c. 1343.—"There was also a bāīn, a name by which the Indians designate a very spacious kind of well, revetted with stone, and provided with steps for descent to the water's brink. Some of these wells have in the middle and on each side pavilions of stone, with seats and benches. The Kings and chief men of the country rival each other in the construction of such reservoirs on roads that are not supplied with water."—Ibn Batuta, iv. 13.
1526.—"There was an empty space within the fort (of Agra) between Ibrahim's palace and the ramparts. I directed a large wâin to be constructed on it, ten gez by ten. In the language of Hindostân they denominate a large well having a staircase down it wâin."—Baber, Mem., 342.
1775.—"Near a village called Sevasee Contra I left the line of march to sketch a remarkable building ... on a near approach I discerned it to be a well of very superior workmanship, of that kind which the natives call Bhouree or Bhoulie."—Forbes, Or. Mem. ii. 102; [2nd ed. i. 387].
1808.—"'Who-so digs a well deserves the love of creatures and the grace of God,' but a Vavidee is said to value 10 Kooas (or wells) because the water is available to bipeds without the aid of a rope."—R. Drummond, Illustrations of Guzerattee, &c.
1825.—"These boolees are singular contrivances, and some of them extremely handsome and striking...."—Heber, ed. 1844, ii. 37.
1856.—"The wāv (Sansk. wápeeká) is a large edifice of a picturesque and stately as well as peculiar character. Above the level of the ground a row of four or five open pavilions at regular distances from each other ... is alone visible.... The entrance to the wāv is by one of the end pavilions."—Forbes, Rās Mālā, i. 257; [reprint 1878, p. 197].
1876.—"To persons not familiar with the East such an architectural object as a bowlee may seem a strange perversion of ingenuity, but the grateful coolness of all subterranean apartments, especially when accompanied by water, and the quiet gloom of these recesses, fully compensate in the eyes of the Hindu for the more attractive magnificence of the ghâts. Consequently the descending flights of which we are now speaking, have often been more elaborate and expensive pieces of architecture than any of the buildings above-ground found in their vicinity."—Fergusson, Indian and Eastern Architecture, 486.
BOXWALLAH, s. Hybrid H. Bakas- (i.e. box) wālā. A native itinerant pedlar, or packman, as he would be called in Scotland by an analogous term. The Boxwālā sells cutlery, cheap nick-nacks, and small wares of all kinds, chiefly European. In former days he was a welcome visitor to small stations and solitary bungalows. The Borā of Bombay is often a boxwālā, and the boxwālā in that region is commonly called Borā. (See BORA.)
a. A servant. In Southern India and in China a native personal servant is so termed, and is habitually summoned with the vocative 'Boy!' The same was formerly common in Jamaica and other W. I. Islands. Similar uses are familiar of puer (e.g. in the Vulgate Dixit Giezi puer Viri Dei. II Kings v. 20), Ar. walad, παιδάριον, garçon, knave (Germ. Knabe); and this same word is used for a camp-servant in Shakespeare, where Fluelen says: "Kill the Poys and the luggage! 'tis expressly against the laws of arms."—See also Grose's Mil. Antiquities, i. 183, and Latin quotation from Xavier under Conicopoly. The word, however, came to be especially used for 'Slave-boy,' and applied to slaves of any age. The Portuguese used moço in the same way. In 'Pigeon English' also 'servant' is Boy, whilst 'boy' in our ordinary sense is discriminated as 'smallo-boy!'
b. A Palankin-bearer. From the name of the caste, Telug. and Malayāl. bōyi, Tam. bōvi, &c. Wilson gives bhoi as H. and Mahr. also. The word is in use northward at least to the Nerbudda R. In the Konkan, people of this class are called Kahār bhūī (see Ind. Ant. ii. 154, iii. 77). P. Paolino is therefore in error, as he often is, when he says that the word boy as applied by the English and other Europeans to the coolies or facchini who carry the dooly, "has nothing to do with any Indian language." In the first and third quotations (under b), the use is more like a, but any connection with English at the dates seems impossible.
a.—
1609.—"I bought of them a Portugall Boy (which the Hollanders had given unto the King) ... hee cost mee fortie-five Dollers."—Keeling, in Purchas, i. 196.
" "My Boy Stephen Grovenor."—Hawkins, in Purchas, 211. See also 267, 296.
1681.—"We had a black boy my Father brought from Porto Nova to attend upon him, who seeing his Master to be a Prisoner in the hands of the People of his own Complexion, would not now obey his Command."—Knox, 124.
1696.—"Being informed where the Chief man of the Choultry lived, he (Dr. Brown) took his sword and pistol, and being followed by his boy with another pistol, and his horse keeper...."—In Wheeler, i. 300.
1784.—"Eloped. From his master's House at Moidapore, a few days since, A Malay Slave Boy."—In Seton-Karr, i. 45; see also pp. 120, 179.
1836.—"The real Indian ladies lie on a sofa, and if they drop their handkerchief, they just lower their voices and say Boy! in a very gentle tone."—Letters from Madras, 38.
1866.—"Yes, Sahib, I Christian Boy. Plenty poojah do. Sunday time never no work do."—Trevelyan, The Dawk Bungalow, p. 226.
Also used by the French in the East:
1872.—"Mon boy m'accompagnait pour me servir à l'occasion de guide et d'interprète."—Rev. des Deux Mondes, xcviii. 957.
1875.—"He was a faithful servant, or boy, as they are here called, about forty years of age."—Thomson's Malacca, 228.
1876.—"A Portuguese Boy ... from Bombay."—Blackwood's Mag., Nov., p. 578.
b.—
1554.—(At Goa) "also to a naique, with 6 peons (piães) and a mocadam with 6 torch-bearers (tochas), one umbrella boy (hum bóy do sombreiro), two washermen (mainatos), 6 water-carriers (bóys d'aguoa) all serving the governor ... in all 280 pardaos and 4 tangas annually, or 84,240 reis."—S. Botelho, Tombo, 57.
[1563.—"And there are men who carry this umbrella so dexterously to ward off the sun, that although their master trots on his horse, the sun does not touch any part of his body, and such men are called in India boi."—Barros, Dec. 3, Bk. x. ch. 9.]
1591.—A proclamation of the viceroy, Matthias d'Alboquerque, orders: "that no person, of what quality or condition soever, shall go in a palanquim without my express licence, save they be over 60 years of age, to be first proved before the Auditor-General of Police ... and those who contravene this shall pay a penalty of 200 cruzados, and persons of mean estate the half, the palanquys and their belongings to be forfeited, and the bois or mouços who carry such palanquys shall be condemned to his Majesty's galleys."—Archiv. Port. Orient., fasc. 3, 324.
1608-10.—"... faisans les graues et obseruans le Sossiego à l'Espagnole, ayans tousiours leur boay qui porte leur parasol, sans lequel ils n'osent sortir de logis, ou autrement on les estimeroit picaros et miserables."—Mocquet, Voyages, 305.
1610.—"... autres Gentils qui sont comme Crocheteurs et Porte-faix, qu'ils appellent Boye, c'est a dire Bœuf pour porter quelque pesãt faix que ce soit."—Pyrard de Laval, ii. 27; [Hak. Soc. ii. 44. On this Mr. Gray notes: "Pyrard's fanciful interpretation 'ox,' Port. boi, may be due either to himself or to some Portuguese friend who would have his joke. It is repeated by Boullaye-de-Gouz (p. 211), who finds a parallel indignity in the use of the term mulets by the French gentry towards their chair-men."]
1673.—"We might recite the Coolies ... and Palenkeen Boys; by the very Heathens esteemed a degenerate Offspring of the Holencores (see HALALCORE)."—Fryer, 34.
1720.—"Bois. In Portuguese India are those who carry the Andores (see ANDOR), and in Salsete there is a village of them which pays its dues from the fish which they sell, buying it from the fishermen of the shores."—Bluteau, Dict. s.v.
1755-60.—"... Palankin-boys."—Ives, 50.
1778.—"Boys de palanquim, Kàhàr."—Gramatica Indostana (Port.), Roma, 86.
1782.—"... un bambou arqué dans le milieu, qui tient au palanquin, et sur les bouts duquel se mettent 5 ou 6 porteurs qu'on appelle Boués."—Sonnerat, Voyage, i. 58.
1785.—"The boys with Colonel Lawrence's palankeen having straggled a little out of the line of march, were picked up by the Morattas."—Carraccioli, Life of Clive, i. 207.
1804.—"My palanquin boys will be laid on the road on Monday."—Wellington, iii. 553.
1809.—"My boys were in high spirits, laughing and singing through the whole night."—Ld. Valentia, i. 326.
1810.—"The palankeen-bearers are called Bhois, and are remarkable for strength and swiftness."—Maria Graham, 128.
BOYA, s. A buoy. Sea H. (Roebuck). [Mr. Skeat adds: "The Malay word is also boya or bai-rop, which latter I cannot trace."]
[BOYANORE, BAONOR, s. A corr. of the Malayāl. Vāllunavar, 'Ruler.'
[1887.—"Somewhere about 1694-95 ... the Kadattunād Raja, known to the early English as the Boyanore or Baonor of Badagara, was in semi-independent possession of Kaduttanād, that is, of the territory lying between the Mahé and Kōtta rivers."—Logan, Man. of Malabar, i. 345.]
BRAB, s. The Palmyra Tree (see PALMYRA) or Borassus flabelliformis. The Portuguese called this Palmeira brava ('wild' palm), whence the English corruption. The term is unknown in Bengal, where the tree is called 'fan-palm,' 'palmyra,' or by the H. name tāl or tār.
1623.—"The book is made after the fashion of this country, i.e. not of paper which is seldom or never used, but of palm leaves, viz. of the leaves of that which the Portuguese call palmum brama (sic), or wild palm."—P. della Valle, ii. 681; [Hak. Soc. ii. 291].
c. 1666.—"Tous les Malabares écrivent comme nous de gauche à droit sur les feuïlles des Palmeras Bravas."—Thevenot, v. 268.
1673.—"Another Tree called Brabb, bodied like the Cocoe, but the leaves grow round like a Peacock's Tail set upright."—Fryer, 76.
1759.—"Brabb, so called at Bombay: Palmira on the coast; and Tall at Bengal."—Ives, 458.
c. 1760.—"There are also here and there interspersed a few brab-trees, or rather wild palm-trees (the word brab being derived from Brabo, which in Portuguese signifies wild) ... the chief profit from that is the toddy."—Grose, i. 48.
[1808.—See quotation under BANDAREE.]
1809.—"The Palmyra ... here called the brab, furnishes the best leaves for thatching, and the dead ones serve for fuel."—Maria Graham, 5.
BRAHMIN, BRAHMAN, BRAMIN, s. In some parts of India called Bahman; Skt. Brāhmaṇa. This word now means a member of the priestly caste, but the original meaning and use were different. Haug, (Brahma und die Brahmanen, pp. 8-11) traces the word to the root brih, 'to increase,' and shows how it has come to have its present signification. The older English form is Brachman, which comes to us through the Greek and Latin authors.
c. B.C. 330.—"... τῶν ἐν Ταξίλοις σοφιστῶν ἰδεῖν δύο φησὶ, Βραχμᾶνας ἀμφοτέρους, τὸν μὲν πρεσβύτερον ἐξυρημένον, τὸν δὲ νεώτερον κομήτην, ἀμφοτέροις δ' ἀκολουθεῖν μαθητάς...."—Aristobulus, quoted in Strabo, xv. c. 61.
c. B.C. 300.—"Ἄλλην δὲ διαίρεσιν ποιεῖται περὶ τῶν φιλοσόφων δύο γενη φάσκων, ὥν τοὺς μὲν Βραχμᾶνας καλεῖ, τοὺς δὲ Γαρμάνας [Σαρμάνας?]"—From Megasthenes, in Strabo, xv. c. 59.
c. A.D. 150.—"But the evil stars have not forced the Brahmins to do evil and abominable things; nor have the good stars persuaded the rest of the (Indians) to abstain from evil things."—Bardesanes, in Cureton's Spicilegium, 18.
c. A.D. 500.—"Βραχμᾶνες; Ἰνδικὸν ἔθνος σοφώτατον οὓς καὶ βράχμας καλοῦσιν."—Stephanus Byzantinus.
1298.—Marco Polo writes (pl.) Abraiaman or Abraiamin, which seems to represent an incorrect Ar. plural (e.g. Abrāhamīn) picked up from Arab sailors; the correct Ar. plural is Barāhima.
1444.—Poggio taking down the reminiscences of Nicolo Conti writes Brammones.
1555.—"Among these is ther a people called Brachmanes, whiche (as Didimus their Kinge wrote unto Alexandre ...) live a pure and simple life, led with no likerous lustes of other mennes vanities."—W. Watreman, Fardle of Faciouns.
1572.—
"Brahmenes são os seus religiosos,
Nome antiguo, e de grande preeminencia:
Observam os preceitos tão famosos
D'hum, que primeiro poz nomo á sciencia."
Camões, vii. 40.
1578.—Acosta has Bragmen.
1582.—"Castañeda, tr. by N. L.," has Bramane.
1630.—"The Bramanes ... Origen, cap. 13 & 15, affirmeth to bee descended from Abraham by Cheturah, who seated themselves in India, and that so they were called Abrahmanes."—Lord, Desc. of the Banian Rel., 71.
1676.—
"Comes he to upbraid us with his innocence?
Seize him, and take this preaching Brachman hence."
Dryden, Aurungzebe, iii. 3.
1688.—"The public worship of the pagods was tolerated at Goa, and the sect of the Brachmans daily increased in power, because these Pagan priests had bribed the Portuguese officers."—Dryden, Life of Xavier.
1714.—"The Dervis at first made some scruple of violating his promise to the dying brachman."—The Spectator, No. 578.
BRAHMINY BULL, s. A bull devoted to Śiva and let loose; generally found frequenting Hindu bazars, and fattened by the run of the Bunyas' shops. The term is sometimes used more generally (Brahminy bull, -ox, or -cow) to denote the humped Indian ox as a species.
1872.—"He could stop a huge Bramini bull, when running in fury, by catching hold of its horns."—Govinda Samanta, i. 85.
[1889.—"Herbert Edwards made his mark as a writer of the Brahminee Bull Letters in the Delhi Gazette."—Calcutta Rev., app. xxii.]
BRAHMINY BUTTER, s. This seems to have been an old name for Ghee (q.v.). In MS. "Acct. Charges, Dieting, &c., at Fort St. David for Nov.-Jany., 1746-47," in India Office, we find:
| " | Butter | Pagodas | 2 | 2 | 0 | |
| Brahminy do. | " | 1 | 13 | 0 | ." |
BRAHMINY DUCK, s. The common Anglo-Indian name of the handsome bird Casarca rutila (Pallas), or 'Ruddy Shieldrake'; constantly seen on the sandy shores of the Gangetic rivers in single pairs, the pair almost always at some distance apart. The Hindi name is chakwā, and the chakwā-chakwī (male and female of the species) afford a commonplace comparison in Hindi literature for faithful lovers and spouses. "The Hindus have a legend that two lovers for their indiscretion were transformed into Brahminy Ducks, that they are condemned to pass the night apart from each other, on opposite banks of the river, and that all night long each, in its turn, asks its mate if it shall come across, but the question is always met by a negative—"Chakwa, shall I come?" "No, Chakwi." "Chakwi, shall I come?" "No, Chakwa."—(Jerdon.) The same author says the bird is occasionally killed in England.
BRAHMINY KITE, s. The Milvus Pondicerianus of Jerdon, Haliastur Indus, Boddaert. The name is given because the bird is regarded with some reverence by the Hindus as sacred to Vishnu. It is found throughout India.
c. 1328.—"There is also in this India a certain bird, big, like a Kite, having a white head and belly, but all red above, which boldly snatches fish out of the hands of fishermen and other people, and indeed [these birds] go on just like dogs."—Friar Jordanus, 36.
1673.—"... 'tis Sacrilege with them to kill a Cow or Calf; but highly piacular to shoot a Kite, dedicated to the Brachmins, for which Money will hardly pacify."—Fryer, 33.
[1813.—"We had a still bolder and more ravenous enemy in the hawks and brahminee kites."—Forbes, Or. Mem., 2nd ed., ii. 162.]
BRAHMO-SOMÁJ, s. The Bengali pronunciation of Skt. Brahma Samāja, 'assembly of Brahmists'; Brahma being the Supreme Being according to the Indian philosophic systems. The reform of Hinduism so called was begun by Ram Mohun Roy (Rāma Mohana Rāī) in 1830. Professor A. Weber has shown that it does not constitute an independent Indian movement, but is derived from European Theism. [Also see Monier-Williams, Brahmanism, 486.]
1876.—"The Brahmo Somaj, or Theistic Church of India, is an experiment hitherto unique in religious history."—Collet, Brahmo Year-book, 5.
BRANDUL, s. 'Backstay,' in Sea H. Port. brandal (Roebuck).
BRANDY COORTEE, -COATEE, s. Or sometimes simply Brandy. A corruption of bārānī, 'a cloak,' literally pluviale, from P. bārān, 'rain.' Bārānī-kurtī seems to be a kind of hybrid shaped by the English word coat, though kurtā and kurtī are true P. words for various forms of jacket or tunic.
[1754.—"Their women also being not less than 6000, were dressed with great coats (these are called baranni) of crimson cloth, after the manner of the men, and not to be distinguished at a distance; so that the whole made a very formidable appearance."—H. of Nadir Shah, in Hanway, 367.]
1788.—"Barrannee—a cloak to cover one from the rain."—Ind. Vocab. (Stockdale).
[The word Bārānī is now commonly used to describe those crops which are dependent on the annual rains, not on artificial irrigation.
[1900.—"The recent rain has improved the barani crops."—Pioneer Mail, 19th Feb.]
BRANDYPAWNEE, s. Brandy and water; a specimen of genuine Urdū, i.e. Camp jargon, which hardly needs interpretation. H. panī, 'water.' Williamson (1810) has brandy-shraub-pauny (V. M. ii. 123).
[1854.—"I'm sorry to see you gentlemen drinking brandy-pawnee," says he; "it plays the deuce with our young men in India."—Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. i.]
1866.—"The brandy pawnee of the East, and the 'sangaree' of the West Indies, are happily now almost things of the past, or exist in a very modified form."—Waring, Tropical Resident, 177.
BRASS, s. A brace. Sea dialect.—(Roebuck.)
[BRASS-KNOCKER, s. A term applied to a réchauffé or serving up again of yesterday's dinner or supper. It is said to be found in a novel by Winwood Reade called Liberty Hall, as a piece of Anglo-Indian slang; and it is supposed to be a corruption of bāsī khāna, H. 'stale food'; see 5 ser. N. & Q., 34, 77.]
BRATTY, s. A word, used only in the South, for cakes of dry cow-dung, used as fuel more or less all over India. It is Tam. varaṭṭi, [or virāṭṭi], 'dried dung.' Various terms are current elsewhere, but in Upper India the most common is uplā.—(Vide OOPLA).
BRAVA, n.p. A sea-port on the east coast of Africa, lat. 1° 7′ N., long. 44° 3′, properly Barāwa.
1516.—"... a town of the Moors, well walled, and built of good stone and whitewash, which is called Brava.... It is a place of trade, which has already been destroyed by the Portuguese, with great slaughter of the inhabitants...."—Barbosa, 15.
BRAZIL-WOOD, s. This name is now applied in trade to the dye-wood imported from Pernambuco, which is derived from certain species of Caesalpinia indigenous there. But it originally applied to a dye-wood of the same genus which was imported from India, and which is now known in trade as Sappan (q.v.). [It is the andam or baḳḳam of the Arabs (Burton, Ar. Nights, iii. 49).] The history of the word is very curious. For when the name was applied to the newly discovered region in S. America, probably, as Barros alleges, because it produced a dye-wood similar in character to the brazil of the East, the trade-name gradually became appropriated to the S. American product, and was taken away from that of the E. Indies. See some further remarks in Marco Polo, 2nd ed., ii. 368-370 [and Encycl. Bibl. i. 120].
This is alluded to also by Camões (x. 140):
"But here where Earth spreads wider, ye shall claim
realms by the ruddy Dye-wood made renown'd;
these of the 'Sacred Cross' shall win the name:
by your first Navy shall that world be found."
Burton.
The medieval forms of brazil were many; in Italian it is generally verzi, verzino, or the like.
1330.—"And here they burn the brazil-wood (verzino) for fuel...."—Fr. Odoric, in Cathay, &c., p. 77.
1552.—"... when it came to the 3d of May, and Pedralvares was about to set sail, in order to give a name to the land thus newly discovered, he ordered a very great Cross to be hoisted at the top of a tree, after mass had been said at the foot of the tree, and it had been set up with the solemn benediction of the priests, and then he gave the country the name of Sancta Cruz.... But as it was through the symbol of the Cross that the Devil lost his dominion over us ... as soon as the red wood called Brazil began to arrive from that country, he wrought that that name should abide in the mouth of the people, and that the name of Holy Cross should be lost, as if the name of a wood for colouring cloth were of more moment than that wood which imbues all the sacraments with the tincture of salvation, which is the Blood of Jesus Christ."—Barros, I. v. 2.
1554.—"The baar (Bahar) of Brazil contains 20 faraçolas (see FRAZALA), weighing it in a coir rope, and there is no picotaa (see PICOTA)"—A. Nunes, 18.
1641.—"We went to see the Rasp-house where the lusty knaves are compelled to labour, and the rasping of Brazill and Logwood is very hard labour."—Evelyn's Diary, August [19].
BREECH-CANDY, n.p. A locality on the shore of Bombay Island to the north of Malabar Hill. The true name, as Dr. Murray Mitchell tells me, is believed to be Burj-khāḍī, 'the Tower of the Creek.'
BRIDGEMÁN, s. Anglo-Sepoy H. brijmān, denoting a military prisoner, of which word it is a quaint corruption.
BRINJARRY, s. Also BINJARREE, BUNJARREE, and so on. But the first form has become classical from its constant occurrence in the Indian Despatches of Sir A. Wellesley. The word is properly H. banjārā, and Wilson derives it from Skt. baṇij, 'trade,' kāra, 'doer.' It is possible that the form brinjārā may have been suggested by a supposed connection with the Pers. birinj, 'rice.' (It is alleged in the Dict. of Words used in the E. Indies, 2nd ed., 1805, to be derived from brinj, 'rice,' and ara, 'bring'!) The Brinjarries of the Deccan are dealers in grain and salt, who move about, in numerous parties with cattle, carrying their goods to different markets, and who in the days of the Deccan wars were the great resource of the commissariat, as they followed the armies with supplies for sale. They talk a kind of Mahratta or Hindi patois. Most classes of Banjārās in the west appear to have a tradition of having first come to the Deccan with Moghul camps as commissariat carriers. In a pamphlet called Some Account of the Bunjarrah Class, by N. R. Cumberlege, District Sup. of Police, Basein, Berar (Bombay, 1882; [North Indian N. & Q. iv. 163 seqq.]), the author attempts to distinguish between brinjarees as 'grain-carriers,' and bunjarrahs, from bunjār, 'waste land' (meaning banjar or bānjaṛ). But this seems fanciful. In the N.-W. Provinces the name is also in use, and is applied to a numerous tribe spread along the skirt of the Himālaya from Hardwār to Gorakhpur, some of whom are settled, whilst the rest move about with their cattle, sometimes transporting goods for hire, and sometimes carrying grain, salt, lime, forest produce, or other merchandise for sale. [See Crooke, Tribes and Castes, i. 149 seqq.] Vanjārās, as they are called about Bombay, used to come down from Rajputāna and Central India, with large droves of cattle, laden with grain, &c., taking back with them salt for the most part. These were not mere carriers, but the actual dealers, paying ready money, and they were orderly in conduct.
c. 1505.—"As scarcity was felt in his camp (Sultan Sikandar Lodi's) in consequence of the non-arrival of the Banjáras, he despatched 'Azam Humáyun for the purpose of bringing in supplies."—Ni'amat Ullah, in Elliot, v. 100 (written c. 1612).
1516.—"The Moors and Gentiles of the cities and towns throughout the country come to set up their shops and cloths at Cheul ... they bring these in great caravans of domestic oxen, with packs, like donkeys, and on the top of these long white sacks placed crosswise, in which they bring their goods; and one man drives 30 or 40 beasts before him."—Barbosa, 71.
1563.—"... This King of Dely took the Balagat from certain very powerful gentoos, whose tribe are those whom we now call Venezaras, and from others dwelling in the country, who are called Colles; and all these, Colles, and Venezaras, and Reisbutos, live by theft and robbery to this day."—Garcia De O., f. 34.
c. 1632.—"The very first step which Mohabut Khan [Khān Khānān] took in the Deccan, was to present the Bunjaras of Hindostan with elephants, horses, and cloths; and he collected (by these conciliatory measures) so many of them that he had one chief Bunjara at Agrah, another in Goojrat, and another above the Ghats, and established the advanced price of 10 sers per rupee (in his camp) to enable him to buy it cheaper."—MS. Life of Mohabut Khan (Khan Khanan), in Briggs's paper quoted below, 183.
1638.—"Il y a dans le Royaume de Cuncam vn certain peuple qu'ils appellent Venesars, qui achettent le bled et le ris ... pour le reuendre dans l'Indosthan ... ou ils vont auec des Caffilas ou Caravances de cinq ou six, et quelque fois de neuf ou dix mille bestes de somme...."—Mandelslo, 245.
1793.—"Whilst the army halted on the 23rd, accounts were received from Captain Read ... that his convoy of brinjarries had been attacked by a body of horse."—Dirom, 2.
1800.—"The Binjarries I look upon in the light of servants of the public, of whose grain I have a right to regulate the sale ... always taking care that they have a proportionate advantage."—A. Wellesley, in Life of Sir T. Munro, i. 264.
" "The Brinjarries drop in by degrees."—Wellington, i. 175.
1810.—"Immediately facing us a troop of Brinjarees had taken up their residence for the night. These people travel from one end of India to the other, carrying salt, grain, assafœtida, almost as necessary to an army as salt."—Maria Graham, 61.
1813.—"We met there a number of Vanjarrahs, or merchants, with large droves of oxen, laden with valuable articles from the interior country, to commute for salt on the sea-coast."—Forbes, Or. Mem. i. 206; [2nd ed. i. 118; also see ii. 276 seqq.].
" "As the Deccan is devoid of a single navigable river, and has no roads that admit of wheel-carriages, the whole of this extensive intercourse is carried on by laden bullocks, the property of that class of people known as Bunjaras."—Acc. of Origin, Hist., and Manners of ... Bunjaras, by Capt. John Briggs, in Tr. Lit. Soc. Bo. i. 61.
1825.—"We passed a number of Brinjarrees who were carrying salt.... They ... had all bows ... arrows, sword and shield.... Even the children had, many of them, bows and arrows suited to their strength, and I saw one young woman equipped in the same manner."—Heber, ii. 94.
1877.—"They were brinjarries, or carriers of grain, and were quietly encamped at a village about 24 miles off; trading most unsuspiciously in grain and salt."—Meadows Taylor, Life, ii. 17.
BRINJAUL, s. The name of a vegetable called in the W. Indies the Egg-plant, and more commonly known to the English in Bengal under that of bangun (prop. baingan). It is the Solanum Melongena, L., very commonly cultivated on the shores of the Mediterranean as well as in India and the East generally. Though not known in a wild state under this form, there is no reasonable doubt that S. Melongena is a derivative of the common Indian S. insanum, L. The word in the form brinjaul is from the Portuguese, as we shall see. But probably there is no word of the kind which has undergone such extraordinary variety of modifications, whilst retaining the same meaning, as this. The Skt. is bhaṇṭākī, H. bhāṇṭā, baigan, baingan, P. badingān, badilgān, Ar. badinjān, Span. alberengena, berengena, Port. beringela, bringiela, bringella, Low Latin melangolus, merangolus, Ital. melangola, melanzana, mela insana, &c. (see P. della Valle, below), French aubergine (from alberengena), melongène, merangène, and provincially belingène, albergaine, albergine, albergame. (See Marcel Devic, p. 46.) Littré, we may remark, explains (dormitante Homero?) aubergine as 'espèce de morelle,' giving the etym. as "diminutif de auberge" (in the sense of a kind of peach). Melongena is no real Latin word, but a factitious rendering of melanzana, or, as Marcel Devic says, "Latin du botaniste." It looks as if the Skt. word were the original of all. The H. baingan again seems to have been modified from the P. badingān, [or, as Platts asserts, direct from the Skt. vanga, vangana, 'the plant of Bengal,'] and baingan also through the Ar. to have been the parent of the Span. berengena, and so of all the other European names except the English 'egg-plant.' The Ital. mela insana is the most curious of these corruptions, framed by the usual effort after meaning, and connecting itself with the somewhat indigestible reputation of the vegetable as it is eaten in Italy, which is a fact. When cholera is abroad it is considered (e.g. in Sicily) to be an act of folly to eat the melanzana. There is, however, behind this, some notion (exemplified in the quotation from Lane's Mod. Egypt. below) connecting the badinjān with madness. [Burton, Ar. Nights, iii. 417.] And it would seem that the old Arab medical writers give it a bad character as an article of diet. Thus Avicenna says the badinjān generates melancholy and obstructions. To the N. O. Solanaceae many poisonous plants belong.
The word has been carried, with the vegetable, to the Archipelago, probably by the Portuguese, for the Malays call it berinjalā. [On this Mr. Skeat writes: "The Malay form brinjal, from the Port., not berinjalā, is given by Clifford and Swettenham, but it cannot be established as a Malay word, being almost certainly the Eng. brinjaul done into Malay. It finds no place in Klinkert, and the native Malay word, which is the only word used in pure Peninsular Malay, is terong or trong. The form berinjalā, I believe, must have come from the Islands if it really exists."]
1554.—(At Goa). "And the excise from garden stuff under which are comprised these things, viz.: Radishes, beetroot, garlick, onions green and dry, green tamarinds, lettuces, conbalinguas, ginger, oranges, dill, coriander, mint, cabbage, salted mangoes, brinjelas, lemons, gourds, citrons, cucumbers, which articles none may sell in retail except the Rendeiro of this excise, or some one who has got permission from him...."—S. Botelho, Tombo, 49.
c. 1580.—"Trifolium quoque virens comedunt Arabes, mentham Judaei crudam, ... mala insana...."—Prosper Alpinus, i. 65.
1611.—"We had a market there kept upon the Strand of diuers sorts of prouisions, towit ... Pallingenies, cucumbers...."—N. Dounton, in Purchas, i. 298.
1616.—"It seems to me to be one of those fruits which are called in good Tuscan petronciani, but which by the Lombards are called melanzane, and by the vulgar at Rome marignani; and if my memory does not deceive me, by the Neapolitans in their patois molegnane."—P. della Valle, i. 197.
1673.—"The Garden ... planted with Potatoes, Yawms, Berenjaws, both hot plants...."—Fryer, 104.
1738.—"Then follow during the rest of the summer, calabashas ... bedin-janas, and tomatas."—Shaw's Travels, 2nd ed. 1757, p. 141.
c. 1740.—"This man (Balaji Rao), who had become absolute in Hindostan as well as in Decan, was fond of bread made of Badjrah ... he lived on raw Bringelas, on unripe mangoes, and on raw red pepper."—Seir Mutaqherin, iii. 229.
1782.—Sonnerat writes Béringédes.—i. 186.
1783.—Forrest spells brinjalles (V. to Mergui, 40); and (1810) Williamson biringal (V. M. i. 133). Forbes (1813), bringal and berenjal (Or. Mem. i. 32) [in 2nd ed. i. 22, bungal,] ii. 50; [in 2nd ed. i. 348].
1810.—"I saw last night at least two acres covered with brinjaal, a species of Solanum."—Maria Graham, 24.
1826.—"A plate of poached eggs, fried in sugar and butter; a dish of badenjâns, slit in the middle and boiled in grease."—Hajji Baba, ed. 1835, p. 150.
1835.—"The neighbours unanimously declared that the husband was mad.... One exclaimed: 'There is no strength nor power but in God! God restore thee!' Another said: 'How sad! He was really a worthy man.' A third remarked: 'Badingâns are very abundant just now.'"—Lane, Mod. Egyptians, ed. 1860, 299.
1860.—"Amongst other triumphs of the native cuisine were some singular, but by no means inelegant chefs d'œuvre, brinjals boiled and stuffed with savoury meats, but exhibiting ripe and undressed fruit growing on the same branch."—Tennent's Ceylon, ii. 161. This dish is mentioned in the Sanskrit Cookery Book, which passes as by King Nala. It is managed by wrapping part of the fruit in wet cloths whilst the rest is being cooked.
BROACH, n.p. Bharōch, an ancient and still surviving city of Guzerat, on the River Nerbudda. The original forms of the name are Bhṛigu-kachchha, and Bhāru-Kachchha, which last form appears in the Sunnar Cave Inscription No. ix., and this was written with fair correctness by the Greeks as Βαρυγάζα and Βαργόση. "Illiterate Guzerattees would in attempting to articulate Bhreeghoo-Kshetra (sic), lose the half in coalescence, and call it Barigache."—Drummond, Illus. of Guzerattee, &c.
c. B.C. 20.—"And then laughing, and stript naked, anointed and with his loin-cloth on, he leaped upon the pyre. And this inscription was set upon his tomb: Zarmanochēgas the Indian from Bargósē having rendered himself immortal after the hereditary custom of the Indians lieth here."—Nicolaus Damascenus, in Strabo, xv. 72. [Lassen takes the name Zarmanochēgas to represent the Skt. Śrámanácharya, teacher of the Śrámanas, from which it would appear that he was a Buddhist priest.]
c. A.D. 80.—"On the right, at the very mouth of the gulf, there is a long and narrow strip of shoal.... And if one succeeds in getting into the gulf, still it is hard to hit the mouth of the river leading to Barygaza, owing to the land being so low ... and when found it is difficult to enter, owing to the shoals of the river near the mouth. On this account there are at the entrances fishermen employed by the King ... to meet ships as far off as Syrastrene, and by these they are piloted up to Barygaza."—Periplus, sect. 43. It is very interesting to compare Horsburgh with this ancient account. "From the sands of Swallow to Broach a continued bank extends along the shore, which at Broach river projects out about 5 miles.... The tide flows here ... velocity 6 knots ... rising nearly 30 feet.... On the north side of the river, a great way up, the town of Broach is situated; vessels of considerable burden may proceed to this place, as the channels are deep in many places, but too intricate to be navigated without a pilot."—India Directory (in loco).
c. 718.—Barús is mentioned as one of the places against which Arab attacks were directed.—See Elliot, i. 441.
c. 1300.—"... a river which lies between the Sarsut and Ganges ... has a south-westerly course till it falls into the sea near Bahrúch."—Al-Birūni, in Elliot, i. 49.
A.D. 1321.—"After their blessed martyrdom, which occurred on the Thursday before Palm Sunday, in Thana of India, I baptised about 90 persons in a certain city called Parocco, 10 days' journey distant therefrom...."—Friar Jordanus, in Cathay, &c., 226.
1552.—"A great and rich ship said to belong to Meleque Gupij, Lord of Baroche."—Barros, II. vi. 2.
1555.—"Sultan Ahmed on his part marched upon Barūj."—Sidī 'Ali, 85.
[1615.—"It would be necessary to give credit unto two or three Guzzaratts for some cloth to make a voyage to Burrouse."—Foster, Letters, iv. 94.]
1617.—"We gave our host ... a peece of backar baroche to his children to make them 2 coates."—Cocks's Diary, i. 330. [Backar here seems to represent a port connected with Broach, called in the Āīn (ii. 243) Bhankora or Bhakor; Bayley gives Bhakorah as a village on the frontier of Gujerat.]
1623.—"Before the hour of complines ... we arrived at the city of Barochi, or Behrug as they call it in Persian, under the walls of which, on the south side, flows a river called Nerbedà."—P. della Valle, ii. 529; [Hak. Soc. i. 60].
1648.—In Van Twist (p. 11), it is written Broichia.
[1676.—"From Surat to Baroche, 22 coss."—Tavernier, ed. Ball, i. 66.]
1756.—"Bandar of Bhrōch."—(Bird's tr. of) Mirat-i-Ahmadi, 115.
1803.—"I have the honour to enclose ... papers which contain a detailed account of the ... capture of Baroach."—Wellington, ii. 289.
BUCK, v. To prate, to chatter, to talk much and egotistically. H. baknā. [A buck-stick is a chatterer.]