1615.—"I received a letter from Jorge Durois ... with a baskit of aprecockes for my selfe...."—Cocks's Diary, i. 7.
1711.—"Apricocks—the Persians call Kill Franks, because Europeans not knowing the Danger are often hurt by them."—Lockyer, p. 231.
1738.—"The common apricot ... is ... known in the Frank language (in Barbary) by the name of Matza Franca, or the Killer of Christians."—Shaw's Travels, ed. 1757, p. 144.
ARAB, s. This, it may be said, in Anglo-Indian always means 'an Arab horse.'
1298.—"Car il va du port d'Aden en Inde moult grant quantité de bons destriers arrabins et chevaus et grans roncins de ij selles."—Marco Polo, Bk. iii. ch. 36. [See Sir H. Yule's note, 1st ed., vol. ii. 375.]
1338.—"Alexandre descent du destrier Arrabis."—Rommant d'Alexandre (Bodl. MS.).
c. 1590.—"There are fine horses bred in every part of the country; but those of Cachh excell, being equal to Arabs."—Āīn, i. 133.
1825.—"Arabs are excessively scarce and dear; and one which was sent for me to look at, at a price of 800 rupees, was a skittish, cat-legged thing."—Heber, i. 189 (ed. 1844).
c. 1844.—A local magistrate at Simla had returned from an unsuccessful investigation. An acquaintance hailed him next day: 'So I hear you came back re infectâ?' 'No such thing,' was the reply; 'I came back on my grey Arab!'
1856.—
"... the true blood-royal of his race,
The silver Arab with his purple veins
Translucent, and his nostrils caverned wide,
And flaming eye...."
The Banyan Tree.
ARAKAN, ARRACAN, n.p. This is an European form, perhaps through Malay [which Mr Skeat has failed to trace], of Rakhaing, the name which the natives give themselves. This is believed by Sir Arthur Phayre [see Journ. As. Soc. Ben. xii. 24 seqq.] to be a corruption of the Skt. rākshasa, Pali rakkhaso, i.e. 'ogre' or the like, a word applied by the early Buddhists to unconverted tribes with whom they came in contact. It is not impossible that the Ἀργυρῆ of Ptolemy, which unquestionably represents Arakan, may disguise the name by which the country is still known to foreigners; at least no trace of the name as 'Silver-land' in old Indian Geography has yet been found. We may notice, without laying any stress upon it, that in Mr. Beal's account of early Chinese pilgrims to India, there twice occurs mention of an Indo-Chinese kingdom called O-li-ki-lo, which transliterates fairly into some name like Argyrē, and not into any other yet recognisable (see J.R.A.S. (N.S.) xiii. 560, 562).
c. 1420-30.—"Mari deinceps cum mense integro ad ostium Rachani fluvii pervenisset."—N. Conti, in Poggius, De Varietate Fortunae.
1516.—"Dentro fra terra del detto regno di Verma, verso tramontana vi è vn altro regno di Gentili molto grande ... confina similmente col regno di Bẽgala e col regno di Aua, e chiamasi Aracan."—Barbosa, in Ramusio, i. 316.
[c. 1535.—"Arquam": See CAPELAN.]
1545.—"They told me that coming from India in the ship of Jorge Manhoz (who was a householder in Goa), towards the Port of Chatigaon in the kingdom of Bengal, they were wrecked upon the shoals of Racaon owing to a badly-kept watch."—Pinto, cap. clxvii.
1552.—"Up to the Cape of Negraes ... will be 100 leagues, in which space are these populated places, Chocoriá, Bacalá, Arracão City, capital of the kingdom so styled...."—Barros, I. ix. 1.
1568.—"Questo Re di Rachan ha il suo stato in mezzo la costa, tra il Regno di Bengala e quello di Pegù, ed è il maggiore nemico che habbia il Re del Pegù."—Cesare de' Federici, in Ramusio, iii. 396.
1586.—"... Passing by the Island of Sundiua, Porto grande, or the Countrie of Tippera, the Kingdom of Recon and Mogen (Mugg) ... our course was S. and by E. which brought vs to the barre of Negrais."—R. Fitch, in Hakl. ii. 391.
c. 1590.—"To the S.E. of Bengal is a large country called Arkung to which the Bunder of Chittagong properly belongs."—Gladwin's Ayeen, ed. 1800, ii. 4. [Ed. Jarrett, ii. 119] in orig. (i. 388) Arkhang.
[1599.—Arracan. See MACAO.
[1608.—Rakhang. See CHAMPA.
[c. 1069.—Aracan. See PROME.
[1659.—Aracan. See TALAPOIN.]
1660.—"Despatches about this time arrived from Mu'azzam Khān, reporting his successive victories and the flight of Shuja to the country of Rakhang, leaving Bengal undefended."—Khāfī Khān, in Elliot, vii. 254.
[c. 1660.—"The Prince ... sent his eldest son, Sultan Banque, to the King of Racan, or Mog."—Bernier (ed. Constable), 109.]
c. 1665.—"Knowing that it is impossible to pass any Cavalry by Land, no, not so much as any Infantry, from Bengale into Rakan, because of the many channels and rivers upon the Frontiers ... he (the Governor of Bengal) thought upon this experiment, viz. to engage the Hollanders in his design. He therefore sent a kind of Ambassador to Batavia."—Bernier, E. T., 55 [(ed. Constable, 180)].
1673.—"... A mixture of that Race, the most accursedly base of all Mankind who are known for their Bastard-brood lurking in the Islands at the Mouths of the Ganges, by the name of Racanners."—Fryer, 219. (The word is misprinted Buccaneers; but see Fryer's Index.)
1726.—"It is called by some Portuguese Orrakan, by others among them Arrakaon, and by some again Rakan (after its capital) and also Mog (Mugg)."—Valentijn, v. 140.
1727.—"Arackan has a Conveniency of a noble spacious River."—A. Hamilton, ii. 30.
ARBOL TRISTE, s. The tree or shrub, so called by Port. writers, appears to be the Nyctanthes arbor tristis, or Arabian jasmine (N. O. Jasmineae), a native of the drier parts of India. [The quotations explain the origin of the name.]
[c. 1610.—"Many of the trees they call tristes, of which they make saffron."—Pyrard de Laval, Hak. Soc., i. 411.
" "That tree called triste, which is produced in the East Indies, is so named because it blooms only at night."—Ibid. ii. 362; and see Burnell's Linschoten, Hak. Soc. ii. 58-62.
1624.—"I keep among my baggage to show the same in Italy, as also some of the tree trifoe (in orig. Arbor Trisoe, a misprint for Tristo) with its odoriferous flowers, which blow every day and night, and fall at the approach of day."—P. della Valle, Hak. Soc. ii. 406.]
ARCOT, n.p. Arkāt, a famous fortress and town in the Madras territory, 65 miles from Madras. The name is derived by Bp. Caldwell from Tam. āṛkāḍ, the 'Six Forests,' confirmed by the Tam.-Fr. Dict. which gives a form āṛukāḍu = 'Six forêts' ["the abode of six Rishis in former days. There are several places of this name in the southern districts besides the town of Arcot near Vellore. One of these in Tanjore would correspond better than that with Harkatu of Ibn Batuta, who reached it on the first evening of his march inland after landing from Ceylon, apparently on the shallow coast of Madura or Tanjore."—Madras Ad. Man. ii. 211]. Notwithstanding the objection made by Maj.-Gen. Cunningham in his Geog. of Ancient India, it is probable that Arcot is the Ἀρκατοῦ βασίλειον Σῶρα of Ptolemy, 'Arkatu, residence of K. Sora.'
c. 1346.—"We landed with them on the beach, in the country of Ma'bar ... we arrived at the fortress of Harkātū, where we passed the night."—Ibn Batuta, iv. 187, 188.
1785.—"It may be said that this letter was written by the Nabob of Arcot in a moody humour.... Certainly it was; but it is in such humours that the truth comes out."—Burke's Speech, Feb. 28th.
ARECA, s. The seed (in common parlance the nut) of the palm Areca catechu, L., commonly, though somewhat improperly, called 'betel-nut'; the term Betel belonging in reality to the leaf which is chewed along with the areca. Though so widely cultivated, the palm is unknown in a truly indigenous state. The word is Malayāl. aḍakka [according to Bp. Caldwell, from adai 'close arrangement of the cluster,' kay, 'nut' N.E.D.], and comes to us through the Port.
1510.—"When they eat the said leaves (betel), they eat with them a certain fruit which is called coffolo, and the tree of the said coffolo is called Arecha."—Varthema, Hak. Soc., 144.
1516.—"There arrived there many zambucos [Sambook] ... with areca."—Barbosa, Hak. Soc., 64.
1521.—"They are always chewing Arecca, a certaine Fruit like a Peare, cut in quarters and rolled up in leaves of a Tree called Bettre (or Vettele), like Bay leaves; which having chewed they spit forth. It makes the mouth red. They say they doe it to comfort the heart, nor could live without it."—Pigafetta, in Purchas, i. 38.
1548.—"In the Renda do Betel, or Betel duties at Goa are included Betel, arequa, jacks, green ginger, oranges, lemons, figs, coir, mangos, citrons."—Botelho, Tombo, 48. The Port. also formed a word ariqueira for the tree bearing the nuts.
1563.—"... and in Malabar they call it pac (Tam. pāk); and the Nairs (who are the gentlemen) call it areca."—Garcia D'O., f. 91 b.
c. 1566.—"Great quantitie of Archa, which is a fruite of the bignesse of nutmegs, which fruite they eate in all these parts of the Indies, with the leafe of an Herbe, which they call Bettell."—C. Frederike, transl. in Hakl. ii. 350.
1586.—"Their friends come and bring gifts, cocos, figges, arrecaes, and other fruits."—Fitch, in Hakl., ii. 395.
[1624.—"And therewith they mix a little ashes of sea-shells and some small pieces of an Indian nut sufficiently common, which they here call Foufel, and in other places Areca; a very dry fruit, seeming within like perfect wood; and being of an astringent nature they hold it good to strengthen the Teeth."—P. della Valle, Hak. Soc. i. 36. Mr Grey says: "As to the Port. name, Foufel or Fofel, the origin is uncertain. In Sir J. Maundeville's Travels it is said that black pepper "is called Fulful," which is probably the same word as "Foufel." But the Ar. Fawfal or Fufal is 'betel-nut.'"]
1689.—"... the Neri which is drawn from the Arequies Tree in a fresh earthen vessel, is as sweet and pleasant as Milk."—Ovington, 237. [Neri = H. and Mahr. nīr, 'sap,' but neri is, we are told, Guzerati for toddy in some form.]
ARGEMONE MEXICANA. This American weed (N.O. Papaveraceae) is notable as having overrun India, in every part of which it seems to be familiar. It is known by a variety of names, Firinghī dhatūra, gamboge thistle, &c. [See Watt, Dict. Econ. Prod., i. 306 seqq.]
ARGUS PHEASANT, s. This name, which seems more properly to belong to the splendid bird of the Malay Peninsula (Argusanus giganteus, Tem., Pavo argus, Lin.), is confusingly applied in Upper India to the Himālayan horned pheasant Ceriornis (Spp. satyra, and melanocephala) from the round white eyes or spots which mark a great part of the bird's plumage.—See remark under MOONAUL.
ARRACK, RACK, s. This word is the Ar. 'araḳ, properly 'perspiration,' and then, first the exudation or sap drawn from the date palm ('araḳ al-tamar); secondly any strong drink, 'distilled spirit,' 'essence,' etc. But it has spread to very remote corners of Asia. Thus it is used in the forms ariki and arki in Mongolia and Manchuria, for spirit distilled from grain. In India it is applied to a variety of common spirits; in S. India to those distilled from the fermented sap of sundry palms; in E. and N. India to the spirit distilled from cane-molasses, and also to that from rice. The Turkish form of the word, rāḳi, is applied to a spirit made from grape-skins; and in Syria and Egypt to a spirit flavoured with aniseed, made in the Lebanon. There is a popular or slang Fr. word, riquiqui, for brandy, which appears also to be derived from araḳī (Marcel Devic). Humboldt (Examen, &c., ii. 300) says that the word first appears in Pigafetta's Voyage of Magellan; but this is not correct.
c. 1420.—"At every yam (post-house) they give the travellers a sheep, a goose, a fowl ... 'arak...."—Shah Rukh's Embassy to China, in N. & E., xiv. 396.
1516.—"And they bring cocoa-nuts, hurraca (which is something to drink)...."—Barbosa, Hak. Soc. 59.
1518.—"—que todos os mantimentos asy de pão, como vinhos, orracas, arrozes, carnes, e pescados."—In Archiv. Port. Orient., fasc. 2, 57.
1521.—"When these people saw the politeness of the captain, they presented some fish, and a vessel of palm-wine, which they call in their language uraca...."—Pigafetta, Hak. Soc. 72.
1544.—"Manueli a cruce ... commendo ut plurimum invigilet duobus illis Christianorum Carearum pagis, diligenter attendere ... nemo potu Orracae se inebriet ... si ex hoc deinceps tempore Punicali Orracha potetur, ipsos ad mihi suo gravi damno luituros."—Scti. Fr. Xav. Epistt., p. 111.
1554.—"And the excise on the orraquas made from palm-trees, of which there are three kinds, viz., çura, which is as it is drawn; orraqua, which is çura once boiled (cozida, qu. distilled?); sharab (xarao) which is boiled two or three times and is stronger than orraqua."—S. Botelho, Tombo, 50.
1563.—"One kind (of coco-palm) they keep to bear fruit, the other for the sake of the çura, which is vino mosto; and this when it has been distilled they call orraca."—Garcia D'O., f. 67. (The word surā, used here, is a very ancient importation from India, for Cosmas (6th century) in his account of the coco-nut, confounding (it would seem) the milk with the toddy of that palm, says: "The Argellion is at first full of a very sweet water, which the Indians drink from the nut, using it instead of wine. This drink is called rhoncosura, and is extremely pleasant." It is indeed possible that the rhonco here may already be the word arrack).
1605.—"A Chines borne, but now turned Iauan, who was our next neighbour ... and brewed Aracke which is a kind of hot drinke, that is vsed in most of these parts of the world, instead of Wine...."—E. Scot, in Purchas, i. 173.
1631.—"... jecur ... a potu istius maledicti Arac, non tantum in temperamento immutatum, sed etiam in substantiâ suâ corrumpitur."—Jac. Bontius, lib. ii. cap. vii. p. 22.
1687.—"Two jars of Arack (made of rice as I judged) called by the Chinese Samshu [Samshoo]."—Dampier, i. 419.
1719.—"We exchanged some of our wares for opium and some arrack...."—Robinson Crusoe, Pt. II.
1727.—"Mr Boucher had been 14 Months soliciting to procure his Phirmaund; but his repeated Petitions ... had no Effect. But he had an Englishman, one Swan, for his Interpreter, who often took a large Dose of Arrack.... Swan got pretty near the King (Aurungzeb) ... and cried with a loud Voice in the Persian Language that his Master wanted Justice done him" (see DOAI).—A. Hamilton, i. 97.
Rack is a further corruption; and rack-punch is perhaps not quite obsolete.
1603.—"We taking the But-ends of Pikes and Halberts and Faggot-sticks, drave them into a Racke-house."—E. Scot, in Purchas, i. 184.
Purchas also has Vraca and other forms; and at i. 648 there is mention of a strong kind of spirit called Rack-apee (Malay āpī = 'fire'). See FOOL'S RACK.
1616.—"Some small quantitie of Wine, but not common, is made among them; they call it Raack, distilled from Sugar and a spicie Rinde of a Tree called Iagra [Jaggery]."—Terry, in Purchas, ii. 1470.
1622.—"We'll send him a jar of rack by next conveyance."—Letter in Sainsbury, iii. 40.
1627.—"Java hath been fatal to many of the English, but much through their own distemper with Rack."—Purchas, Pilgrimage, 693.
1848.—"Jos ... finally insisted upon having a bowl of rack punch.... That bowl of rack punch was the cause of all this history."—Vanity Fair, ch. vi.
ARSENAL, s. An old and ingenious etymology of this word is arx navalis. But it is really Arabic. Hyde derives it from tars-khānah, 'domus terroris,' contracted into tarsānah, the form (as he says) used at Constantinople (Syntagma Dissertt., i. 100). But it is really the Ar. dār-al-ṣinā'a, 'domus artificii,' as the quotations from Mas'ūdī clearly show. The old Ital. forms darsena, darsinale corroborate this, and the Sp. ataraçana, which is rendered in Ar. by Pedro de Alcala, quoted by Dozy, as dar a cinaa.—(See details in Dozy, Oosterlingen, 16-18.)
A.D. 943-4.—"At this day in the year of the Hijra 332, Rhodes (Rodas) is an arsenal (dār-ṣinā'a) where the Greeks build their war-vessels."—Mas'ūdī, ii. 423. And again "dār-ṣinā'at al marākib," 'an arsenal of ships,' iii. 67.
1573.—"In this city (Fez) there is a very great building which they call Daraçana, where the Christian captives used to labour at blacksmith's work and other crafts under the superintendence and orders of renegade headmen ... here they made cannon and powder, and wrought swords, cross-bows, and arquebusses."—Marmol, Desc. General de Affrica, lib. iii. f. 92.
1672.—"On met au Tershana deux belles galères à l'eau."—Antoine Galland, Journ., i. 80.
ART, EUROPEAN. We have heard much, and justly, of late years regarding the corruption of Indian art and artistic instinct by the employment of the artists in working for European patrons, and after European patterns. The copying of such patterns is no new thing, as we may see from this passage of the brightest of writers upon India whilst still under Asiatic government.
c. 1665.—"... not that the Indians have not wit enough to make them successful in Arts, they doing very well (as to some of them) in many parts of India, and it being found that they have inclination enough for them, and that some of them make (even without a Master) very pretty workmanship and imitate so well our work of Europe, that the difference thereof will hardly be discerned."—Bernier, E. T., 81-82 [ed. Constable, 254].
ARTICHOKE, s. The genealogy of this word appears to be somewhat as follows: The Ar. is al-ḥarshūf (perhaps connected with ḥarash, 'rough-skinned') or al-kharshūf; hence Sp. alcarchofa and It. carcioffo and arciocco, Fr. artichaut, Eng. artichoke.
c. 1348.—"The Incense (benzoin) tree is small ... its branches are like those of a thistle or an artichoke (al-kharshaf)."—Ibn Batuta, iv. 240. Al-kharshaf in the published text. The spelling with ḥ instead of k̲h̲ is believed to be correct (see Dozy, s.v. Alcarchofa); [also see N.E.D. s.v. Artichoke].
ARYAN, adj. Skt. Ārya, 'noble.' A term frequently used to include all the races (Indo-Persic, Greek, Roman, Celtic, Sclavonic, &c.) which speak languages belonging to the same family as Sanskrit. Much vogue was given to the term by Pictet's publication of Les Origines Indo-Européennes, ou les Aryas Primitifs (Paris, 1859), and this writer seems almost to claim the name in this sense as his own (see quotation below). But it was in use long before the date of his book. Our first quotation is from Ritter, and there it has hardly reached the full extent of application. Ritter seems to have derived the use in this passage from Lassen's Pentapotamia. The word has in great measure superseded the older term Indo-Germanic, proposed by F. Schlegel at the beginning of the last century. The latter is, however, still sometimes used, and M. Hovelacque, especially, prefers it. We may observe here that the connection which evidently exists between the several languages classed together as Aryan cannot be regarded, as it was formerly, as warranting an assumption of identity of race in all the peoples who speak them.
It may be noted as curious that among the Javanese (a people so remote in blood from what we understand by Aryan), the word ārya is commonly used as an honorary prefix to the names of men of rank; a survival of the ancient Hindu influence on the civilisation of the island.
The earliest use of Aryan in an ethnic sense is in the Inscription on the tomb of Darius, in which the king calls himself an Aryan, and of Aryan descent, whilst Ormuzd is in the Median version styled, 'God of the Aryans.'
B.C. c. 486.—"Adam Dáryavush Khsháyathiya vazarka ... Pársa, Pársahiyá putra, Ariya, Ariya chitra." i.e. "I (am) Darius, the Great King, the King of Kings, the King of all inhabited countries, the King of this great Earth far and near, the son of Hystaspes, an Achaemenian, a Persian, an Arian, of Arian descent."—In Rawlinson's Herodotus, 3rd ed., iv. 250.
"These Medes were called anciently by all people Arians, but when Medêa, the Colchian, came to them from Athens, they changed their name."—Herodot., vii. 62 (Rawlins).
1835.—"Those eastern and proper Indians, whose territory, however, Alexander never touched by a long way, call themselves in the most ancient period Arians (Arier) (Manu, ii. 22, x. 45), a name coinciding with that of the ancient Medes."—Ritter, v. 458.
1838.—See also Ritter, viii. 17 seqq.; and Potto's art. in Ersch & Grueber's Encyc., ii. 18, 46.
1850.—"The Aryan tribes in conquering India, urged by the Brahmans, made war against the Turanian demon-worship, but not always with complete success."—Dr. J. Wilson, in Life, 450.
1851.—"We must request the patience of our readers whilst we give a short outline of the component members of the great Arian family. The first is the Sanskrit.... The second branch of the Arian family is the Persian.... There are other scions of the Arian stock which struck root in the soil of Asia, before the Arians reached the shores of Europe...."—(Prof. Max Müller) Edinburgh Review, Oct. 1851, pp. 312-313.
1853.—"Sur les sept premières civilisations, qui sont celles de l'ancien monde, six appartiennent, en partie au moins, à la race ariane."—Gobineau, De l'Inégalité des Races Humaines, i. 364.
1855.—"I believe that all who have lived in India will bear testimony ... that to natives of India, of whatever class or caste, Mussulman, Hindoo, or Parsee, 'Aryan or Tamulian,' unless they have had a special training, our European paintings, prints, drawings, and photographs, plain or coloured, if they are landscapes, are absolutely unintelligible."—Yule, Mission to Ava, 59 (publ. 1858).
1858.—"The Aryan tribes—for that is the name they gave themselves, both in their old and new homes—brought with them institutions of a simplicity almost primitive."—Whitney, Or. & Ling. Studies, ii. 5.
1861.—"Latin, again, with Greek, and the Celtic, the Teutonic, and Slavonic languages, together likewise with the ancient dialects of India and Persia, must have sprung from an earlier language, the mother of the whole Indo-European or Aryan family of speech."—Prof. Max Müller, Lectures, 1st Ser. 32.
We also find the verb Aryanize:
1858.—"Thus all India was brought under the sway, physical or intellectual and moral, of the alien race; it was thoroughly Aryanized."—Whitney, u. s. 7.
ASHRAFEE, s. Arab. ashrafī, 'noble,' applied to various gold coins (in analogy with the old English 'noble'), especially to the dīnār of Egypt, and to the Gold Mohur of India.—See XERAFINE.
c. 1550.—"There was also the sum of 500,000 Falory ashrafies equal in the currency of Persia to 50,000 royal Irak tomāns."—Mem. of Humayun, 125. A note suggests that Falory, or Flori, indicates florin.
ASSAM, n.p. The name applied for the last three centuries or more to the great valley of the Brahmaputra River, from the emergence of its chief sources from the mountains till it enters the great plain of Bengal. The name Āsām and sometimes Āshām is a form of Āhām or Āhom, a dynasty of Shan race, who entered the country in the middle ages, and long ruled it. Assam politically is now a province embracing much more than the name properly included.
c. 1590.—"The dominions of the Rajah of Asham join to Kamroop; he is a very powerful prince, lives in great state, and when he dies, his principal attendants, both male and female, are voluntarily buried alive with his corpse."—Gladwin's Ayeen (ed. 1800) ii. 3; [Jarrett, trans. ii. 118].
1682.—"Ye Nabob was very busy dispatching and vesting divers principal officers sent with all possible diligence with recruits for their army, lately overthrown in Asham and Sillet, two large plentiful countries 8 days' journey distant from this city (Dacca)."—Hedges, Diary, Oct. 29th; [Hak. Soc. i. 43].
1770.—"In the beginning of the present century, some Bramins of Bengal carried their superstitions to Asham, where the people were so happy as to be guided solely by the dictates of natural religion."—Raynal (tr. 1777) i. 420.
1788.—"M. Chevalier, the late Governor of Chandernagore, by permission of the King, went up as high as the capital of Assam, about the year 1762."—Rennell's Mem., 3rd ed. p. 299.
ASSEGAY, s. An African throwing-spear. Dozy has shown that this is Berber zaghāya, with the Ar. article prefixed (p. 223). Those who use it often seem to take it for a S. African or Eastern word. So Godinho de Eredia seems to use it as if Malay (f. 21v). [Mr Skeat remarks that the nearest word in Malay is seligi, explained by Klinkert as 'a short wooden throwing-spear,' which is possibly that referred to by G. de Eredia.]
c. 1270.—"There was the King standing with three 'exortins' (or men of the guard) by his side armed with javelins [ab lur atzagayes]".—Chronicle of K. James of Aragon, tr. by Mr. Foster, 1883, i. 173.
c. 1444.—"... They have a quantity of azagaias, which are a kind of light darts."—Cadamosto, Navegação primeira, 32.
1552.—"But in general they all came armed in their fashion, some with azagaias and shields and others with bows and quivers of arrows."—Barros, I. iii. 1.
1572.—
"Hum de escudo embraçado, e de azagaia,
Outro de arco encurvado, e setta ervada."
Camões, i. 86.
By Burton:
"this, targe on arm and assegai in hand,
that, with his bended bow, and venom'd reed."
1586.—"I loro archibugi sono belli, e buoni, come i nostri, e le lance sono fatte con alcune canne piene, e forti, in capo delle quali mettono vn ferro, come uno di quelli delle nostri zagaglie."—Balbi, 111.
1600.—"These they use to make Instruments of wherewith to fish ... as also to make weapons, as Bows, Arrowes, Aponers, and Assagayen."—Disc. of Guinea, from the Dutch, in Purchas, ii. 927.
1608.—"Doncques voyant que nous ne pouvions passer, les deux hommes sont venu en nageant auprès de nous, et ayans en leurs mains trois Lancettes ou Asagayes."—Houtman, 5b.
[1648.—"The ordinary food of these Cafres is the flesh of this animal (the elephant), and four of them with their Assegais (in orig. ageagayes), which are a kind of short pike, are able to bring an elephant to the ground and kill it."—Tavernier (ed. Ball), ii. 161, cf. ii. 295.]
1666.—"Les autres armes offensives (in India) sont l'arc et la flêche, le javelot ou zagaye...."—Thevenot, v. 132 (ed. 1727).
1681.—"... encontraron diez y nueve hombres bazos armados con dardas, y azagayas, assi llaman los Arabes vnas lanças pequeñas arrojadizas, y pelearon con ellos."—Martinez de la Puente, Compendio, 87.
1879.—
"Alert to fight, athirst to slay,
They shake the dreaded assegai,
And rush with blind and frantic will
On all, when few, whose force is skill."
Isandlana, by Ld. Stratford de
Redcliffe, Times, March 29.
ATAP, ADAP, s. Applied in the Malayo-Javanese regions to any palm-fronds used in thatching, commonly to those of the Nipa (Nipa fruticans, Thunb.). [Atap, according to Mr Skeat, is also applied to any roofing; thus tiles are called atap batu, 'stone ataps.'] The Nipa, "although a wild plant, for it is so abundant that its culture is not necessary, it is remarkable that its name should be the same in all the languages from Sumatra to the Philippines."—(Crawfurd, Dict. Ind. Arch. 301). Atĕp is Javanese for 'thatch.'
1672.—"Atap or leaves of Palm-trees...."—Baldaeus, Ceylon, 164.
1690.—"Adapol (quae folia sunt sicca et vetusta)...."—Rumphius, Herb. Amb. i. 14.
1817.—"In the maritime districts, ātap or thatch is made ... from the leaves of the nipa."—Raffles, Java, i. 166; [2nd ed. i. 186].
1878.—"The universal roofing of a Perak house is Attap stretched over bamboo rafters and ridge-poles. This attap is the dried leaf of the nipah palm, doubled over a small stick of bamboo, or nibong."—McNair, Perak, &c., 164.
ATLAS, s. An obsolete word for 'satin,' from the Ar. aṭlas, used in that sense, literally 'bare' or 'bald' (comp. the Ital. raso for 'satin'). The word is still used in German. [The Draper's Dict. (s.v.) says that "a silk stuff wrought with threads of gold and silver, and known by this name, was at one time imported from India." Yusuf Ali (Mon. on Silk Fabrics, p. 93) writes: "Atlas is the Indian satin, but the term satan (corrupted from the English) is also applied, and sometimes specialised to a thicker form of the fabric. This fabric is always substantial, i.e. never so thin or netted as to be semi-transparent; more of the weft showing on the upper surface than of the warp."]
1284.—"Cette même nuit par ordre du Sultan quinze cents de ses Mamlouks furent revêtus de robes d'atlas rouges brodées...."—Makrizi, t. ii. pt. i. 69.
" "The Sultan Mas'ūd clothed his dogs with trappings of aṭlas of divers colours, and put bracelets upon them."—Fakhrī, p. 68.
1505.—"Raso por seda rasa."—Atlās, Vocabular Arauigo of Fr. P. de Alcala.
1673.—"They go Rich in Apparel, their Turbats of Gold, Damask'd Gold Atlas Coats to their Heels, Silk, Alajah or Cuttanee breeches."—Fryer, 196.
1683.—"I saw ye Taffaties and Atlasses in ye Warehouse, and gave directions concerning their several colours and stripes."—Hedges, Diary, May 6; [Hak. Soc. i. 85].
1689.—(Surat) "is renown'd for ... rich Silks, such as Atlasses ... and for Zarbafts [Zerbaft]...."—Ovington, 218.
1712.—In the Spectator of this year are advertised "a purple and gold Atlas gown" and "a scarlet and gold Atlas petticoat edged with silver."—Cited in Malcolm's Anecdotes (1808), 429.
1727.—"They are exquisite in the Weaver's Trade and Embroidery, which may be seen in the rich Atlasses ... made by them."—A. Hamilton, i. 160.
c. 1750-60.—"The most considerable (manufacture) is that of their atlasses or satin flowered with gold and silver."—Grose, i. 117.
Note.—I saw not long ago in India a Polish Jew who was called Jacob Atlas, and he explained to me that when the Jews (about 1800) were forced to assume surnames, this was assigned to his grandfather, because he wore a black satin gaberdine!—(A. B. 1879.)
ATOLL, s. A group of coral islands forming a ring or chaplet, sometimes of many miles in diameter, inclosing a space of comparatively shallow water, each of the islands being on the same type as the atoll. We derive the expression from the Maldive islands, which are the typical examples of this structure, and where the form of the word is atoḷu. [P. de Laval (Hak. Soc. i. 93) states that the provinces in the Maldives were known as Atollon.] It is probably connected with the Singhalese ätul, 'inside'; [or etula, as Mr Gray (P. de Laval, Hak. Soc. i. 94) writes the word. The Mad. Admin. Man. in the Glossary gives Malayāl. attālam, 'a sinking reef']. The term was made a scientific one by Darwin in his publication on Coral Reefs (see below), but our second quotation shows that it had been generalised at an earlier date.
c. 1610.—"Estant au milieu d'vn Atollon, vous voyez autour de vous ce grand banc de pierre que jay dit, qui environne et qui defend les isles contre l'impetuosité de la mer."—Pyrard de Laval, i. 71 (ed. 1679); [Hak. Soc. i. 94].
1732.—"Atollon, a name applied to such a place in the sea as exhibits a heap of little islands lying close together, and almost hanging on to each other."—Zeidler's (German) Universal Lexicon, s.v.
1842.—"I have invariably used in this volume the term atoll, which is the name given to these circular groups of coral islets by their inhabitants in the Indian Ocean, and is synonymous with 'lagoon-island.'"—Darwin, The Structure, &c., of Coral Reefs, 2.
AUMIL, s. Ar. and thence H. 'āmil (noun of agency from 'amal, 'he performed a task or office,' therefore 'an agent'). Under the native governments a collector of Revenue; also a farmer of the Revenue invested with chief authority in his District. Also
AUMILDAR. Properly 'amaldār, 'one holding office'; (Ar. 'amal, 'work,' with P. term of agency). A factor or manager. Among the Mahrattas the 'Amaldār was a collector of revenue under varying conditions—(See details in Wilson). The term is now limited to Mysore and a few other parts of India, and does not belong to the standard system of any Presidency. The word in the following passage looks as if intended for 'amaldār, though there is a term Māldār, 'the holder of property.'
1680.—"The Mauldar or Didwan [Dewan] that came with the Ruccas [Roocka] from Golcondah sent forward to Lingappa at Conjiveram."—Ft. St. Geo. Cons., 9th Novr. No. III., 38.
c. 1780.—"... having detected various frauds in the management of the Amuldar or renter ... (M. Lally) paid him 40,000 rupees."—Orme, iii. 496 (ed. 1803).
1793.—"The aumildars, or managers of the districts."—Dirom, p. 56.
1799.—"I wish that you would desire one of your people to communicate with the Amildar of Soondah respecting this road."—A. Wellesley to T. Munro, in Munro's Life, i. 335.
1804.—"I know the character of the Peshwah, and his ministers, and of every Mahratta amildar sufficiently well...."—Wellington, iii. 38.
1809.—"Of the aumil I saw nothing."—Ld. Valentia, i. 412.
AURUNG, s. H. from P. aurang, 'a place where goods are manufactured, a depôt for such goods.' During the Company's trading days this term was applied to their factories for the purchase, on advances, of native piece-goods, &c.
1778.—"... Gentoo-factors in their own pay to provide the investments at the different Aurungs or cloth markets in the province."—Orme, ii. 51.
1789.—"I doubt, however, very much whether he has had sufficient experience in the commercial line to enable him to manage so difficult and so important an aurung as Luckipore, which is almost the only one of any magnitude which supplies the species of coarse cloths which do not interfere with the British manufacture."—Cornwallis, i. 435.
AVA, n.p. The name of the city which was for several centuries the capital of the Burmese Empire, and was applied often to that State itself. This name is borrowed, according to Crawfurd, from the form Awa or Awak used by the Malays. The proper Burmese form was Eng-wa, or 'the Lake-Mouth,' because the city was built near the opening of a lagoon into the Irawadi; but this was called, even by the Burmese, more popularly A-wā, 'The Mouth.' The city was founded A.D. 1364. The first European occurrence of the name, so far as we know, is (c. 1440) in the narrative of Nicolo Conti, and it appears again (no doubt from Conti's information) in the great World-Map of Fra Mauro at Venice (1459).
c. 1430.—"Having sailed up this river for the space of a month he arrived at a city more noble than all the others, called Ava, and the circumference of which is 15 miles."—Conti, in India in the XVth Cent. 11.
c. 1490.—"The country (Pegu) is distant 15 days' journey by land from another called Ava in which grow rubies and many other precious stones."—Hier. di Sto. Stefano, u. s. p. 6.
1516.—"Inland beyond this Kingdom of Pegu ... there is another Kingdom of Gentiles which has a King who resides in a very great and opulent city called Ava, 8 days' journey from the sea; a place of rich merchants, in which there is a great trade of jewels, rubies, and spinel-rubies, which are gathered in this Kingdom."—Barbosa, 186.
c. 1610.—"... The King of Ová having already sent much people, with cavalry, to relieve Porão (Prome), which marches with the Pozão (?) and city of Ová or Anvá, (which means 'surrounded on all sides with streams')...."—Antonio Bocarro, Decada, 150.
1726.—"The city Ava is surpassing great.... One may not travel by land to Ava, both because this is permitted by the Emperor to none but envoys, on account of the Rubies on the way, and also because it is a very perilous journey on account of the tigers."—Valentijn, V. (Chorom.) 127.
AVADAVAT, s. Improperly for Amadavat. The name given to a certain pretty little cage-bird (Estrelda amandava, L. or 'Red Wax-Bill') found throughout India, but originally brought to Europe from Aḥmadābād in Guzerat, of which the name is a corruption. We also find Aḥmadābād represented by Madava: as in old maps Astarābād on the Caspian is represented by Strava (see quotation from Correa below). [One of the native names for the bird is lāl, 'ruby,' which appears in the quotation from Mrs. Meer Hassan Ali below.]
1538.—"... o qual veyo d'Amadava principall cidade do reino."—In S. Botelho, Tombo, 228.
1546.—"The greater the resistance they made, the more of their blood was spilt in their defeat, and when they took to flight, we gave them chase for the space of half a league. And it is my belief that as far as the will of the officers and lascarys went, we should not have halted on this side of Madavá; but as I saw that my people were much fatigued, and that the Moors were in great numbers, I withdrew them and brought them back to the city."—D. João de Castro's despatch to the City of Goa respecting the victory at Diu.—Correa, iv. 574.
1648.—"The capital (of Guzerat) lies in the interior of the country and is named Hamed-Ewat, i.e. the City of King Hamed who built it; nowadays they call it Amadavar or Amadabat."—Van Twist, 4.
1673.—"From Amidavad, small Birds, who, besides that they are spotted with white and Red no bigger than Measles, the principal Chorister beginning, the rest in Consort, Fifty in a Cage, make an admirable Chorus."—Fryer, 116.
[1777.—"... a few presents now and then—china, shawls, congou tea, avadavats, and Indian crackers."—The School for Scandal, v. i.]
1813.—"... amadavats, and other songsters are brought thither (Bombay) from Surat and different countries."—Forbes, Or. Mem. i. 47. [The 2nd ed. (i. 32) reads amadavads.]
[1832.—"The lollah, known to many by the name of haver-dewatt, is a beautiful little creature, about one-third the size of a hedge-sparrow."—Mrs. Meer Hassan Ali, Observat. ii. 54.]
AVATAR, s. Skt. Avatāra, an incarnation on earth of a divine Being. This word first appears in Baldaeus (1672) in the form Autaar (Afgoderye, p. 52), which in the German version generally quoted in this book takes the corrupter shape of Altar.