknown since the days of the earlier Soofees."—J. B. Fraser, The Kuzzilbash, i. 192.
SOUBA, SOOBAH, s. Hind. from Pers. ṣūba. A large Division or Province of the Mogul Empire (e.g. the Ṣūbah of the Deccan, the Ṣūbah of Bengal). The word is also frequently used as short for Sūbadār (see SOUBADAR), 'the Viceroy' (over a ṣūba). It is also "among the Maraṭhas sometimes applied to a smaller division comprising from 5 to 8 ṭarafs" (Wilson).
c. 1594.—"In the fortieth year of his majesty's reign, his dominions consisted of 105 Sircars.... The empire was then parcelled into 12 grand divisions, and each was committed to the government of a Soobadar ... upon which occasion the Sovereign of the world distributed 12 Lacks of beetle. The names of the Soobahs were Allahabad, Agra, Owdh, Ajmeer, Ahmedabad, Bahar, Bengal, Dehly, Cabul, Lahoor, Multan, and Malwa: when his majesty conquered Berar, Khandeess, and Ahmednagur, they were formed into three Soobahs, increasing the number to 15."—Ayeen, ed. Gladwin, ii. 1-5; [ed. Jarrett, ii. 115].
1753.—"Princes of this rank are called Subahs. Nizam al muluck was Subah of the Decan (or Southern) provinces.... The Nabobs of Condanore, Cudapah, Carnatica, Yalore, &c., the Kings of Tritchinopoly, Mysore, Tanjore, are subject to this Subah-ship. Here is a subject ruling a larger empire than any in Europe, excepting that of the Muscovite."—Orme, Fragments, 398-399.
1760.—"Those Emirs or Nabobs, who govern great Provinces, are stiled Subahs, which imports the same as Lord-Lieutenants or Vice-Roys."—Memoirs of the Revolution in Bengal, p. 6.
1763.—"From the word Soubah, signifying a province, the Viceroy of this vast territory (the Deccan) is called Soubahdar, and by the Europeans improperly Soubah."—Orme, i. 35.
1765.—"Let us have done with this ringing of changes upon Soubahs; there's no end to it. Let us boldly dare to be Soubah ourselves...."—Holwell, Hist. Events, &c., i. 183.
1783.—"They broke their treaty with him, in which they stipulated to pay 400,000l. a year to the Subah of Bengal."—Burke's Speech on Fox's India Bill, Works, iii. 468.
1804.—"It is impossible for persons to have behaved in a more shuffling manner than the Soubah's servants have...."—Wellington, ed. 1837, iii. 11.
1809.—"These (pillars) had been removed from a sacred building by Monsieur Dupleix, when he assumed the rank of Soubah."—Lord Valentia, i. 373.
1823.—"The Delhi Sovereigns whose vast empire was divided into Soubahs, or Governments, each of which was ruled by a Soubahdar or Viceroy."—Malcolm, Cent. India, i. 2.
SOUBADAR, SUBADAR, s. Hind. from Pers. ṣūbadār, 'one holding a ṣūba' (see SOUBA).
a. The Viceroy, or Governor of a ṣūba.
b. A local commandant or chief officer.
c. The chief native officer of a company of Sepoys; under the original constitution of such companies, its actual captain.
a. See SOUBA.
b.—
1673.—"The Subidar of the Town being a Person of Quality ... he (the Ambassador) thought good to give him a Visit."—Fryer, 77.
1805.—"The first thing that the Subidar of Vire Rajendra Pettah did, to my utter astonishment, was to come up and give me such a shake by the hand, as would have done credit to a Scotsman."—Letter in Leyden's Life, 49.
c.—
1747.—"14th September.... Read the former from Tellicherry adviseing that ... in a day or two they shall despatch another Subidar with 129 more Sepoys to our assistance."—MS. Consultations at Fort St. David, in India Office.
1760.—"One was the Subahdar, equivalent to the Captain of a Company."—Orme, iii. 610.
c. 1785.—"... the Subahdars or commanding officers of the black troops."—Carraccioli, L. of Clive, iii. 174.
1787.—"A Troop of Native Cavalry on the present Establishment consists of 1 European Subaltern, 1 European Serjeant, 1 Subidar, 3 Jemadars, 4 Havildars, 4 Naiques (naik), 1 Trumpeter, 1 Farrier, and 68 Privates."—Regns. for the Hon. Comp.'s Black Troops on the Coast of Coromandel, &c., p. 6.
[SOUDAGUR, s. P.—H. saudāgar, Pers. saudā, 'goods for sale'; a merchant, trader; now very often applied to those who sell European goods in civil stations and cantonments.
[1608.—"... and kill the merchants (sodagares mercadores)."—Livras das Moncoẽs, i. 183.
[c. 1809.—"The term Soudagur, which implies merely a principal merchant, is here (Behar) usually given to those who keep what the English of India call Europe shops; that is, shops where all sorts of goods imported from Europe, and chiefly consumed by Europeans, are retailed."—Buchanan, Eastern India, i. 375.
[c. 1817.—"This sahib was a very rich man, a Soudagur...."—Mrs. Sherwood, Last Days of Boosy, 84.]
SOURSOP, s.
a. The fruit Anona muricata, L., a variety of the Custard apple. This kind is not well known on the Bengal side of India, but it is completely naturalised at Bombay. The terms soursop and sweetsop are, we believe, West Indian.
b. In a note to the passage quoted below, Grainger identifies the soursop with the suirsack of the Dutch. But in this, at least as regards use in the East Indies, there is some mistake. The latter term, in old Dutch writers on the East, seems always to apply to the Common Jack fruit, the 'sourjack,' in fact, as distinguished from the superior kinds, especially the champada of the Malay Archipelago.
a.—
1764.—
"... a neighbouring hill
Which Nature to the Soursop had resigned."
Grainger, Bk. 2.
b.—
1659.—"There is another kind of tree (in Ceylon) which they call Sursack ... which has leaves like a laurel, and bears its fruit, not like other trees on twigs from the branches, but on the trunk itself...." &c.—Saar, ed. 1672, p. 84.
1661.—Walter Schulz says that the famous fruit Jaka was called by the Netherlanders in the Indies Soorsack.—p. 236.
1675.—"The whole is planted for the most part with coco-palms, mangoes, and suursacks."—Ryklof van Goens, in Valentijn, Ceylon, 223.
1768-71.—"The Sursak-tree has a fruit of a similar kind with the durioon (durian), but it is not accompanied by such a fetid smell."—Stavorinus, E.T. i. 236.
1778.—"The one which yields smaller fruit, without seed, I found at Columbo, Gale, and several other places. The name by which it is properly known here is the Maldivian Sour Sack, and its use here is less universal than that of the other sort, which ... weighs 30 or 40 lbs."—Thunberg, E.T. iv. 255.
[1833.—"Of the eatable fruited kinds above referred to, the most remarkable are the sweetsop, sour sop, and cherimoyer...."—Penny Cycl. ii. 54.]
SOWAR, SUWAR, s. Pers. sawār, 'a horseman.' A native cavalry soldier; a mounted orderly. In the Greek provinces in Turkey, the word is familiar in the form σουβάρις, pl. σουβαρίδες, for a mounted gendarme. [The regulations for suwārs in the Mogul armies are given by Blochmann, Āīn, i. 244 seq.]
1824-5.—"... The sowars who accompanied him."—Heber, Orig. i. 404.
1827.—"Hartley had therefore no resource save to keep his eye steadily fixed on the lighted match of the sowar ... who rode before him."—Sir W. Scott, The Surgeon's Daughter, ch. xiii.
[1830.—"... Meerza, an Asswar well known on the Collector's establishment."—Or. Sport. Mag. reprint 1873, i. 390.]
SOWAR, SHOOTER-, s. Hind. from Pers. shutur-sawār, the rider of a dromedary or swift camel. Such riders are attached to the establishment of the Viceroy on the march, and of other high officials in Upper India. The word sowar is quite misused by the Great Duke in the passage below, for a camel-driver, a sense it never has. The word written, or intended, may however have been surwaun (q.v.)
[1815.—"As we approached the camp his oont-surwars (camel-riders) went ahead of us."—Journal, Marquess of Hastings, i. 337.]
1834.—"I ... found a fresh horse at Sufter Jung's tomb, and at the Kutub (cootub) a couple of riding camels and an attendant Shutur Suwar."—Mem. of Col. Mountain, 129.
[1837.—"There are twenty Shooter Suwars (I have not an idea how I ought to spell those words), but they are native soldiers mounted on swift camels, very much trapped, and two of them always ride before our carriage."—Miss Eden, Up the Country, i. 31.]
1840.—"Sent a Shuta Sarwar (camel driver) off with an express to Simla."—Osborne, Court and Camp of Runj. Singh, 179.
1842.—"At Peshawur, it appears by the papers I read last night, that they have camels, but no sowars, or drivers."—Letter of D. of Wellington, in Indian Administration of Ld. Ellenborough, 228.
1857.—"I have given general notice of the Shutur Sowar going into Meerut to all the Meerut men."—H. Greathed's Letters during Siege of Delhi, 42.
SOWARRY, SUWARREE, s. Hind. from Pers. sawārī. A cavalcade, a cortège of mounted attendants.
1803.—"They must have tents, elephants, and other sewary; and must have with them a sufficient body of troops to guard their persons."—A. Wellesley, in Life of Munro, i. 346.
1809.—"He had no sawarry."—Ld. Valentia, i. 388.
1814.—"I was often reprimanded by the Zemindars and native officers, for leaving the suwarree, or state attendants, at the outer gate of the city, when I took my evening excursion."—Forbes, Or. Mem. iii. 420; [2nd ed. ii. 372].
[1826.—"The 'aswary,' or suite of Trimbuckje, arrived at the palace."—Pandurang Hari, ed. 1873, i. 119.]
1827.—"Orders were given that on the next day all should be in readiness for the Sowarree, a grand procession, when the Prince was to receive the Begum as an honoured guest."—Sir Walter Scott, The Surgeon's Daughter, ch. xiv.
c. 1831.—"Je tâcherai d'éviter toute la poussière de ces immenses sowarris."—Jacquemont, Corresp. ii. 121.
[1837.—"The Raja of Benares came with a very magnificent surwarree of elephants and camels."—Miss Eden, Up the Country, i. 35.]
SOWARRY CAMEL, s. A swift or riding camel. See SOWAR, SHOOTER-.
1835.—"'I am told you dress a camel beautifully,' said the young Princess, 'and I was anxious to ... ask you to instruct my people how to attire a sawārī camel.' This was flattering me on a very weak point: there is but one thing in the world that I perfectly understand, and that is how to dress a camel."—Wanderings of a Pilgrim, ii. 36.
SOWCAR, s. Hind. sāhūkār; alleged to be from Skt. sādhu, 'right,' with the Hind. affix kār, 'doer'; Guj. Mahr. sāvakār. A native banker; corresponding to the Chetty of S. India.
1803.—"You should not confine your dealings to one soucar. Open a communication with every soucar in Poonah, and take money from any man who will give it you for bills."—Wellington, Desp., ed. 1837, ii. 1.
1826.—"We were also sahoukars, and granted bills of exchange upon Bombay and Madras, and we advanced moneys upon interest."—Pandurang Hari, 174; [ed. 1873, i. 251].
[In the following the word is confounded with Sowar:
[1877.—"It was the habit of the sowars, as the goldsmiths are called, to bear their wealth upon their persons."—Mrs. Guthrie, My Year in an Indian Fort, i. 294.]
SOY, s. A kind of condiment once popular. The word is Japanese si-yau (a young Japanese fellow-passenger gave the pronunciation clearly as sho-yu.—A. B.), Chin. shi-yu. [Mr. Platts (9 ser. N. & Q. iv. 475) points out that in Japanese as written with the native character soy would not be siyau, but siyau-yu; in the Romanised Japanese this is simplified to shoyu (colloquially this is still further reduced, by dropping the final vowel, to shoy or soy). Of this monosyllable only the so represents the classical siyau; the final consonant (y) is a relic of the termination yu. The Japanese word is itself derived from the Chinese, which at Shanghai is sze-yu, at Amoy, si-iu, at Canton, shi-yau, of which the first element means 'salted beans,' or other fruits, dried and used as condiments; the second element merely means 'oil.'] It is made from the beans of a plant common in the Himālaya and E. Asia, and much cultivated, viz. Glycine Soja, Sieb. and Zucc. (Soya hispida, Moench.), boiled down and fermented. [In India the bean is eaten in places where it is cultivated, as in Chutia Nāgpur (Watt, Econ. Dict. iii. 510 seq.)]
1679.—"... Mango and Saio, two sorts of sauces brought from the East Indies."—Journal of John Locke, in Ld. King's Life of L., i. 249.
1688.—"I have been told that soy is made with a fishy composition, and it seems most likely by the Taste; tho' a Gentleman of my Acquaintance who was very intimate with one that sailed often from Tonquin to Japan, from whence the true Soy comes, told me that it was made only with Wheat and a sort of Beans mixt with Water and Salt."—Dampier, ii. 28.
1690.—"... Souy, the choicest of all Sawces."—Ovington, 397.
1712.—"Hoc legumen in coquinâ Japonicâ utramque replet paginam; ex eo namque conficitur: tum puls Miso dicta, quae ferculis pro consistentiâ, et butyri loco additur, butyrum enim hôc coelô res ignota est; tum Sooju dictum embamma, quod nisi ferculis, certè frictis et assatis omnibus affunditur."—Kaempfer, Amoen. Exot. p. 839.
1776.—An elaborate account of the preparation of Soy is given by Thunberg, Travels, E.T. iv. 121-122; and more briefly by Kaempfer on the page quoted above.
[1900.—"Mushrooms shred into small pieces, flavoured with shoyu" (soy).—Mrs. Frazer, A Diplomatist's Wife in Japan, i. 238.]
SPIN, s. An unmarried lady; popular abbreviation of 'Spinster.' [The Port. equivalent soltera (soltiera) was used in a derogatory sense (Gray, note on Pyrard de Laval, Hak. Soc. ii. 128).]
SPONGE-CAKE, s. This well-known form of cake is called throughout Italy pane di Spagna, a fact that suggested to us the possibility that the English name is really a corruption of Spanish-cake. The name in Japan tends to confirm this, and must be our excuse for introducing the term here.
1880.—"There is a cake called kasateira resembling sponge-cake.... It is said to have been introduced by the Spaniards, and that its name is a corruption of Castilla."—Miss Bird's Japan, i. 235.
SPOTTED-DEER, s. Axis maculatus of Gray; [Cervus axis of Blanford (Mammalia, 546)]; Hind. chītal, Skt. chitra, 'spotted.'
1673.—"The same Night we travelled easily to Megatana, using our Fowling-Pieces all the way, being here presented with Rich Game, as Peacocks, Doves, and Pigeons, Chitrels, or Spotted Deer."—Fryer, 71.
[1677.—"Spotted Deare we shall send home, some by ye Europe ships, if they touch here."—Forrest, Bombay Letters, i. 140.]
1679.—"There being conveniency in this place for ye breeding up of Spotted Deer, which the Hon'ble Company doe every yeare order to be sent home for His Majesty, it is ordered that care be taken to breed them up in this Factory (Madapollam), to be sent home accordingly."—Ft. St. George Council (on Tour), 16th April, in Notes and Exts., Madras, 1871.
1682.—"This is a fine pleasant situation, full of great shady trees, most of them Tamarins, well stored with peacocks and Spotted Deer like our fallow-deer."—Hedges, Diary, Oct. 16; [Hak. Soc. i. 39].
SQUEEZE, s. This is used in Anglo-Chinese talk for an illegal exaction. It is, we suppose, the translation of a Chinese expression. It corresponds to the malatolta of the Middle Ages, and to many other slang phrases in many tongues.
1882.—"If the licence (of the Hong merchants) ... was costly, it secured to them uninterrupted and extraordinary pecuniary advantages; but on the other hand it subjected them to 'calls' or 'squeezes' for contributions to public works, ... for the relief of districts suffering from scarcity ... as well as for the often imaginary ... damage caused by the overflowing of the 'Yangtse Keang' or the 'Yellow River.'"—The Fankwae at Canton, p. 36.
STATION, s. A word of constant recurrence in Anglo-Indian colloquial. It is the usual designation of the place where the English officials of a district, or the officers of a garrison (not in a fortress) reside. Also the aggregate society of such a place.
[1832.—"The nobles and gentlemen are frequently invited to witness a 'Station ball.'..."—Mrs. Meer Hassan Ali, Observations, i. 196.]
1866.—
"And if I told how much I ate at one Mofussil station,
I'm sure 'twould cause at home a most extraordinary sensation."
Trevelyan, The Dawk Bungalow, in Fraser, lxxiii. p. 391.
" "Who asked the Station to dinner, and allowed only one glass of Simkin to each guest."—Ibid. 231.
STEVEDORE, s. One employed to stow the cargo of a ship and to unload it. The verb estivar [Lat. stipare] is used both in Sp. and Port. in the sense of stowing cargo, implying originally to pack close, as to press wool. Estivador in the sense of a wool-packer only is given in the Sp. Dictionaries, but no doubt has been used in every sense of estivar. See Skeat, s.v.
STICK-INSECT, s. The name commonly applied to certain orthopterous insects, of the family Phasmidae, which have the strongest possible resemblance to dry twigs or pieces of stick, sometimes 6 or 7 inches in length.
1754.—"The other remarkable animal which I met with at Cuddalore was the animated Stalk, of which there are different kinds. Some appear like dried straws tied together, others like grass...."—Ives, 20.
1860.—"The Stick-insect.—The Phasmidae or spectres ... present as close a resemblance to small branches, or leafless twigs, as their congeners do to green leaves...."—Tennent, Ceylon, i. 252.
[STICKLAC, s. Lac encrusted on sticks, which in this form is collected in the jungles of Central India.
[1880.—"Where, however, there is a regular trade in stick-lac, the propagation of the insect is systematically carried on by those who wish for a certain and abundant crop."—Ball, Jungle Life, 308.]
STINK-WOOD, s. Foetidia Mauritiana, Lam., a myrtaceous plant of Mauritius, called there Bois puant. "At the Carnival in Goa, one of the sports is to drop bits of this stink-wood into the pockets of respectable persons."—Birdwood (MS.).
STRIDHANA, STREEDHANA, s. Skt. stri-dhana, 'women's property.' A term of Hindu Law, applied to certain property belonging to a woman, which follows a law of succession different from that which regulates other property. The term is first to be found in the works of Jones and Colebrooke (1790-1800), but has recently been introduced into European scientific treatises. [See Mayne, Hindu Law, 541 seqq.]
1875.—"The settled property of a married woman ... is well known to the Hindoos under the name of stridhan."—Maine, Early Institutions, 321.
STUPA. See TOPE.
SUÁKIN, n.p. This name, and the melancholy victories in its vicinity, are too familiar now to need explanation. Arab. Sawákin.
c. 1331.—"This very day we arrived at the island of Sawākin. It is about 6 miles from the mainland, and has neither drinkable water, nor corn, nor trees. Water is brought in boats, and there are cisterns to collect rain water...."—Ibn Batuta, ii. 161-2.
1526.—"The Preste continued speaking with our people, and said to Don Rodrigo that he would have great pleasure and complete contentment, if he saw a fort of ours erected in Macuha, or in Çuaquem, or in Zyla."—Correa, iii. 42; [see Dalboquerque, Comm. ii. 229].
[c. 1590.—"... thence it (the sea) washes both Persia and Ethiopia where are Dahlak and Suakin, and is called (the Gulf of) Omán and the Persian Sea."—Āīn, ed. Jarrett, ii. 121.]
SUCKER-BUCKER, n.p. A name often given in N. India to Upper Sind, from two neighbouring places, viz., the town of Sakhar on the right bank of the Indus, and the island fortress of Bakkar or Bhakkar in the river. An alternative name is Roree-Bucker, from Rohrī, a town opposite Bakkar, on the left bank, the name of which is probably a relic of the ancient town of Arōr or Alōr, though the site has been changed since the Indus adopted its present bed. [See McCrindle, Invasion of India, 352 seqq.]
c. 1333.—"I passed 5 days at Lāharī ... and quitted it to proceed to Bakār. They thus call a fine town through which flows a canal derived from the river Sind."—Ibn Batuta, iii. 114-115.
1521.—Shah Beg "then took his departure for Bhakkar, and after several days' marching arrived at the plain surrounding Sakhar."—Turkhān Nāma, in Elliot, i. 311.
1554.—"After a thousand sufferings we arrived at the end of some days' journey, at Siāwan (Sehwan), and then, passing by Patara and Darilja, we entered the fortress of Bakr."—Sidi 'Ali, p. 136.
[c. 1590.—"Bhakkar (Bhukkar) is a notable fortress; in ancient chronicles it is called Mamṣúrah."—Āīn, ed. Jarrett, ii. 327.]
1616.—"Buckor, the Chiefe Citie, is called Buckor Succor."—Terry, [ed. 1777, p. 75].
1753.—"Vient ensuite Bukor, ou comme il est écrit dans la Géographie Turque, Peker, ville située sur une colline, entre deux bras de l'Indus, qui en font une île ... la géographie ... ajoute que Louhri (i.e. Rori) est une autre ville située vis-à-vis de cette île du côté meridional, et que Sekar, autrement Sukor, est en même position du còté septentrional."—D'Anville, p. 37.
SUCKET, s. Old English. Wright explains the word as 'dried sweetmeats or sugar-plums.' Does it not in the quotations rather mean loaf-sugar? [Palmer (Folk Etymol. 378) says that the original meaning was a 'slice of melon or gourd,' Ital. zuccata, 'a kind of meat made of Pumpions or Gourdes' (Florio) from zucca, 'a gourd or pumpkin,' which is a shortened form of cucuzza, a corruption of Lat. cucurbita (Diez). This is perhaps the same word which appears in the quotation from Linschoten below, where the editor suggests that it is derived from Mahr. sukaṭa, 'slightly dried, desiccated,' and Sir H. Yule suggests a corruption of H. sonṭh, 'dried ginger.']
[1537.—"... packed in a fraile, two little barrels of suckat...."—Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII. xii. pt. i. 451.]
1584.—"White sucket from Zindi" (i.e. Sind) "Cambaia, and China."—Barret, in Hakl. ii. 412.
[1598.—"Ginger by the Arabians, Persians and Turkes is called Gengibil (see GINGER), in Gusurate, Decan, and Bengala, when it is fresh and green Adrac, and when dried sukte."—Linschoten, Hak. Soc. ii. 79.]
c. 1620-30.—
"... For this,
This Candy wine, three merchants were undone;
These suckets brake as many more."
Beaum. and Fletch., The Little French Lawyer, i. 1.
SUCLÁT, SACKCLOTH, &c., s. Pers. saḳallāṭ, saḳallaṭ, saḳlaṭīn, saḳlāṭūn, applied to certain woollen stuffs, and particularly now to European broadcloth. It is sometimes defined as scarlet broad cloth; but though this colour is frequent, it does not seem to be essential to the name. [Scarlet was the name of a material long before it denoted a colour. In the Liberate Roll of 14 Hen. III. (1230, quoted in N. & Q. 8 ser. i. 129) we read of sanguine scarlet, brown, red, white and scarlet coloris de Marble.] It has, however, been supposed that our word scarlet comes from some form of the present word (see Skeat, s.v. Scarlet).[248] But the fact that the Arab. dictionaries give a form saḳirlāṭ must not be trusted to. It is a modern form, probably taken from the European word, [as according to Skeat, the Turkish iskerlat is merely borrowed from the Ital. scarlatto].
The word is found in the medieval literature of Europe in the form siclatoun, a term which has been the subject of controversy both as to etymology and to exact meaning (see Marco Polo, Bk. i. ch. 58, notes). Among the conjectures as to etymology are a derivation from Ar. ṣaḳl, 'polishing' (see SICLEEGUR); from Sicily (Ar. Ṣiḳiliya); and from the Lat. cyclas, cycladatus. In the Arabic Vocabulista of the 13th century (Florence, 1871), siḳlaṭūn is translated by ciclas. The conclusion come to in the note on Marco Polo, based, partly but not entirely, on the modern meaning of saḳallāṭ, was that saḳlāṭūn was probably a light woollen texture. But Dozy and De Jong give it as étoffe de soie, brochée d'or, and the passage from Edrisi supports this undoubtedly. To the north of India the name suklāt is given to a stuff imported from the borders of China.
1040.—"The robes were then brought, consisting of valuable frocks of saklátún of various colours...."—Baihaki, in Elliot, ii. 148.
c. 1150.—"Almeria (Almarīa) was a Musulman city at the time of the Moravidae. It was then a place of great industry, and reckoned, among others, 800 silk looms, where they manufactured costly robes, brocades, the stuffs known as Saḳlāṭūn Isfahānī ... and various other silk tissues."—Edrisi (Joubert), ii. 40.
c. 1220.—"Tabrīz. The chief city of Azarbaijān.... They make there the stuffs called 'attābī (see TABBY), Siḳlāṭūn, Khiṭābī, fine satins and other textures which are exported everywhere."—Yāḳūt, in Barbier de Meynard, i. 133.
c. 1370?—
"His heer, his berd, was lyk saffroun
That to his girdel raughte adoun
Hise shoos of Cordewane,
Of Brugges were his hosen broun
His Robe was of Syklatoun
That coste many a Jane."
Chaucer, Sir Thopas, 4 (Furnival, Ellesmere Text).
c. 1590.—"Suḳlāṭ-i-Rūmī o Farangī o Purtagālī"
(Broadcloth of Turkey, of Europe, and of Portugal)....—Āīn (orig.) i. 110. Blochmann renders 'Scarlet Broadcloth' (see above). [The same word, suḳlāṭī, is used later on of 'woollen stuffs' made in Kashmīr (Jarrett, Āīn, ii. 355).]
1673.—"Suffahaun is already full of London Cloath, or Sackcloath Londre, as they call it."—Fryer, 224.
" "His Hose of London Sackcloth of any Colour."—Ibid. 391.
[1840.—"... his simple dress of sooklaat and flat black woollen cap...."—Lloyd, Gerard, Narr. i. 167.]
1854.—"List of Chinese articles brought to India.... Suklat, a kind of camlet made of camel's hair."—Cunningham's Ladak, 242.
1862.—"In this season travellers wear garments of sheep-skin with sleeves, the fleecy side inwards, and the exterior covered with Sooklat, or blanket."—Punjab Trade Report, 57.
" "Broadcloth (Europe), ('Suklat,' 'Mahoot')."—Ibid. App. p. ccxxx.
SUDDEN DEATH. Anglo-Indian slang for a fowl served as a spatchcock, the standing dish at a dawk-bungalow in former days. The bird was caught in the yard, as the traveller entered, and was on the table by the time he had bathed and dressed.
[c. 1848.—"'Sudden death' means a young chicken about a month old, caught, killed, and grilled at the shortest notice."—Berncastle, Voyage to China, i. 193.]
SUDDER, adj., but used as s. Literally 'chief,' being Ar. ṣadr. This term had a technical application under Mahommedan rule to a chief Judge, as in the example quoted below. The use of the word seems to be almost confined to the Bengal Presidency. Its principal applications are the following:
a. Sudder Board. This is the 'Board of Revenue,' of which there is one at Calcutta, and one in the N.W. Provinces at Allahabad. There is a Board of Revenue at Madras, but not called 'Sudder Board' there.
b. Sudder Court, i.e. 'Sudder Adawlut' (ṣadr 'adālat). This was till 1862, in Calcutta and in the N.W.P., the chief court of appeal from the Mofussil or District Courts, the Judges being members of the Bengal Civil Service. In the year named the Calcutta Sudder Court was amalgamated with the Supreme Court (in which English Law had been administered by English Barrister-Judges), the amalgamated Court being entitled the High Court of Judiciary. A similar Court also superseded the Sudder Adawlut in the N.W.P.
c. Sudder Ameen, i.e. chief Ameen (q.v.). This was the designation of the second class of native Judge in the classification which was superseded in Bengal by Act XVI. of 1868, in Bombay by Act XIV. of 1869, and in Madras by Act III. of 1873. Under that system the highest rank of native Judge was Principal Sudder Ameen; the 2nd rank, Sudder Ameen; the 3rd, Moonsiff. In the new classification there are in Bengal Subordinate Judges of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade, and Munsiffs (see MOONSIFF) of 4 grades; in Bombay, Subordinate Judges of the 1st class in 3 grades, and 2nd class in 4 grades; and in Madras Subordinate Judges in 3 grades, and Munsiffs in 4 grades.
d. Sudder Station. The chief station of a district, viz. that where the Collector, Judge, and other chief civil officials reside, and where their Courts are.
c. 1340.—"The Ṣadr-Jihān ('Chief of the Word') i.e. the Ḳaḍī-al-Kuḍāt ('Judge of Judges') (CAZEE) ... possesses ten townships, producing a revenue of about 60,000 tankas. He is also called Ṣadr-al-Islām."—Shihābuddīn Dimishkī, in Notes et Exts. xiii. 185.
SUFEENA, s. Hind. safīna. This is the native corr. of subpoena. It is shaped, but not much distorted, by the existence in Hind. of the Ar. word safīna for 'a blank-book, a note-book.'
SUGAR, s. This familiar word is of Skt. origin. Sarkara originally signifies 'grit or gravel,' thence crystallised sugar, and through a Prakrit form sakkara gave the Pers. shakkar, the Greek σάκχαρ and σάκχαρον, and the late Latin saccharum. The Ar. is sukkar, or with the article as-sukkar, and it is probable that our modern forms, It. zucchero and succhero, Fr. sucre, Germ. Zucker, Eng. sugar, came as well as the Sp. azucar, and Port. assucar, from the Arabic direct, and not through Latin or Greek. The Russian is sakhar; Polish zukier; Hung. zukur. In fact the ancient knowledge of the product was slight and vague, and it was by the Arabs that the cultivation of the sugar-cane was introduced into Egypt, Sicily, and Andalusia. It is possible indeed, and not improbable, that palm-sugar (see JAGGERY) is a much older product than that of the cane. [This is disputed by Watt (Econ. Dict. vi. pt. i. p. 31), who is inclined to fix the home of the cane in E. India.] The original habitat of the cane is not known; there is only a slight and doubtful statement of Loureiro, who, in speaking of Cochin-China, uses the words "habitat et colitur," which may imply its existence in a wild state, as well as under cultivation, in that country. De Candolle assigns its earliest production to the country extending from Cochin-China to Bengal.
Though, as we have said, the knowledge which the ancients had of sugar was very dim, we are disposed greatly to question the thesis, which has been so confidently maintained by Salmasius and later writers, that the original saccharon of Greek and Roman writers was not sugar but the siliceous concretion sometimes deposited in bamboos, and used in medieval medicine under the name tabasheer (q.v.) (where see a quotation from Royle, taking the same view). It is just possible that Pliny in the passage quoted below may have jumbled up two different things, but we see no sufficient evidence even of this. In White's Latin Dict. we read that by the word saccharon is meant (not sugar but) "a sweet juice distilling from the joints of the bamboo." This is nonsense. There is no such sweet juice distilled from the joints of the bamboo; nor is the substance tabashīr at all sweet. On the contrary it is slightly bitter and physicky in taste, with no approach to sweetness. It is a hydrate of silica. It could never have been called "honey" (see Dioscorides and Pliny below); and the name of bamboo-sugar appears to have been given it by the Arabs merely because of some resemblance of its concretions to lumps of sugar. [The same view is taken in the Encycl. Brit. 9th ed. xxii. 625, quoting Not. et Extr., xxv. 267.] All the erroneous notices of σάκχαρον seem to be easily accounted for by lack of knowledge; and they are exactly paralleled by the loose and inaccurate stories about the origin of camphor, of lac, and what-not, that may be found within the boards of this book.
In the absence or scarcity of sugar, honey was the type of sweetness, and hence the name of honey applied to sugar in several of these early extracts. This phraseology continued down to the Middle Ages, at least in its application to uncrystallised products of the sugar-cane, and analogous substances. In the quotation from Pegolotti we apprehend that his three kinds of honey indicate honey, treacle, and a syrup or treacle made from the sweet pods of the carob-tree.
Sugar does not seem to have been in early Chinese use. The old Chinese books often mention shi-mi or 'stone-honey' as a product of India and Persia. In the reign of Taitsung (627-650) a man was sent to Gangetic India to learn the art of sugar-making; and Marco Polo below mentions the introduction from Egypt of the further art of refining it. In India now, Chīnī (Cheeny) (Chinese) is applied to the whiter kinds of common sugar; Miṣrī (Misree) or Egyptian, to sugar-candy; loaf-sugar is called ḳand.