1682.—"Here we met with ye Barbadoes Merchant ... James Cock, Master, laden with Salt, Mules, and Africos."—Hedges, Diary, Feb. 27. [Hak. Soc. i. 16.]
[AGAM, adj. A term applied to certain cloths dyed in some particular way. It is the Ar. 'ajam (lit. "one who has an impediment or difficulty in speaking Arabic"), a foreigner, and in particular, a Persian. The adj. 'ajamī thus means "foreign" or "Persian," and is equivalent to the Greek βάρβαρος and the Hind. mleććha. Sir G. Birdwood (Rep. on Old Rec., p. 145) quotes from Hieronimo di Santo Stefano (1494-99), "in company with some Armenian and Azami merchants": and (ibid.) from Varthema: "It is a country of very great traffic in merchandise, and particularly with the Persians and Azamini, who come so far as there."]
[1614.—"Kerseys, Agam colours."—Foster, Letters, ii. 237.
1614.—"Persia will vent five hundred cloths and one thousand kerseys, Agam colours, per annum."—Ibid. ii. 237.]
AGAR-AGAR, s. The Malay name of a kind of sea-weed (Spherococcus lichenoïdes). It is succulent when boiled to a jelly; and is used by the Chinese with birdsnest (q.v.) in soup. They also employ it as a glue, and apply it to silk and paper intended to be transparent. It grows on the shores of the Malay Islands, and is much exported to China.—(See Crawfurd, Dict. Ind. Arch., and Milburn, ii. 304).
AGDAUN, s. A hybrid H. word from H. āg and P. dān, made in imitation of pīk-dān, ḳalam-dān, shama-dān ('spittoon, pencase, candlestick'). It means a small vessel for holding fire to light a cheroot.
ĀG-GĀRI, s. H. 'Fire carriage.' In native use for a railway train.
AGUN-BOAT, s. A hybrid word for a steamer, from H. agan, 'fire,' and Eng. boat. In Bombay Ag-bōt is used.
1853.—"... Agin boat."—Oakfield, i. 84.
[AJNĀS, s. Ar. plur. of jins, 'goods, merchandise, crops,' etc. Among the Moguls it was used in the special sense of pay in kind, not in cash.]
[c. 1665.—"It (their pay) is, however, of a different kind, and not thought so honourable, but the Rouzindars are not subject, like the Mansebdars (Munsubdar) to the Agenas; that is to say, are not bound to take, at a valuation, carpets, and other pieces of furniture, that have been used in the King's palace, and on which an unreasonable value is sometimes set."—Bernier (ed. Constable), 215-6.]
AK, s. H. āk and ark, in Sindi ăk: the prevalent name of the madār (MUDDAR) in Central and Western India. It is said to be a popular belief (of course erroneous) in Sind, that Akbar was so called after the āk, from his birth in the desert. [Ives (488) calls it Ogg.] The word appears in the following popular rhyme quoted by Tod (Rajasthan, i. 669):—
Ak-rā jhoprā,
Phok-rā bār,
Bajra-rā rotī,
Mot'h-rā dāl:
Dekho Rājā terī Mārwār.
(For houses hurdles of madār,
For hedges heaps of withered thorn,
Millet for bread, horse-peas for pulse:
Such is thy kingdom, Raja of Mārwār!)
AKALEE, or Nihang ('the naked one'), s. A member of a body of zealots among the Sikhs, who take this name 'from being worshippers of Him who is without time, eternal' (Wilson). Skt. a privative, and kāl, 'time.' The Akālis may be regarded as the Wahābis of Sikhism. They claim their body to have been instituted by Guru Govind himself, but this is very doubtful. Cunningham's view of the order is that it was the outcome of the struggle to reconcile warlike activity with the abandonment of the world; the founders of the Sikh doctrine rejecting the inert asceticism of the Hindu sects. The Akālis threw off all subjection to the earthly government, and acted as the censors of the Sikh community in every rank. Runjeet Singh found them very difficult to control. Since the annexation of the Panjab, however, they have ceased to give trouble. The Akalee is distinguished by blue clothing and steel armlets. Many of them also used to carry several steel chakras (CHUCKER) encircling their turbans. [See Ibbetson, Panjab Ethnog., 286; Maclagan, in Panjab Census Rep., 1891, i. 166.]
1832.—"We received a message from the Acali who had set fire to the village.... These fanatics of the Seik creed acknowledge no superior, and the ruler of the country can only moderate their frenzy by intrigues and bribery. They go about everywhere with naked swords, and lavish their abuse on the nobles as well as the peaceable subjects.... They have on several occasions attempted the life of Runjeet Singh."—Burnes, Travels, ii. 10-11.
1840.—"The Akalis being summoned to surrender, requested a conference with one of the attacking party. The young Khan bravely went forward, and was straightway shot through the head."—Mrs Mackenzie, Storms and Sunshine, i. 115.
AKYÁB, n.p. The European name of the seat of administration of the British province of Arakan, which is also a port exporting rice largely to Europe. The name is never used by the natives of Arakan (of the Burmese race), who call the town Tsit-htwé, 'Crowd (in consequence of) War.' This indicates how the settlement came to be formed in 1825, by the fact of the British force encamping on the plain there, which was found to be healthier than the site of the ancient capital of the kingdom of Arakan, up the valley of the Arakan or Kaladyne R. The name Akyáb had been applied, probably by the Portuguese, to a neighbouring village, where there stands, about 1½ miles from the present town, a pagoda covering an alleged relique of Gautama (a piece of the lower jaw, or an induration of the throat), the name of which pagoda, taken from the description of relique, is Au-kyait-dau, and of this Akyáb was probably a corruption. The present town and cantonment occupy dry land of very recent formation, and the high ground on which the pagoda stands must have stood on the shore at no distant date, as appears from the finding of a small anchor there about 1835. The village adjoining the pagoda must then have stood at the mouth of the Arakan R., which was much frequented by the Portuguese and the Chittagong people in the 16th and 17th centuries, and thus probably became known to them by a name taken from the Pagoda.—(From a note by Sir Arthur Phayre.) [Col. Temple writes—"The only derivation which strikes me as plausible, is from the Agyattaw Phaya, near which, on the island of Sittwé, a Cantonment was formed after the first Burmese war, on the abandonment of Mrohaung or Arakan town in 1825, on account of sickness among the troops stationed there. The word Agyattaw is spelt Akhyap-taw, whence probably the modern name."]
[1826.—"It (the despatch) at length arrived this day (3rd Dec. 1826), having taken two months in all to reach us, of which forty-five days were spent in the route from Akyab in Aracan."—Crawfurd, Ava, 289.]
ALA-BLAZE PAN, s. This name is given in the Bombay Presidency to a tinned-copper stew-pan, having a cover, and staples for straps, which is carried on the march by European soldiers, for the purpose of cooking in, and eating out of. Out on picnics a larger kind is frequently used, and kept continually going, as a kind of pot-au-feu. [It has been suggested that the word may be a corr. of some French or Port. term—Fr. braiser; Port. brazeiro, 'a fire-pan,' braza, 'hot coals.']
ALBACORE, s. A kind of rather large sea-fish, of the Tunny genus (Thynnus albacora, Lowe, perhaps the same as Thynnus macropterus, Day); from the Port. albacor or albecora. The quotations from Ovington and Grose below refer it to albo, but the word is, from its form, almost certainly Arabic, though Dozy says he has not found the word in this sense in Arabic dictionaries, which are very defective in the names of fishes (p. 61). The word albacora in Sp. is applied to a large early kind of fig, from Ar. al-bākūr, 'praecox' (Dozy), Heb. bikkūra, in Micah vii. 1.—See Cobarruvias, s.v. Albacora. [The N.E.D. derives it from Ar. al-bukr, 'a young camel, a heifer,' whence Port. bacoro, 'a young pig.' Also see Gray's note on Pyrard, i. 9.]
1579.—"These (flying fish) have two enemies, the one in the sea, the other in the aire. In the sea the fish which is called Albocore, as big as a salmon."—Letter from Goa, by T. Stevens, in Hakl. ii. 583.
1592.—"In our passage over from S. Laurence to the maine, we had exceeding great store of Bonitos and Albocores."—Barker, in Hakl. ii. 592.
1696.—"We met likewise with shoals of Albicores (so call'd from a piece of white Flesh that sticks to their Heart) and with multitudes of Bonettoes, which are named from their Goodness and Excellence for eating; so that sometimes for more than twenty Days the whole Ship's Company have feasted on these curious fish."—Ovington, p. 48.
c. 1760.—"The Albacore is another fish of much the same kind as the Bonito ... from 60 to 90 pounds weight and upward. The name of this fish too is taken from the Portuguese, importing its white colour."—Grose, i. 5.
ALBATROSS, s. The great sea-bird (Diomedea exulans, L.), from the Port. alcatraz, to which the forms used by Hawkins and Dampier, and by Flacourt (according to Marcel Devic) closely approach. [Alcatras 'in this sense altered to albi-, albe-, albatross (perhaps with etymological reference to albus, "white," the albatross being white, while the alcatras was black.') N.E.D. s.v.] The Port. word properly means 'a pelican.' A reference to the latter word in our Glossary will show another curious misapplication. Devic states that alcatruz in Port. means 'the bucket of a Persian wheel,'[26] representing the Ar. al-ḳādūs, which is again from κάδος. He supposes that the pelican may have got this name in the same way that it is called in ordinary Ar. saḳḳa, 'a water-carrier.' It has been pointed out by Dr Murray, that the alcatruz of some of the earlier voyagers, e.g., of Davis below, is not the Diomedea, but the Man-of-War (or Frigate) Bird (Fregatus aquilus). Hawkins, at p. 187 of the work quoted, describes, without naming, a bird which is evidently the modern albatross. In the quotation from Mocquet again, alcatruz is applied to some smaller sea-bird. The passage from Shelvocke is that which suggested to Coleridge "The Ancient Mariner."
1564.—"The 8th December we ankered by a small Island called Alcatrarsa, wherein at our going a shoare, we found nothing but sea-birds, as we call them Ganets, but by the Portugals called Alcatrarses, who for that cause gave the said Island the same name."—Hawkins (Hak. Soc.), 15.
1593.—"The dolphins and bonitoes are the houndes, and the alcatrarces the hawkes, and the flying fishes the game."—Ibid. 152.
1604.—"The other foule called Alcatrarzi is a kind of Hawke that liueth by fishing. For when the Bonitos or Dolphines doe chase the flying fish vnder the water ... this Alcatrarzi flyeth after them like a Hawke after a Partridge."—Davis (Hak. Soc.), 158.
c. 1608-10.—"Alcatraz sont petis oiseaux ainsi comme estourneaux."—Mocquet, Voyages, 226.
1672.—"We met with those feathered Harbingers of the Cape ... Albetrosses ... they haue great Bodies, yet not proportionate to their Wings, which mete out twice their length."—Fryer, 12.
1690.—"They have several other Signs, whereby to know when they are near it, as by the Sea Fowl they meet at Sea, especially the Algatrosses, a very large long-winged Bird."—Dampier, i. 531.
1719.—"We had not had the sight of one fish of any kind, since we were come Southward of the Streights of Le Mair, nor one sea-bird, except a disconsolate black Albitross, who accompanied us for several days, hovering about us as if he had lost himself, till Hatley (my second Captain) observing, in one of his melancholy fits, that this bird was always hovering near us, imagin'd from his colour, that it might be some ill omen.... But be that as it would, he after some fruitless attempts, at length shot the Albitross, not doubting (perhaps) that we should have a fair wind after it...."—Shelvocke's Voyage, 72, 73.
1740.—"... a vast variety of sea-fowl, amongst which the most remarkable are the Penguins; they are in size and shape like a goose, but instead of wings they have short stumps like fins ... their bills are narrow like those of an Albitross, and they stand and walk in an erect posture. From this and their white bellies, Sir John Narborough has whimsically likened them to little children standing up in white aprons."—Anson's Voyage, 9th ed. (1756), p. 68.
1754.—"An albatrose, a sea-fowl, was shot off the Cape of Good Hope, which measured 17½ feet from wing to wing."—Ives, 5.
1803.—
"At length did cross an Albatross;
Thorough the fog it came;
As if it had been a Christian soul
We hailed it in God's name."
The Ancient Mariner.
c. 1861.—
"Souvent pour s'amuser, les hommes d'équipage
Prennent des albatros, vastes oiseaux des mers,
Qui suivent, indolents compagnons de voyage,
Le navire glissant sur les gouffres amers."
Baudelaire, L'Albatros.
ALCATIF, s. This word for 'a carpet' was much used in India in the 16th century, and is treated by some travellers as an Indian word. It is not however of Indian origin, but is an Arabic word (ḳatīf, 'a carpet with long pile') introduced into Portugal through the Moors.
c. 1540.—"There came aboard of Antonio de Faria more than 60 batels, and balloons, and manchuas (q.q.v.) with awnings and flags of silk, and rich alcatifas."—Pinto, ch. lxviii. (orig.).
1560.—"The whole tent was cut in a variety of arabesques, inlaid with coloured silk, and was carpeted with rich alcatifas."—Tenreiro, Itin., c. xvii.
1578.—"The windows of the streets by which the Viceroy passes shall be hung with carpets (alcatifadas), and the doors decorated with branches, and the whole adorned as richly as possible."—Archiv. Port. Orient., fascic. ii. 225.
[1598.—"Great store of rich Tapestrie, which are called alcatiffas."—Linschoten, Hak. Soc. i. 47.]
1608-10.—"Quand elles vont à l'Eglise on les porte en palanquin ... le dedans est d'vn grand tapis de Perse, qu'ils appellent Alcatif...."—Pyrard, ii. 62; [Hak. Soc. ii. 102].
1648.—"... many silk stuffs, such as satin, contenijs (Cuttanee) attelap (read attelas), alegie ... ornijs [H. oṛhnî, 'A woman's sheet'] of gold and silk for women's wear, gold alacatijven...."—Van Twist, 50.
1726.—"They know nought of chairs or tables. The small folks eat on a mat, and the rich on an Alcatief, or carpet, sitting with their feet under them, like our Tailors."—Valentijn, v. Chorom, 55.
ALCORANAS, s. What word does Herbert aim at in the following? [The Stanf. Dict. regards this as quite distinct from Alcorān, the Korān, or sacred book of Mohammedans (for which see N.E.D. s.v.), and suggests Al-qorūn, 'the horns,' or al-qirān, 'the vertices.']
1665.—"Some (mosques) have their Alcorana's high, slender, round steeples or towers, most of which are terrassed near the top, like the Standard in Cheapside, but twice the height."—Herbert, Travels, 3rd ed. 164.
ALCOVE, s. This English word comes to us through the Span. alcova and Fr. alcove (old Fr. aucube), from Ar. al-ḳubbàh, applied first to a kind of tent (so in Hebr. Numbers xxv. 8) and then to a vaulted building or recess. An edifice of Saracenic construction at Palermo is still known as La Cuba; and another, a domed tomb, as La Cubola. Whatever be the true formation of the last word, it seems to have given us, through the Italian, Cupola. [Not so in N.E.D.]
1738.—"Cubba, commonly used for the vaulted tomb of marab-butts" [Adjutant.]—Shaw's Travels, ed. 1757, p. 40.
ALDEA, s. A village; also a villa. Port. from the Ar. al-ḍai'a, 'a farm or villa.' Bluteau explains it as 'Povoção menor que lugar.' Lane gives among other and varied meanings of the Ar. word: 'An estate consisting of land or of land and a house, ... land yielding a revenue.' The word forms part of the name of many towns and villages in Spain and Portugal.
1547.—"The Governor (of Baçaem) Dom João de Castro, has given and gives many aldeas and other grants of land to Portuguese who served and were wounded at the fortress of Dio, and to others of long service...."—Simão Botelho, Cartas 3.
[1609.—"Aldeas in the Country."—Danvers, Letters, i. 25.]
1673.—"Here ... in a sweet Air, stood a Magnificent Rural Church; in the way to which, and indeed all up and down this Island, are pleasant Aldeas, or villages and hamlets that ... swarm with people."—Valentijn, v. (Malabar), 11.
1753.—"Les principales de ces qu'on appelle Aldées (terme que les Portugals ont mis en usage dans l'Inde) autour de Pondichéri et dans sa dependance sont...."—D'Anville, Éclaircissemens, 122.
1780.—"The Coast between these is filled with Aldees, or villages of the Indians."—Dunn, N. Directory, 5th ed., 110.
1782.—"Il y a aussi quelques Aldées considérables, telles que Navar et Portenove, qui appartiennent aux Princes du pays."—Sonnerat, Voyage, i. 37.
ALEPPEE, n.p. On the coast of Travancore; properly Alappuḷi. [Mal. alappuzha, 'the broad river"—(Mad. Adm. Man. Gloss. s.v.)].
[ALFANDICA, s. A custom-house and resort for foreign merchants in an oriental port. The word comes through the Port. alfandega, Span. fundago, Ital. fondaco, Fr. fondeque or fondique, from Ar. al-funduḳ, 'the inn,' and this from Gk. πανδοκεῖον or πανδοχεῖον, 'a pilgrim's hospice.']
[c. 1610.—"The conveyance of them thence to the alfandigue."—Pyrard della Valle, Hak. Soc. i. 361.]
[1615.—"The Iudge of the Alfandica came to invite me."—Sir T. Roe, Embassy, Hak. Soc. i. 72.]
[1615.—"That the goods of the English may be freely landed after dispatch in the Alfandiga."—Foster, Letters, iv. 79.]
ALGUADA, n.p. The name of a reef near the entrance to the Bassein branch of the Irawadi R., on which a splendid lighthouse was erected by Capt. Alex. Fraser (now Lieut.-General Fraser, C.B.) of the Engineers, in 1861-65. See some remarks and quotations under NEGRAIS.
ALJOFAR, s. Port. 'seed-pearl.' Cobarruvias says it is from Ar. al-jauhar, 'jewel.'
1404.—"And from these bazars (alcacerias) issue certain gates into certain streets, where they sell many things, such as cloths of silk and cotton, and sendals, and tafetanas, and silk, and pearl (alxofar)."—Clavijo, § lxxxi. (comp. Markham, 81).
1508.—"The aljofar and pearls that (your Majesty) orders me to send you I cannot have as they have them in Ceylon and in Caille, which are the sources of them: I would buy them with my blood, and with my money, which I have only from your giving. The Sinabaffs (sinabafos), porcelain vases (porcellanas), and wares of that sort are further off. If for my sins I stay here longer I will endeavour to get everything. The slave girls that you order me to send you must be taken from prizes,[27] for the heathen women of this country are black, and are mistresses to everybody by the time they are ten years old."—Letter of the Viceroy D. Francisco d'Almeida to the King, in Correa, i. 908-9.
[1665.—"As it (the idol) was too deformed, they made hands for it of the small pearls which we call 'pearls by the ounce.'"—Tavernier, ed. Ball, ii. 228.]
ALLAHABAD, n.p. This name, which was given in the time of Akbar to the old Hindu Prayāg or Prāg (PRAAG) has been subjected to a variety of corrupt pronunciations, both European and native. Illahābāz is a not uncommon native form, converted by Europeans into Halabas, and further by English soldiers formerly into Isle o' bats. And the Illiabad, which we find in the Hastings charges, survives in the Elleeabad still heard occasionally.
c. 1666.—"La Province de Halabas s'appelloit autrefois Purop (Poorub)."—Thevenot, v. 197.
[ " "Elabas (where the Gemna (Jumna) falls into the Ganges.)"—Bernier (ed. Constable), p. 36.]
1726.—"This exceptionally great river (Ganges) ... comes so far from the N. to the S. ... and so further to the city Halabas."—Valentijn.
1753.—"Mais ce qui interesse davantage dans la position de Helabas, c'est d'y retrouver celle de l'ancienne Palibothra. Aucune ville de l'Inde ne paroit égaler Palibothra ou Palimbothra, dans l'Antiquité.... C'est satisfaire une curiosité géographique bien placée, que de retrouver l'emplacement d'une ville de cette considération: mais j'ai lieu de croire qu'il faut employer quelque critique, dans l'examen des circonstances que l'Antiquité a fourni sur ce point.... Je suis donc persuadé, qu'il ne faut point chercher d'autre emplacement à Palibothra que celui de la ville d'Helabas...."—D'Anville, Eclaircissemens, pp. 53-55.
(Here D'Anville is in error. But see Rennell's Memoir, pp. 50-54, which clearly identifies Palibothra with Patna.)
1786.—"... an attack and invasion of the Rohillas ... which nevertheless the said Warren Hastings undertook at the very time when, under the pretence of the difficulty of defending Corah and Illiabad, he sold these provinces to Sujah Dowla."—Articles of Charge, &c., in Burke, vi. 577.
" "You will see in the letters from the Board ... a plan for obtaining Illabad from the Vizier, to which he had spirit enough to make a successful resistance."—Cornwallis, i. 238.
ALLEJA, s. This appears to be a stuff from Turkestan called (Turki) alchah, alajah, or alāchah. It is thus described: "a silk cloth 5 yards long, which has a sort of wavy line pattern running in the length on either side." (Baden-Powell's Punjab Handbook, 66). [Platts in his Hind. Dict. gives ilācha, "a kind of cloth woven of silk and thread so as to present the appearance of cardamoms (ilāchī)." But this is evidently a folk etymology. Yusuf Ali (Mon. on Silk Fabrics, 95) accepts the derivation from Alcha or Alācha, and says it was probably introduced by the Moguls, and has historical associations with Agra, where alone in the N.W.P. it is manufactured. "This fabric differs from the Doriya in having a substantial texture, whereas the Doriya is generally flimsy. The colours are generally red, or bluish-red, with white stripes." In some of the western Districts of the Panjab various kinds of fancy cotton goods are described as Lacha. (Francis, Mon. on Cotton, p. 8). It appears in one of the trade lists (see PIECE-GOODS) as Elatches.]
c. 1590.—"The improvement is visible ... secondly in the Safid Alchahs also called Tarhdárs...."—Āīn, i. 91. (Blochmann says: "Alchah or Alāchah, any kind of corded stuff. Tarhdár means corded.")
[1612.—"Hold the Allesas at 50 Rs."—Danvers, Letters, i. 205.]
1613.—"The Nabob bestowed upon him 850 Mamoodies, 10 fine Baftas, 30 Topseiles and 30 Allizaes."—Dowton, in Purchas, i. 504. "Topseiles are Tafçilah (a stuff from Mecca)."—Āīn, i. 93. [See ADATI, PIECE-GOODS].
1615.—"1 pec. alleia of 30 Rs...."—Cocks's Diary, i. 64.
1648.—See Van Twist above, under ALCATIF. And 1673, see Fryer under ATLAS.
1653.—"Alaias (Alajas) est vn mot Indien, qui signifie des toiles de cotton et de soye: meslée de plusieurs couleurs."—De la Boullaye-le-Gouz, ed. 1657, p. 532.
[c. 1666.—"Alachas, or silk stuffs interwoven with gold and silver."—Bernier (ed. Constable), p. 120-21.]
1690.—"It (Suratt) is renown'd ... both for rich Silks, such as Atlasses, Cuttanees, Sooseys, Culgars, Allajars...."—Ovington, 218.
1712.—"An Allejah petticoat striped with green and gold and white."—Advert. in Spectator, cited in Malcolm, Anecdotes, 429.
1726.—"Gold and silver Allegias."—Valentijn (Surat), iv. 146.
1813.—"Allachas (pieces to the ton) 1200."—Milburn, ii. 221.
1885.—"The cloth from which these pyjamas are made (in Swāt) is known as Alacha, and is as a rule manufactured in their own houses, from 2 to 20 threads of silk being let in with the cotton; the silk as well as the cotton is brought from Peshawur and spun at home."—M‘Nair's Report on Explorations, p. 5.
ALLIGATOR, s. This is the usual Anglo-Indian term for the great lacertine amphibia of the rivers. It was apparently in origin a corruption, imported from S. America, of the Spanish el or al lagarto (from Lat. lacerta), 'a lizard.' The "Summary of the Western Indies" by Pietro Martire d'Angheria, as given in Ramusio, recounting the last voyage of Columbus, says that, in a certain river, "they sometimes encountered those crocodiles which they call Lagarti; these make away when they see the Christians, and in making away they leave behind them an odour more fragrant than musk." (Ram. iii. f. 17v.). Oviedo, on another page of the same volume, calls them "Lagarti o dragoni" (f. 62).
Bluteau gives "Lagarto, Crocodilo" and adds: "In the Oriente Conquistado (Part I. f. 823) you will find a description of the Crocodile under the name of Lagarto."
One often, in Anglo-Indian conversation, used to meet with the endeavour to distinguish the two well-known species of the Ganges as Crocodile and Alligator, but this, like other applications of popular and general terms to mark scientific distinctions, involves fallacy, as in the cases of 'panther, leopard,' 'camel, dromedary,' 'attorney, solicitor,' and so forth. The two kinds of Gangetic crocodile were known to Aelian (c. 250 A.D.), who writes: "It (the Ganges) breeds two kinds of crocodiles; one of these is not at all hurtful, while the other is the most voracious and cruel eater of flesh; and these have a horny prominence on the top of the nostril. These latter are used as ministers of vengeance upon evil-doers; for those convicted of the greatest crimes are cast to them; and they require no executioner."
1493.—"In a small adjacent island ... our men saw an enormous kind of lizard (lagarto muy grande), which they said was as large round as a calf, and with a tail as long as a lance ... but bulky as it was, it got into the sea, so that they could not catch it."—Letter of Dr. Chanca, in Select Letters of Columbus by Major, Hak. Soc. 2nd ed., 43.
1539.—"All along this River, that was not very broad, there were a number of Lizards (lagartos), which might more properly be called Serpents ... with scales upon their backs, and mouths two foot wide ... there be of them that will sometimes get upon an almadia ... and overturn it with their tails, swallowing up the men whole, without dismembering of them."—Pinto, in Cogan's tr. 17 (orig. cap. xiv.).
1552.—"... aquatic animals such as ... very great lizards (lagartos), which in form and nature are just the crocodiles of the Nile."—Barros, I. iii. 8.
1568.—"In this River we killed a monstrous Lagarto, or Crocodile ... he was 23 foote by the rule, headed like a hogge...."—Iob Hortop, in Hakl. iii. 580.
1579.—"We found here many good commodities ... besides alagartoes, munckeyes, and the like."—Drake, World Encompassed, Hak. Soc. 112.
1591.—"In this place I have seen very great water aligartos (which we call in English crocodiles), seven yards long."—Master Antonie Knivet, in Purchas, iv. 1228.
1593.—"In this River (of Guayaquill) and all the Rivers of this Coast, are great abundance of Alagartoes ... persons of credit have certified to me that as small fishes in other Rivers abound in scoales, so the Alagartoes in this...."—Sir Richard Hawkins, in Purchas, iv. 1400.
c. 1593.—
"And in his needy shop a tortoise hung,
An alligator stuff'd, and other skins
Of ill-shaped fishes...."—
Romeo & Juliet, v. 1.
1595.—"Vpon this river there were great store of fowle ... but for lagartos it exceeded, for there were thousands of those vgly serpents; and the people called it for the abundance of them, the riuer of Lagartos in their language."—Raleigh, The Discoverie of Guiana, in Hakl. iv. 137.
1596.—"Once he would needs defend a rat to be animal rationale ... because she eate and gnawd his bookes.... And the more to confirme it, because everie one laught at him ... the next rat he seaz'd on hee made an anatomie of, and read a lecture of 3 dayes long upon everie artire or musckle, and after hanged her over his head in his studie in stead of an apothecarie's crocodile or dride Alligatur."—T. Nashe's 'Have with you to Saffron Walden.' Repr. in J. Payne Collier's Misc. Tracts, p. 72.
1610.—"These Blackes ... told me the River was full of Aligatas, and if I saw any I must fight with him, else he would kill me."—D. Midleton, in Purchas, i. 244.
1613.—"... mais avante ... por distancia de 2 legoas, esta o fermoso ryo de Cassam de lagarthos o crocodillos."—Godinho de Eredia, 10.
1673.—"The River was full of Aligators or Crocodiles, which lay basking in the Sun in the Mud on the River's side."—Fryer, 55.
1727.—"I was cleaning a vessel ... and had Stages fitted for my People to stand on ... and we were plagued with five or six Allegators, which wanted to be on the Stage."—A. Hamilton, ii. 133.
1761.—
"... else that sea-like Stream
(Whence Traffic pours her bounties on mankind)
Dread Alligators would alone possess."
Grainger, Bk. ii.
1881.—"The Hooghly alone has never been so full of sharks and alligators as now. We have it on undoubted authority that within the past two months over a hundred people have fallen victims to these brutes."—Pioneer Mail, July 10th.
ALLIGATOR-PEAR, s. The fruit of the Laurus persea, Lin., Persea gratissima, Gaertn. The name as here given is an extravagant, and that of avocato or avogato a more moderate, corruption of aguacate or ahuacatl (see below), which appears to have been the native name in Central America, still surviving there. The Quichua name is palta, which is used as well as aguacaté by Cieza de Leon, and also by Joseph de Acosta. Grainger (Sugarcane, Bk. I.) calls it "rich sabbaca," which he says is "the Indian name of the avocato, avocado, avigato, or as the English corruptly call it, alligator pear. The Spaniards in S. America call it Aguacate, and under that name it is described by Ulloa." In French it is called avocat. The praise which Grainger, as quoted below, "liberally bestows" on this fruit, is, if we might judge from the specimens occasionally met with in India, absurd. With liberal pepper and salt there may be a remote suggestion of marrow: but that is all. Indeed it is hardly a fruit in the ordinary sense. Its common sea name of 'midshipman's butter' [or 'subaltern's butter'] is suggestive of its merits, or demerits.
Though common and naturalised throughout the W. Indies and E. coasts of tropical S. America, its actual native country is unknown. Its introduction into the Eastern world is comparatively recent; not older than the middle of 18th century. Had it been worth eating it would have come long before.
1532-50.—"There are other fruits belonging to the country, such as fragrant pines and plantains, many excellent guavas, caymitos, aguacates, and other fruits."—Cieza de Leon, 16.
1608.—"The Palta is a great tree, and carries a faire leafe, which hath a fruite like to great peares; within it hath a great stone, and all the rest is soft meate, so as when they are full ripe, they are, as it were, butter, and have a delicate taste."—Joseph de Acosta, 250.
c. 1660.—
"The Aguacat no less is Venus Friend
(To th' Indies Venus Conquest doth extend)
A fragrant Leaf the Aguacata bears;
Her Fruit in fashion of an Egg appears,
With such a white and spermy Juice it swells
As represents moist Life's first Principles."
Cowley, Of Plantes, v.
1680.—"This Tavoga is an exceeding pleasant Island, abounding in all manner of fruits, such as Pine-apples ... Albecatos, Pears, Mammes."—Capt. Sharpe, in Dampier, iv.
1685.—"The Avogato Pear-tree is as big as most Pear-trees ... and the Fruit as big as a large Lemon.... The Substance in the inside is green, or a little yellowish, and soft as Butter...."—Dampier, i. 203.
1736.—"Avogato, Baum.... This fruit itself has no taste, but when mixt with sugar and lemon juice gives a wholesome and tasty flavour."—Zeidler's Lexicon, s.v.
1761.—
"And thou green avocato, charm of sense,
Thy ripen'd marrow liberally bestows't."
Grainger, Bk. I.
1830.—"The avocada, with its Brobdignag pear, as large as a purser's lantern."—Tom Cringle, ed. 1863, 40.
[1861.—"There is a well-known West Indian fruit which we call an avocado or alligator pear."—Tylor, Anahuac, 227.]
1870.—"The aguacate or Alligator pear."—Squier, Honduras, 142.
1873.—"Thus the fruit of the Persea gratissima was called Ahucatl' by the ancient Mexicans; the Spaniards corrupted it to avocado, and our sailors still further to 'Alligator pears.'"—Belt's Nicaragua, 107.
[ALLYGOLE, ALIGHOL, ALLYGOOL, ALLEEGOLE, s. H.—P. 'aligol, from 'ālī 'lofty, excellent,' Skt. gola, a troop; a nondescript word used for "irregular foot in the Maratha service, without discipline or regular arms. According to some they are so named from charging in a dense mass and invoking 'Ali, the son-in-law of Mohammed, being chiefly Mohammedans."—(Wilson.)
1796.—"The Nezibs (Nujeeb) are matchlockmen, and according to their different casts are called Allegoles or Rohillas; they are indifferently formed of high-cast Hindoos and Musselmans, armed with the country Bandook (bundook), to which the ingenuity of De Boigne had added a Bayonet."—W. H. Tone, A Letter on the Maratta People, p. 50.
1804.—"Alleegole, A sort of chosen light infantry of the Rohilla Patans: sometimes the term appears to be applied to troops supposed to be used generally for desperate service."—Fraser, Military Memoirs of Skinner, ii. 71 note, 75, 76.
1817.—"The Allygools answer nearly the same description."—Blacker, Mem. of Operations in India, p. 22.]
ALMADIA, s. This is a word introduced into Portuguese from Moorish Ar. al-ma'dīya. Properly it means 'a raft' (see Dozy, s.v.). But it is generally used by the writers on India for a canoe, or the like small native boat.
1514.—"E visto che non veniva nessuno ambasciata, solo venia molte abadie, cioè barche, a venderci galline...."—Giov. da Empoli, in Archiv. Stor. Ital., p. 59.
[1539.—See quotation from Pinto under ALLIGATOR.
c. 1610.—"Light vessels which they call almadia."—Pyrard della Valle, Hak. Soc. i. 122; and also see under DONEY.]
1644.—"Huma Almadia pera serviço do dito Baluarte, com seis marinheiros que cada hum ven-se hum x(erafi)m por mes ... xs 72."—Expenses of Diu, in Bocarro (Sloane MSS. 197, fol. 175).
ALMANACK, s. On this difficult word see Dozy's Oosterlingen and N.E.D. In a passage quoted by Eusebius from Porphyry (Praep. Evangel. t. iii. ed. Gaisford) there is mention of Egyptian calendars called ἀλμενιχιανὰ. Also in the Vocabular Arauigo of Pedro de Alcala (1505) the Ar. Manāk is given as the equivalent of the Span. almanaque, which seems to show that the Sp. Arabs did use manākh in the sense required, probably having adopted it from the Egyptian, and having assumed the initial al to be their own article.
ALMYRA, s. H. almārī. A wardrobe, chest of drawers, or like piece of (closed) furniture. The word is in general use, by masters and servants in Anglo-Indian households, in both N. and S. India. It has come to us from the Port. almario, but it is the same word as Fr. armoire, Old E. ambry [for which see N.E.D.] &c., and Sc. awmry, orginating in the Lat. armarium, or -ria, which occurs also in L. Gr. as ἀρμαρὴ, ἀρμάριον.
c. B.C. 200.—"Hoc est quod olim clanculum ex armario te surripuisse aiebas uxori tuae...."—Plautus, Men. iii. 3.
A.D. 1450.—"Item, I will my chambre prestes haue ... the thone of thame the to almer, & the tothir of yame the tother almar whilk I ordnyd for kepyng of vestmentes."—Will of Sir T. Cumberlege, in Academy, Sept. 27, 1879, p. 231.
1589.—"—— item ane langsettle, item ane almarie, ane Kist, ane sait burde...."—Ext. Records Burgh of Glasgow, 1876, 130.
1878.—"Sahib, have you looked in Mr Morrison's almirah?"—Life in Mofussil, i. 34.
ALOES, s. The name of aloes is applied to two entirely different substances: a. the drug prepared from the inspissated bitter juice of the Aloë Socotrina, Lam. In this meaning (a) the name is considered (Hanbury and Flückiger, Pharmacographia, 616) to be derived from the Syriac 'elwai (in P. alwā). b. Aloes-wood, the same as Eagle-wood. This is perhaps from one of the Indian forms, through the Hebrew (pl. forms) ahālim, akhālim and ahālōth, akhālōth. Neither Hippocrates nor Theophrastus mentions aloes, but Dioscorides describes two kinds of it (Mat. Med. iii. 3). "It was probably the Socotrine aloes with which the ancients were most familiar. Eustathius says the aloe was called ἱερὰ, from its excellence in preserving life (ad. Il. 630). This accounts for the powder of aloes being called Hiera picra in the older writers on Pharmacy."—(Francis Adams, Names of all Minerals, Plants, and Animals desc. by the Greek authors, etc.)