"Although Tobacco be the produce of an European Plant, it has nevertheless been in use by our Physicians medicinally for some time past. Nay, some creditable People even have been friendly to the use of it, though from its having been brought sparingly in the first instance from Europe, its rarity prevented it from coming into general use. The Culture of this Plant, however, became speedily almost universal, within a short period after its introduction into Hindostaun; and the produce of it rewarded the Cultivator far beyond every other article of Husbandry. This became more especially the case in the reign of Shah Jehaun (commenced A.H. 1037) when the Practice of Smoking pervaded all Ranks and Classes within the Empire. Nobles and Beggars, Pious and Wicked, Devotees and Free-thinkers, poets, historians, rhetoricians, doctors and patients, high and low, rich and poor, all! all seemed intoxicated with a decided preference over every other luxury, nay even often over the necessaries of life. To a stranger no offering was so acceptable as a Whiff, and to a friend one could produce nothing half so grateful as a Chillum. So rooted was the habit that the confirmed Smoker would abstain from Food and Drink rather than relinquish the gratification he derived from inhaling the Fumes of this deleterious Plant! Nature recoils at the very idea of touching the Saliva of another Person, yet in the present instance our Tobacco smokers pass the moistened Tube from one mouth to another without hesitation on the one hand, and it is received with complacency on the other! The more acrid the Fumes so much the more grateful to the Palate of the Connoisseur. The Smoke is a Collyrium to the Eyes, whilst the Fire, they will tell you, supplies to the Body the waste of radical Heat. Without doubt the Hookah is a most pleasing Companion, whether to the Wayworn Traveller or to the solitary Hermit. It is a Friend in whose Bosom we may repose our most confidential Secrets; and a Counsellor upon whose advice we may rely in our most important Concerns. It is an elegant Ornament in our private Appartments: it gives joy to the Beholder in our public Halls. The Music of its sound puts the warbling of the Nightingale to Shame, and the Fragrance of its Perfume brings a Blush on the Cheek of the Rose. Life in short is prolonged by the Fumes inhaled at each inspiration, whilst every expiration of them is accompanied with extatic delight...."—(cætera desunt).
c. 1760.—"Tambákú. It is known from the Maásir-i-Rahímí that the tobacco came from Europe to the Dakhin, and from the Dakhin to Upper India, during the reign of Akbar Sháh (1556-1605), since which time it has been in general use."—Bahár-i'-Ajam, quoted by Blochmann, in Ind. Antiq. i. 164.
1878.—It appears from Miss Bird's Japan that tobacco was not cultivated in that country till 1605. In 1612 and 1615 the Shogun prohibited both culture and use of tabako.—See the work, i. 276-77. [According to Mr. Chamberlain (Things Japanese, 3rd ed. p. 402) by 1651 the law was so far relaxed that smoking was permitted, but only out-of-doors.]
TOBRA, s. Hind. tobṛā, [which, according to Platts, is Skt. protha, 'nose of a horse,' inverted]. The leather nose-bag in which a horse's feed is administered. "In the Nerbudda valley, in Central India, the women wear a profusion of toe-rings, some standing up an inch high. Their shoes are consequently curiously shaped, and are called tobras" (M.-Gen. R. H. Keatinge). As we should say, 'buckets.' [The use of the nosebag is referred to by Sir T. Herbert (ed. 1634): "The horses (of the Persians) feed usually of barley and chopt-straw put into a bag, and fastened about their heads, which implyes the manger." Also see TURA.]
1808.—"... stable-boys are apt to serve themselves to a part out of the poor beasts allowance; to prevent which a thrifty housewife sees it put into a tobra, or mouth bag, and spits thereon to make the Hostler loathe and leave it alone."—Drummond, Illustrations, &c.
[1875.—"One of the horsemen dropped his tobra or nose-bag."—Drew, Jummoo, 240.]
TODDY, s. A corruption of Hind. tāṛī, i.e. the fermented sap of the tāṛ or palmyra, Skt. tāla, and also of other palms, such as the date, the coco-palm, and the Caryota urens; palm-wine. Toddy is generally the substance used in India as yeast, to leaven bread. The word, as is well known, has received a new application in Scotland, the immediate history of which we have not traced. The tāla-tree seems to be indicated, though confusedly, in this passage of Megasthenes from Arrian:
c. B.C. 320.—"Megasthenes tells us ... the Indians were in old times nomadic ... were so barbarous that they wore the skins of such wild animals as they could kill, and subsisted (?) on the bark of trees; that these trees were called in the Indian speech tala, and that there grew on them as there grows at the tops of the (date) palm trees, a fruit resembling balls of wool."—Arrian, Indica, vii., tr. by McCrindle.
c. 1330.—"... There is another tree of a different species, which ... gives all the year round a white liquor, pleasant to drink, which tree is called tari."—Fr. Jordanus, 16.
[1554.—"There is in Gujaret a tree of the palm-tribe, called tari agadji (millet tree). From its branches cups are suspended, and when the cut end of a branch is placed into one of these vessels, a sweet liquid, something of the nature of arrack, flows out in a continuous stream ... and presently changes into a most wonderful wine."—Travels of Sidi Ali Reïs, trans. A. Vambéry, p. 29.]
[1609-10.—"Tarree." See under SURA.]
1611.—"Palmiti Wine, which they call Taddy."—N. Dounton, in Purchas, i. 298.
[1614.—"A sort of wine that distilleth out of the Palmetto trees, called Tadie."—Foster, Letters, iii. 4.]
1615.—
"... And then more to glad yee
Weele have a health to al our friends in Tadee."
Verses to T. Coryat, in Crudities, iii. 47.
1623.—"... on board of which we stayed till nightfall, entertaining with conversation and drinking tari, a liquor which is drawn from the coco-nut trees, of a whitish colour, a little turbid, and of a somewhat rough taste, though with a blending in sweetness, and not unpalatable, something like one of our vini piccanti. It will also intoxicate, like wine, if drunk over freely."—P. della Valle, ii. 530; [Hak. Soc. i. 62].
[1634.—"The Toddy-tree is like the Date of Palm; the Wine called Toddy is got by wounding and piercing the Tree, and putting a Jar or Pitcher under it, so as the Liquor may drop into it."—Sir T. Herbert, in Harris, i. 408.]
1648.—"The country ... is planted with palmito-trees, from which a sap is drawn called Terry, that they very commonly drink."—Van Twist, 12.
1653.—"... le tari qui est le vin ordinaire des Indes."—De la Boullaye-le-Gouz, 246.
1673.—"The Natives singing and roaring all Night long; being drunk with Toddy, the Wine of the Cocoe."—Fryer, 53.
" "As for the rest, they are very respectful, unless the Seamen and Soldiers get drunk, either with Toddy or Bang."—Ibid. 91.
1686.—"Besides the Liquor or Water in the Fruit, there is also a sort of Wine drawn from the Tree called Toddy, which looks like Whey."—Dampier, i. 293.
1705.—"... cette liqueur s'appelle tarif."—Luillier, 43.
1710.—This word was in common use at Madras.—Wheeler, ii. 125.
1750.—"J. Was vor Leute trincken Taddy? C. Die Soldaten, die Land Portugiesen, die Parreier (see PARIAH) und Schiffleute trincken diesen Taddy."—Madras, oder Fort St. George, &c., Halle, 1750.
1857.—"It is the unfermented juice of the Palmyra which is used as food: when allowed to ferment, which it will do before midday, if left to itself, it is changed into a sweet, intoxicating drink called 'kal' or 'toddy.'"—Bp. Caldwell, Lectures on Tinnevelly Mission, p. 33.
¶ "The Rat, returning home full of Toddy, said, If I meet the Cat, I will tear him in pieces."—Ceylon Proverb, in Ind. Antiq. i. 59.
Of the Scotch application of the word we can find but one example in Burns, and, strange to say, no mention in Jameson's Dictionary:
1785.—
"The lads an' lasses, blythely bent
To mind baith saul an' body,
Sit round the table, weel content
An' steer about the toddy...."
Burns, The Holy Fair.
1798.—"Action of the case, for giving her a dose in some toddy, to intoxicate and inflame her passions."—Roots's Reports, i. 80.
1804.—
"... I've nae fear for't;
For siller, faith, ye ne'er did care for't,
Unless to help a needful body,
An' get an antrin glass o' toddy."
Tannahill, Epistle to James Barr.
TODDY-BIRD, s. We do not know for certain what bird is meant by this name in the quotation. The nest would seem to point to the Baya, or Weaver-bird (Ploceus Baya, Blyth): but the size alleged is absurd; it is probably a blunder. [Another bird, the Artamus fuscus, is, according to Balfour (Cycl. s.v.) called the toddy shrike.]
[1673.—"For here is a Bird (having its name from the Tree it chuses for its Sanctuary, the toddy-tree)...."—Fryer, 76.]
c. 1750-60.—"It is in this tree (see PALMYRA, BRAB) that the toddy-birds, so called from their attachment to that tree, make their exquisitely curious nests, wrought out of the thinnest reeds and filaments of branches, with an inimitable mechanism, and are about the bigness of a partridge (?) The birds themselves are of no value...."—Grose, i. 48.
TODDY-CAT, s. This name is in S. India applied to the Paradoxurus Musanga, Jerdon: [the P. niger, the Indian Palm-Civet of Blanford (Mammalia, 106).] It infests houses, especially where there is a ceiling of cloth (see CHUTT). Its name is given for its fondness, real or supposed, for palm-juice.
[TOKO, s. Slang for 'a thrashing.' The word is imper. of Hind. ṭoknā, 'to censure, blame,' and has been converted into a noun on the analogy of bunnow and other words of the same kind.
[1823.—"Toco for yam—Yams are food for negroes in the W. Indies ... and if, instead of receiving his proper ration of these, blackee gets a whip (toco) about his back, why 'he has caught toco' instead of yam."—John Bee, Slang Dict.
[1867.—"Toko for Yam. An expression peculiar to negroes for crying out before being hurt."—Smyth, Sailor's Word-Book, s.v.]
TOLA, s. An Indian weight (chiefly of gold or silver), not of extreme antiquity. Hind. tolā, Skt. tulā, 'a balance,' tul, 'to lift up, to weigh.' The Hindu scale is 8 rattīs (see RUTTEE) = 1 māsha, 12 māshas = 1 tolā. Thus the tolā was equal to 96 rattīs. The proper weight of the rattī, which was the old Indian unit of weight, has been determined by Mr. E. Thomas as 1.75 grains, and the medieval tanga which was the prototype of the rupee was of 100 rattīs weight. "But ... the factitious rattī of the Muslims was merely an aliquot part—1⁄96 of the comparatively recent tola, and 1⁄92 of the newly devised rupee." By the Regulation VII. of 1833, putting the British India coinage on its present footing (see under SEER) the tolā weighing 180 grs., which is also the weight of the rupee, is established by the same Regulation, as the unit of the system of weights, 80 tolas = 1 ser, 40 sers = 1 Maund.
1563.—"I knew a secretary of Nizamoxa (see NIZAMALUCO), a native of Coraçon, who ate every day three tollas (of opium), which is the weight of ten cruzados and a half; but this Coraçoni (Khorasānī), though he was a man of letters and a great scribe and official, was always nodding or sleeping."—Garcia, f. 155b.
1610.—"A Tole is a rupee challany of silver, and ten of these Toles are the value of one of gold."—Hawkins, in Purchas, i. 217.
1615-16.—"Two tole and a half being an ounce."—Sir T. Roe, in Purchas, i. 545; [Hak. Soc. i. 183].
1676.—"Over all the Empire of the Great Mogul, all the Gold and Silver is weigh'd with Weights, which they call Tolla, which amounts to 9 deniers and eight grains of our weight."—Tavernier, E.T. ii. 18; [ed. Ball, i. 14].
TOMAUN, s. A Mongol word, signifying 10,000, and constantly used in the histories of the Mongol dynasties for a division of an army theoretically consisting of that number. But its modern application is to a Persian money, at the present time worth about 7s. 6d. [In 1899 the exchange was about 53 crans to the £1; 10 Crans = 1 tumān.] Till recently it was only a money of account, representing 10,000 dīnārs; the latter also having been in Persia for centuries only a money of account, constantly degenerating in value. The tomaun in Fryer's time (1677) is reckoned by him as equal to £3, 6s. 8d. P. della Valle's estimate 60 years earlier would give about £4, 10s. 0d., and is perhaps loose and too high. Sir T. Herbert's valuation (5 × 13s. 8d.) is the same as Fryer's. In the first and third of the following quotations we have the word in the Tartar military sense, for a division of 10,000 men:
1298.—"You see when a Tartar prince goes forth to war, he takes with him, say, 100,000 horse ... they call the corps of 100,000 men a Tuc; that of 10,000 they call a Toman."—Marco Polo, Bk. i. ch. 54.
c. 1340.—"Ces deux portions réunies formaient un total de 800 toumans, dont chacun vaut 10,000 dinars courants, et le dinar 6 dirhems."—Shihābuddīn, Masālak-al Abṣār, in Not. et Exts. xiii. 194.
c. 1347.—"I was informed ... that when the Kān assembled his troops, and called the array of his forces together, there were with him 100 divisions of horse, each composed of 10,000 men, the chief of whom was called Amīr Tumān, or lord of 10,000."—Ibn Batuta, iv. 299-300.
A form of the Tartar word seems to have passed into Russian:
c. 1559.—"One thousand in the language of the people is called Tissutze: likewise ten thousand in a single word Tma: twenty thousand Duuetma: thirty thousand Titma."—Herberstein, Della Moscovia, Ramusio, iii. 159.
[c. 1590.—In the Sarkár of Kandahár "eighteen dinárs make a tumán, and each tumán is equivalent to 800 dáms. The tumán of Khurasán is equal in value to 30 rupees and the tumán of Irák to 40."—Āīn, ed. Jarrett, ii. 393-94.]
1619.—"L'ambasciadore Indiano ... ordinò che donasse a tutti un tomano, cioè dieci zecchini per uno."—P. della Valle, ii. 22.
c. 1630.—"But how miserable so ere it seemes to others, the Persian King makes many happy harvests; filling every yeere his insatiate coffers with above 350,000 Tomans (a Toman is five markes sterlin)."—Sir T. Herbert, p. 225.
[c. 1665.—In Persia "the abási is worth 4 sháhis, and the tomán 50 abásis or 200 sháhis."—Tavernier, ed. Ball, i. 24.]
1677.—"... Receipt of Custom (at Gombroon) for which he pays the King yearly Twenty-two thousand Thomands, every Thomand making Three pound and a Noble in our Accompt, Half which we have a Right to."—Fryer, 222.
1711.—"Camels, Houses, &c., are generally sold by the Tomand, which is 200 Shahees or 50 Abassees; and they usually reckon their Estates that way; such a man is worth so many Tomands, as we reckon by Pounds in England."—Lockyer, 229.
[1858.—"Girwur Singh, Tomandar, came up with a detachment of the special police."—Sleeman, Journey through Oudh, ii. 17.]
TOMBACK, s. An alloy of copper and zinc, i.e. a particular modification of brass, formerly imported from Indo-Chinese countries. Port. tambaca, from Malay tāmbaga and tămbaga, 'copper,' which is again from Skt. tamṛika and tāmra.
1602.—"Their drummes are huge pannes made of a metall called Tombaga, which makes a most hellish sound."—Scott, Discourse of Iaua, in Purchas, i. 180.
1690.—"This Tombac is a kind of Metal, whose scarcity renders it more valuable than Gold.... 'Tis thought to be a kind of natural Compound of Gold, Silver, and Brass, and in some places the mixture is very Rich, as at Borneo, and the Moneilloes, in others more allayed, as at Siam."—Ovington, 510.
1759.—"The Productions of this Country (Siam) are prodigious quantities of Grain, Cotton, Benjamin ... and Tambanck."—In Dalrymple, i. 119.
TOM-TOM, s. Ṭamṭam, a native drum. The word comes from India, and is chiefly used there. Forbes (Rās-Mālā, ii. 401) [ed. 1878, p. 665] says the thing is so called because used by criers who beat it tām-tām, 'place by place,' i.e. first at one place, then at another. But it is rather an onomatopoeia, not belonging to any language in particular. In Ceylon it takes the form tamaṭṭama, in Tel. tappeta, in Tam. tambattam; in Malay it is toṅtoṅ, all with the same meaning. [When badminton was introduced at Satāra natives called it Ṭamṭam phūl khel, ṭam-ṭam meaning 'battledore,' and the shuttlecock looked like a flower (phūl). Tommy Atkins promptly turned this into "Tom Fool" (Calcutta Rev. xcvi. 346).] In French the word tamtam is used, not for a drum of any kind, but for a Chinese gong (q.v.). M. Littré, however, in the Supplement to his Dict., remarks that this use is erroneous.
1693.—"It is ordered that to-morrow morning the Choultry Justices do cause the Tom Tom to be beat through all the Streets of the Black Town...."—In Wheeler, i. 268.
1711.—"Their small Pipes, and Tom Toms, instead of Harmony made the Discord the greater."—Lockyer, 235.
1755.—In the Calcutta Mayor's expenses we find:
"Tom Tom, R. 1 1 0."—In Long, 56.
1764.—"You will give strict orders to the Zemindars to furnish Oil and Musshauls, and Tom Toms and Pikemen, &c., according to custom."—Ibid. 391.
1770.—"... An instrument of brass which the Europeans lately borrowed from the Turks to add to their military music, and which is called a tam" (!).—Abbé Raynal, tr. 1777, i. 30.
1789.—"An harsh kind of music from a tom-tom or drum, accompanied by a loud rustic pipe, sounds from different parties throughout the throng...."—Munro, Narrative, 73.
1804.—"I request that they may be hanged; and let the cause of their punishment be published in the bazar by beat of tom-tom."—Wellington, iii. 186.
1824.—"The Mahrattas in my vicinity kept up such a confounded noise with the tamtams, cymbals, and pipes, that to sleep was impossible."—Seely, Wonders of Ellora, ch. iv.
1836.—For the use of the word by Dickens, see under GUM-GUM.
1862.—"The first musical instruments were without doubt percussive sticks, calabashes, tomtoms."—Herbert Spencer, First Principles, 356.
1881.—"The tom-tom is ubiquitous. It knows no rest. It is content with depriving man of his. It selects by preference the hours of the night as the time for its malign influence to assert its most potent sway. It reverberates its dull unmeaning monotones through the fitful dreams which sheer exhaustion brings. It inspires delusive hopes by a brief lull only to break forth with refreshed vigour into wilder ecstacies of maniacal fury—accompanied with nasal incantations and protracted howls...."—Overland Times of India, April 14.
TONGA, s. A kind of light and small two-wheeled vehicle, Hind, tāngā, [Skt. tamanga, 'a platform']. The word has become familiar of late years, owing to the use of the tonga in a modified form on the roads leading up to Simla, Darjeeling, and other hill-stations. [Tavernier speaks of a carriage of this kind, but does not use the word:
[c. 1665.—"They have also, for travelling, small, very light, carriages which contain two persons; but usually one travels alone ... to which they harness a pair of oxen only. These carriages, which are provided, like ours, with curtains and cushions, are not slung...."—Tavernier, ed. Ball, i. 44.]
1874.—"The villages in this part of the country are usually superior to those in Poona or Sholápur, and the people appear to be in good circumstances.... The custom too, which is common, of driving light Tongas drawn by ponies or oxen points to the same conclusion."—Settlement Report of Násik.
1879.—"A tongha dâk has at last been started between Rajpore and Dehra. The first tongha took only 5½ hours from Rajpore to Saharunpore."—Pioneer Mail.
1880.—"In the (Times) of the 19th of April we are told that 'Syud Mahomed Padshah has repulsed the attack on his fort instigated by certain moolahs of tonga dâk.'... Is the relentless tonga a region of country or a religious organization?... The original telegram appears to have contemplated a full stop after 'certain moollahs.' Then came an independent sentence about the tonga dâk working admirably between Peshawur and Jellalabad, but the sub-editor of the Times, interpreting the message referred to, made sense of it in the way we have seen, associating the ominous mystery with the moollahs, and helping out the other sentence with some explanatory ideas of his own."—Pioneer Mail, June 10.
1881.—"Bearing in mind Mr. Framji's extraordinary services, notably those rendered during the mutiny, and ... that he is crippled for life ... by wounds received while gallantly defending the mail tonga cart in which he was travelling, when attacked by dacoits...."—Letter from Bombay Govt. to Govt. of India, June 17, 1881.
TONICATCHY, TUNNYKETCH, s. In Madras this is the name of the domestic water-carrier, who is generally a woman, and acts as a kind of under housemaid. It is a corr. of Tamil tannir-kāssi, tannikkāriççi, an abbreviation of tannīr-kāsatti, 'water-woman.'
c. 1780.—"'Voudriez-vous me permettre de faire ce trajet avec mes gens et mes bagages, qui ne consistent qu'en deux malles, quatre caisses de vin, deux ballots de toiles, et deux femmes, dont l'une est ma cuisinière, et l'autre, ma tannie karetje ou porteuse d'eau.'"—Haafner, i. 242.
1792.—"The Armenian ... now mounts a bit of blood ... and ... dashes the mud about through the streets of the Black Town, to the admiration and astonishment of the Tawny-kertches."—Madras Courier, April 26.
TONJON, and vulg. TOMJOHN, s. A sort of sedan or portable chair. It is (at least in the Bengal Presidency) carried like a palankin by a single pole and four bearers, whereas a jompon (q.v.), for use in a hilly country, has two poles like a European sedan, each pair of bearers bearing it by a stick between the poles, to which the latter are slung. We cannot tell what the origin of this word is, nor explain the etymology given by Williamson below, unless it is intended for thām-jāngh, which might mean 'support-thigh.' Mr. Platts gives as forms in Hind. tāmjhām and thāmjān. The word is perhaps adopted from some trans-gangetic language. A rude contrivance of this kind in Malabar is described by Col. Welsh under the name of a 'Tellicherry chair' (ii. 40).
c. 1804.—"I had a tonjon, or open palanquin, in which I rode."—Mrs. Sherwood, Autobiog. 283.
1810.—"About Dacca, Chittagong, Tipperah, and other mountainous parts, a very light kind of conveyance is in use, called a taum-jaung, i.e. 'a support to the feet.'"—Williamson, V.M. i. 322-23.
" "Some of the party at the tents sent a tonjon, or open chair, carried like a palankeen, to meet me."—Maria Graham, 166.
[1827.—"In accordance with Lady D'Oyly's earnest wish I go out every morning in her tonjin."—Diary of Mrs. Fenton, 100.]
1829.—"I had been conveyed to the hill in Hanson's tonjon, which differs only from a palanquin in being like the body of a gig with a head to it."—Mem. of Col. Mountain, 88.
[1832.—"... I never seat myself in the palankeen or thonjaun without a feeling bordering on self-reproach...."—Mrs. Meer Hassan Ali, Observations, i. 320.]
1839.—"He reined up his ragged horse, facing me, and dancing about till I had passed; then he dashed past me at full gallop, wheeled round, and charged my tonjon, bending down to his saddlebow, pretending to throw a lance, showing his teeth, and uttering a loud quack!"—Letters from Madras, 290.
[1849.—"We proceeded to Nawabgunge, the minister riding out with me, for some miles, to take leave, as I sat in my tonjohn."—Sleeman, Journey through Oudh, i. 2.]
TOOLSY, s. The holy Basil of the Hindus (Ocimum sanctum, L.), Skt. tulsī or tulasī, frequently planted in a vase upon a pedestal of masonry in the vicinity of Hindu temples or dwellings. Sometimes the ashes of deceased relatives are preserved in these domestic shrines. The practice is alluded to by Fr. Odoric as in use at Tana, near Bombay (see Cathay, i. 59, c. 1322); and it is accurately described by the later ecclesiastic quoted below. See also Ward's Hindoos, ii. 203. The plant has also a kind of sanctity in the Greek Church, and a character for sanitary value at least on the shores of the Mediterranean generally.
[c. 1650.—"They who bear the tulasī round the neck ... they are Vaishnavas, and sanctify the world."—Bhaktā Mālā, in H. H. Wilson's Works, i. 41.]
1672.—"Almost all the Hindus ... adore a plant like our Basilico gentile, but of more pungent odour.... Every one before his house has a little altar, girt with a wall half an ell high, in the middle of which they erect certain pedestals like little towers, and in these the shrub is grown. They recite their prayers daily before it, with repeated prostrations, sprinklings of water, &c. There are also many of these maintained at the bathing-places, and in the courts of the pagodas."—P. Vincenzo Maria, 300.
1673.—"They plaster Cow-dung before their Doors; and so keep themselves clean, having a little place or two built up a Foot Square of Mud, where they plant Calaminth, or (by them called) Tulce, which they worship every Morning, and tend with Diligence."—Fryer, 199.
1842.—"Veneram a planta chamada Tulosse, por dizerem é do pateo dos Deoses, e por isso é commun no pateo de suas casas, e todas as manhãs lhe vão tributar veneração."—Annaes Maritimos, iii. 453.
1872.—"At the head of the ghát, on either side, is a sacred tulasi plant ... placed on a high pedestal of masonry."—Govinda Samanta, i. 18.
The following illustrates the esteem attached to Toolsy in S. Europe:
1885.—"I have frequently realised how much prized the basil is in Greece for its mystic properties. The herb, which they say grew on Christ's grave, is almost worshipped in the Eastern Church. On St. Basil's day women take sprigs of this plant to be blessed in church. On returning home they cast some on the floor of the house, to secure luck for the ensuing year. They eat a little with their household, and no sickness, they maintain, will attack them for a year. Another bit they put in their cupboard, and firmly believe that their embroideries and silken raiment will be free from the visitation of rats, mice, and moths, for the same period."—J. T. Bent, The Cyclades, p. 328.
TOOMONGONG, s. A Malay title, especially known as borne by one of the chiefs of Johōr, from whom the Island of Singapore was purchased. The Sultans of Johōr are the representatives of the old Mahommedan dynasty of Malacca, which took refuge in Johōr, and the adjoining islands (including Bintang especially), when expelled by Albuquerque in 1511, whilst the Tumanggung was a minister who had in Peshwa fashion appropriated the power of the Sultan, with hereditary tenure: and this chief now lives, we believe, at Singapore. Crawfurd says: "The word is most probably Javanese; and in Java is the title of a class of nobles, not of an office" (Malay Dict. s.v.)
[1774.—"Paid a visit to the Sultan ... and Pangaram Toomongong...."—Diary of J. Herbert, in Forrest, Bombay Letters, Home Series, ii. 438.
[1830.—"This (Bopáti), however, is rather a title of office than of mere rank, as these governors are sometimes Tumúng'gungs, An'gebáis, and of still inferior rank."—Raffles, Java, 2nd ed. i. 299.]
1884.—"Singapore had originally been purchased from two Malay chiefs; the Sultan and Tumangong of Johore. The former, when Sir Stamford Raffles entered into the arrangement with them, was the titular sovereign, whilst the latter, who held an hereditary office, was the real ruler."—Cavenagh, Reminis. of an Indian Official, 273.
TOON, TOON-WOOD, s. The tree and timber of the Cedrela Toona, Roxb. N.O. Meliaceae. Hind. tun, tūn, Skt. tunna. The timber is like a poor mahogany, and it is commonly used for furniture and fine joiner's work in many parts of India. It is identified by Bentham with the Red Cedar of N.S. Wales and Queensland (Cedrela australis, F. Mueller). See Brandis, Forest Flora, 73. A sp. of the same genus (C. sinensis) is called in Chinese ch'un, which looks like the same word.
[1798.—The tree first described by Sir W. Jones, As. Res. iv. 288.]
1810.—"The toon, or country mahogany, which comes from Bengal...."—Maria Graham, 101.
1837.—"Rosellini informs us that there is an Egyptian harp at Florence, of which the wood is what is commonly called E. Indian mahogany (Athenaeum, July 22, 1837). This may be the Cedrela Toona."—Royle's Hindu Medicine, 30.
TOORKEY, s. A Turkī horse, i.e. from Turkestan. Marco Polo uses what is practically the same word for a horse from the Turcoman horse-breeders of Asia Minor.
1298.—"... the Turcomans ... dwell among mountains and downs where they find good pasture, for their occupation is cattle-keeping. Excellent horses, known as Turquans, are reared in their country...."—Marco Polo, Bk. i. ch. 2.
[c. 1590.—"The fourth class (Turkí) are horses imported from Turán; though strong and well formed, they do not come up to the preceding (Arabs, Persian, Mujannas)."—Āīn, i. 234.
[1663.—"If they are found to be Turki horses, that is from Turkistan or Tartary, and of a proper size and adequate strength, they are branded on the thigh with the King's mark...."—Bernier, ed. Constable, 243.]
1678.—"Four horses bought for the Company—
| Pagodas. | |
| One young Arab at | 160 |
| One old Turkey at | 40 |
| One old Atchein at | 20 |
| One of this country at | 20 |
| 240." | |
| Ft. St. Geo. Consns., March 6, in Notes and Exts., Madras, 1871. |
|
1782.—"Wanted one or two Tanyans (see TANGUN) rising six years old, Wanted also a Bay Toorkey, or Bay Tazzi (see TAZEE) Horse for a Buggy...."—India Gazette, Feb. 9.
" "To be disposed of at Ghyretty ... a Buggy, almost new ... a pair of uncommonly beautiful spotted Toorkays."—Ibid. March 2.
TOOTNAGUE, s. Port. tutenaga. This word appears to have two different applications. a. A Chinese alloy of copper, zinc, and nickel, sometimes called 'white copper' (i.e. peh-tung of the Chinese). The finest qualities are alleged to contain arsenic.[271] The best comes from Yunnan, and Mr. Joubert of the Garnier Expedition, came to the conclusion that it was produced by a direct mixture of the ores in the furnace (Voyage d'Exploration, ii. 160). b. It is used in Indian trade in the same loose way that spelter is used, for either zinc or pewter (peh-yuen, or 'white lead' of the Chinese). The base of the word is no doubt the Pers. tūtiya, Skt. tuttha, an oxide of zinc, generally in India applied to blue vitriol or sulphate of copper, but the formation of the word is obscure. Possibly the last syllable is merely an adjective affix, in which way nāk is used in Persian. Or it may be nāga in the sense of lead, which is one of the senses given by Shakespear. In one of the quotations given below, tutenague is confounded with calin (see CALAY). Moodeen Sheriff gives as synonyms for zinc, Tam. tuttanāgam [tuttunāgam], Tel. tuttunāgam [tuttināgamu], Mahr. and Guz. tutti-nāga. Sir G. Staunton is curiously wrong in supposing (as his mode of writing seems to imply) that tutenague is a Chinese word. [The word has been finally corrupted in England into 'tooth and egg' metal, as in a quotation below.]
1605.—"4500 Pikals (see PECUL) of Tintenaga (for Tiutenaga) or Spelter."—In Valentijn, v. 329.
1644.—"That which they export (from Cochin to Orissa) is pepper, although it is prohibited, and all the drugs of the south, with Callaym (see CALAY), Tutunaga, wares of China and Portugal; jewelled ornaments; but much less nowadays, for the reasons already stated...."—Bocarro, MS. f. 316.
1675.—"... from thence with Dollars to China for Sugar, Tea, Porcelane, Laccared Ware, Quicksilver, Tuthinag, and Copper...."—Fryer, 86.
[1676-7.—"... supposing yor Honr may intend to send ye Sugar, Sugar-candy, and Tutonag for Persia...."—Forrest, Bombay Letters, Home Series, i. 125.]
1679.—Letter from Dacca reporting ... "that Dacca is not a good market for Gold, Copper, Lead, Tin or Tutenague."—Ft. St. Geo. Consns., Oct. 31, in Notes and Exts. Madras, 1871.
[ " "In the list of commodities brought from the East Indies, 1678, I find among the drugs, tincal (see TINCALL) and Toothanage set doune. Enquire also what these are...."—Letter of Sir T. Browne, May 29, in N. & Q. 2 ser. vii. 520.]
1727.—"Most of the Spunge in China had pernicious Qualities because the Subterraneous Grounds were stored with Minerals, as Copper, Quicksilver, Allom, Toothenague, &c."—A. Hamilton, ii. 223; [ed. 1744, ii. 222, for "Spunge" reading "Springs"].
1750.—"A sort of Cash made of Toothenague is the only Currency of the Country."—Some Ac. of Cochin China, by Mr. Robert Kirsop, in Dalrymple, Or. Rep. i. 245.
[1757.—Speaking of the freemen enrolled at Nottingham in 1757, Bailey (Annals of Nottinghamshire, iii. 1235) mentions as one of them William Tutin, buckle-maker, and then goes on to say: "It was a son of this latter person who was the inventor of that beautiful composite white metal, the introduction of which created such a change in numerous articles of ordinary table service in England. This metal, in honour of the inventor, was called Tutinic, but which word, by one of the most absurd perversions of language ever known, became transferred into 'Tooth and Egg,' the name by which it was almost uniformly recognised in the shops."—Quoted in 2 ser. N. & Q. x. 144.]
1780.—"At Quedah, there is a trade for calin (see CALAY) or tutenague ... to export to different parts of the Indies."—Dunn, New Directory, 5th ed. 338.
1797.—"Tu-te-nag is, properly speaking, zinc, extracted from a rich ore or calamine; the ore is powdered and mixed with charcoal dust, and placed in earthen jars over a slow fire, by means of which the metal rises in form of vapour, in a common distilling apparatus, and afterwards is condensed in water."—Staunton's Acct. of Lord Macartney's Embassy, 4to ed. ii. 540.
TOPAZ, TOPASS, &c., s. A name used in the 17th and 18th centuries for dark-skinned or half-caste claimants of Portuguese descent, and Christian profession. Its application is generally, though not universally, to soldiers of this class, and it is possible that it was originally a corruption of Pers. (from Turkish) top-chī, 'a gunner.' It may be a slight support to this derivation that Italians were employed to cast guns for the Zamorin at Calicut from a very early date in the 16th century, and are frequently mentioned in the annals of Correa between 1503 and 1510. Various other etymologies have however been given. That given by Orme below (and put forward doubtfully by Wilson) from topī, 'a hat,' has a good deal of plausibility, and even if the former etymology be the true origin, it is probable that this one was often in the minds of those using the term, as its true connotation. It may have some corroboration not only in the fact that Europeans are to this day often spoken of by natives (with a shade of disparagement) as Topeewalas (q.v.) or 'Hat-men,' but also in the pride commonly taken by all persons claiming European blood in wearing a hat; indeed Fra Paolino tells us that this class call themselves gente de chapeo (see also the quotation below from Ovington). Possibly however this was merely a misrendering of topaz from the assumed etymology. The same Fra Paolino, with his usual fertility in error, propounds in another passage that topaz is a corruption of do-bhāshiya, 'two-tongued' (in fact is another form of Dubash, q.v.), viz. using Portuguese and a debased vernacular (pp. 50 and 144). [The Madras Gloss. assumes Mal. tópáshi to be a corruption of dubash.] The Topaz on board ship is the sweeper, who is at sea frequently of this class.
1602.—"The 12th ditto we saw to seaward another Champaigne (Sampan) wherein were 20 men, Mestiços (see MUSTEES) and Toupas."—Van Spilbergen's Voyage, p. 34, pub. 1648.
[1672.—"Toepasses." See under MADRAS.]
1673.—"To the Fort then belonged 300 English, and 400 Topazes, or Portugal Firemen."—Fryer, 66. In his glossarial Index he gives "Topazes, Musketeers."
1680.—"It is resolved and ordered to entertain about 100 Topasses, or Black Portuguese, into pay."—In Wheeler, i. 121.
1686.—"It is resolved, as soon as English soldiers can be provided sufficient for the garrison, that all Topasses be disbanded, and no more entertained, since there is little dependence on them."—In ditto, 159.
1690.—"A Report spread abroad, that a Rich Moor Ship belonging to one Abdal Ghaford, was taken by Hat-men, that is, in their (the Moors) Dialect, Europeans."—Ovington, 411.
1705.—"... Topases, qui sont des gens du pais qu'on élève et qu'on habille à la Françoise, lesquels ont esté instruits dans la Religion Catholique par quelques uns de nos Missionnaires."—Luillier, 45-46.
1711.—"The Garrison consists of about 250 Soldiers, at 91 Fanhams, or 1l. 2s. 9d. per Month, and 200 Topasses, or black Mungrel Portuguese, at 50, or 52 Fanhams per Month."—Lockyer, 14.
1727.—"Some Portuguese are called Topasses ... will be served by none but Portuguese Priests, because they indulge them more and their Villany."—A. Hamilton, [ed. 1744, i. 326].
1745.—"Les Portugais et les autres Catholiques qu'on nomme Mestices (see MUSTEES) et Topases, également comme les naturels du Pays y viennent sans distinction pour assister aux Divins mystères."—Norbert, ii. 31.
1747.—"The officers upon coming in report their People in general behaved very well, and could not do more than they did with such a handful of men against the Force the Enemy had, being as they believe at least to be one thousand Europeans, besides Topasses, Coffrees (see CAFFER), and Seapoys (see SEPOY), altogether about Two Thousand (2000)."—MS. Consns. at Ft. St. David, March 1. (In India Office).
1749.—"600 effective Europeans would not have cost more than that Crowd of useless Topasses and Peons of which the Major Part of our Military has of late been composed."—In A Letter to a Proprietor of the E.I. Co. p. 57.
" "The Topasses of which the major Part of the Garrison consisted, every one that knows Madrass knows it to be a black, degenerate, wretched Race of the antient Portuguese, as proud and bigotted as their Ancestors, lazy, idle, and vitious withal, and for the most Part as weak and feeble in Body as base in Mind, not one in ten possessed of any of the necessary Requisites of a Soldier."—Ibid. App. p. 103.
1756.—"... in this plight, from half an hour after eleven till near two in the morning, I sustained the weight of a heavy man, with his knees on my back, and the pressure of his whole body on my head; a Dutch sergeant, who had taken his seat upon my left shoulder, and a Topaz bearing on my right."—Holwell's Narr. of the Black Hole, [ed. 1758, p. 19].
1758.—"There is a distinction said to be made by you ... which, in our opinion, does no way square with rules of justice and equity, and that is the exclusion of Portuguese topasses, and other Christian natives, from any share of the money granted by the Nawab."—Court's Letter, in Long, 133.
c. 1785.—"Topasses, black foot soldiers, descended from Portuguese marrying natives, called topasses because they wear hats."—Carraccioli's Clive, iv. 564. The same explanation in Orme, i. 80.
1787.—"... Assuredly the mixture of Moormen, Rajahpoots, Gentoos, and Malabars in the same corps is extremely beneficial.... I have also recommended the corps of Topasses or descendants of Europeans, who retain the characteristic qualities of their progenitors."—Col. Fullarton's View of English Interests in India, 222.
1789.—"Topasses are the sons of Europeans and black women, or low Portuguese, who are trained to arms."—Munro, Narr. 321.
1817.—"Topasses, or persons whom we may denominate Indo-Portuguese, either the mixed produce of Portuguese and Indian parents, or converts to the Portuguese, from the Indian, faith."—J. Mill, Hist. iii. 19.
TOPE, s. This word is used in three quite distinct senses, from distinct origins.
a. Hind. top, 'a cannon.' This is Turkish tōp, adopted into Persian and Hindustani. We cannot trace it further. [Mr. Platts regards T. tob, top, as meaning originally 'a round mass,' from Skt. stūpa, for which see below.]
b. A grove or orchard, and in Upper India especially a mango-orchard. The word is in universal use by the English, but is quite unknown to the natives of Upper India. It is in fact Tam. tōppu, Tel. tōpu, [which the Madras Gloss. derives from Tam. togu, 'to collect,'] and must have been carried to Bengal by foreigners at an early period of European traffic. But Wilson is curiously mistaken in supposing it to be in common use in Hindustan by natives. The word used by them is bāgh.
c. An ancient Buddhist monument in the form of a solid dome. The word tōp is in local use in the N.W. Punjab, where ancient monuments of this kind occur, and appears to come from Skt. stūpa through the Pali or Prakrit thūpo. According to Sir H. Elliot (i. 505), Stupa in Icelandic signifies 'a Tower.' We cannot find it in Cleasby. The word was first introduced to European knowledge by Mr. Elphinstone in his account of the Tope of Manikyala in the Rawul Pindi district.
a.—