c. 1546.—"Four of twelve gates that were in the Town were opened, thorough each of the which sallied forth one of the four Captaines with his company, having first sent out for Spies into the Camp six Orobalons of the most valiant that were about the King...."—Pinto (in Cogan), p. 260.
1688.—"The 500 gentlemen Orobalang were either slain or drowned, with all the Janizaries."—Dryden, Life of Xavier, 211.
1784.—(At Acheen) "there are five great officers of state who are named Maha Rajah, Laxamana (see LAXIMANA), Raja Oolah, Ooloo Ballang, and Parkah Rajah."—Forrest, V. to Mergui, 41.
1811.—"The ulu balang are military officers, forming the body-guard of the Sultan, and prepared on all occasions to execute his orders."—Marsden, H. of Sumatra, 3rd ed. 351.
OOPLAH, s. Cow dung patted into cakes, and dried and stacked for fuel. Hind. uplā. It is in S. India called bratty (q.v.).
1672.—"The allowance of cowdunge and wood was—for every basket of cowdunge, 2 cakes for the Gentu Pagoda; for Peddinagg the watchman, of every baskett of cowdunge, 5 cakes."—Orders at Ft. St. Geo., Notes and Exts. i. 56.
[Another name for the fuel is kaṇḍā.
[1809.—"... small flat cakes of cow-dung, mixed with a little chopped straw and water, and dried in the sun, are used for fuel; they are called kundhas...."—Broughton, Letters from a Mahratta Camp, ed. 1892, p. 158.]
This fuel which is also common in Egypt and Western Asia, appears to have been not unknown even in England a century ago, thus:—
1789.—"We rode about 20 miles that day (near Woburn), the country ... is very open, with little or no wood. They have even less fuel than we (i.e. in Scotland), and the poor burn cow-dung, which they scrape off the ground, and set up to burn as we do divots (i.e. turf)."—Lord Minto, in Life, i. 301.
1863.—A passage in Mr. Marsh's Man and Nature, p. 242, contains a similar fact in reference to the practice, in consequence of the absence of wood, in France between Grenoble and Briançon.
[For the use of this fuel, in Tartary under the name of argols, see Huc, Travels, 2nd ed. i. 23. Numerous examples of its use are collected in 8 ser. Notes and Queries, iv. 226, 277, 377, 417.
[c. 1590.—"The plates (in refining gold) having been washed in clean water, are ... covered with cowdung, which in Hindi is called uplah."—Āīn, ed. Blochmann, i. 21.
1828.—"We next proceeded to the Ooplee Wallee's Bastion, as it is most erroneously termed by the Mussulmans, being literally in English a 'Brattee,' or 'dried cowdung—Woman's Tower.'..." (This is the Upri Burj, or 'Lofty Tower' of Bijapur, for which see Bombay Gazetteer, xxiii. 638).—Welsh, Military Reminiscences, ii. 318 seq.]
[OORD, OORUD, s. Hind. uṛad. A variety of dāl (see DHALL) or pulse, the produce of Phaseolus radiatus. "Urd is the most highly prized of all the pulses of the genus Phaseolus, and is largely cultivated in all parts of India" (Watt, Econ. Dict. vi. pt. i. 102, seqq.).
[1792.—"The stalks of the oord are hispid in a lesser degree than those of moong."—Asiat. Res. vi. 47.
[1814.—"Oord." See under POPPER.
[1857.—"The Oordh Dal is in more common use than any other throughout the country."—Chevers, Man. of Medical Jurisprudence, 309.]
OORDOO, s. The Hindustani language. The (Turki) word urdū means properly the camp of a Tartar Khān, and is, in another direction, the original of our word horde (Russian orda), [which, according to Schuyler (Turkistan, i. 30, note), "is now commonly used by the Russian soldiers and Cossacks in a very amusing manner as a contemptuous term for an Asiatic"]. The 'Golden Horde' upon the Volga was not properly (pace Littré) the name of a tribe of Tartars, as is often supposed, but was the style of the Royal Camp, eventually Palace, of the Khāns of the House of Batu at Sarai. Horde is said by Pihan, quoted by Dozy (Oosterl. 43) to have been introduced into French by Voltaire in his Orphelin de la Chine. But Littré quotes it as used in the 16th century. Urda is now used in Turkistan, e.g. at Tashkend, Khokhand, &c., for a 'citadel' (Schuyler, loc. cit. i. 30). The word urdū, in the sense of a royal camp, came into India probably with Baber, and the royal residence at Delhi was styled urdū-i-mu'allā, 'the Sublime Camp.' The mixt language which grew up in the court and camp was called zabān-i-urdū, 'the Camp Language,' and hence we have elliptically Urdū. On the Peshawar frontier the word urdū is still in frequent use as applied to the camp of a field-force.
1247.—"Post haec venimus ad primam ordam Imperatoris, in quâ erat una de uxoribus suis; et quia nondum videramus Imperatorem, noluerint nos vocare nec intromittere ad ordam ipsius."—Plano Carpini, p. 752.
1254.—"Et sicut populus Israel sciebat, unusquisque ad quam regionem tabernaculi deberet figere tentoria, ita ipsi sciunt ad quod latus curie debeant se collocare.... Unde dicitur curia Orda lingua eorum, quod sonat medium, quia semper est in medio hominum suorum...."—William of Rubruk, p. 267.
1404.—"And the Lord (Timour) was very wroth with his Mirassaes (Mirzas), because he did not see the Ambassador at this feast, and because the Truximan (Interpreter) had not been with them ... and he sent for the Truximan and said to him: 'How is it that you have enraged and vexed the Lord? Now since you were not with the Frank ambassadors, and to punish you, and ensure your always being ready, we order your nostrils to be bored, and a cord put through them, and that you be led through the whole Ordo as a punishment.'"—Clavijo, § cxi.
c. 1440.—"What shall I saie of the great and innumerable moltitude of beastes that are in this Lordo? ... if you were disposed in one daie to bie a thousande or ij.ml horses you shulde finde them to sell in this Lordo, for they go in heardes like sheepe...."—Josafa Barbaro, old E.T. Hak. Soc. 20.
c. 1540.—"Sono diuisi i Tartari in Horde, e Horda nella lor lingua significa ragunãza di popolo vnito e concorde a similitudine d'vna città."—P. Jovio, delle Cose della Moscovia, in Ramusio, ii. f. 133.
1545.—"The Tartars are divided into certain groups or congregations, which they call hordes. Among which the Savola horde or group is the first in rank."—Herberstein, in Ramusio, ii. 171.
[1560.—"They call this place (or camp) Ordu bazaar."—Tenreiro, ed. 1829, ch. xvii. p. 45.]
1673.—"L'Ourdy sortit d'Andrinople pour aller au camp. Le mot ourdy signifie camp, et sous ce nom sont compris les mestiers que sont necessaires pour la commodité du voyage."—Journal d'Ant. Galland, i. 117.
[1753.—"That part of the camp called in Turkish the Ordubazar or camp-market, begins at the end of the square fronting the guard-rooms...."—Hanway, Hist. Account, i. 247.]
OORIAL, Panj. ūrīal, Ovis cycloceros, Hutton, [Ovis vignei, Blanford (Mammalia, 497), also called the Shā;] the wild sheep of the Salt Range and Sulimānī Mountains.
OORIYA, n.p. The adjective 'pertaining to Orissa' (native, language, what not); Hind. Uṛiya. The proper name of the country is Odṛa-deśa, and Oṛ-deśa, whence Oṛ-iya and Uṛ-iya. ["The Ooryah bearers were an old institution in Calcutta, as in former days palankeens were chiefly used. From a computation made in 1776, it is stated that they were in the habit of carrying to their homes every year sums of money sometimes as much as three lakhs made by their business" (Carey, Good Old Days of Honble. John Company, ii. 148).]
OOTACAMUND, n.p. The chief station in the Neilgherry Hills, and the summer residence of the Governor of Madras. The word is a corruption of the Badaga name of the site of 'Stone-house,' the first European house erected in those hills, properly Hottaga-mand (see Metz, Tribes of the Neilgherries, 6). [Mr. Grigg (Man. of the Nilagiris, 6, 189), followed by the Madras Gloss., gives Tam. Ottagaimandu, from Can. ottai, 'dwarf bamboo,' Tam. kay, 'fruit,' mandu, 'a Toda village.']
OPAL, s. This word is certainly of Indian origin: Lat. opalus, Greek, ὀπάλλιος, Skt. upala, 'a stone.' The European word seems first to occur in Pliny. We do not know how the Skt. word received this specific meaning, but there are many analogous cases.
OPIUM, s. This word is in origin Greek, not Oriental. [The etymology accepted by Platts, Skt. ahiphena, 'snake venom' is not probable.] But from the Greek ὄπιον the Arabs took afyūn which has sometimes reacted on old spellings of the word. The collection of the ὀπὸς, or juice of the poppy-capsules, is mentioned by Dioscorides (c. A.D. 77), and Pliny gives a pretty full account of the drug as opion (see Hanbury and Flückiger, 40). The Opium-poppy was introduced into China, from Arabia, at the beginning of the 9th century, and its earliest Chinese name is A-fu-yung, a representation of the Arabic name. The Arab. afyūn is sometimes corruptly called afīn, of which afīn, 'imbecile,' is a popular etymology. Similarly the Bengalees derive it from afi-heno, 'serpent-home.' [A number of early references to opium smoking have been collected by Burnell, Linschoten, Hak. Soc. ii. 113.]
c. A.D. 70.—"... which juice thus drawne, and thus prepared, hath power not onely to provoke sleepe, but if it be taken in any great quantitie, to make men die in their sleepe: and this our Physicians call opion. Certes I have knowne many come to their death by this meanes; and namely, the father of Licinius Cecinna late deceased, a man by calling a Pretour, who not being able to endure the intollerable pains and torments of a certaine disease, and being wearie of his life, at Bilbil in Spaine, shortened his owne daies by taking opium."—Pliny, in Holland's transl. ii. 68.
(Medieval).—
"Quod venit a Thebis, opio laudem perhibebis;
Naribus horrendum, rufum laus dictat emendum."
Otho Cremonensis.
1511.—"Next day the General (Alboquerque) sent to call me to go ashore to speak to the King; and that I should say on his part ... that he had got 8 Guzzarate ships that he had taken on the way because they were enemies of the King of Portugal; and that these had many rich stuffs and much merchandize, and arfiun (for so they call opio tebaico) which they eat to cool themselves; all which he would sell to the King for 300,000 ducats worth of goods, cheaper than they could buy it from the Moors, and more such matter."—Letter of Giovanni da Empoli, in Archivio Storico Italiano, 55.
[1513.—"Opium (oafyam) is nothing else than the milk of poppies."—Alboquerque, Cartas, p. 174.]
1516.—"For the return voyage (to China) they ship there (at Malacca) Sumatra and Malabar pepper, of which they use a great deal in China, and drugs of Cambay, much anfiam, which we call opium...."—Barbosa, 206.
1563.—"R. I desire to know for certain about amfiao, what it is, which is used by the people of this country; if it is what we call opium, and whence comes such a quantity as is expended, and how much may be eaten every day?
* * * * *
"O. ... that which I call of Cambaia come for the most part from one territory which is called Malvi (Mālwā).... I knew a secretary of Nizamoxa (see NIZAMALUCO), a native of Coraçon, who every day eat three tóllas (see TOLA), or a weight of 10½ cruzados ... though he was a well educated man, and a great scribe and notary, he was always dozing or sleeping; yet if you put him to business he would speak like a man of letters and discretion; from this you may see what habit will do."—Garcia, 153v to 155v.
1568.—"I went then to Cambaya ... and there I bought 60 parcels of Opium, which cost me two thousand and a hundreth duckets, every ducket at foure shillings two pence."—Master C. Frederike, in Hakl. ii. 371. The original runs thus, showing the looseness of the translation: "... comprai sessanta man d'Anfion, che mi costò 2100 ducati serafini (see XERAFINE), che a nostro conto possono valere 5 lire l'vno."—In Ramusio, iii. 396v.
1598.—"Amfion, so called by the Portingales, is by Arabians, Mores, and Indians called Affion, in latine Opio or Opium.... The Indians use much to eat Amfion.... Hee that useth to eate it, must eate it daylie, otherwise he dieth and consumeth himselfe ... likewise hee that hath never eaten it, and will venture at the first to eate as much as those that dayly use it, it will surely kill him...."—Linschoten, 124; [Hak. Soc. ii. 112].
[c. 1610.—"Opium, or as they (in the Maldives) call it, Aphion."—Pyrard de Laval, Hak. Soc. i. 195.
[1614.—"The waster washer who to get Affanan hires them (the cloths) out a month."—Foster, Letters, ii. 127.
[1615.—"... Coarse chintz, and ophyan."—Ibid. iv. 107].
1638.—"Turcae opium experiuntur, etiam in bona quantitate, innoxium et confortativum; adeo ut etiam ante praelia ad fortitudinem illud sumant; nobis vero, nisi in parvâ quantitate, et cum bonis correctivis lethale est."—Bacon, H. Vitae et Mortis (ed. Montague) x. 188.
1644.—"The principal cause that this monarch, or rather say, this tyrant, is so powerful, is that he holds in his territories, and especially in the kingdom of Cambaya, those three plants of which are made the Anfiam, and the anil (see ANILE), and that which gives the Algodam" (Cotton).—Bocarro, MS.
1694.—"This people, that with amphioen or opium, mixed with tobacco, drink themselves not merely drunk but mad, are wont to fall furiously upon any one whom they meet, with a naked kris or dagger in the hand, and to stab him, though it be but a child, in their mad passion, with the cry of Amock (see A MUCK), that is 'strike dead,' or 'fall on him.'..."—Valentijn, iv. (China, &c.) 124.
1726.—"It will hardly be believed ... that Java alone consumes monthly 350 packs of opium, each being of 136 catis (see CATTY), though the E. I. Company make 145 catis out of it...."—Valentijn, iv. 61.
1727.—"The Chiefs of Calecut, for many years had vended between 500 and 1000 chests of Bengal Ophium yearly up in the inland Countries, where it is very much used."—A. Hamilton, i. 315; [ed. 1744, i. 317 seq.].
1770.—"Patna ... is the most celebrated place in the world for the cultivation of opium. Besides what is carried into the inland parts, there are annually 3 or 4000 chests exported, each weighing 300 lbs..... An excessive fondness for opium prevails in all the countries to the east of India. The Chinese emperors have suppressed it in their dominions, by condemning to the flames every vessel that imports this species of poison."—Raynal (tr. 1777), i. 424.
ORANGE, s. A good example of plausible but entirely incorrect etymology is that of orange from Lat. aurantium. The latter word is in fact an ingenious medieval fabrication. The word doubtless came from the Arab. nāranj, which is again a form of Pers. nārang, or nārangī, the latter being still a common term for the orange in Hindustan. The Persian indeed may be traced to Skt. nāgarañga, and nārañga, but of these words no satisfactory etymological explanation has been given, and they have perhaps been Sanscritized from some southern term. Sir W. Jones, in his article on the Spikenard of the Ancients, quotes from Dr. Anderson of Madras, "a very curious philological remark, that in the Tamul dictionary, most words beginning with nar have some relation to fragrance; as narukeradu, to yield an odour; nártum pillei, lemon-grass; nártei, citron; nárta manum (read mārum), the wild orange-tree; nárum panei, the Indian jasmine; nárum alleri, a strong smelling flower; and nártu, which is put for nard in the Tamul version of our scriptures." (See As. Res. vol. ii. 414). We have not been able to verify many of these Tamil terms. But it is true that in both Tamil and Malayalam naṛu is 'fragrant.' See, also, on the subject of this article, A. E. Pott, in Lassen's Zeitschrift f. d. Kunde des Morgenlandes, vii. 114 seqq.
The native country of the orange is believed to be somewhere on the northern border of India. A wild orange, the supposed parent of the cultivated species, both sweet and bitter, occurs in Garhwāl and Sikkim, as well as in the Kāsia (see COSSYA) country, the valleys of which last are still abundantly productive of excellent oranges. [See Watt, Econ. Dict. ii. 336 seqq.] It is believed that the orange first known and cultivated in Europe was the bitter or Seville orange (see Hanbury and Flückiger, 111-112).
From the Arabic, Byzantine Greek got νεράντζιον, the Spaniards naranja, old Italian narancia, the Portuguese laranja, from which last, or some similar form, by the easy detachment of the l (taken probably, as in many other instances, for an article), we have the Ital. arancio, L. Latin aurantium, French orange, the modification of these two being shaped by aurum and or. Indeed, the quotation from Jacques de Vitry possibly indicates that some form like al-arangi may have been current in Syria. Perhaps, however, his phrase ab indigenis nuncupantur may refer only to the Frank or quasi-Frank settlers, in which case we should have among them the birthplace of our word in its present form. The reference to this passage we derived in the first place from Hehn, who gives a most interesting history of the introduction of the various species of citrus into Europe. But we can hardly think he is right in supposing that the Portuguese first brought the sweet orange (Citrus aurantium dulce) into Europe from China, c. 1548. No doubt there may have been a re-introduction of some fine varieties at that time.[193] But as early as the beginning of the 14th century we find Abulfeda extolling the fruit of Cintra. His words, as rendered by M. Reinaud, run: "Au nombre des dependances de Lisbonne est la ville de Schintara; à Schintara on recueille des pommes admirables pour la grosseur et le gout" (244[194]). That these pommes were the famous Cintra oranges can hardly be doubted. For Baber (Autobiog. 328) describes an orange under the name of Sangtarah, which is, indeed, a recognised Persian and Hind. word for a species of the fruit. And this early propagation of the sweet orange in Portugal would account not only for such wide diffusion of the name of Cintra, but for the persistence with which the alternative name of Portugals has adhered to the fruit in question. The familiar name of the large sweet orange in Sicily and Italy is portogallo, and nothing else; in Greece πορτογαλέα, in Albanian protokale, among the Kurds portoghāl; whilst even colloquial Arabic has burtuḳān. The testimony of Maṣ'ūdī as to the introduction of the orange into Syria before his time (c. A.D. 930), even if that were (as it would seem) the Seville orange, renders it quite possible that better qualities should have reached Lisbon or been developed there during the Saracenic occupation. It was indeed suggested in our hearing by the late Sir Henry M. Elliot that sangtarah might be interpreted as sang-tar, 'green stones' (or in fact 'moist pips'); but we hardly think he would have started this had the passage in Abulfeda been brought to his notice. [In the Āīn (ed. Gladwin, 1800, ii. 20) we read: "Sircar Silhet.... Here grows a delicious fruit called Soontara, in colour like an orange, but of an oblong form." This passage reads in Col. Jarrett's translation (ii. 124): "There is a fruit called Súntarah in colour like an orange but large and very sweet." Col. Jarrett disputes the derivation of Sangtarah from Cintra, and he is followed by Mr. H. Beveridge, who remarks that Humayun calls the fruit Sanat̤ra. Mr. Beveridge is inclined to think that Santra is the Indian hill name of the fruit, of which Sangtarah is a corruption, and refers to a village at the foot of the Bhutan Hills called Santrabārī, because it had orange groves.]
A.D. c. 930.—"The same may be said of the orange-tree (Shajr-ul-nāranj) and of the round citron, which were brought from India after the year (A.H.) 300, and first sown in 'Oman. Thence they were transplanted to Basra, to 'Irāk, and to Syria ... but they lost the sweet and penetrating odour and beauty that they had in India, having no longer the benefits of the climate, soil, and water peculiar to that country."—Maṣ'ūdī, ii. 438-9.
c. 1220.—"In parvis autem arboribus quaedam crescunt alia poma citrina, minoris quantitatis frigida et acidi seu pontici (bitter) saporis, quae poma orenges ab indigenis nuncupantur."—Jacobus Vitriacus, in Bongars. These were apparently our Seville oranges.
c. 1290.—"In the 18th of Edward the first a large Spanish Ship came to Portsmouth; out of the cargo of which the Queen bought one frail (see FRAZALA) of Seville figs, one frail of raisins or grapes, one bale of dates, two hundred and thirty pomegranates, fifteen citrons, and seven oranges (Poma de orenge)."—Manners and Household Expenses of England in the 13th and 15th Centuries, Roxb. Club, 1841, p. xlviii. The Editor deigns only to say that 'the MS. is in the Tower.' [Prof. Skeat writes (9 ser. Notes and Queries, v. 321): "The only known allusion to oranges, previously to 1400, in any piece of English literature (I omit household documents) is in the 'Alliterative Poems,' edited by Dr. Morris, ii. 1044. The next reference, soon after 1400, is in Lydgate's 'Minor Poems,' ed. Halliwell, p. 15. In 1440 we find oronge in the 'Promptorium Parvulorum,' and in 1470 we find orenges in the 'Paston Letters,' ed. Gairdner, ii. 394."]
1481.—"Item to the galeman (galley man) brought the lampreis and oranges ... iiijd."—Household Book of John D. of Norfolk, Roxb. Club, 1844, p. 38.
c. 1526.—"They have besides (in India) the nâranj [or Seville orange, Tr.] and the various fruits of the orange species.... It always struck me that the word nâranj was accented in the Arab fashion; and I found that it really was so; the men of Bajour and Siwâd call nâranj nârank" (or perhaps rather nârang).—Baber, 328. In this passage Baber means apparently to say that the right name was nārang, which had been changed by the usual influence of Arabic pronunciation into nāranj.
1883.—"Sometimes the foreign products thus cast up (on Shetland) at their doors were a new revelation to the islanders, as when a cargo of oranges was washed ashore on the coast of Delting, the natives boiled them as a new kind of potatoes."—Saty. Review, July 14, p. 57.
ORANG-OTANG, ORANG-OUTAN, &c. s. The great man-like ape of Sumatra and Borneo; Simia Satyrus, L. This name was first used by Bontius (see below). It is Malay, ōrăng-ūtăn, 'homo sylvaticus.' The proper name of the animal in Borneo is mias. Crawfurd says that it is never called orang-utan by 'the natives.' But that excellent writer is often too positive—especially in his negatives! Even if it be not (as is probable) anywhere a recognised specific name, it is hardly possible that the name should not be sometimes applied popularly. We remember a tame hooluck belonging to a gentleman in E. Bengal, which was habitually known to the natives as janglī ādmī, literally = orang-utan. [There seems reason to believe that Crawfurd was right after all. Mr. Scott (Malayan Words in English, p. 87) writes: "But this particular application of ōrang ūtan to the ape does not appear to be, or ever to have been, familiar to the Malays generally; Crawfurd (1852) and Swettenham (1889) omit it, Pijnappel says it is 'Low Malay,' and Klinkert (1893) denies the use entirely. This uncertainty is explained by the limited area in which the animal exists within even native observation. Mr. Wallace could find no natives in Sumatra who 'had ever heard of such an animal,' and no 'Dutch officials who knew anything about it.' Then the name came to European knowledge more than 260 years ago; in which time probably more than one Malay name has faded out of general use or wholly disappeared, and many other things have happened." Mr. Skeat writes: "I believe Crawfurd is absolutely right in saying that it is never called ōrang-ūtan by the natives. It is much more likely to have been a sailor's mistake or joke than an error on the part of the Malays who know better. Throughout the Peninsula ōrang-ūtan is the name applied to the wild tribes, and though the mawas or mias is known to the Malays only by tradition, yet in tradition the two are never confused, and in those islands where the mawas does exist he is never called ōrang-ūtan, the word ōrang being reserved exclusively to describe the human species."]
1631.—"Loqui vero eos easque posse Iavani aiunt, sed non velle, ne ad labores cogantur; ridicule mehercules. Nomen ei induunt Ourang Outang, quod 'hominem silvae' significat, eosque nasci affirmant e libidine mulierum Indarum, quae se Simiis et Cercopithecis detestanda libidine uniunt."—Bontii, Hist. Nat. v. cap. 32, p. 85.
1668.—"Erat autem hic satyrus quadrupes: sed ab humanâ specie quam prae se fert, vocatur Indis Ourang-outang: sive homo silvestris."—Licetus de Monstris, 338.
[1701.—"Orang-outang sive Homo Sylvestris: or the Anatomy of a Pygmie compared with that of a Monkey, an Ape, and a Man...."—Title of work by E. Tyson (Scott).]
1727.—"As there are many species of wild Animals in the Woods (of Java) there is one in particular called the Ouran-Outang."—A. Hamilton, ii. 131; [ed. 1744, ii. 136].
1783.—"Were we to be driven out of India this day, nothing would remain to tell that it had been possessed, during the inglorious period of our dominion, by any thing better than the ourang-outang or the tiger."—Burke, Sp. on Fox's E. India Bill, Works, ed. 1852, iii. 468.
1802.—"Man, therefore, in a state of nature, was, if not the ourang-outang of the forests and mountains of Asia and Africa at the present day, at least an animal of the same family, and very nearly resembling it."—Ritson, Essay on Abstinence from Animal Food, pp. 13-14.
1811.—"I have one slave more, who was given me in a present by the Sultan of Pontiana.... This gentleman is Lord Monboddo's genuine Orang-outang, which in the Malay language signifies literally wild man.... Some people think seriously that the oran-outang was the original patriarch and progenitor of the whole Malay race."—Lord Minto, Diary in India, 268-9.
1868.—"One of my chief objects ... was to see the Orang-utan ... in his native haunts."—Wallace, Malay Archip. 39.
In the following passage the term is applied to a tribe of men:
1884.—"The Jacoons belong to one of the wild aboriginal tribes ... they are often styled Orang Utan, or men of the forest."—Cavenagh, Rem. of an Indian Official, 293.
ORANKAY, ARANGKAIO, &c. s. Malay Orang kāya. In the Archipelago, a person of distinction, a chief or noble, corresponding to the Indian omrah; literally 'a rich man,' analogous therefore to the use of riche-homme by Joinville and other old French authors. [Mr. Skeat notes that the terminal o in arangkaio represents a dialectical form used in Sumatra and Java. The Malay leader of the Pahang rising in 1891-2, who was supposed to bear a charmed life, was called by the title of Orang Kāya Pahlawan (see PULWAUN).]
c. 1612.—"The Malay officers of state are classified as 1. Bandahara; 2. Ferdana Mantri; 3. Punghulu Bandari; 4. the chief Hulubalang or champion (see OOLOOBALLONG); 5. the Paramantris; 6. Orang Kayas; 7. Chatriyas (Kshatriyas); 8. Seda Sidahs; 9. Bentaras or heralds; 10. Hulubalangs."—Sijara Malayu, in J. Ind. Arch. v. 246.
1613.—"The nobler Orancayas spend their time in pastimes and recreations, in music and in cock fighting, a royal sport...."—Godinho de Eredia, f. 31v.
1613.—"An Oran Caya came aboord, and told me that a Curra Curra (see CARACOA) of the Flemmings had searched three or foure Praws or Canoas comming aboord vs with Cloues, and had taken them from them, threatening death to them for the next offence."—Saris, in Purchas, i. 348.
[ " "... gave him the title of Orancaya Pute, which is white or clear hearted lord."—Danvers, Letters, i. 270.]
1615.—"Another conference with all the Arrankayos of Lugho and Cambello in the hills among the bushes: their reverence for the King and the honourable Company."—Sainsbury, i. 420.
[ " "Presented by Mr. Oxwicke to the Wrankiaw."—Foster, Letters, iii. 96.
[ " "... a nobleman called Aron Caie Hettam."—Ibid. iii. 128.]
1620.—"Premierement sur vn fort grand Elephant il y auoit vne chaire couuerte, dans laquelle s'est assis vn des principaux Orangcayes ou Seigneurs."—Beaulieu, in Thevenot's Collection, i. 49.
1711.—"Two Pieces of Callico or Silk to the Shabander (see SHABUNDER), and head Oronkoy or Minister of State."—Lockyer, 36.
1727.—"As he was entering at the Door, the Orankay past a long Lance through his Heart, and so made an end of the Beast."—A. Hamilton, ii. 97; [ed. 1744, ii. 96].
" "However, the reigning King not expecting that his Customs would meet with such Opposition, sent an Orangkaya aboard of my Ship, with the Linguist, to know why we made War on him."—Ibid. 106; [ed. 1744].
1784.—"Three or four days before my departure, Posally signified to me the King meant to confer on me the honour of being made Knight of the Golden Sword, Orang Kayo derry piddang mas" (orang kaya dări pădang mas).—Forrest, V. to Mergui, 54.
1811.—"From amongst the orang kayas the Sultan appoints the officers of state, who as members of Council are called mantri (see MUNTREE, MANDARIN)."—Marsden, H. of Sumatra, 350.
[ORGAN, s. An Oriental form of mitrailleuse. Steingass (Dict. 38) has Pers. arghan, arghon, from the Greek ὄργανον, 'an organ.'
1790.—"A weapon called an organ, which is composed of about thirty-six gun barrels so joined as to fire at once."—Letter from De Boigne's Camp at Mairtha, dated Sept. 13, in H. Compton, A particular Account of the European Military Adventurers of Hindustan, from 1784 to 1803, p. 61.]
ORISSA, n.p. [Skt. Oḍrāshtra, 'the land of the Oḍras' (see OORIYA). The word is said to be the Prakrit form of uttara, 'north,' as applied to the N. part of Kalinga.] The name of the ancient kingdom and modern province which lies between Bengal and the Coromandel Coast.
1516.—"Kingdom of Orisa. Further on towards the interior there is another kingdom which is conterminous with that of Narsynga, and on another side with Bengala, and on another with the great Kingdom of Dely...."—Barbosa, in Lisbon ed. 306.
c. 1568.—"Orisa fu già vn Regno molto bello e securo ... sina che regnò il suo Rè legitimo, qual era Gentile."—Ces. Federici, Ramusio, iii. 392.
[c. 1616.—"Vdeza, the Chiefe Citty called Iekanat (Juggurnaut)."—Sir T. Roe, Hak. Soc. ii. 538.]
ORMESINE, s. A kind of silk texture, which we are unable to define. The name suggests derivation from Ormus. [The Draper's Dict. defines "Armozeen, a stout silk, almost invariably black. It is used for hat-bands and scarfs at funerals by those not family mourners. Sometimes sold for making clergymen's gowns." The N.E.D. s.v. Armozeen, leaves the etymology doubtful. The Stanf. Dict. gives Ormuzine, "a fabric exported from Ormuz."]
c. 1566.—"... a little Island called Tana, a place very populous with Portugals, Moores and Gentiles: these have nothing but Rice; they are makers of Armesie and weavers of girdles of wooll and bumbast."—Caes. Fredericke, in Hakl. ii. 344.
1726.—"Velvet, Damasks, Armosyn, Sattyn."—Valentijn, v. 183.
ORMUS, ORMUZ, n.p. Properly Hurmuz or Hurmūz, a famous maritime city and minor kingdom near the mouth of the Persian Gulf. The original place of the city was on the northern shore of the Gulf, some 30 miles east of the site of Bandar Abbās or Gombroon (q.v.); but about A.D. 1300, apparently to escape from Tartar raids, it was transferred to the small island of Gerūn or Jerūn, which may be identified with the Organa of Nearchus, about 12 m. westward, and five miles from the shore, and this was the seat of the kingdom when first visited and attacked by the Portuguese under Alboquerque in 1506. It was taken by them about 1515, and occupied permanently (though the nominal reign of the native kings was maintained), until wrested from them by Shāh 'Abbās, with the assistance of an English squadron from Surat, in 1622. The place was destroyed by the Persians, and the island has since remained desolate, and all but uninhabited, though the Portuguese citadel and water-tanks remain. The islands of Hormuz, Kishm, &c., as well as Bandar 'Abbās and other ports on the coast of Kerman, had been held by the Sultans of Omān as fiefs of Persia, for upwards of a century, when in 1854 the latter State asserted its dominion, and occupied those places in force (see Badger's Imams of Omān, &c., p. xciv.).
B.C. c. 325.—"They weighed next day at dawn, and after a course of 100 stadia anchored at the mouth of the river Anamis, in a country called Harmozeia."—Arrian, Voyage of Nearchus, ch. xxxiii., tr. by M‘Crindle, p. 202.
c. A.D. 150.—(on the coast of Carmania)
"Ἅρμουζα πόλις.
Ἅρμοζον ἄκρον."
Ptol. VI. viii. 5.
c. 540.—At this time one Gabriel is mentioned as (Nestorian) Bishop of Hormuz (see Assemani, iii. 147-8).
c. 655.—"Nobis ... visum est nihilominus velut ad sepulchra mortuorum, quales vos esse video, geminos hosce Dei Sacerdotes ad vos allegare; Theodorum videlicet Episcopum Hormuzdadschir et Georgium Episcopum Susatrae."—Syriac Letter of the Patriarch Jesujabus, ibid. 133.
1298.—"When you have ridden these two days you come to the Ocean Sea, and on the shore you find a City with a harbour, which is called Hormos."—Marco Polo, Bk. i. ch. xix.
c. 1330.—"... I came to the Ocean Sea. And the first city on it that I reached is called Ormes, a city strongly fenced and abounding in costly wares. The city is on an island some five miles distant from the main; and on it there grows no tree, and there is no fresh water."—Friar Odoric, in Cathay, &c., 56.
c. 1331.—"I departed from 'Omān for the country of Hormuz. The city of Hormuz stands on the shore of the sea. The name is also called Moghistān. The new city of Hormuz rises in face of the first in the middle of the sea, separated from it only by a channel 3 parasangs in width. We arrived at New Hormuz, which forms an island of which the capital is called Jaraun.... It is a mart for Hind and Sind."—Ibn Batuta, ii. 230.
1442.—"Ormus (qu. Hurmūz?), which is now called Djerun, is a port situated in the middle of the sea, and which has not its equal on the face of the globe."—Abdurrazzāk, in India in XV. Cent. p. 5.
c. 1470.—"Hormuz is 4 miles across the water, and stands on an Island."—Athan. Nikitin, ibid. p. 8.
1503.—"Habitant autem ex eorum (Francorum) gente homines fere viginti in urbe Cananoro: ad quos profecti, postquam ex Hormizda urbe ad eam Indorum civitatem Cananorum venimus, significavimus illis nos esse Christianos, nostramque conditionem et gradum indicavimus; et ab illis magno cum gaudio suscepti sumus.... Eorundem autem Francorum regio Portugallus vocatur, una ex Francorum regionibus; eorumque Rex Emanuel appellatur; Emmanuelem oramus ut illum custodiat."—Letter from Nestorian Bishops on Mission to India, in Assemani, iii. 591.
1505.—"In la bocha di questo mare (di Persia) è vn altra insula chiamata Agramuzo doue sono perle infinite: (e) caualli che per tutte quelle parti sono in gran precio."—Letter of K. Emanuel, p. 14.
1572.—
"Mas vê a illa Gerum, como discobre
O que fazem do tempo os intervallos;
Que da cidade Armuza, que alli esteve
Ella o nome despois, e gloria teve."
Camões, x. 103.
By Burton:
"But see yon Gerum's isle the tale unfold
of mighty things which Time can make or mar;
for of Armuza-town yon shore upon
the name and glory this her rival won."
1575.—"Touchant le mot Ormuz, il est moderne, et luy a esté imposé par les Portugais, le nom venant de l'accident de ce qu'ils cherchoient que c'estoit que l'Or; tellement qu'estant arrivez là, et voyans le trafic de tous biens, auquel le pais abonde, ils dirent Vssi esta Or mucho, c'est à dire, Il y a force d'Or; et pource ils donnerẽt le nom d'Ormucho à la dite isle."—A. Thevet, Cosmographie Univ., liv. x. i. 329.
1623.—"Non volli lasciar di andare con gl'Inglesi in Hormuz a veder la forteza, la città, e ciò che vi era in fine di notabile in quell'isola."—P. della Valle, ii. 463. Also see ii. 61.
1667.—
"High on a throne of royal state, which far
Outshone the wealth of Ormus and of Ind,
Or where the gorgeous East with richest hand
Showers on her kings barbaric pearl and gold."
Paradise Lost, ii. 1-4.
OROMBARROS, s. This odd word seems to have been used as griffin (q.v.) now is. It is evidently the Malay orang-baharu, or orang bharu, 'a new man, a novice.' This is interesting as showing an unquestionable instance of an expression imported from the Malay factories to Continental India. [Mr. Skeat remarks that the form of the word shows that it came from the Malay under Portuguese influence.]