[1687.—"Tope." See under TOPE-KHANA.
[1884.—"The big gun near the Central Museum of Lahor called the Zam-Zamah or Bhanjianvati top, seems to have held much the same place with the Sikhs as the Malik-i-Maidán held in Bijapur."—Bombay Gazetteer, xxiii. 642.]
b.—
1673.—"... flourish pleasant Tops of Plantains, Cocoes, Guiavas."—Fryer, 40.
" "The Country is Sandy; yet plentiful in Provisions; in all places, Tops of Trees."—Ibid. 41.
1747.—"The Topes and Walks of Trees in and about the Bounds will furnish them with firewood to burn, and Clay for Bricks is almost everywhere."—Report of a Council of War at Ft. St. David, in Consns. of May 5, MS. in India Office.
1754.—"A multitude of People set to the work finished in a few days an entrenchment, with a stout mud wall, at a place called Facquire's Tope, or the grove of the Facquire."—Orme, i. 273.
1799.—"Upon looking at the Tope as I came in just now, it appeared to me, that when you get possession of the bank of the Nullah, you have the Tope as a matter of course."—Wellington, Desp. i. 23.
1809.—"... behind that a rich country, covered with rice fields and topes."—Ld. Valentia, i. 557.
1814.—"It is a general practice when a plantation of mango trees is made, to dig a well on one side of it. The well and the tope are married, a ceremony at which all the village attends, and large sums are often expended."—Forbes, Or. Mem. iii. 56.
c.—
[1839.—"Tope is an expression used for a mound or barrow as far west as Peshawer...."—Elphinstone, Caubul, 2nd ed. i. 108.]
TOPE-KHANA, s. The Artillery, Artillery Park, or Ordnance Department, Turco-Pers. tōp-khāna, 'cannon-house' or 'cannon-department.' The word is the same that appears so often in reports from Constantinople as the Tophaneh. Unless the traditions of Donna Tofana are historical, we are strongly disposed to suspect that Aqua Tofana may have had its name from this word.
1687.—"The Toptchi. These are Gunners, called so from the word Tope, which in Turkish signifies a Cannon, and are in number about 1200, distributed in 52 Chambers; their Quarters are at Tophana, or the place of Guns in the Suburbs of Constantinople."—Rycaut's Present State of the Ottoman Empire, p. 94.
1726.—"Isfandar Chan, chief of the Artillery (called the Daroger (see DAROGA) of the Topscanna)."—Valentijn, iv. (Suratte), 276.
1765.—"He and his troops knew that by the treachery of the Tope Khonnah Droger (see DAROGA), the cannon were loaded with powder only."—Holwell, Hist. Events, &c. i. 96.
TOPEE, s. A hat, Hind. ṭopī. This is sometimes referred to Port. topo, 'the top' (also tope, 'a top-knot,' and topete, a 'toupee'), which is probably identical with English and Dutch top, L. German topp, Fr. topet, &c. But there is also a simpler Hind. word ṭop, for a helmet or hat, and the quotation from the Roteiro Vocabulary seems to show that the word existed in India when the Portuguese first arrived. With the usual tendency to specialize foreign words, we find this word becomes specialized in application to the sola hat.
1498.—In the vocabulary ("Este he a linguajem de Calicut") we have: "barrete (i.e. a cap): tupy."—Roteiro, 118.
The following expression again, in the same work, seems to be Portuguese, and to refer to some mode in which the women's hair was dressed: "Trazem em a moleera huuns topetes por signall que sam Christãos."—Ibid. 52.
1849.—"Our good friend Sol came down in right earnest on the waste, and there is need of many a fold of twisted muslin round the white topi, to keep off his importunacy."—Dry Leaves from Young Egypt, 2.
1883.—"Topee, a solar helmet."—Wills, Modern Persia, 263.
TOPEEWALA, s. Hind. ṭopīwālā, 'one who wears a hat,' generally a European, or one claiming to be so. Formerly by Englishmen it was habitually applied to the dark descendants of the Portuguese. R. Drummond says that in his time (before 1808) Topeewala and Puggrywala were used in Guzerat and the Mahratta country for 'Europeans' and 'natives.' [The S. Indian form is Toppikār.] The author of the Persian Life of Hydur Naik (Or. Tr. Fund, by Miles) calls Europeans Kalāh-posh, i.e. 'hat-wearers' (p. 85).
1803.—"The descendants of the Portuguese ... unfortunately the ideas of Christianity are so imperfect that the only mode they hit upon of displaying their faith is by wearing hats and breeches."—Sydney Smith, Works, 3d. ed. iii. 5.
[1826.—"It was now evident we should have to encounter the Topee wallas."—Pandurang Hari, ed. 1873, i. 71.]
1874.—"... you will see that he will not be able to protect us. All topiwálás ... are brothers to each other. The magistrates and the judge will always decide in favour of their white brethren."—Govinda Samanta, ii. 211.
TORCULL, s. This word occurs only in Castanheda. It is the Malayālam tiru-koyil, [Tam. tiru, Skt. śri, 'holy' koyil, 'temple']. See i. 253, 254; also the English Trans. of 1582, f. 151. In fact, in the 1st ed. of the 1st book of Castanheda turcoll occurs where pagode is found in subsequent editions. [Tricalore in S. Arcot is in Tam. Tirukkoyilūr, with the same meaning.]
TOSHACONNA, s. P.—H. tosha-khāna. The repository of articles received as presents, or intended to be given as presents, attached to a government-office, or great man's establishment. The tosha-khāna is a special department attached to the Foreign Secretariat of the Government of India.
[1616.—"Now indeed the atashckannoe was become a right stage."—Sir T. Roe, Hak. Soc. ii. 300.]
[1742.—"... the Treasury, Jewels, toishik-khanna ... that belonged to the Emperor...."—Fraser, H. of Nadir Shah, 173.]
1799.—"After the capture of Seringapatam, and before the country was given over to the Raja, some brass swamies (q.v.), which were in the toshekanah were given to the brahmins of different pagodas, by order of Macleod and the General. The prize-agents require payment for them."—Wellington, i. 56.
[1885.—"When money is presented to the Viceroy, he always 'remits' it, but when presents of jewels, arms, stuffs, horses, or other things of value are given him, they are accepted, and are immediately handed over to the tosh khana or Government Treasury...."—Lady Dufferin, Viceregal Life, 75.]
TOSTDAUN, s. Military Hind. tosdān for a cartouche-box. The word appears to be properly Pers. toshadān, 'provision-holder,' a wallet.
[1841.—"This last was, however, merely 'tos-dan kee awaz'—a cartouch-box report—as our sepoys oddly phrase a vague rumour."—Society in India, ii. 223.]
TOTY, s. Tam. toṭṭi, Canar. totīga, from Tam. tondu, 'to dig,' properly a low-caste labourer in S. India, and a low-caste man who in villages receives certain allowances for acting as messenger, &c., for the community, like the gorayt of N. India.
1730.—"Il y a dans chaque village un homme de service, appellé Totti, qui est chargé des impositions publiques."—Lettr. Edif. xiii. 371.
[1883.—"The name Toty being considered objectionable, the same officers in the new arrangements are called Talaiaris (see TALIAR) when assigned to Police, and Vettians when employed in Revenue duties."—Le Fanu, Man. of Salem, ii. 211.]
TOUCAN, s. This name is very generally misapplied by Europeans to the various species of Hornbill, formerly all styled Buceros, but now subdivided into various genera. Jerdon says: "They (the hornbills) are, indeed, popularly called Toucans throughout India; and this appears to be their name in some of the Malayan isles; the word signifying 'a worker,' from the noise they make." This would imply that the term did originally belong to a species of hornbill, and not to the S. American Rhamphastes or Zygodactyle. Tukang is really in Malay a 'craftsman or artificer'; but the dictionaries show no application to the bird. We have here, in fact, a remarkable instance of the coincidences which often justly perplex etymologists, or would perplex them if it were not so much their habit to seize on one solution and despise the others. Not only is tukang in Malay 'an artificer,' but, as Willoughby tells us, the Spaniards called the real S. American toucan 'carpintero' from the noise he makes. And yet there seems no doubt that Toucan is a Brazilian name for a Brazilian bird. See the quotations, and especially Thevet's, with its date.
The Toucan is described by Oviedo (c. 1535), but he mentions only the name by which "the Christians" called it,—in Ramusio's Italian Picuto (?Beccuto; Sommario, in Ramusio, iii. f. 60). [Prof. Skeat (Concise Dict. s.v.) gives only the Brazilian derivation. The question is still further discussed, without any very definite result, save that it is probably an imitation of the cry of the bird, in N. & Q. 9 ser. vii. 486; viii. 22, 67, 85, 171, 250.]
1556.—"Sur la coste de la marine, la plus frequẽte marchandise est le plumage d'vn oyseau, qu'ils appellent en leur langue Toucan, lequel descrivons sommairement puis qu'il vient à propos. Cest oyseau est de la grandeur d'vn pigeon.... Au reste cest oyseau est merveilleusement difforme et monstrueux, ayant le bec plus gros et plus long quasi que le reste du corps."—Les Singularitez de la France Antarticque, autrement nommée Amerique.... Par T. André Theuet, Natif d'Angoulesme, Paris, 1558, f. 91.
1648.—"Tucana sive Toucan Brasiliensibus: avis picae aut palumbi magnitudine.... Rostrum habet ingens et nonnumquam palmum longum, exterius flavam.... Mirum est autem videri possit quomodo tantilla avis tam grande rostrum ferat; sed levissimum est."—GeorgI MarcgravI de Liebstad, Hist. Rerum Natur. Brasiliae. Lib. V. cap. xv., in Hist. Natur. Brasil. Lugd. Bat. 1648, p. 217.
See also (1599) Aldrovandus, Ornitholog. lib. xii. cap. 19, where the word is given toucham.
Here is an example of misapplication to the Hornbill, though the latter name is also given:
1885.—"Soopah (in N. Canara) is the only region in which I have met with the toucan or great hornbill.... I saw the comical looking head with its huge aquiline beak, regarding me through a fork in the branch; and I account it one of the best shots I ever made, when I sent a ball ... through the head just at its junction with the handsome orange-coloured helmet which surmounts it. Down came the toucan with outspread wings, dead apparently; but when my peon Manoel raised him by the thick muscular neck, he fastened his great claws on his hand, and made the wood resound with a succession of roars more like a bull than a bird."—Gordon Forbes, Wild Life in Canara, &c. pp. 37-38.
TOWLEEA, s. Hind. tauliyā, 'a towel.' This is a corruption, however, not of the English form, but rather of the Port. toalha (Panjab N. & Q., 1885, ii. 117).
TRAGA, s. [Molesworth gives "S. trāgā, Guz. trāgu"; trāga does not appear in Monier-Williams's Skt. Dict., and Wilson queries the word as doubtful. Dr. Grierson writes: "I cannot trace its origin back to Skt. One is tempted to connect it with the Skt. root trai, or trā, 'to protect,' but the termination gā presents difficulties which I cannot get over. One would expect it to be derived from some Skt. word like trāka, but no such word exists."] The extreme form of dhurna (q.v.) among the Rājputs and connected tribes, in which the complainant puts himself, or some member of his family, to torture or death, as a mode for bringing vengeance on the oppressor. The tone adopted by some persons and papers at the time of the death of the great Charles Gordon, tended to imply their view that his death was a kind of traga intended to bring vengeance on those who had sacrificed him. [For a case in Greece, see Pausanias, X. i. 6. Another name for this self-sacrifice is Chandi, which is perhaps Skt. ćaṇḍa, 'passionate' (see Malcolm, Cent. India, 2nd ed. ii. 137). Also compare the jūhar of the Rājputs (Tod, Annals, Calcutta reprint, i. 74). And for Kūr, see As. Res. iv. 357 seqq.]
1803.—A case of traga is recorded in Sir Jasper Nicoll's Journal, at the capture of Gawilgarh, by Sir A. Wellesley. See note to Wellington, ed. 1837, ii. 387.
1813.—"Every attempt to levy an assessment is succeeded by the Tarakaw, a most horrid mode of murdering themselves and each other."—Forbes, Or. Mem. ii. 91; [2nd ed. i. 378; and see i. 244].
1819.—For an affecting story of Traga, see Macmurdo, in Bo. Lit. Soc. Trans. i. 281.
[TRANKEY, s. A kind of boat used in the Persian Gulf and adjoining seas. All attempts to connect it with any Indian or Persian word have been unsuccessful. It has been supposed to be connected with the Port. trincador, a sort of flat-bottomed coasting vessel with a high stern, and with trinquart, a herring-boat used in the English Channel. Smyth (Sailor's Word-book, s.v.) has: "Trankeh or Trankies, a large boat of the Gulf of Persia." See N. & Q. 8 ser. vii. 167, 376.
[1554.—"He sent certain spies who went in Terranquims dressed as fishermen who caught fish inside the straits."—Couto, Dec. VI. Bk. x. ch. 20.
[c. 1750.—"... he remained some years in obscurity, till an Arab tranky being driven in there by stress of weather, he made himself known to his countrymen...."—Grose, 1st ed. 25.
[1753.—"Taghi Khan ... soon after embarked a great number of men in small vessels." In the note tarranquins.—Hanway, iv. 181.
[1773.—"Accordingly we resolved to hire one of the common, but uncomfortable vessels of the Gulph, called a Trankey...."—Ives, 203.]
TRANQUEBAR, n.p. A seaport of S. India, which was in the possession of the Danes till 1807, when it was taken by England. It was restored to the Danes in 1814, and purchased from them, along with Serampore, in 1845. The true name is said to be Tarangam-bāḍi, 'Sea-Town' or 'Wave-Town'; [so the Madras Gloss.; but in the Man. (ii. 216) it is interpreted 'Street of the Telegu people.']
1610.—"The members of the Company have petitioned me, that inasmuch as they do much service to God in their establishment at Negapatam, both among Portuguese and natives, and that there is a settlement of newly converted Christians who are looked after by the catechumens of the parish (freguezia) of Trangabar...."—King's Letter, in Livros das Monções, p. 285.
[1683-4.—"This Morning the Portuguez ship that came from Vizagapatam Sailed hence for Trangambar."—Pringle, Diary, Ft. St. Geo. 1st ser. iii. 16.]
TRAVANCORE, n.p. The name of a village south of Trevandrum, from which the ruling dynasty of the kingdom which is known by the name has been called. The true name is said to be Tiru-vidān-koḍu, shortened to Tiruvānkoḍu. [The Madras Gloss. gives Tiruvitānkūr, tiru, Skt. śrī, 'the goddess of prosperity,' vāzhu, 'to reside,' kūr, 'part.']
[1514.—"As to the money due from the Raja of Travamcor...."—Albuquerque, Cartas, p. 270.]
1553.—"And at the place called Travancor, where this Kingdom of Coulam terminates, there begins another Kingdom, taking its name from this very Travancor, the king of which our people call the Rey Grande, because he is greater in his dominion, and in the state which he keeps, than those other princes of Malabar; and he is subject to the King of Narsinga."—Barros, I. ix. 1.
1609.—"The said Governor has written to me that most of the kings adjacent to our State, whom he advised of the coming of the rebels, had sent replies in a good spirit, with expressions of friendship, and with promises not to admit the rebels into their ports, all but him of Travancor, from whom no answer had yet come."—King of Spain's Letter, in Livros das Monções, p. 257.
TRIBENY, n.p. Skt. tri-veṇī, 'threefold braid'; a name which properly belongs to Prayāga (Allahābād), where the three holy rivers, Ganges, Jumna, and (unseen) Sarasvatī are considered to unite. But local requirements have instituted another Tribeṇī in the Ganges Delta, by bestowing the name of Jumna and Sarasvatī on two streams connected with the Hugli. The Bengal Tribeni gives name to a village, which is a place of great sanctity, and to which the melas or religious fairs attract many visitors.
1682.—"... if I refused to stay there he would certainly stop me again at Trippany some miles further up the River."—Hedges, Diary, Oct. 14; [Hak. Soc. i. 38].
1705.—"... pendant la Lune de Mars ... il arrive la Fête de Tripigny, c'est un Dieu enfermé dans une maniere de petite Mosquée, qui est dans le milieu d'une tres-grande pleine ... au bord du Gange."—Luillier, 69.
1753.—"Au-dessous de Nudia, à Tripini, dont le nom signifie trois eaux, le Gange fait encore sortir du même côte un canal, qui par sa rentrée, forme une seconde île renfermée dans la première."—D'Anville, 64.
TRICHIES, TRITCHIES, s. The familiar name of the cheroots made at Trichinopoly; long, and rudely made, with a straw inserted at the end for the mouth. They are (or were) cheap and coarse, but much liked by those used to them. Mr. C. P. Brown, referring to his etymology of Trichinopoly under the succeeding article, derives the word cheroot from the form of the name which he assigns. But this, like his etymology of the place-name, is entirely wrong (see CHEROOT). Some excellent practical scholars seem to be entirely without the etymological sense.
1876.—"Between whiles we smoked, generally Manillas, now supplanted by foul Dindiguls and fetid Trichies."—Burton, Sind Revisited, i. 7.
TRICHINOPOLY, n.p. A district and once famous rock-fort of S. India. The etymology and proper form of the name has been the subject of much difference. Mr. C. P. Brown gives the true name as Chiruta-paḷḷi, 'Little-Town.' But this may be safely rejected as mere guess, inconsistent with facts. The earliest occurrence of the name on an inscription is (about 1520) as Tiru-śśilla-paḷḷi, apparently 'Holy-rock-town.' In the Tevāram the place is said to be mentioned under the name of Sirapalli. Some derive it from Tri-sira-puram, 'Three-head-town,' with allusion to a 'three-headed demon.' [The Madras Gloss. gives Tiruććināppalli, tiru, 'holy,' shina, 'the plant cissampelos pareira, L. palli, 'village.']
1677.—"Tritchenapali."—A. Bassing, in Valentijn, v. (Ceylon), 300.
1741.—"The Maratas concluded the campaign by putting this whole Peninsula under contribution as far as C. Cumerim, attacking, conquering, and retaining the city of Tiruxerapali, capital of Madura, and taking prisoner the Nabab who governed it."—Report of the Port. Viceroy, in Bosquejo das Possessões, &c., Documentos, ed. 1853, iii. 19.
1753.—"Ces embouchûres sont en grand nombre, vû la division de ce fleuve en différens bras ou canaux, à remonter jusqu'à Tirishirapali, et à la pagode de Shirangham."—D'Anville, 115.
1761.—"After the battle Mahommed Ali Khan, son of the late nabob, fled to Truchinapolli, a place of great strength."—Complete Hist. of the War in India, 1761, p. 3.
TRINCOMALEE, n.p. A well-known harbour on the N.E. coast of Ceylon. The proper name is doubtful. It is alleged to be Tirukko-nātha-malai, or Taranga-malai. The last ('Sea-Hill') seems conceived to fit our modern pronunciation, but not the older forms. It is perhaps Tri-kona-malai, for 'Three-peak Hill.' There is a shrine of Siva on the hill, called Trikoneśwara; [so the Madras Man. (ii. 216)].
1553.—"And then along the coast towards the north, above Baticalou, there is the kingdom of Triquinamalé."—Barros, II. ii. cap. 1.
1602.—"This Prince having departed, made sail, and was driven by the winds unknowing whither he went. In a few days he came in sight of a desert island (being that of Ceilon), where he made the land at a haven called Preaturé, between Triquillimalé and the point of Jafanapatam."—Couto, V. i. 5.
1672.—"Trinquenemale hath a surpassingly fine harbour, as may be seen from the draught thereof, yea one of the best and largest in all Ceylon, and better sheltered from the winds than the harbours of Belligamme, Gale, or Colombo."—Baldaeus, 413.
1675.—"The Cinghalese themselves oppose this, saying that they emigrated from another country ... that some thousand years ago, a Prince of great piety, driven out of the land of Tanassery ... came to land near the Hill of Tricoenmale with 1800 or 2000 men...."—Ryklof van Goens, in Valentijn (Ceylon), 210.
1685.—"Triquinimale...."—Ribeyro, Fr. Tr. 6.
1726.—"Trinkenemale, properly Tricoenmale" (i.e. Trikunmalê).—Valentijn (Ceylon), 19.
" "Trinkemale...."—Ibid. 103.
1727.—"... that vigilant Dutchman was soon after them with his Fleet, and forced them to fight disadvantageously in Trankamalaya Bay, wherein the French lost one half of their Fleet, being either sunk or burnt."—A. Hamilton, i. 343, [ed. 1744].
1761.—"We arrived at Trinconomale in Ceylone (which is one of the finest, if not ye best and most capacious Harbours in ye World) the first of November, and employed that and part of the ensuing Month in preparing our Ships for ye next Campaign."—MS. Letter of James Rennell, Jan. 31.
TRIPANG, s. The sea-slug. This is the Malay name, trīpang, tĕrīpang. See SWALLOW, and BECHE-DE-MER.
[1817.—"Bich de mar is well known to be a dried sea slug used in the dishes of the Chinese; it is known among the Malayan Islands by the name of Tripang...."—Raffles, H. of Java, 2nd ed. i. 232.]
TRIPLICANE, n.p. A suburb of Fort St. George; the part where the palace of the "Nabob of the Carnatic" is. It has been explained, questionably, as Tiru-valli-kēḍi, 'sacred-creeper-tank.' Seshagiri Sastri gives it as Tiru-alli-kēni, 'sacred lily- (Nymphaea rubea) tank,' [and so the Madras Gloss. giving the word as Tiruvallikkéni.]
1674.—"There is an absolute necessity to go on fortifying this place in the best manner we can, our enemies at sea and land being within less than musket shot, and better fortified in their camp at Trivelicane than we are here."—Ft. St. Geo. Consns. Feb. 2. In Notes and Exts., Madras, 1871, No. I. p. 28.
1679.—"The Didwan (Dewaun) from Conjeveram, who pretends to have come from Court, having sent word from Treplicane that unless the Governor would come to the garden by the river side to receive the Phyrmaund he would carry it back to Court again, answer is returned that it hath not been accustomary for the Governours to go out to receive a bare Phyrmaund except there come therewith a Serpow (see SEERPAW) or a Tasheriff" (see TASHREEF).—Do., do., Dec. 2. Ibid. 1873, No. III. p. 40.
[1682-4.—"Triblicane, Treblicane Trivety."—Diary Ft. St. Geo. ed. Pringle, i. 63; iii. 154.]
TRIVANDRUM, n.p. The modern capital of the State now known as Travancore (q.v.) Properly Tiru-(v)anantā-puram, 'Sacred Vishnu-Town.'
TRUMPÁK, n.p. This is the name by which the site of the native suburb of the city of Ormus on the famous island of that name is known. The real name is shown by Lt. Stiffe's account of that island (Geogr. Mag. i. 13) to have been Tūrūn-bāgh, 'Garden of Tūrūn,' and it was properly the palace of the old Kings, of whom more than one bore the name of Tūrūn or Tūrūn Shāh.
1507.—"When the people of the city saw that they were so surrounded, that from no direction could water be brought, which was what they felt most of all, the principal Moors collected together and went to the king desiring him earnestly to provide a guard for the pools of Turumbaque, which were at the head of the island, lest the Portuguese should obtain possession of them...."—Comment. of Alboquerque, E.T. by Birch, i. 175.
" "Meanwhile the Captain-Major ordered Afonso Lopes de Costa and João da Nova, and Manuel Teles with his people to proceed along the water's edge, whilst he with all the rest of the force would follow, and come to a place called Turumbaque, which is on the water's edge, in which there were some palm-trees, and wells of brackish water, which supplied the people of the city with drink when the water-boats were not arriving, as sometimes happened owing to a contrary wind."—Correa, i. 830.
1610.—"The island has no fresh water ... only in Torunpaque, which is a piece of white salt clay, at the extremity of the island, there is a well of fresh water, of which the King and the Wazir take advantage, to water the gardens which they have there, and which produce perfectly everything which is planted."—Teixeira, Rel. de los Reyes de Harmuz, 115.
1682.—"Behind the hills, to the S.S.W. and W.S.W. there is another part of the island, lying over against the anchorage that we have mentioned, and which includes the place called Turumbake ... here one sees the ancient pleasure-house of the old Kings of Ormus, with a few small trees, and sundry date-palms. There are also here two great wells of water, called after the name of the place, 'The Wells of Turumbake'; which water is the most wholesome and the freshest in the whole island."—Nieuhof, Zee en Lant-Reize, ii. 86.
TUAN, s. Malay tuan and tuwan, 'lord, master.' The word is used in the English and Dutch settlements of the Archipelago exactly as sahib is in India. [An early Chinese form of the word is referred to under SUMATRA.]
1553.—"Dom Paulo da Gama, who was a worthy son of his father in his zeal to do the King good service ... equipped a good fleet, of which the King of Ugentana (see UJUNGTANAH) had presently notice, who in all speed set forth his own, consisting of 30 lancharas, with a large force on board, and in command of which he put a valiant Moor called Tuam-bár, to whom the King gave orders that as soon as our force had quitted the fortress (of Malacca) not leaving enough people to defend it, he should attack the town of the Queleys (see KLING) and burn and destroy as much as he could."—Correa, iii. 486.
1553.—"For where this word Raja is used, derived from the kingly title, it attaches to a person on whom the King bestows the title, almost as among us that of Count, whilst the style Tuam is like our Dom; only the latter of the two is put before the person's proper name, whilst the former is put after it, as we see in the names of these two Javanese, Vtimuti Raja, and Tuam Colascar."—Barros, II. vi. 3.
[1893.—"... the cooly talked over the affairs of the Tuan Ingris (English gentleman) to a crowd of natives."—W. B. Worsfold, A Visit to Java, 145.]
TUCKA, s. Hind. ṭakā, Beng. ṭākā, [Skt. ṭankaka, 'stamped silver money']. This is the word commonly used among Bengalis for a rupee. But in other parts of India it (or at least ṭakā) is used differently; as for aggregates of 4, or of 2 pice (generally in N.W.P. pānch ṭakā paisā = five ṭakā of pice, 20 pice). Compare TANGA.
[1809.—"A requisition of four tukhas, or eight pice, is made upon each shop...."—Broughton, Letters from a Mahr. Camp, ed. 1892, p. 84.]
1874.—"'... How much did my father pay for her?'
"'He paid only ten tákás.'
"I may state here that the word rupeyá, or as it is commonly written rupee or rupi, is unknown to the peasantry of Bengal, at least to Bengali Hindu peasants; the word they invariably use is táká."—Govinda Samanta, i. 209.
TUCKÁVEE, s. Money advanced to a ryot by his superior to enable him to carry on his cultivation, and recoverable with his quota of revenue. It is Ar.—H. taḳāvī, from Ar. ḳavī, 'strength,' thus literally 'a reinforcement.'
[1800.—"A great many of them, who have now been forced to work as labourers, would have thankfully received tacavy, to be repaid, by instalments, in the course of two or three years."—Buchanan, Mysore, ii. 188.]
1880.—"When the Sirkar disposed of lands which reverted to it ... it sold them almost always for a nazarána (see NUZZERANA). It sometimes gave them gratis, but it never paid money, and seldom or ever advanced takávi to the tenant or owner."—Minutes of Sir T. Munro, i. 71. These words are not in Munro's spelling. The Editor has reformed the orthography.
TUCKEED, s. An official reminder. Ar.—H. tākīd, 'emphasis, injunction,' and verb tākīd karnā, 'to enjoin stringently, to insist.'
1862.—"I can hardly describe to you my life—work all day, English and Persian, scores of appeals and session cases, and a continual irritation of tukeeds and offensive remarks ... these take away all the enjoyment of doing one's duty, and make work a slavery."—Letter from Col. J. R. Becher, in (unpublished) Memoir, p. 28.
[TUCKIAH, s. Pers. takya, literally 'a pillow or cushion'; but commonly used in the sense of a hut or hermitage occupied by a fakīr or holy man.
[1800.—"He declared ... that two of the people charged ... had been at his tuckiah."—Wellington, Desp. i. 78.
[1847.—"In the centre of the wood was a Faqir's Talkiat (sic) or Place of Prayer, situated on a little mound."—Mrs. Mackenzie, Life in the Mission, &c. ii. 47.]
TULWAUR, s. Hind. talwār and tarwār, 'a sabre.' Williams gives Skt. taravāri and tarabālika. ["Talwār is a general term applied to shorter or more or less curved side-arms, while those that are lighter and shorter still are often styled nimchas" (Sir W. Elliot, in Ind. Antiq. xv. 29). Also see Egerton, Handbook, 138.]
[1799.—"... Ahmood Sollay ... drew his tolwa on one of them."—Jackson, Journey from India, 49.
[1829.—"... the panchās huzār turwar Rahtorān, meaning the 'fifty thousand Rahtore swords,' is the proverbial phrase to denote the muster of Maroo...."—Tod, Annals, Calcutta reprint, ii. 179.]
1853.—"The old native officer who carried the royal colour of the regiments was cut down by a blow of a Sikh tulwar."—Oakfield, ii. 78.
TUMASHA, s. An entertainment, a spectacle (in the French sense), a popular excitement. It is Ar. tamāshi, 'going about to look at anything entertaining.' The word is in use in Turkestan (see Schuyler, below).
1610.—"Heere are also the ruines of Ranichand (qu. Ramchand's?) Castle and Houses which the Indians acknowledge for the great God, saying that he took flesh vpon him to see the Tamasha of the World."—Finch, in Purchas, i. 436.
1631.—"Hic quoque meridiem prospicit, ut spectet Thamasham id est pugnas Elephantum Leonum Buffalorum et aliarum ferarum...."—De Laet, De Imperio Magni Mogolis, 127. (For this quotation I am indebted to a communication from Mr. Archibald Constable of the Oudh and Rohilkund Railway.—Y.)
1673.—"... We were discovered by some that told our Banyan ... that two Englishmen were come to the Tomasia, or Sight...."—Fryer, 159.
1705.—"Tamachars. Ce sont des réjouissances que les Gentils font en l'honneur de quelqu'unes de leurs divinitez."—Luillier, Tab. des Matières.
1840.—"Runjeet replied, 'Don't go yet; I am going myself in a few days, and then we will have burra tomacha.'"—Osborne, Court and Camp of Runjeet Singh, 120-121.
1876.—"If you told them that you did not want to buy anything, but had merely come for tomasha, or amusement, they were always ready to explain and show you everything you wished to see."—Schuyler's Turkistan, i. 176.
TUMLET, s. Domestic Hind. tāmlet, being a corruption of tumbler.
TUMLOOK, n.p. A town, and anciently a sea-port and seat of Buddhist learning on the west of the Hoogly near its mouth, formerly called Tāmralipti or -lipta. It occurs in the Mahābhārata and many other Sanskrit words. "In the Dasa Kumāra and Vrihat Katha, collections of tales written in the 9th and 12th centuries, it is always mentioned as a great port of Bengal, and the seat of an active and flourishing commerce with the countries and islands of the Bay of Bengal, and the Indian Ocean" (Prof. H. H. Wilson, in J. R. As. Soc. v. 135). [Also see Cunningham, Anct. Geog. p. 504.]
c. 150.—
"... καὶ πρὸς αὐτῷ τῷ ποταμῷ (Γάγγῃ) πολείς·
* * * *
Παλιμβοθρα βασιλειον
Ταμαλιτης."
—Ptolemy's Tables, Bk. VII. i. 73.
c. 410.—"From this, continuing to go eastward nearly 50 yôjanas, we arrive at the Kingdom of Tamralipti. Here it is the river (Ganges) empties itself into the sea. Fah Hian remained here for two years, writing out copies of the Sacred Books.... He then shipped himself on board a great merchant vessel...."—Beal, Travels of Fah Hian, &c. (1869), pp. 147-148.
[c. 1070.—"... a merchant named Harshagupta, who had arrived from Tamralipti, having heard of that event, came there full of curiosity."—Tawney, Katha Sarit Sāgara, i. 329.]
1679.—In going down the Hoogly:
"Before daybreak overtook the Ganges at Barnagur, met the Arrival 7 days out from Ballasore, and at night passed the Lilly at Tumbalee."—Ft. St. Geo. (Council on Tour). In Notes & Exts. No. II. p. 69.
1685.—"January 2.—We fell downe below Tumbolee River.
"January 3.—We anchored at the Channel Trees, and lay here ye 4th and 5th for want of a gale to carry us over to Kedgeria."—Hedges, Diary, Hak. Soc. i. 175.
[1694.—"The Royal James and Mary ... fell on a sand on this side Tumbolee point...."—Birdwood, Report on Old Records, 90.]
1726.—"Tamboli and Banzia are two Portuguese villages, where they have their churches, and salt business."—Valentijn, v. 159.
[1753.—"Tombali." See under KEDGEREE.]
TUMTUM, s. A dog-cart. We do not know the origin. [It is almost certainly a corr. of English tandem, the slang use of which in the sense of a conveyance (according to the Stanf. Dict.) dates from 1807. Even now English-speaking natives often speak of a dog-cart with a single horse as a tandem.]
1866.—"We had only 3 coss to go, and we should have met a pair of tumtums which would have taken us on."—Trevelyan, The Dawk Bungalow, 384.
[1889.—"A G.B.T. cart once married a bathing-machine, and they called the child Tum-tum."—R. Kipling, The City of Dreadful Night, 74.]
TUNCA, TUNCAW, &c., s. P.—H. tankhwāh, pron. tankhā. Properly an assignment on the revenue of a particular locality in favour of an individual; but in its most ordinary modern sense it is merely a word for the wages of a monthly servant. For a full account of the special older uses of the word see Wilson. In the second quotation the use is obscure; perhaps it means the villages on which assignments had been granted.
1758.—"Roydoolub ... has taken the discharge of the tuncaws and the arrears of the Nabob's army upon himself."—Orme, iii.; [ii. 361].
1760.—"You have been under the necessity of writing to Mr. Holwell (who was sent to collect in the tuncars).... The low men that are employed in the tuncars are not to be depended on."—The Nawab to the Prest. and Council of Ft. Wm., in Long, 233.
1778.—"These rescripts are called tuncaws, and entitle the holder to receive to the amount from the treasuries ... as the revenues come in."—Orme, ii. 276.
[1823.—"The Grassiah or Rajpoot chiefs ... were satisfied with a fixed and known tanka, or tribute from certain territories, on which they had a real or pretended claim."—Malcolm, Cent. India, 2nd. ed. i. 385.
[1851.—"The Sikh detachments ... used to be paid by tunkhwáhs, or assignments of the provincial collectors of revenue."—Edwardes, A Year on the Punjab Frontier, i. 19.]
TURA, s. Or. Turk. tūra. This word is used in the Autobiography of Baber, and in other Mahommedan military narratives of the 16th century. It is admitted by the translators of Baber that it is rendered by them quite conjecturally, and we cannot but think that they have missed the truth. The explanation of tūr which they quote from Meninski is "reticulatus," and combining this with the manner in which the quotations show these tūra to have been employed, we cannot but think that the meaning which best suits is 'a gabion.' Sir H. Elliot, in referring to the first passage from Baber, adopts the reading tūbra, and says: "Túbras are nose-bags, but ... Badáúni makes the meaning plain, by saying that they were filled with earth (Táríkh-i-Badáúni, f. 136).... The sacks used by Sher Sháh as temporary fortifications on his march towards Rájpútána were túbras" (Elliot, vi. 469). It is evident, however, that Baber's tūras were no tobras, whilst a reference to the passage (Elliot, iv. 405) regarding Sher Shāh shows that the use of bags filled with sand on that occasion was regarded as a new contrivance. The tūbra of Badáúni may therefore probably be a misreading; whilst the use of gabions implies necessarily that they would be filled with earth.