1311.—"The stone idols called Ling Mahádeo, which had been a long time established at that place ... these, up to this time, the kick of the horse of Islam had not attempted to break.... Deo Narain fell down, and the other gods who had seats there raised their feet, and jumped so high, that at one leap they reached the foot of Lanka, and in that affright the lings themselves would have fled, had they had any legs to stand on."—Amír Khusrú, in Elliot, iv. 91.
1616.—"... above this there is elevated the figure of an idol, which in decency I abstain from naming, but which is called by the heathen Linga, and which they worship with many superstitions; and indeed they regard it to such a degree that the heathen of Canara carry well-wrought images of the kind round their necks. This abominable custom was abolished by a certain Canara King, a man of reason and righteousness."—Couto, Dec. VII. iii. 11.
1726.—"There are also some of them who wear a certain stone idol called Lingam ... round the neck, or else in the hair of the head...."—Valentijn, Choro. 74.
1781.—"These Pagodas have each a small chamber in the center of twelve feet square, with a lamp hanging over the Lingham."—Hodges, 94.
1799.—"I had often remarked near the banks of the rivulet a number of little altars, with a linga of Mahádeva upon them. It seems they are placed over the ashes of Hindus who have been burnt near the spot."—Colebrooke, in Life, p. 152.
1809.—"Without was an immense lingam of black stone."—Ld. Valentia, i. 371.
1814.—"... two respectable Brahmuns, a man and his wife, of the secular order; who, having no children, had made several religious pilgrimages, performed the accustomed ceremonies to the linga, and consulted the divines."—Forbes, Or. Mem. ii. 364; [2nd ed. ii. 4; in ii. 164, lingam].
1838.—"In addition to the preaching, Mr. G. got hold of a man's Lingum, or badge of caste, and took it away."—Letters from Madras, 156.
1843.—"The homage was paid to Lingamism. The insult was offered to Mahometanism. Lingamism is not merely idolatry, but idolatry in its most pernicious form."—Macaulay, Speech on Gates of Somnauth.
LINGUIST, s. An old word for an interpreter, formerly much used in the East. It long survived in China, and is there perhaps not yet obsolete. Probably adopted from the Port. lingua, used for an interpreter.
1554.—"To a llingua of the factory (at Goa) 2 pardaos monthly...."—S. Botelho, Tombo, 63.
" "To the linguoa of this kingdom (Ormuz) a Portuguese.... To the linguoa of the custom-house, a bramen."—Ibid. 104.
[1612.—"Did Captain Saris' Linguist attend?"—Danvers, Letters, i. 68.]
1700.—"I carried the Linguist into a Merchant's House that was my Acquaintance to consult with that Merchant about removing that Remora, that stop'd the Man of War from entring into the Harbour."—A. Hamilton, iii. 254; [ed. 1744].
1711.—"Linguists require not too much haste, having always five or six to make choice of, never a Barrel the better Herring."—Lockyer, 102.
1760.—"I am sorry to think your Honour should have reason to think, that I have been anyway concerned in that unlucky affair that happened at the Negrais, in the month of October 1759; but give me leave to assure your Honour that I was no further concerned, than as a Linguister for the King's Officer who commanded the Party."—Letter to the Gov. of Fort St. George, from Antonio the Linguist, in Dalrymple, i. 396.
1760-1810.—"If the ten should presume to enter villages, public places, or bazaars, punishment will be inflicted on the linguist who accompanies them."—Regulations at Canton, from The Fankwae at Canton, p. 29.
1882.—"As up to treaty days, neither Consul nor Vice-Consul of a foreign nation was acknowledged, whenever either of these officers made a communication to the Hoppo, it had to be done through the Hong merchants, to whom the dispatch was taken by a Linguist."—The Fankwae at Canton, p. 50.
LIP-LAP, s. A vulgar and disparaging nickname given in the Dutch Indies to Eurasians, and corresponding to Anglo-Indian chee-chee (q.v.). The proper meaning of lip-lap seems to be the uncoagulated pulp of the coco-nut (see Rumphius, bk. i. ch. 1). [Mr. Skeat notes that the word is not in the Dicts., but Klinkert gives Jav. lap-lap, 'a dish-clout.']
1768-71.—"Children born in the Indies are nicknamed liplaps by the Europeans, although both parents may have come from Europe."—Stavorinus, E.T. i. 315.
LISHTEE, LISTEE, s. Hind. lishtī, English word, 'a list.'
LONG-CLOTH, s. The usual name in India for (white) cotton shirtings, or Lancashire calico; but first applied to the Indian cloth of like kind exported to England, probably because it was made of length unusual in India; cloth for native use being ordinarily made in pieces sufficient only to clothe one person. Or it is just possible that it may have been a corruption or misapprehension of lungi (see LOONGHEE). [This latter view is accepted without question by Sir G. Birdwood (Rep. on Old Rec., 224), who dates its introduction to Europe about 1675.]
1670.—"We have continued to supply you ... in reguard the Dutch do so fully fall in with the Calicoe trade that they had the last year 50,000 pieces of Long-cloth."—Letter from Court of E.I.C. to Madras, Nov. 9th. In Notes and Exts., No. i. p. 2.
[1682.—"... for Long cloth brown English 72: Coveds long & 2¼ broad No. I. ..."—Pringle, Diary, Ft. St. Geo. 1st ser. i. 40.]
1727.—"Saderass, or Saderass Patam, a small Factory belonging to the Dutch, to buy up long cloth."—A. Hamilton, i. 358; [ed. 1744].
1785.—"The trade of Fort St. David's consists in long cloths of different colours."—Carraccioli's Life of Clive, i. 5.
1865.—"Long-cloth, as it is termed, is the material principally worn in the Tropics."—Waring, Tropical Resident, p. 111.
1880.—"A Chinaman is probably the last man in the world to be taken in twice with a fraudulent piece of long-cloth."—Pall Mall Budget, Jan. 9, p. 9.
LONG-DRAWERS, s. This is an old-fashioned equivalent for pyjamas (q.v.). Of late it is confined to the Madras Presidency, and to outfitters' lists. [Mosquito drawers were probably like these.]
[1623.—"They wear a pair of long Drawers of the same Cloth, which cover not only their Thighs, but legs also to the Feet."—P. della Valle, Hak. Soc. i. 43.]
1711.—"The better sort wear long Drawers, and a piece of Silk, or wrought Callico, thrown loose over the Shoulders."—Lockyer, 57.
1774.—"... gave each private man a frock and long drawers of chintz."—Forrest, V. to N. Guinea, 100.
1780.—"Leroy, one of the French hussars, who had saved me from being cut down by Hyder's horse, gave me some soup, and a shirt, and long-drawers, which I had great want of."—Hon. John Lindsay in Lives of the Lindsays, iv. 266.
1789.—"It is true that they (the Sycs) wear only a short blue jacket, and blue long draws."—Note by Translator of Seir Mutaqherin, i. 87.
1810.—"For wear on board ship, pantaloons ... together with as many pair of wove cotton long-drawers, to wear under them."—Williamson, V. M. i. 9.
[1853.—"The Doctor, his gaunt figure very scantily clad in a dirty shirt and a pair of mosquito drawers."—Campbell, Old Forest Ranger, 3rd ed. 108.]
(See PYJAMAS, MOGUL BREECHES, SHULWAURS, SIRDRARS.)
LONG-SHORE WIND, s. A term used in Madras to designate the damp, unpleasant wind that blows in some seasons, especially July to September, from the south.
1837.—"This longshore wind is very disagreeable—a sort of sham sea-breeze blowing from the south; whereas the real sea-breeze blows from the east; it is a regular cheat upon the new-comers, feeling damp and fresh as if it were going to cool one."—Letters from Madras, 73.
[1879.—"Strong winds from the south known as Alongshore winds, prevail especially near the coast."—Stuart, Tinnevelly, 8.]
LONTAR, s. The palm leaves used in the Archipelago (as in S. India) for writing on are called lontar-leaves. Filet (No. 5179, p. 209) gives lontar as the Malay name of two palms, viz. Borassus flabelliformis (see PALMYRA, BRAB), and Livistona tundifolia. [See CADJAN.] [Mr. Skeat notes that Klinkert gives—"Lontar, metathesis of ron-tal, leaf of the tal tree, a fan-palm whose leaves were once used for writing on, borassus flabelliformis." Ron is thus probably equivalent to the Malay daun, or in some dialects don, 'leaf.' The tree itself is called p'hun (pohun) tar in the E. coast of the Malay Peninsula, tar and tal being only variants of the same word. Scott, Malayan Words in English, p. 121, gives: "Lontar, a palm, dial. form of dāun tāl (tāl, Hind.)." (See TODDY.)
LOOCHER, s. This is often used in Anglo-Ind. colloquial for a blackguard libertine, a lewd loafer. It is properly Hind. luchchā, having that sense. Orme seems to have confounded the word, more or less, with lūṭiya (see under LOOTY). [A rogue in Pandurang Hari (ed. 1873, ii. 168) is Loochajee. The place at Matheran originally called "Louisa Point" has become "Loocha Point!"]
[1829.—"... nothing-to-do lootchas of every sect in Camp...."—Or. Sport. Mag. ed. 1873, i. 121.]
LOONGHEE, s. Hind. lungī, perhaps originally Pers. lung and lunggī; [but Platts connects it with linga]. A scarf or web of cloth to wrap round the body, whether applied as what the French call pagne, i.e. a cloth simply wrapped once or twice round the hips and tucked in at the upper edge, which is the proper Mussulman mode of wearing it; or as a cloth tucked between the legs like a dhoty (q.v.), which is the Hindu mode, and often followed also by Mahommedans in India. The Qanoon-e-Islam further distinguishes between the lunggī and dhotī that the former is a coloured cloth worn as described, and the latter a cloth with only a coloured border, worn by Hindus alone. This explanation must belong to S. India. ["The lungi is really meant to be worn round the waist, and is very generally of a checked pattern, but it is often used as a paggri (see PUGGRY), more especially that known as the Kohat lungi" (Cookson, Mon. on Punjab Silk, 4). For illustrations of various modes of wearing the garment, see Forbes Watson, Textile Manufactures and Costumes, pl. iii. iv.]
1653.—"Longui est vne petite pièce de linge, dont les Indiens se servent à cacher les parties naturelles."—De la Boullaye-le-Gouz, 529. But in the edition of 1657 it is given: "Longui est vn morceau de linge dont l'on se sert au bain en Turquie" (p. 547).
1673.—"The Elder sat in a Row, where the Men and Women came down together to wash, having Lungies about their Wastes only."—Fryer, 101. In the Index, Fryer explains as a "Waste-Clout."
1726.—"Silk Longis with red borders, 160 pieces in a pack, 14 cobidos long and 2 broad."—Valentijn, v. 178.
1727.—"... For some coarse checquered Cloth, called Cambaya (see COMBOY), Lungies, made of Cotton-Yarn, the Natives would bring Elephant's Teeth."—A. Hamilton, i. 9; [ed. 1744].
" (In Pegu) "Under the Frock they have a Scarf or Lungee doubled fourfold, made fast about the Middle...."—Ibid. ii. 49.
c. 1760.—"Instead of petticoats they wear what they call a loongee, which is simply a long piece of silk or cotton stuff."—Grose, i. 143.
c. 1809-10.—"Many use the Lunggi, a piece of blue cotton cloth, from 5 to 7 cubits long and 2 wide. It is wrapped simply two or three times round the waist, and hangs down to the knee."—F. Buchanan, in Eastern India, iii. 102.
LOOT, s. & v. Plunder; Hind. lūṭ, and that from Skt. lotra, for loptra, root lup, 'rob, plunder'; [rather luṇṭ, 'to rob']. The word appears in Stockdale's Vocabulary, of 1788, as "Loot—plunder, pillage." It has thus long been a familiar item in the Anglo-Indian colloquial. But between the Chinese War of 1841, the Crimean War (1854-5), and the Indian Mutiny (1857-8), it gradually found acceptance in England also, and is now a recognised constituent of the English Slang Dictionary. Admiral Smyth has it in his Nautical Glossary (1867) thus: "Loot, plunder, or pillage, a term adopted from China."
1545.—St. Francis Xavier in a letter to a friend in Portugal admonishing him from encouraging any friend of his to go to India seems to have the thing Loot in his mind, though of course he does not use the word: "Neminem patiaris amicorum tuorum in Indiam cum Praefectura mitti, ad regias pecunias, et negotia tractanda. Nam de illis vere illud scriptum capere licet: 'Deleantur de libro viventium et cum justis non scribantur.'... Invidiam tantum non culpam usus publicus detrahit, dum vix dubitatur fieri non malè quod impunè fit. Ubique, semper, rapitur, congeritur, aufertur. Semel captum nunquam redditur. Quis enumeret artes et nomina, praedarum? Equidem mirari satis nequeo, quot, praeter usitatos modos, insolitis flexionibus inauspicatum illud rapiendi verbum quaedam avaritiae barbaria conjuget!"—Epistolae, Prague, 1667, Lib. V. Ep. vii.
1842.—"I believe I have already told you that I did not take any loot—the Indian word for plunder—so that I have nothing of that kind, to which so many in this expedition helped themselves so bountifully."—Colin Campbell to his Sister, in L. of Ld. Clyde, i. 120.
" "In the Saugor district the plunderers are beaten whenever they are caught, but there is a good deal of burning and 'looting,' as they call it."—Indian Administration of Ld. Ellenborough. To the D. of Wellington, May 17, p. 194.
1847.—"Went to see Marshal Soult's pictures which he looted in Spain. There are many Murillos, all beautiful."—Ld. Malmesbury, Mem. of an Ex-Minister, i. 192.
1858.—"There is a word called 'loot,' which gives, unfortunately, a venial character to what would in common English be styled robbery."—Ld. Elgin, Letters and Journals, 215.
1860.—"Loot, swag or plunder."—Slang Dict. s.v.
1864.—"When I mentioned the 'looting' of villages in 1845, the word was printed in italics as little known. Unhappily it requires no distinction now, custom having rendered it rather common of late."—Admiral W. H. Smyth, Synopsis, p. 52.
1875.—"It was the Colonel Sahib who carried off the loot."—The Dilemma, ch. xxxvii.
1876.—"Public servants (in Turkey) have vied with one another in a system of universal loot."—Blackwood's Mag. No. cxix. p. 115.
1878.—"The city (Hongkong) is now patrolled night and day by strong parties of marines and Sikhs, for both the disposition to loot and the facilities for looting are very great."—Miss Bird, Golden Chersonese, 34.
1883.—"'Loot' is a word of Eastern origin, and for a couple of centuries past ... the looting of Delhi has been the daydream of the most patriotic among the Sikh race."—Bos. Smith's Life of Ld. Lawrence, ii. 245.
" "At Ta li fu ... a year or two ago, a fire, supposed to be an act of incendiarism, broke out among the Tibetan encampments which were then looted by the Chinese."—Official Memo. on Chinese Trade with Tibet, 1883.
a. A plunderer. Hind. lūṭī, lūṭīyā, lūṭīwālā.
1757.—"A body of their Louchees (see LOOCHER) or plunderers, who are armed with clubs, passed into the Company's territory."—Orme, ed. 1803, ii. 129.
1782.—"Even the rascally Looty wallahs, or Mysorean hussars, who had just before been meditating a general desertion to us, now pressed upon our flanks and rear."—Munro's Narrative, 295.
1792.—"The Colonel found him as much dismayed as if he had been surrounded by the whole Austrian army, and busy in placing an ambuscade to catch about six looties."—Letter of T. Munro, in Life.
" "This body (horse plunderers round Madras) had been branded generally by the name of Looties, but they had some little title to a better appellation, for they were ... not guilty of those sanguinary and inhuman deeds...."—Madras Courier, Jan. 26.
1793.—"A party was immediately sent, who released 27 half-starved wretches in heavy irons; among them was Mr. Randal Cadman, a midshipman taken 10 years before by Suffrein. The remainder were private soldiers; some of whom had been taken by the Looties; others were deserters...."—Dirom's Narrative, p. 157.
b. A different word is the Ar.—Pers. lūṭīy, bearing a worse meaning, 'one of the people of Lot,' and more generally 'a blackguard.'
[1824.—"They were singing, dancing, and making the luti all the livelong day."—Hajji Baba, ed. 1851, p. 444.
[1858.—"The Loutis, who wandered from town to town with monkeys and other animals, taught them to cast earth upon their heads (a sign of the deepest grief among Asiatics) when they were asked whether they would be governors of Balkh or Akhcheh."—Ferrier, H. of the Afghans, 101.
[1883.—"Monkeys and baboons are kept and trained by the Lūtis, or professional buffoons."—Will's Modern Persia, ed. 1891, p. 306.]
The people of Shiraz are noted for a fondness for jingling phrases, common enough among many Asiatics, including the people of India, where one constantly hears one's servants speak of chaukī-aukī (for chairs and tables), naukar-chākar (where both are however real words), 'servants,' lakṛī-akṛī, 'sticks and staves,' and so forth. Regarding this Mr. Wills tells a story (Modern Persia, p. 239). The late Minister, Ḳawām-ud-Daulat, a Shirāzi, was asked by the Shāh:
"Why is it, Ḳawām, that you Shīrāzīs always talk of Kabob-mabob and so on? You always add a nonsense-word; is it for euphony?"
"Oh, Asylum of the Universe, may I be your sacrifice! No respectable person in Shīrāz does so, only the lūtī-pūtī says it!"
LOQUOT, LOQUAT, s. A sub-acid fruit, a native of China and Japan, which has been naturalised in India and in Southern Europe. In Italy it is called nespola giapponese (Japan medlar). It is Eriobotrya japonica, Lindl. The name is that used in S. China, lu-küh, pron. at Canton lu-kwat, and meaning 'rush-orange.' Elsewhere in China it is called pi-pa.
[1821.—"The Lacott, a Chinese fruit, not unlike a plum, was produced also in great plenty (at Bangalore); it is sweet when ripe, and both used for tarts, and eaten as dessert."—Hoole, Missions in Madras and Mysore, 2nd ed. 159.]
1878.—"... the yellow loquat, peach-skinned and pleasant, but prodigal of stones."—Ph. Robinson, In My Indian Garden, 49.
c. 1880.—"A loquat tree in full fruit is probably a sight never seen in England before, but 'the phenomenon' is now on view at Richmond. (This was in the garden of Lady Parker at Stawell House.) We are told that it has a fine crop of fruit, comprising about a dozen bunches, each bunch being of eight or ten beautiful berries...."—Newspaper cutting (source lost).
LORCHA, s. A small kind of vessel used in the China coasting trade. Giles explains it as having a hull of European build, but the masts and sails Chinese fashion, generally with a European skipper and a Chinese crew. The word is said to have been introduced by the Portuguese from S. America (Giles, 81). But Pinto's passage shows how early the word was used in the China seas, a fact which throws doubt on that view. [Other suggestions are that it is Chinese low-chuen, a sort of fighting ship, or Port. lancha, our launch (2 N. & Q. iii. 217, 236).]
1540.—"Now because the Lorch (lorcha), wherein Antonio de Faria came from Patana leaked very much, he commanded all his soldiers to pass into another better vessel ... and arriving at a River that about evening we found towards the East, he cast anchor a league out at Sea, by reason his Junk ... drew much water, so that fearing the Sands ... he sent Christovano Borralho with 14 Soldiers in the Lorch up the River...."—Pinto (orig. cap. xlii.), Cogan, p. 50.
" "Cõ isto nos partemos deste lugar de Laito muyto embandeirados, com as gavias toldadas de paños de seda, et os juncos e lorchas cõ duas ordens de paveses por banda"—Pinto, ch. lviii. i.e. "And so we started from Laito all dressed out, the tops draped with silk, and the junks and lorchas with two tiers of banners on each side."
1613.—"And they use smaller vessels called lorchas and lyolyo (?), and these never use more than 2 oars on each side, which serve both for rudders and for oars in the river traffic."—Godinho de Eredia, f. 26v.
1856.—"... Mr. Parkes reported to his superior, Sir John Bowring, at Hong Kong, the facts in connexion with an outrage which had been committed on a British-owned lorcha at Canton. The lorcha 'Arrow,' employed in the river trade between Canton and the mouth of the river, commanded by an English captain and flying an English flag, had been boarded by a party of Mandarins and their escort while at anchor near Dutch Folly."—Boulger, H. of China, 1884, iii. 396.
LORY, s. A name given to various brilliantly-coloured varieties of parrot, which are found in the Moluccas and other islands of the Archipelago. The word is a corruption of the Malay nūri, 'a parrot'; but the corruption seems not to be very old, as Fryer retains the correct form. Perhaps it came through the French (see Luillier below). [Mr. Skeat writes: "Lūri is hardly a corruption of nūri; it is rather a parallel form. The two forms appear in different dialects. Nūri may have been first introduced, and lūri may be some dialectic form of it."] The first quotation shows that lories were imported into S. India as early as the 14th century. They are still imported thither, where they are called in the vernacular by a name signifying 'Five-coloured parrots.' [Can. panchavarnagini.]
c. 1330.—"Parrots also, or popinjays, after their kind, of every possible colour, except black, for black ones are never found; but white all over, and green, and red, and also of mixed colours. The birds of this India seem really like the creatures of Paradise."—Friar Jordanus, 29.
c. 1430.—"In Bandan three kinds of parrot are found, some with red feathers and a yellow beak, and some parti-coloured which are called Nori, that is brilliant."—Conti, in India in the XVth Cent., 17. The last words, in Poggio's original Latin, are: "quos Noros appellant hoc est lucidos," showing that Conti connected the word with the Pers. nūr = "lux."
1516.—"In these islands there are many coloured parrots, of very splendid colours; they are tame, and the Moors call them nure, and they are much valued."—Barbosa, 202.
1555.—"There are hogs also with hornes (see BABI-ROUSSA), and parats which prattle much, which they call Noris."—Galvano, E.T. in Hakl. iv. 424.
[1598.—"There cometh into India out of the Island of Molucas beyond Malacca a kind of birdes called Noyras; they are like Parrattes...."—Linschoten, Hak. Soc. i. 307.]
1601.—"Psittacorum passim in sylvis multae turmae obvolitant. Sed in Moluccanis Insulis per Malaccam avis alia, Noyra dicta, in Indiam importatur, quae psittaci faciem universim exprimit, quem cantu quoque adamussim aemulatur, nisi quod pennis rubicundis crebrioribus vestitur."—De Bry, v. 4.
1673.—"... Cockatooas and Newries from Bantam."—Fryer, 116.
1682.—"The Lorys are about as big as the parrots that one sees in the Netherlands.... There are no birds that the Indians value more: and they will sometimes pay 30 rix dollars for one...."—Nieuhof, Zee en Lant-Reize, ii. 287.
1698.—"Brought ashore from the Resolution ... a Newry and four yards of broad cloth for a present to the Havildar."—In Wheeler, i. 333.
1705.—"On y trouve de quatre sortes de perroquets, sçavoir, perroquets, lauris, perruches, & cacatoris."—Luillier, 72.
1809.—
"'Twas Camdeo riding on his lory,
'Twas the immortal Youth of Love."
Kehama, x. 19.
1817.—
"Gay sparkling loories, such as gleam between
The crimson blossoms of the coral-tree
In the warm isles of India's summer sea."
Mokanna.
LOTA, s. Hind. loṭā. The small spheroidal brass pot which Hindus use for drinking, and sometimes for cooking. This is the exclusive Anglo-Indian application; but natives also extend it to the spherical pipkins of earthenware (see CHATTY or GHURRA.)
1810.—"... a lootah, or brass water vessel."—Williamson, V. M. ii. 284.
LOTE, s. Mod. Hind. lōṭ, being a corruption of Eng. 'note.' A bank-note; sometimes called bănklōṭ.
LOTOO, s. Burm. Hlwat-d'hau, 'Royal Court or Hall'; the Chief Council of State in Burma, composed nominally of four Wungyīs (see WOON) or Chief Ministers. Its name designates more properly the place of meeting; compare Star-Chamber.
1792.—"... in capital cases he transmits the evidence in writing, with his opinion, to the Lotoo, or grand chamber of consultation, where the council of state assembles...."—Symes, 307.
1819.—"The first and most respectable of the tribunals is the Luttò, comprised of four presidents called Vunghì, who are chosen by the sovereign from the oldest and most experienced Mandarins, of four assistants, and a great chancery."—Sangermano, 164.
1827.—"Every royal edict requires by law, or rather by usage, the sanction of this council: indeed, the King's name never appears in any edict or proclamation, the acts of the Lut-d'hau being in fact considered his acts."—Crawfurd's Journal, 401.
LOUTEA, LOYTIA, &c. s. A Chinese title of respect, used by the older writers on China for a Chinese official, much as we still use mandarin. It is now so obsolete that Giles, we see, omits it. "It would almost seem certain that this is the word given as follows in C. C. Baldwin's Manual of the Foochow Dialect: 'Lo-tia.' ... (in Mandarin Lao-tye) a general appellative used for an officer. It means 'Venerable Father' (p. 215). In the Court dialect Ta-lao-yé, 'Great Venerable Father' is the appellative used for any officer, up to the 4th rank. The ye of this expression is quite different from the tyé or tia of the former" (Note by M. Terrien de la Couperie). Mr. Baber, after giving the same explanation from Carstairs Douglas's Amoy Dict., adds: "It would seem ludicrous to a Pekingese. Certain local functionaries (Prefects, Magistrates, &c.) are, however, universally known in China as Fu-mu-kuan, 'Parental Officers' (lit. 'Father-and-Mother Officers') and it is very likely that the expression 'Old Papa' is intended to convey the same idea of paternal government."
c. 1560.—"Everyone that in China hath any office, command, or dignitie by the King, is called Louthia, which is to say with us Señor."—Gaspar da Cruz, in Purchas, iii. 169.
" "I shall have occasion to speake of a certain Order of gentlemen that are called Loutea; I will first therefor expound what this word signifieth. Loutea is as muche as to say in our language as Syr...."—Galeotto Pereyra, by R. Willes, in Hakl. ii.; [ed. 1810, ii. 548].
1585.—"And although all the Kinge's officers and justices of what sort of administration they are, be generally called by the name of Loytia; yet euerie one hath a speciall and a particular name besides, according vnto his office."—Mendoza, tr. by R. Parke, ii. 101.
1598.—"Not any Man in China is esteemed or accounted of, for his birth, family, or riches, but onely for his learning and knowledge, such as they that serve at every towne, and have the government of the same. They are called Loitias and Mandorijns."—Linschoten, 39; [Hak. Soc. i. 133].
1618.—"The China Capt. had letters this day per way of Xaxma (see SATSUMA) ... that the letters I sent are received by the noblemen in China in good parte, and a mandarin, or loytea, appointed to com for Japon...."—Cocks, Diary, ii. 44.
1681.—"They call ... the lords and gentlemen Loytias...."—Martinez de la Puente, Compendio, 26.
LOVE-BIRD, s. The bird to which this name is applied in Bengal is the pretty little lorikeet, Loriculus vernalis, Sparrman, called in Hind. laṭkan or 'pendant,' because of its quaint habit of sleeping suspended by the claws, head downwards.
LUBBYE, LUBBEE, s. [Tel. Labbi, Tam. Ilappai]; according to C. P. Brown and the Madras Gloss. a Dravidian corruption of 'Arabī. A name given in S. India to a race, Mussulmans in creed, but speaking Tamil, supposed to be, like the Moplahs of the west coast, the descendants of Arab emigrants by inter-marriage with native women. "There are few classes of natives in S. India, who in energy, industry, and perseverance, can compete with the Lubbay"; they often, as pedlars, go about selling beads, precious stones, &c.
1810.—"Some of these (early emigrants from Kufa) landed on that part of the Western coast of India called the Concan; the others to the eastward of C. Comorin; the descendants of the former are the Nevayets; of the latter the Lubbè; a name probably given to them by the natives, from that Arabic particle (a modification of Lubbeik) corresponding with the English here I am, indicating attention on being spoken to. The Lubbè pretend to one common origin with the Nevayets, and attribute their black complexion to inter-marriage with the natives; but the Nevayets affirm that the Lubbè are the descendants of their domestic slaves, and there is certainly in the physiognomy of this very numerous class, and in their stature and form, a strong resemblance to the natives of Abyssinia."—Wilks, Hist. Sketches, i. 243.
1836.—"Mr. Boyd ... describes the Moors under the name of Cholias (see CHOOLIA); and Sir Alexander Johnston designates them by the appellation of Lubbes. These epithets are however not admissible; for the former is only confined to a particular sect among them, who are rather of an inferior grade; and the latter to the priests who officiate in their temples; and also as an honorary affix to the proper names of some of their chief men."—Simon Casie Chitty on the Moors of Ceylon, in J. R. As. Soc. iii. 338.
1868.—"The Labbeis are a curious caste, said by some to be the descendants of Hindus forcibly converted to the Mahometan faith some centuries ago. It seems most probable, however, that they are of mixed blood. They are, comparatively, a fine strong active race, and generally contrive to keep themselves in easy circumstances. Many of them live by traffic. Many are smiths, and do excellent work as such. Others are fishermen, boatmen and the like...."—Nelson, Madura Manual, Pt. ii. 86.
1869.—In a paper by Dr. Shortt it is stated that the Lubbays are found in large numbers on the East Coast of the Peninsula, between Pulicat and Negapatam. Their headquarters are at Nagore, the burial place of their patron saint Nagori Mīr Ṣāhib. They excel as merchants, owing to their energy and industry.—In Trans. Ethn. Soc. of London, N.S. vii. 189-190.
LUCKERBAUG, s. Hind. lakṛā, lagṛā, lakaṛbagghā, lagaṛbagghā, 'a hyena.' The form lakaṛbaghā is not in the older dicts. but is given by Platts. It is familiar in Upper India, and it occurs in Hickey's Bengal Gazette, June 24, 1781. In some parts the name is applied to the leopard, as the extract from Buchanan shows. This is the case among the Hindi-speaking people of the Himālaya also (see Jerdon). It is not clear what the etymology of the name is, lakaṛ, lakṛā meaning in their everyday sense, a stick or piece of timber. But both in Hind. and Mahr., in an adjective form, the word is used for 'stiff, gaunt, emaciated,' and this may be the sense in which it is applied to the hyena. [More probably the name refers to the bar-like stripes on the animal.] Another name is haṛvāgh, or (apparently) 'bone-tiger,' from its habit of gnawing bones.
c. 1809.—"It was said not to be uncommon in the southern parts of the district (Bhāgalpur) ... but though I have offered ample rewards, I have not been able to procure a specimen, dead or alive; and the leopard is called at Mungger Lakravagh."
" "The hyaena or Lakravagh in this district has acquired an uncommon degree of ferocity."—F. Buchanan, Eastern India, iii. 142-3.
[1849.—"The man seized his gun and shot the hyena, but the 'lakkabakka' got off."—Mrs. Mackenzie, Life in the Mission, ii. 152.]
LUCKNOW, n.p. Properly Lakhnau; the well-known capital of the Nawābs and Kings of Oudh, and the residence of the Chief Commissioner of that British Province, till the office was united to that of the Lieut.-Governor of the N.W. Provinces in 1877. [The name appears to be a corruption of the ancient Lakshmanāvatī, founded by Lakshmana, brother of Rāmachandra of Ayodhya.]
1528.—"On Saturday the 29th of the latter Jemâdi, I reached Luknow; and having surveyed it, passed the river Gûmti and encamped."—Baber, p. 381.
[c. 1590.—"Lucknow is a large city on the banks of the Gúmti, delightful in its surroundings."—Āīn, ed. Jarrett, ii. 173.]
1663.—"In Agra the Hollanders have also an House.... Formerly they had a good trade there in selling Scarlet ... as also in buying those cloths of Jelapour and Laknau, at 7 or 8 days journey from Agra, where they also keep an house...."—Bernier, E.T. 94; [ed. Constable, 292, who identifies Jelapour with Jalālpur-Nāhir in the Fyzābād district.]
LUDDOO, s. H. laḍḍū. A common native sweetmeat, consisting of balls of sugar and ghee, mixt with wheat and gram flour, and with cocoanut kernel rasped.
[1826.—"My friends ... called me boor ke luddoo, or the great man's sport."—Pandurang Hari, ed. 1873, i. 197.
[1828.—"When at large we cannot even get rabri (porridge), but in prison we eat ladoo (a sweetmeat)."—Tod, Annals, Calcutta reprint, ii. 185.]
LUGOW, TO, v. This is one of those imperatives transformed, in Anglo-Indian jargon, into infinitives, which are referred to under BUNOW, PUCKEROW. H. inf. lagā-nā, imperative lagā-o. The meanings of lagānā, as given by Shakespear, are: "to apply, close, attach, join, fix, affix, ascribe, impose, lay, add, place, put, plant, set, shut, spread, fasten, connect, plaster, put to work, employ, engage, use, impute, report anything in the way of scandal or malice"—in which long list he has omitted one of the most common uses of the verb, in its Anglo-Indian form lugow, which is "to lay a boat alongside the shore or wharf, to moor." The fact is that lagānā is the active form of the neuter verb lag-nā, 'to touch, lie, to be in contact with,' and used in all the neuter senses of which lagānā expresses the transitive senses. Besides neuter lagnā, active lagānā, we have a secondary casual verb, lagwānā, 'to cause to apply,' &c. Lagnā, lagānā are presumably the same words as our lie, and lay, A.-S. licgan, and lecgan, mod. Germ. liegen and legen. And the meaning 'lay' underlies all the senses which Shakespear gives of lagā-nā. [See Skeat, Concise Etym. Dict. s.v. lie.]
[1839.—"They lugāoed, or were fastened, about a quarter of a mile below us...."—Davidson, Travels in Upper India, ii. 20.]
LUMBERDAR, s. Hind. lambardār, a word formed from the English word 'number' with the Pers. termination -dār, and meaning properly 'the man who is registered by a number.' "The registered representative of a coparcenary community, who is responsible for Government revenue." (Carnegy). "The cultivator who, either on his own account or as the representative of other members of the village, pays the Government dues and is registered in the Collector's Roll according to his number; as the representative of the rest he may hold the office by descent or by election." (Wilson).
[1875.—"... Chota Khan ... was exceedingly useful, and really frightened the astonished Lambadars."—Wilson, Abode of Snow, 97.]
LUNGOOR, s. Hind. langūr, from Skt. lāngūlin, 'caudatus.' The great white-bearded ape, much patronized by Hindus, and identified with the monkey-god Hanumān. The genus is Presbytes, Illiger, of which several species are now discriminated, but the differences are small. [See Blanford, Mammalia, 27, who classes the Langūr as Semnopithecus entellus.] The animal is well described by Aelian in the following quotation, which will recall to many what they have witnessed in the suburbs of Benares and other great Hindu cities. The Langūr of the Prasii is P. Entellus.
c. 250.—"Among the Prasii of India they say that there exists a kind of ape with human intelligence. These animals seem to be about the size of Hyrcanian dogs. Their front hair looks all grown together, and any one ignorant of the truth would say that it was dressed artificially. The beard is like that of a satyr, and the tail strong like that of a lion. All the rest of the body is white, but the head and the tail are red. These creatures are tame and gentle in character, but by race and manner of life they are wild. They go about in crowds in the suburbs of Latagē (now Latagē is a city of the Indians) and eat the boiled rice that is put out for them by the King's order. Every day their dinner is elegantly set out. Having eaten their fill it is said that they return to their parents in the woods in an orderly manner, and never hurt anybody that they meet by the way."—Aelian, De Nat. Animal. xvi. 10.
1825.—"An alarm was given by one of the sentries in consequence of a baboon drawing near his post. The character of the intruder was, however, soon detected by one of the Suwarrs, who on the Sepoy's repeating his exclamation of the broken English 'Who goes 'ere?' said with a laugh, 'Why do you challenge the lungoor? he cannot answer you.'"—Heber, ii. 85.
1859.—"I found myself in immediate proximity to a sort of parliament or general assembly of the largest and most human-like monkeys I had ever seen. There were at least 200 of them, great lungoors, some quite four feet high, the jetty black of their faces enhanced by a fringe of snowy whisker."—Lewin, A Fly on the Wheel, 49.
1884.—"Less interesting personally than the gibbon, but an animal of very developed social instincts, is Semnopithecus entellus, otherwise the Bengal langur. (He) fights for his wives according to a custom not unheard of in other cases; but what is peculiar to him is that the vanquished males 'receive charge of all the young ones of their own sex, with whom they retire to some neighbouring jungle.' Schoolmasters and private tutors will read this with interest, as showing the origin and early disabilities of their profession."—Saturday Rev., May 31, on Sterndale's Nat. Hist. of Mammalia of India, &c.