1612.—"... Trata da causa primeira, segundo os livros que tem, chamados Terum Mandra mole" (mantra-mūla, mūla 'text').—Couto, Dec. V. liv. vi. cap. 3.
1776.—"Mantur—a text of the Shaster."—Halhed, Code, p. 17.
1817.—"... he is said to have found the great mantra, spell or talisman."—Mill, Hist. ii. 149.
MUNTREE, s. Skt. Mantri. A minister or high official. The word is especially affected in old Hindu States, and in the Indo-Chinese and Malay States which derive their ancient civilisation from India. It is the word which the Portuguese made into mandarin (q.v.).
1810.—"When the Court was full, and Ibrahim, the son of Candu the merchant, was near the throne, the Raja entered.... But as soon as the Rajah seated himself, the muntries and high officers of state arrayed themselves according to their rank."—In a Malay's account of Government House at Calcutta, transl. by Dr. Leyden, in Maria Graham, p. 200.
[1811.—"Mantri." See under ORANKAY.
[1829.—"The Mantris of Mewar prefer estates to pecuniary stipend, which gives more consequence in every point of view."—Tod, Annals, Calcutta reprint, i. 150.]
MUNZIL, s. Ar. manzil, 'descending or alighting,' hence the halting place of a stage or march, a day's stage.
1685.—"We were not able to reach Obdeen-deen (ye usual Menzill) but lay at a sorry Caravan Sarai."—Hedges, Diary, July 30; [Hak. Soc. i. 203. In i. 214, manzeill].
MUSCÁT, n.p., properly Măskăt. A port and city of N.E. Arabia; for a long time the capital of 'Omān. (See IMAUM.)
[1659.—"The Governor of the city was Chah-Navaze-kan ... descended from the ancient Princes of Machate...."—Bernier, ed. Constable, 73.]
1673.—"Muschat." See under IMAUM.
MUSIC. There is no matter in which the sentiments of the people of India differ more from those of Englishmen than on that of music, and curiously enough the one kind of Western music which they appreciate, and seem to enjoy, is that of the bagpipe. This is testified by Captain Munro in the passage quoted below; but it was also shown during Lord Canning's visit to Lahore in 1860, in a manner which dwells in the memory of one of the present writers. The escort consisted of part of a Highland regiment. A venerable Sikh chief who heard the pipes exclaimed: 'That is indeed music! it is like that which we hear of in ancient story, which was so exquisite that the hearers became insensible (behosh).'
1780.—"The bagpipe appears also to be a favourite instrument among the natives. They have no taste indeed for any other kind of music, and they would much rather listen to this instrument a whole day than to an organ for ten minutes."—Munro's Narrative, 33.
MUSK, s. We get this word from the Lat. muschus, Greek μόσχος, and the latter must have been got, probably through Persian, from the Skt. mushka, the literal meaning of which is rendered in the old English phrase 'a cod of musk.' The oldest known European mention of the article is that which we give from St. Jerome; the oldest medical prescription is in a work of Aetius, of Amida (c. 540). In the quotation from Cosmas the word used is μόσχος, and kastūri is a Skt. name, still, according to Royle, applied to the musk-deer in the Himālaya. The transfer of the name to (or from) the article called by the Greeks καστόριον, which is an analogous product of the beaver, is curious. The Musk-deer (Moschus moschiferus, L.) is found throughout the Himālaya at elevations rarely (in summer) below 8000 feet, and extends east to the borders of Szechuen, and north to Siberia.
c. 390.—"Odoris autem suavitas, et diversa thymiamata, et amomum, et cyphi, oenanthe, muscus, et peregrini muris pellicula, quod dissolutis et amatoribus conveniat, nemo nisi dissolutus negat."—St. Jerome, in Lib. Secund. adv. Jovinianum, ed. Vallarsii, ii. col. 337.
c. 545.—"This little animal is the Musk (μόσχος). The natives call it in their own tongue καστοῦρι. They hunt it and shoot it, and binding tight the blood collected about the navel they cut this off, and this is the sweet smelling part of it, and what we call musk."—Cosmas Indicopleustes, Bk. xi.
["Muske commeth from Tartaria.... There is a certaine beast in Tartaria, which is wilde and big as a wolfe, which beast they take aliue, and beat him to death with small stanes yt his blood may be spread through his whole body, then they cut it in pieces, and take out all the bones, and beat the flesh with the blood in a mortar very smal, and dry it, and make purses to put it in of the skin, and these be the Cods of Muske."—Caesar Frederick, in Hakl. ii. 372.]
1673.—"Musk. It is best to buy it in the Cod ... that which openeth with a bright Mosk colour is best."—Fryer, 212.
MUSK-RAT, s. The popular name of the Sorex caerulescens, Jerdon, [Crocidura caerulea, Blanford], an animal having much the figure of the common shrew, but nearly as large as a small brown rat. It diffuses a strong musky odour, so penetrative that it is commonly asserted to affect bottled beer by running over the bottles in a cellar. As Jerdon judiciously observes, it is much more probable that the corks have been affected before being used in bottling; [and Blanford (Mammalia, 237) writes that "the absurd story ... is less credited in India than it formerly was, owing to the discovery that liquors bottled in Europe and exported to India are not liable to be tainted."] When the female is in heat she is often seen to be followed by a string of males giving out the odour strongly. Can this be the mus peregrinus mentioned by St. Jerome (see MUSK), as P. Vincenzo supposes?
c. 1590.—"Here (in Tooman Bekhrad, n. of Kabul R.) are also mice that have a fine musky scent."—Ayeen, by Gladwin (1800) ii. 166; [ed. Jarrett, ii. 406].
[1598.—"They are called sweet smelling Rattes, for they have a smell as if they were full of Muske."—Linschoten, Hak. Soc. i. 303.]
1653.—"Les rats d'Inde sont de deux sortes.... La deuxiesme espece que les Portugais appellent cheroso ou odoriferant est de la figure d'vn furet" (a ferret), "mais extremement petit, sa morseure est veneneuse. Lorsqu'il entre en vne chambre l'on le sent incontinent, et l'on l'entend crier krik, krik, krik."—De la Boullaye-le-Gouz, ed. 1657, p. 256. I may note on this that Jerdon says of the Sorex murinus,—the large musk-rat of China, Burma, and the Malay countries, extending into Lower Bengal and Southern India, especially the Malabar coast, where it is said to be the common species (therefore probably that known to our author),—that the bite is considered venomous by the natives (Mammals, p. 54), [a belief for which, according to Blanford (l.c. p. 236), there is no foundation].
1672.—P. Vincenzo Maria, speaking of his first acquaintance with this animal (il ratto del musco), which occurred in the Capuchin Convent at Surat, says with simplicity (or malignity?): "I was astonished to perceive an odour so fragrant[176] in the vicinity of those most religious Fathers, with whom I was at the moment in conversation."—Viaggio, p. 385.
1681.—"This country has its vermin also. They have a sort of Rats they call Musk-rats, because they smell strong of musk. These the inhabitants do not eat of, but of all other sorts of Rats they do."—Knox, p. 31.
1789.—H. Munro in his Narrative (p. 34) absurdly enough identifies this animal with the Bandicoot, q.v.
1813.—See Forbes, Or. Mem. i. 42; [2nd. ed. i. 26].
MUSLIN, s. There seems to be no doubt that this word is derived from Mosul (Mauṣal or Mauṣil) on the Tigris,[177] and it has been from an old date the name of a texture, but apparently not always that of the thin semi-transparent tissue to which we now apply it. Dozy (p. 323) says that the Arabs employ mauṣili in the same sense as our word, quoting the Arabian Nights (Macnaghten's ed., i. 176, and ii. 159), in both of which the word indicates the material of a fine turban. [Burton (i. 211) translates 'Mosul stuff,' and says it may mean either of 'Mosul fashion,' or muslin.] The quotation from Ives, as well as that from Marco Polo, seems to apply to a different texture from what we call muslin.
1298.—"All the cloths of gold and silk that are called Mosolins are made in this country (Mausul)."—Marco Polo, Bk. i. chap. 5.
c. 1544.—"Almussoli est regio in Mesopotamia, in qua texuntur telae ex bombyce valde pulchrae, quae apud Syros et Aegyptios et apud mercatores Venetos appellantur mussoli, ex hoc regionis nomine. Et principes Aegyptii et Syri, tempore aestatis sedentes in loco honorauiliori induunt vestes ex hujusmodi mussoli."—Andreae Bellunensis, Arabicorum nominum quae in libris Avicennae sparsim legebantur Interpretatio.
1573.—"... you have all sorts of Cotton-works, Handkerchiefs, long Fillets, Girdles ... and other sorts, by the Arabians called Mossellini (after the Country Mussoli, from whence they are brought, which is situated in Mesopotamia), by us Muslin."—Rauwolff, p. 84.
c. 1580.—"For the rest the said Agiani (misprint for Bagnani, Banyans) wear clothes of white mussolo or sessa (?); having their garments very long and crossed over the breast."—Gasparo Balbi, f. 33b.
1673.—"Le drap qu'on estend sur les matelas est d'une toille aussy fine que de la mousceline."—App. to Journal d'Ant. Galland, ii. 198.
1685.—"I have been told by several, that muscelin (so much in use here for cravats) and Calligo (!), and the most of the Indian linens, are made of nettles, and I see not the least improbability but that they may be made of the fibres of them."—Dr. Hans Sloane to Mr. Ray, in Ray Correspondence, 1848, p. 163.
c. 1760.—"This city (Mosul)'s manufacture is Mussolin [read Mussolen] (a cotton cloth) which they make very strong and pretty fine, and sell for the European and other markets."—Ives, Voyage, p. 324.
MUSNUD, s. H.—Ar. masnad, from root sanad, 'he leaned or rested upon it.' The large cushion, &c., used by native Princes in India, in place of a throne.
1752.—"Salabat-jing ... went through the ceremony of sitting on the musnud or throne."—Orme, ed. 1803, i. 250.
1757.—"On the 29th the Colonel went to the Soubah's Palace, and in the presence of all the Rajahs and great men of the court, led him to the Musland...."—Reflexions by Luke Scrafton, Esq., ed. 1770, p. 93.
1803.—"The Peshwah arrived yesterday, and is to be seated on the musnud."—A. Wellesley, in Munro's Life, i. 343.
1809.—"In it was a musnud, with a carpet, and a little on one side were chairs on a white cloth."—Ld. Valentia, i. 346.
1824.—"They spread fresh carpets, and prepared the royal musnud, covering it with a magnificent shawl."—Hajji Baba, ed. 1835, p. 142.
1827.—"The Prince Tippoo had scarcely dismounted from his elephant, and occupied the musnud, or throne of cushions."—Sir W. Scott, Surgeon's Daughter, ch. xiv.
MUSSALLA, s. P.—H. (with change of sense from Ar. maṣāliḥ, pl. of maṣlaḥa) 'materials, ingredients,' lit. 'things for the good of, or things or affairs conducive to good.' Though sometimes used for the ingredients of any mixture, e.g. to form a cement, the most usual application is to spices, curry-stuffs and the like. There is a tradition of a very gallant Governor-General that he had found it very tolerable, on a sharp but brief campaign, to "rough it on chuprassies and mussaulchees" (qq.v.), meaning chupatties and mussalla.
1780.—"A dose of marsall, or purgative spices."—Munro, Narrative, 85.
1809.—"At the next hut the woman was grinding missala or curry-stuff on a flat smooth stone with another shaped like a rolling pin."—Maria Graham, 20.
MUSSAUL, s. Hind. from Ar. mash'al, 'a torch.' It is usually made of rags wrapt round a rod, and fed at intervals with oil from an earthen pot.
c. 1407.—"Suddenly, in the midst of the night they saw the Sultan's camp approaching, accompanied by a great number of mashal."—Abdurazzāk, in N. & Exts. xiv. Pt. i. 153.
1673.—"The Duties[178] march like Furies with their lighted mussals in their hands, they are Pots filled with Oyl in an Iron Hoop like our Beacons, and set on fire by stinking rags."—Fryer, 33.
1705.—"... flambeaux qu'ils appellent Mansalles."—Luillier, 89.
1809.—"These Mussal or link-boys."—Ld. Valentia, i. 17.
1810.—"The Mosaul, or flambeau, consists of old rags, wrapped very closely round a small stick."—Williamson, V. M. i. 219.
[1813.—"These nocturnal processions illumined by many hundred massauls or torches, illustrate the parable of the ten virgins...."—Forbes, Or. Mem. 2nd ed. ii. 274.
[1857.—"Near him was another Hindoo ... he is called a Mussal; and the lamps and lights are his special department."—Lady Falkland, Chow-Chow, 2nd ed. i. 35.]
MUSSAULCHEE, s. Hind. mash'alchī from mash'al (see MUSSAUL), with the Turkish termination chī, generally implying an agent. [In the Arabian Nights (Burton, i. 239) al-masha'ilī is the executioner.] The word properly means a link-boy, and was formerly familiar in that sense as the epithet of the person who ran alongside of a palankin on a night journey, bearing a mussaul. "In Central India it is the special duty of the barber (nāī) to carry the torch; hence nāī commonly = 'torch-bearer'" (M.-Gen. Keatinge). The word [or sometimes in the corrupt form mussaul] is however still more frequent as applied to a humble domestic, whose duty was formerly of a like kind, as may be seen in the quotation from Ld. Valentia, but who now looks after lamps and washes dishes, &c., in old English phrase 'a scullion.'
1610.—"He always had in service 500 Massalgees."—Finch, in Purchas, i. 432.
1662.—(In Asam) "they fix the head of the corpse rigidly with poles, and put a lamp with plenty of oil, and a mash'alchí [torch-bearer] alive into the vault, to look after the lamp."—Shihábuddín Tálish, tr. by Blochmann, in J.A.S.B. xli. Pt. i. 82.
[1665.—"They (flambeaux) merely consist of a piece of iron hafted in a stick, and surrounded at the extremity with linen rags steeped in oil, which are renewed ... by the Masalchis, or link boys, who carry the oil in long narrow-necked vessels of iron or brass."—Bernier, ed. Constable, 361.]
1673.—"Trois Massalgis du Grand Seigneur vinrent faire honneur à M. l'Ambassadeur avec leurs feux allumés."—Journal d'Ant. Galland, ii. 103.
1686.—"After strict examination he chose out 2 persons, the Chout (Chous?), an Armenian, who had charge of watching my tent that night, and my Mossalagee, a person who carries the light before me in the night."—Hedges, Diary, July 2; [Hak. Soc. i. 232].
[1775.—"... Mashargues, Torch-bearers."—Letter of W. Mackrabie, in Francis, Letters, i. 227.]
1791.—"... un masolchi, ou porte-flambeau, pour la nuit."—B. de St. Pierre, La Chaumière Indienne, 16.
1809.—"It is universally the custom to drive out between sunset and dinner. The Massalchees, when it grows dark, go out to meet their masters on their return, and run before them, at the full rate of eight miles an hour, and the numerous lights moving along the esplanade produce a singular and pleasing effect."—Ld. Valentia, i. 240.
1813.—"The occupation of massaulchee, or torch-bearer, although generally allotted to the village barber, in the purgannas under my charge, may vary in other districts."—Forbes, Or. Mem. ii. 417; [2nd ed. ii. 43].
1826.—"After a short conversation, they went away, and quickly returned at the head of 200 men, accompanied by Mussalchees or torch-bearers."—Pandurang Hari, 557; [ed. 1873, ii. 69].
[1831.—"... a mossolei, or man to light up the place."—Asiatic Journal, N.S. v. 197.]
MUSSENDOM, CAPE, n.p. The extreme eastern point of Arabia, at the entrance of the Persian Gulf. Properly speaking, it is the extremity of a small precipitous island of the name, which protrudes beyond the N.E. horn of 'Omān. The name is written Masándim in the map which Dr. Badger gives with his H. of 'Oman. But it is Rās Masandam (or possibly Masandum) in the Mohit of Sidi 'Ali Kapudān (J. As. Soc. Ben., v. 459). Sprenger writes Mosandam (Alt. Geog. Arabiens, p. 107). [Morier gives another explanation (see the quotation below).]
1516.—"... it (the coast) trends to the N.E. by N. 30 leagues until Cape Mocondon, which is at the mouth of the Sea of Persia."—Barbosa, 32.
1553.—"... before you come to Cape Moçandan, which Ptolemy calls Asaboro (Ἀσαβῶν ἄκρον) and which he puts in 23½°, but which we put in 26°; and here terminates our first division" (of the Eastern Coasts).—Barros, I. ix. 1.
1572.—
"Olha o cabo Asabóro que chamado
Agora he Moçandão dos navegantes:
Por aqui entra o lago, que he fechado
De Arabia, e Persias terras abundantes."
Camões, x. 102.
By Burton:
"Behold of Asabón the Head, now hight
Mosandam, by the men who plough the Main:
Here lies the Gulf whose long and lake-like Bight,
parts Araby from fertile Persia's plain."
The fact that the poet copies the misprint or mistake of Barros in Asaboro, shows how he made use of that historian.
1673.—"On the one side St. Jaques (see JASK) his Headland, on the other that of Mussendown appeared, and afore Sunset we entered the Straights Mouth."—Fryer, 221.
1727.—"The same Chain of rocky Mountains continue as high as Zear, above Cape Musenden, which Cape and Cape Jaques begin the Gulf of Persia."—A. Hamilton, i. 71; [ed. 1744, i. 73].
1777.—"At the mouth of the Strait of Mocandon, which leads into the Persian gulph, lies the island of Gombroon" (?)—Raynal, tr. 1777, i. 86.
[1808.—"Musseldom is a still stronger instance of the perversion of words. The genuine name of this head-land is Mama Selemeh, who was a female saint of Arabia, and lived on the spot or in its neighbourhood."—Morier, Journey through Persia, p. 6.]
MUSSOOLA, MUSSOOLAH, BOAT, s. The surf boat used on the Coromandel Coast; of capacious size, and formed of planks sewn together with coir-twine; the open joints being made good with a caulking or wadding of twisted coir. The origin of the word is very obscure. Leyden thought it was derived from "masoula ... the Mahratta term for fish" (Morton's Life of Leyden, 64). As a matter of fact the Mahr. word for fish is māsolī, Konk. măsūlī. This etymology is substantially adopted by Bp. Heber (see below); [and by the compiler of the Madras Gloss., who gives Tel. māsūla, Hind. machhlī]. But it may be that the word is some Arabic sea-term not in the dictionaries. Indeed, if the term used by C. Federici (below) be not a clerical error, it suggests a possible etymology from the Ar. masad, 'the fibrous bark of the palm-tree, a rope made of it.' Another suggestion is from the Ar. mauṣūl, 'joined,' as opposed to 'dug-out,' or canoes; or possibly it may be from maḥsūl, 'tax,' if these boats were subject to a tax. Lastly it is possible that the name may be connected with Masulipatam (q.v.), where similar boats would seem to have been in use (see Fryer, 26). But these are conjectures. The quotation from Gasparo Balbi gives a good account of the handling of these boats, but applies no name to them.
c. 1560.—"Spaventosa cosa'è chi nõ ha più visto, l'imbarcare e sbarcar le mercantie e le persone a San Tomè ... adoperano certe barchette fatte aposta molto alte e larghe, ch'essi chiamano Masudi, e sono fatte con tauole sottili, e con corde sottili cusite insieme vna tauola con l'altre," &c. (there follows a very correct description of their use).—C. Federici, in Ramusio, iii. 391.
c. 1580.—"... where (Negapatam) they cannot land anything but in the Maçules of the same country."—Primor e Honra, &c., f. 93.
c. 1582.—"... There is always a heavy sea there (San Thomé), from swell or storm; so the merchandise and passengers are transported from shipboard to the town by certain boats which are sewn with fine cords, and when they approach the beach, where the sea breaks with great violence, they wait till the perilous wave has past, and then, in the interval between one wave and the next, those boatmen pull with great force, and so run ashore; and being there overtaken by the waves they are carried still further up the beach. And the boats do not break, because they give to the wave, and because the beach is covered with sand, and the boats stand upright on their bottoms."—G. Balbi, f. 89.
1673.—"I went ashore in a Mussoola, a Boat wherein ten Men paddle, the two aftermost of whom are Steersmen, using their Paddles instead of a Rudder. The Boat is not strengthened with Knee-Timbers, as ours are; the bended Planks are sowed together with Rope-Yarn of the Cocoe, and calked with Dammar (see DAMMER) (a sort of Resin taken out of the Sea), so artificially that it yields to every ambitious Surf."—Fryer, 37.
[1677.—"Mesullas." See MUCOA.]
1678.—"Three Englishmen drowned by upsetting of a Mussoola boat. The fourth on board saved with the help of the Muckwas" (see MUCOA).—Ft. St. Geo. Consn., Aug. 13. Notes and Exts., No. i. p. 78.
1679.—"A Mussoolee being overturned, although it was very smooth water and no surf, and one Englishman being drowned, a Dutchman being with difficulty recovered, the Boatmen were seized and put in prison, one escaping."—Ibid. July 14. In No. ii. p. 16.
[1683.—"This Evening about seven a Clock a Mussula coming ashoar ... was oversett in the Surf and all four drowned."—Pringle, Diary, Ft. St. Geo. 1st ser. ii. 54.]
1685.—"This morning two Musoolas and two Cattamarans came off to ye Shippe."—Hedges, Diary, Feb. 3; [Hak. Soc. i. 182].
1760.—"As soon as the yawls and pinnaces reached the surf they dropped their graplings, and cast off the masoolas, which immediately rowed ashore, and landed the troops."—Orme, iii. 617.
1762.—"No European boat can land, but the natives make use of a boat of a particular construction called a Mausolo," &c.—MS. Letter of James Rennell, April 1.
[1773.—"... the governor ... sent also four Mossulas, or country boats, to accommodate him...."—Ives, 182.]
1783.—"The want of Massoola boats (built expressly for crossing the surf) will be severely felt."—In Life of Colebrooke, 9.
1826.—"The masuli-boats (which first word is merely a corruption of 'muchli,' fish) have been often described, and except that they are sewed together with coco-nut twine, instead of being fastened with nails, they very much resemble the high, deep, charcoal boats ... on the Ganges."—Heber, ed. 1844, ii. 174.
1879.—"Madras has no harbour; nothing but a long open beach, on which the surf dashes with tremendous violence. Unlucky passengers were not landed there in the ordinary sense of the term, but were thrown violently on the shore, from springy and elastic Masulah boats, and were occasionally carried off by sharks, if the said boats chanced to be upset in the rollers."—Saty. Review, Sept. 20.
MUSSUCK, s. The leathern water-bag, consisting of the entire skin of a large goat, stript of the hair and dressed, which is carried by a bhishtī (see BHEESTY). Hind. mashak, Skt. maśaka.
[1610.—"Mussocke." See under RUPEE.
[1751.—"7 hands of Musuk" (probably meaning Bhistis).—In Yule, Hedges' Diary, Hak. Soc. II. xi.]
1842.—"Might it not be worth while to try the experiment of having 'mussucks' made of waterproof cloth in England?"—Sir G. Arthur, in Ind. Adm. of Lord Ellenborough, 220.
MUSSULMAN, adj. and s. Mahommedan. Muslim, 'resigning' or 'submitting' (sc. oneself to God), is the name given by Mahommed to the Faithful. The Persian plural of this is Muslimân, which appears to have been adopted as a singular, and the word Muslimān or Musalmān thus formed. [Others explain it as either from Ar. pl. Muslimīn, or from Muslim-mān, 'like a Muslim,' the former of which is adopted by Platts as most probable.]
1246.—"Intravimus terram Biserminorum. Isti homines linguam Comanicam loquebantur, et adhuc loquuntur; sed legem Sarracenorum tenent."—Plano Carpini, in Rec. de Voyages, &c. iv. 750.
c. 1540.—"... disse por tres vezes, Lah, hilah, hilah, lah Muhamed roçol halah, o Massoleymoens e homes justos da santa ley de Mafamede."—Pinto, ch. lix.
1559.—"Although each horde (of Tartars) has its proper name, e.g. particularly the horde of the Savolhensians ... and many others, which are in truth Mahometans; yet do they hold it for a grievous insult and reproach to be called and styled Turks; they wish to be styled Besermani, and by this name the Turks also desire to be styled."—Herberstein, in Ramusio, ii. f. 171.
[1568.—"I have noted here before that if any Christian will become a Busorman, ... and be a Mahumetan of their religion, they give him any gifts ..."—A. Edward, in Hakl. i. 442.]
c. 1580.—"Tutti sopradetti Tartari seguitano la fede de' Turchi et alla Turchesca credono, ma si tẽgono a gran vergogna, e molto si corrociano l'esser detti Turchi, secondo che all'incontro godono d'esser Besurmani, cioè gẽte eletta, chiamati."—Descrittione della Sarmatia Evropea del magn. caval. Aless. Gvagnino, in Ramusio, ii. Pt. ii. f. 72.
1619.—"... i Musulmani, cioè i salvati: che cosa pazzamente si chiamano fra di loro i maomettani."—P. della Valle, i. 794.
" "The precepts of the Moslemans are first, circumcision ..."—Gabriel Sionita, in Purchas, ii. 1504.
1653.—"... son infanterie d'Indistannis Mansulmans, ou Indiens de la secte des Sonnis."—De la Boullaye-le-Gouz, ed. 1657, 233.
1673.—"Yet here are a sort of bold, lusty, and most an end, drunken Beggars of the Musslemen Cast, that if they see a Christian in good clothes, mounted on a stately horse ... are presently upon their Punctilio's with God Almighty, and interrogate him, Why he suffers him to go a Foot, and in Rags, and this Coffery (see CAFFER) (Unbeliever) to vaunt it thus?"—Fryer, 91.
1788.—"We escape an ambiguous termination by adopting Moslem instead of Musulman in the plural number."—Gibbon, pref. to vol. iv.
MUST, adj. Pers. mast, 'drunk.' It is applied in Persia also, and in India specially, to male animals, such as elephants and camels, in a state of periodical excitement.
[1882.—"Fits of Must differ in duration in different animals (elephants); in some they last for a few weeks, in others for even four or five months."—Sanderson, Thirteen Years, 3rd ed., 59.]
MUSTEES, MESTIZ, &c., s. A half-caste. A corruption of the Port. mestiço, having the same meaning; "a mixling; applied to human beings and animals born of a father and mother of different species, like a mule" (Bluteau); French, métis and métif.
1546.—"The Governor in honour of this great action (the victory at Diu) ordered that all the mestiços who were in Dio should be inscribed in the Book, and that pay and subsistence should be assigned to them,—subject to the King's confirmation. For a regulation had been sent to India that no mestiço of India should be given pay or subsistence: for, as it was laid down, it was their duty to serve for nothing, seeing that they had their houses and heritages in the country, and being on their native soil were bound to defend it."—Correa, iv. 580.
1552.—"... the sight of whom as soon as they came, caused immediately to gather about them a number of the natives, Moors in belief, and Negroes with curly hair in appearance, and some of them only swarthy, as being mistiços."—Barros, I. ii. 1.
1586.—"... che se sono nati qua di donne indiane, gli domandano mestizi."—Sassetti, in De Gubernatis, 188.
1588.—"... an Interpretour ... which was a Mestizo, that is halfe an Indian, and halfe a Portugall."—Candish, in Hakl. iv. 337.
c. 1610.—"Le Capitaine et les Marchands estoient Mestifs, les autres Indiens Christianisez."—Pyrard de Laval, i. 165; [Hak. Soc. i. 78; also see i. 240]. This author has also Métifs (ii. 10; [Hak. Soc. i. 373]), and again: "... qu'ils appellent Metices, c'est à dire Metifs, meslez" (ii. 23; [Hak. Soc. ii. 38]).
" "Ie vy vne moustre generalle de tous les Habitans portans armes, tant Portugais que Metices et Indiens, et se trouuerent environ 4000."—Moquet, 352.
[1615.—"A Mestiso came to demand passage in our junck."—Cocks's Diary, Hak. Soc. i. 216.]
1653.—(At Goa) "Les Mestissos sont de plusieurs sortes, mais fort mesprisez des Reinols et Castissos (see CASTEES), parce qu'il y a eu vn peu de sang noir dans la generation de leurs ancestres ... la tache d'auoir eu pour ancestre une Indienne leur demeure iusques à la centiesme generation: ils peuuent toutesfois estre soldats et Capitaines de forteresses ou de vaisseaux, s'ils font profession de suiure les armes, et s'ils se iettent du costé de l'Eglise ils peuuent estre Lecteurs, mais non Prouinciaux."—De la Boullaye-le-Gouz, ed. 1657, p. 226.
c. 1665.—"And, in a word, Bengale is a country abounding in all things; and 'tis for this very reason that so many Portuguese, Mesticks, and other Christians are fled thither."—Bernier, E.T. 140; [ed. Constable, 438].
[1673.—"Beyond the Outworks live a few Portugals Musteroes or Misteradoes."—Fryer, 57.]
1678.—"Noe Roman Catholick or Papist, whether English or of any other nation shall bear office in this Garrison, and shall have no more pay than 80 fanams per mensem, as private centinalls, and the pay of those of the Portuguez nation, as Europeans, Musteeses, and Topasees, is from 70 to 40 fanams per mensem."—Articles and Orders ... of Ft. St. Geo., Madraspatam. In Notes and Exts., i. 88.
1699.—"Wives of Freemen, Mustees."—Census of Company's Servants on the Coast, in Wheeler, i. 356.
1727.—"A poor Seaman had got a pretty Mustice Wife."—A. Hamilton, ii. 10; [ed. 1744, ii. 8].
1781.—"Eloped from the service of his Mistress a Slave Boy aged 20 years, or thereabouts, pretty white or colour of Musty, tall and slinder."—Hicky's Bengal Gazette, Feb. 24.
1799.—"August 13th.... Visited by appointment ... Mrs. Carey, the last survivor of those unfortunate persons who were imprisoned in the Black Hole of Calcutta.... This lady, now fifty-eight years of age, as she herself told me, is ... of a fair Mesticia colour.... She confirmed all which Mr. Holwell has said...."—Note by Thomas Boileau (an attorney in Calcutta, the father of Major-Generals John Theophilus and A. H. E. Boileau, R.E. (Bengal)), quoted in Echoes of Old Calcutta, 34.
1834.—"You don't know these Baboos.... Most of them now-a-days have their Misteesa Beebees, and their Moosulmaunees, and not a few their Gora Beebees likewise."—The Baboo, &c., 167-168.
1868.—"These Mestizas, as they are termed, are the native Indians of the Philippines, whose blood has to a great extent perhaps been mingled with that of their Spanish rulers. They are a very exclusive people ... and have their own places of amusement ... and Mestiza balls, to which no one is admitted who does not don the costume of the country."—Collingwood, Rambles of a Naturalist, p. 296.
MUSTER, s. A pattern, or a sample. From Port. mostra (Span. muestra, Ital. mostra). The word is current in China, as well as India. See Wells Williams's Guide, 237.
c. 1444.—"Vierão as nossas Galés por commissão sua com algunas amostras de açucar da Madeira, de Sangue de Drago, e de outras cousas."—Cadamosta, Navegação primeira, 6.
1563.—"And they gave me a mostra of amomum, which I brought to Goa, and showed to the apothecaries here; and I compared it with the drawings of the simples of Dioscorides."—Garcia, f. 15.
1601.—"Musters and Shewes of Gold."—Old Transl. of Galvano, Hak. Soc. p. 83.
1612.—"A Moore came aboord with a muster of Cloves."—Saris, in Purchas, i. 357.
[1612-13.—"Mustraes." See under CORGE.]
1673.—"Merchants bringing and receiving Musters."—Fryer, 84.
1702.—"... Packing Stuff, Packing Materials, Musters."—Quinquepartite Indenture, in Charters of the E.I. Co., 325.
1727.—"He advised me to send to the King ... that I designed to trade with his Subjects ... which I did, and in twelve Days received an Answer that I might, but desired me to send some person up with Musters of all my Goods."—A. Hamilton, ii. 200; [ed. 1744].
c. 1760.—"He (the tailor) never measures you; he only asks master for muster, as he terms it, that is for a pattern."—Ives, 52.
1772.—"The Governor and Council of Bombay must be written to, to send round Musters of such kinds of silk, and silk piece-goods, of the manufacture of Bengal, as will serve the market of Surat and Bombay."—Price's Travels, i. 39.
[1846.—"The above muster was referred to a party who has lately arrived from ... England...."—J. Agri. Hort. Soc., in Watt, Econ. Dict. vi. pt. ii. 601.]
MUTLUB, s. Hind. from Ar. maṭlab. The Ar. from ṭalab, 'he asked,' properly means a question, hence intention, wish, object, &c. In Anglo-Indian use it always means 'purpose, gist,' and the like. Illiterate natives by a common form of corruption turn the word into matbal. In the Punjab this occurs in printed books; and an adjective is formed, matbalī, 'opinionated,' and the like.
MUTT, MUTH, s. Skt. maṭha; a sort of convent where a celibate priest (or one making such profession) lives with disciples making the same profession, one of whom becomes his successor. Buildings of this kind are very common all over India, and some are endowed with large estates.
[1856.—"... a Gosaeen's Mut in the neighbourhood ..."—Rās Mālā, ed. 1878, p. 527.]
1874.—"The monastic Order is celibate, and in a great degree erratic and mendicant, but has anchorage places and head-quarters in the maths."—Calc. Review, cxvii. 212.
MUTTONGOSHT, s. (i.e. 'Mutton-flesh.') Anglo-Indian domestic Hind. for 'Mutton.'
MUTTONGYE, s. Sea-Hind. matangai, a (nautical) martingale; a corruption of the Eng. word.
MUTTRA, n.p. A very ancient and holy Hindu city on the Jumna, 30 miles above Agra. The name is Mathura, and it appears in Ptolemy as Μόδουρα ἡ τῶν Θεῶν. The sanctity of the name has caused it to be applied in numerous new localities; see under MADURA. [Tavernier (ed. Ball, ii. 240) calls it Matura, and Bernier (ed. Constable, 66), Maturas.]
MUXADABAD, n.p. Ar.—P. Maḳṣūdābād, a name that often occurs in books of the 18th century. It pertains to the same city that has latterly been called Murshidābād, the capital of the Nawābs of Bengal since the beginning of the 18th century. The town Maḳṣūdābād is stated by Tiefenthaler to have been founded by Akbar. The Governor of Bengal, Murshid Ḳulī Khān (also called in English histories Jafier Khan), moved the seat of Government hither in 1704, and gave the place his own name. It is written Muxudavad in the early English records down to 1760 (Sir W. W. Hunter).
[c. 1670.—"Madesou Bazarki," in Tavernier, ed. Ball, i. 132.]
1684.—"Dec. 26.—In ye morning I went to give Bulchund a visit according to his invitation, who rose up and embraced me when I came near him, enquired of my health and bid me welcome to Muxoodavad...."—Hedges, Diary, Hak. Soc. i. 59.
1703-4.—"The first act of the Nuwab, on his return to Bengal, was to change the name of the city of Makhsoosabad to Moorshudabad; and by establishing in it the mint, and by erecting a palace ... to render it the capital of the Province."—Stewart, H. of Bengal, 309.
1726.—"Moxadabath."—Valentijn, Chorom., &c., 147.
1727.—"Muxadabaud is but 12 miles from it (Cossimbazar), a Place of much greater Antiquity, and the Mogul has a Mint there; but the ancient name of Muxadabaud has been changed for Rajahmal, for above a Century."—A. Hamilton, ii. 20; [ed. 1744]. (There is great confusion in this.)
1751.—"I have heard that Ram Kissen Seat, who lives in Calcutta, has carried goods to that place without paying the Muxidavad Syre (see SAYER) Chowkey duties. I am greatly surprised, and send a Chubdar to bring him, and desire you will be speedy in delivering him over."—Letter from Nawab Allyverdi Caun to the Prest. of Council, dated Muxidavad, May 20.
1753.—"En omettant quelques lieux de moindre considération, je m'arrête d'abord à Mocsudabad. Ce nom signifie ville de la monnoie. Et en effet c'est là où se frappe celle du pays; et un grand fauxbourg de cette ville, appelé Azingonge, est la résidence du Nabab, qui gouverne le Bengale presque souverainement."—D'Anville, 63.
1756.—"The Nabob, irritated by the disappointment of his expectations of immense wealth, ordered Mr. Holwell and the two other prisoners to be sent to Muxadavad."—Orme, iii. 79.
1782.—"You demand an account of the East Indies, the Mogul's dominions and Muxadabad.... I imagine when you made the above requisition that you did it with a view rather to try my knowledge than to increase your own, for your great skill in geography would point out to you that Muxadabad is as far from Madras, as Constantinople is from Glasgow."—T. Munro to his brother William, in Life, &c. iii. 41.
1884.—It is alleged in a passage introduced in Mrs. C. Mackenzie's interesting memoir of her husband, Storms and Sunshine of a Soldier's Life, that "Admiral Watson used to sail up in his ships to Moorshedabad." But there is no ground for this statement. So far as I can trace, it does not appear that the Admiral's flag-ship ever went above Chandernagore, and the largest of the vessels sent to Hoogly even was the Bridgewater of 20 guns. No vessel of the fleet appears to have gone higher.
MUZBEE, s. The name of a class of Sikhs originally of low caste, vulg. mazbī, apparently maẓhabī from Ar. maẓhab, 'religious belief.' Cunningham indeed says that the name was applied to Sikh converts from Mahommedanism (History, p. 379). But this is not the usual application now. ["When the sweepers have adopted the Sikh faith they are known as Mazhabis.... When the Chuhra is circumcised and becomes a Musulman, he is known as a Musalli or a Kotána" (Maclagan, Panjab Census Rep., 1891, p. 202).] The original corps of Muzbees, now represented by the 32nd Bengal N.I. (Pioneers) was raised among the men labouring on the Baree Doab Canal.