[1663-4.—"Your ffactories of Carwarr and Porquatt are continued but to very little purpose to you."—Forrest, Bombay Letters, i. 18.]
PORCELAIN, s. The history of this word for China-ware appears to be as follows. The family of univalve mollusks called Cypraeidae, or Cowries, (q.v.) were in medieval Italy called porcellana and porcelletta, almost certainly from their strong resemblance to the body and back of a pig, and not from a grosser analogy suggested by Mahn (see in Littré sub voce). That this is so is strongly corroborated by the circumstance noted by Dr. J. E. Gray (see Eng. Cyc. Nat. Hist. s.v. Cypraeidae) that Pig is the common name of shells of this family on the English coast; whilst Sow also seems to be a name of one or more kinds. The enamel of this shell seems to have been used in the Middle Ages to form a coating for ornamental pottery, &c., whence the early application of the term porcellana to the fine ware brought from the far East. Both applications of the term, viz. to cowries and to China-ware, occur in Marco Polo (see below). The quasi-analogous application of pig in Scotland to earthen-ware, noticed in an imaginary quotation below, is probably quite an accident, for there appears to be a Gaelic pige, 'an earthen jar,' &c. (see Skeat, s.v. piggin). We should not fail to recall Dr. Johnson's etymology of porcelaine from "pour cent années," because it was believed by Europeans that the materials were matured under ground 100 years! (see quotations below from Barbosa, and from Sir Thomas Brown).
c. 1250.—Capmany has the following passage in the work cited. Though the same writer published the Laws of the Consulado del Mar in 1791, he has deranged the whole of the chapters, and this, which he has quoted, is omitted altogether!
"In the XLIVth chap. of the maritime laws of Barcelona, which are undoubtedly not later than the middle of the 13th century, there are regulations for the return cargoes of the ships trading with Alexandria.... In this are enumerated among articles brought from Egypt ... cotton in bales and spun wool de capells (for hats?), porcelanas, alum, elephants' teeth...."—Memorias, Hist. de Barcelona, I. Pt. ii. p. 44.
1298.—"Il ont monoie en tel mainere con je voz dirai, car il espendent porcelaine blance, celle qe se trovent en la mer et qe se metent au cuel des chienz, et vailent les quatre-vingt porcelaines un saic d'arjent qe sunt deus venesians gros...."—Marco Polo, oldest French text, p. 132.
" "Et encore voz di qe en ceste provence, en une cité qe est apellé Tinugui, se font escuelle de porcellaine grant et pitet les plus belles qe l'en peust deviser."—Ibid. 180.
c. 1328.—"Audivi quòd ducentas civitates habet sub se imperator ille (Magnus Tartarus) majores quàm Tholosa; et ego certè credo quòd plures habeant homines.... Alia non sunt quae ego sciam in isto imperio digna relatione, nisi vasa pulcherrima, et nobilissima, atque virtuosa porseleta."—Jordani Mirabilia, p. 59.
In the next passage it seems probable that the shells, and not China dishes, are intended.
c. 1343.—"... ghomerabica, vernice, armoniaco, zaffiere, coloquinti, porcelláne, mirra, mirabolani ... si vendono a Vinegia a cento di peso sottile" (i.e. by the cutcha hundredweight).—Pegolotti, Practica della Mercatura, p. 134.
c. 1440.—"... this Cim and Macinn that I haue before named arr ii verie great provinces, thinhabitants whereof arr idolaters, and there make they vessells and disshes of Porcellana."—Giosafa Barbaro, Hak. Soc. 75.
In the next the shells are clearly intended:
1442.—"Gabelle di Firenze ... Porcielette marine, la libra ... soldi ... denari 4."—Uzzano, Prat. della Mercatura, p. 23.
1461.—"Porcellane pezzi 20, cioè 7 piattine, 5 scodelle, 4 grandi e una piccida, piattine 5 grandi, 3 scodelle, una biava, e due bianche."—List of Presents sent by the Soldan of Egypt to the Doge Pasquale Malepiero. In Muratori, Rerum Italicarum Scriptores, xxi. col. 1170.
1475.—"The seaports of Cheen and Machin are also large. Porcelain is made there, and sold by the weight and at a low price."—Nikitin, in India in the XVth Cent., 21.
1487.—"... le mando lo inventario del presente del Soldano dato a Lorenzo ... vasi grandi di Porcellana mai più veduti simili ne meglio lavorati...."—Letter of P. da Bibbieno to Clar. de' Medici, in Roscoe's Lorenzo, ed. 1825, ii. 371.
1502.—"In questo tempo abrusiorno xxi nave sopra il porto di Calechut; et de epse hebbe tãte drogarie e speciarie che caricho le dicte sei nave. Praeterea me ha mandato sei vasi di porzellana excellitissimi et grãdi: quatro bochali de argento grandi cõ certi altri vasi al modo loro per credentia."—Letter of K. Emanuel, 13.
1516.—"They make in this country a great quantity of porcelains of different sorts, very fine and good, which form for them a great article of trade for all parts, and they make them in this way. They take the shells of sea-snails (? caracoli), and eggshells, and pound them, and with other ingredients make a paste, which they put underground to refine for the space of 80 or 100 years, and this mass of paste they leave as a fortune to their children...."—Barbosa, in Ramusio, i. 320v.
1553.—(In China) "The service of their meals is the most elegant that can be, everything being of very fine procelana (although they also make use of silver and gold plate), and they eat everything with a fork made after their fashion, never putting a hand into their food, much or little."—Barros, III. ii. 7.
1554.—(After a suggestion of the identity of the vasa murrhina of the ancients): "Ce nom de Porcelaine est donné à plusieurs coquilles de mer. Et pource qu'vn beau Vaisseau d'vne coquille de mer ne se pourroit rendre mieux à propos suyuãt le nom antique, que de l'appeller de Porceláine i'ay pensé que les coquilles polies et luysantes, resemblants à Nacre de perles, ont quelque affinité auec la matière des vases de Porcelaine antiques: ioinct aussi que le peuple Frãçois nomme les patesnostres faictes de gros vignols, patenostres de Porcelaine. Les susdicts vases de Porcelaine sont transparents, et coustent bien cher au Caire, et disent mesmement qu'ilz les apportent des Indes. Mais cela ne me sembla vraysemblable: car on n'en voirroit pas si grande quantité, ne de si grãdes pieces, s'il failloit apporter de si loing. Vne esguiere, vn pot, ou vn autre vaisseau pour petite qu'elle soit, couste vn ducat: si c'est quelque grãd vase, il coustera d'auantage."—P. Belon, Observations, f. 134.
c. 1560.—"And because there are many opinions among the Portugals which have not beene in China, about where this Porcelane is made, and touching the substance whereof it is made, some saying, that it is of oysters shels, others of dung rotten of a long time, because they were not enformed of the truth, I thought it conuenient to tell here the substance...."—Gaspar da Cruz, in Purchas, iii. 177.
[1605-6.—"... China dishes or Puselen."—Birdwood, First Letter Book, 77.
[1612.—"Balanced one part with sandal wood, Porcelain and pepper."—Danvers, Letters, i. 197.]
1615.—"If we had in England beds of porcelain such as they have in China,—which porcelain is a kind of plaster buried in the earth, and by length of time congealed and glazed into that substance; this were an artificial mine, and part of that substance...."—Bacon, Argument on Impeachment of Waste; Works, by Spedding, &c., 1859, vii. 528.
c. 1630.—"The Bannyans all along the sea-shore pitch their Booths ... for there they sell Callicoes, China-satten, Purcellain-ware, scrutores or Cabbinets...."—Sir T. Herbert, ed. 1665, p. 45.
1650.—"We are not thoroughly resolved concerning Porcellane or China dishes, that according to common belief they are made of earth, which lieth in preparation about an hundred years underground; for the relations thereof are not only divers but contrary; and Authors agree not herein...."—Sir Thomas Browne, Vulgar Errors, ii. 5.
[1652.—"Invited by Lady Gerrard I went to London, where we had a greate supper; all the vessels, which were innumerable, were of Porcelan, she having the most ample and richest collection of that curiositie in England."—Evelyn, Diary, March 19.]
1726.—In a list of the treasures left by Akbar, which is given by Valentijn, we find:
"In Porcelyn, &c., Ropias 2507747."—iv. (Suratte), 217.
1880.—"'Vasella quidem delicatiora et caerulea et venusta, quibus inhaeret nescimus quid elegantiae, porcellana vocantur, quasi (sed nescimus quare) a porcellis. In partibus autem Britanniae quae septentrionem spectant, vocabulo forsan analogo, vasa grossiora et fusca pigs appellant barbari, quasi (sed quare iterum nescimus) a porcis.' Narrischchen und Weitgeholt, Etymol. Universale, s.v. 'Blue China.'"—Motto to An Ode in Brown Pig, St. James's Gazette, July 17.
PORGO, s. We know this word only from its occurrence in the passage quoted; and most probably the explanation suggested by the editor of the Notes is correct, viz. that it represents Port. peragua. This word is perhaps the same as pirogue, used by the French for a canoe or 'dug-out'; a term said by Littré to be (piroga) Carib. [On the passage from T. B. quoted below Sir H. Yule has the following note: "J. (i.e. T.) B., the author, gives a rough drawing. It represents the Purgoe as a somewhat high-sterned lighter, not very large, with five oar-pins a side. I cannot identify it exactly with any kind of modern boat of which I have found a representation. It is perhaps most like the palwār. I think it must be an Orissa word, but I have not been able to trace it in any dictionary, Uriya or Bengali." On this Col. Temple says: "The modern Indian palwār (Malay palwa) is a skiff, and would not answer the description." Anderson (loc. cit.) mentions that in 1685 several "well-laden Purgoes" and boats had put in for shelter at Rameswaram to the northward of Madapollam, i.e. on the Coromandel Coast. There seems to be no such word known there now. I think, however, that the term Purgoo is probably an obsolete Anglo-Indian corruption of an Indian corruption of the Port. term barco, barca, a term used for any kind of sailing boat by the early Portuguese visitors to the East (e.g. D'Alboquerque, Hak. Soc. ii. 230; Vasco da Gama, Hak. Soc. 77, 240).]
[1669-70.—"A Purgoo: These Vse for the most part between Hugly and Pyplo and Ballasore: with these boats they carry goods into ye Roads on board English and Dutch, &c. Ships, they will liue a longe time in ye Sea, beinge brought to anchor by ye Sterne, as theire Vsual way is."—MS. by T. B.[ateman], quoted by Anderson, English Intercourse with Siam, p. 266.]
1680.—Ft. St. Geo. Consn., Jany. 30, "records arrival from the Bay of the 'Success,' the Captain of which reports that a Porgo [Peragua?, a fast-sailing vessel, Clipper] drove ashore in the Bay about Peply...."—Notes and Exts. No. iii. p. 2.
[1683.—"The Thomas arrived with ye 28 bales of Silk taken out of the Purga."—Hedges, Diary, Hak. Soc. i. 65.
[1685.—"In Hoogly letter to Fort St. George, dated February 6 Porgo occurs coupled with 'bora' (Hind. bhar, 'a lighter')."—Pringle, Diary Ft. St. Geo. 1st ser. iii. 165.]
PORTIA, s. In S. India the common name of the Thespesia populnea, Lam. (N.O. Malvaceae), a favourite ornamental tree, thriving best near the sea. The word is a corruption of Tamil Puarassu, 'Flower-king'; [pu-varasu, from pu, 'flower,' arasu, 'peepul tree']. In Ceylon it is called Suria gansuri, and also the Tulip-tree.
1742.—"Le bois sur lequel on les met (les toiles), et celui qu'on employe pour les battre, sont ordinairement de tamarinier, ou d'un autre arbe nommé porchi."—Lett. Edif. xiv. 122.
1860.—"Another useful tree, very common in Ceylon, is the Suria, with flowers so like those of a tulip that Europeans know it as the tulip tree. It loves the sea air and saline soils. It is planted all along the avenues and streets in the towns near the coast, where it is equally valued for its shade and the beauty of its yellow flowers, whilst its tough wood is used for carriage-shafts and gun-stocks."—Tennent's Ceylon, i. 117.
1861.—"It is usual to plant large branches of the portia and banyan trees in such a slovenly manner that there is little probability of the trees thriving or being ornamental."—Cleghorn, Forests and Gardens of S. India, 197.
PORTO NOVO, n.p. A town on the coast of South Arcot, 32 m. S. of Pondicherry. The first mention of it that we have found is in Bocarro, Decada, p. 42 (c. 1613). The name was perhaps intended to mean 'New Oporto,' rather than 'New Haven,' but we have not found any history of the name. [The Tamil name is Parangi-pēṭṭai, 'European town,' and it is called by Mahommedans Maḥmūd-bandar.]
1718.—"At Night we came to a Town called Porta Nova, and in Malabarish Pirenkī Potei (Parangipēṭṭai)."—Propagation of the Gospel, &c., Pt. ii. 41.
1726.—"The name of this city (Porto Novo) signifies in Portuguese New Haven, but the Moors call it Mohhammed Bendar ... and the Gentoos Perringepeente."—Valentijn, Choromandel, 8.
PORTO PIQUENO, PORTO GRANDE, nn.pp. 'The Little Haven and the Great Haven'; names by which the Bengal ports of Satigam (q.v.) and Chatigam (see CHITTAGONG) respectively were commonly known to the Portuguese in the 16th century.
1554.—"Porto Pequeno de Bemgala ... Cowries are current in the country; 80 cowries make 1 pone (see PUN); of these pones 48 are equal to 1 larin more or less."—A. Nunes, 37.
1554.—"Porto Grande de Bemgala. The maund (mão), by which they weigh all goods, contains 40 seers (ceros), each seer 182⁄5 ounces...."—A. Nunes, 37.
1568.—"Io mi parti d'Orisa per Bengala al Porto Picheno ... s'entra nel fiume Ganze, dalla bocca del qual fiume sino a Satagan (see SATIGAM) città, oue si fanno negotij, et oue i mercadanti si riducono, sono centi e venti miglia, che si fanno in diciotto hore a remi, cioè, in tre crescenti d'acqua, che sono di sei hore l'uno."—Ces. Federici, in Ramusio, iii. 392.
1569.—"Partissemo di Sondiua, et giungessemo in Chitigan il gran porto di Bengala, in tempo che già i Portoghesi haueuano fatto pace o tregua con i Rettori."—Ibid. 396.
1595.—"Besides, you tell me that the traffic and commerce of the Porto Pequeno of Bemguala being always of great moment, if this goes to ruin through the Mogors, they will be the masters of those tracts."—Letter of the K. of Portugal, in Archiv. Port. Orient., Fascic. 3, p. 481.
1596.—"And so he wrote me that the Commerce of Porto Grande of Bengala is flourishing, and that the King of the Country had remitted to the Portuguese 3 per cent. of the duties that they used to pay."—Ibid. p. 580.
1598.—"When you thinke you are at the point de Gualle, to be assured thereof, make towards the Iland, to know it ... where commonlie all the shippes know the land, such I say as we sayle to Bengalen, or to any of the Hauens thereof, as Porto Pequeno or Porto Grande, that is the small, or the great Haven, where the Portingalles doe traffique...."—Linschoten, Book III. p. 324.
[c. 1617.—"Port Grande, Port Pequina," in Sir T. Roe's List, Hak. Soc. ii. 538.]
POSTEEN, s. An Afghan leathern pelisse, generally of sheep-skin with the fleece on. Pers. postīn, from post, 'a hide.'
1080.—"Khwája Ahmad came on some Government business to Ghaznín, and it was reported to him that some merchants were going to Turkistán, who were returning to Ghaznín in the beginning of winter. The Khwája remembered that he required a certain number of postins (great coats) every year for himself and sons...."—Nizám-ul-Mulk, in Elliot, ii. 497.
1442.—"His Majesty the Fortunate Khākān had sent for the Prince of Kālikūt, horses, pelisses (postīn) and robes woven of gold...."—Abdurazzāk, in Not. et Extr. xiv. Pt. i. 437.
[c. 1590.—"In the winter season there is no need of poshtins (fur-lined coats)...."—Āīn, ed. Jarrett, ii. 337.]
1862.—"Otter skins from the Hills and Kashmir, worn as Postīns by the Yarkandis."—Punjab Trade Report, p. 65.
POTTAH, s. Hind. and other vernaculars, paṭṭā, &c. A document specifying the conditions on which lands are held; a lease or other document securing rights in land or house property.
1778.—"I am therefore hopeful you will be kindly pleased to excuse me the five lacs now demanded, and that nothing may be demanded of me beyond the amount expressed in the pottah."—The Rajah of Benares to Hastings, in Articles of Charge against H., Burke, vi. 591.
[1860.—"By the Zumeendar, then, or his under tenant, as the case may be, the land is farmed out to the Ryuts by pottahs, or agreements...."—Grant, Rural Life in Bengal, 67.
PRA, PHRA, PRAW, s. This is a term constantly used in Burma, familiar to all who have been in that country, in its constant application as a style of respect, addressed or applied to persons and things of especial sanctity or dignity. Thus it is addressed at Court to the King; it is the habitual designation of the Buddha and his images and dagobas; of superior ecclesiastics and sacred books; corresponding on the whole in use, pretty closely to the Skt. Śṛī. In Burmese the word is written bhurā, but pronounced (in Arakan) p'hrā, and in modern Burma Proper, with the usual slurring of the r, P'hyā or Pyā. The use of the term is not confined to Burma; it is used in quite a similar way in Siam, as may be seen in the quotation below from Alabaster; the word is used in the same form P'hra among the Shans; and in the form Prea, it would seem, in Camboja. Thus Garnier speaks of Indra and Vishnu under their Cambojan epithets as Prea En and Prea Noreai (Nārāyaṇa); of the figure of Buddha entering nirvāna, as Prea Nippan; of the King who built the great temple of Angkor Wat as Prea Kot Melea, of the King reigning at the time of the expedition as Prea Ang Reachea Vodey, of various sites of temples as Preacon, Preacan, Prea Pithu, &c. (Voyage d'Exploration, i. 26, 49, 388, 77, 85, 72).
The word p'hrā appears in composition in various names of Burmese kings, as of the famous Alomp'hra (1753-60), founder of the late dynasty, and of his son Bodoah-p'hra (1781-1819). In the former instance the name is, according to Sir A. Phayre, Alaung-p'hrā, i.e. the embryo Buddha, or Bodisatva. A familiar Siamese example of use is in the Phrā Bāt, or sacred foot-mark of Buddha, a term which represents the Śṛi Pada of Ceylon.
The late Prof. H. H. Wilson, as will be seen, supposed the word to be a corruption of Skt. prabhu (see PARVOE). But Mr. Alabaster points, under the guidance of the Siamese spelling, rather to Skt. vara, 'pre-eminent, excellent.' This is in Pali varo, "excellent, best, precious, noble" (Childers). A curious point is that, from the prevalence of the term phrā in all the Indo-Chinese kingdoms, we must conclude that it was, at the time of the introduction of Buddhism into those countries, in predominant use among the Indian or Ceylonese propagators of the new religion. Yet we do not find any evidence of such a use of either prabhu or vara. The former would in Pali be pabbho. In a short paper in the Bijdragen of the Royal Institute of the Hague (Dl. X. 4de Stuk, 1885), Prof. Kern indicates that this term was also in use in Java, in the forms Bra and pra, with the sense of 'splendid' and the like; and he cites as an example Bra-Wijaya (the style of several of the medieval kings of Java), where Bra is exactly the representative of Skt. Śṛī.
1688.—"I know that in the country of Laos the Dignities of Pa-ya and Meuang, and the honourable Epithets of Pra are in use; it may be also that the other terms of Dignity are common to both Nations, as well as the Laws."—De la Loubère, Siam, E.T. 79.
" "The Pra-Clang, or by a corruption of the Portugueses, the Barcalon, is the officer, who has the appointment of the Commerce, as well within as without the Kingdom.... His name is composed of the Balie word Pra, which I have so often discoursed of, and of the word Clang, which signifies Magazine."—Ibid. 93.
" "Then Sommona-Codom (see GAUTAMA) they call Pra-Boute-Tchaou, which verbatim signifies the Great and Excellent Lord."—Ibid. 134.
1795.—"At noon we reached Meeaday, the personal estate of the Magwoon of Pegue, who is oftener called, from this place, Meeaday Praw, or Lord of Meeaday."—Symes, Embassy to Ava, 242.
1855.—"The epithet Phra, which occupies so prominent a place in the ceremonial and religious vocabulary of the Siamese and Burmese, has been the subject of a good deal of nonsense. It is unfortunate that our Burmese scholars have never (I believe) been Sanskrit scholars, nor vice versâ, so that the Palee terms used in Burma have had little elucidation. On the word in question, Professor H. H. Wilson has kindly favoured me with a note: 'Phrá is no doubt a corruption of the Sanskrit Prabhu, a Lord or Master; the h of the aspirate bh is often retained alone, leaving Prahu which becomes Práh or Phra.'"—Sir H. Yule, Mission to Ava, 61.
1855.—"All these readings (of documents at the Court) were intoned in a high recitative, strongly resembling that used in the English cathedral service. And the long-drawn Phyá-á-á-á! (My Lord), which terminated each reading, added to the resemblance, as it came in exactly like the Amen of the Liturgy."—Ibid. 88.
1859.—"The word Phra, which so frequently occurs in this work, here appears for the first time; I have to remark that it is probably derived from, or of common origin with, the Pharaoh of antiquity. It is given in the Siamese dictionaries as synonymous with God, ruler, priest, and teacher. It is in fact the word by which sovereignty and sanctity are associated in the popular mind."—Bowring, Kingdom and People of Siam, [i. 35].
1863.—"The title of the First King (of Siam) is Phra-Chom-Klao-Yu-Hua and spoken as Phra Phutthi-Chao-Yu-Hua.... His Majesty's nose is styled in the Pali form Phra-Nasa.... The Siamese term the (Catholic) missionaries, the Preachers of the Phra-Chao Phu-Sang, i.e. of God the Creator, or the Divine Lord Builder.... The Catholic missionaries express 'God' by Phra-Phutthi-Chao ... and they explain the Eucharist as Phra-Phutthi-Kaya (Kaya = 'Body')."—Bastian, Reise, iii. 109, and 114-115.
1870.—"The most excellent Parā, brilliant in his glory, free from all ignorance, beholding Nibbāna the end of the migration of the soul, lighted the lamp of the law of the Word."—Rogers, Buddhagosha's Parables, tr. from the Burmese, p. 1.
1871.—"Phra is a Siamese word applied to all that is worthy of the highest respect, that is, everything connected with religion and royalty. It may be translated as 'holy.' The Siamese letters p—h—r commonly represent the Sanskrit v—r. I therefore presume the word to be derived from the Sanskrit 'vri'—'to choose, or to be chosen,' and 'vara'—'better, best, excellent,' the root of ἄριστος."—Alabaster, The Wheel of the Law, 164.
PRAAG, sometimes PIAGG, n.p. Properly Prayāga, 'the place of sacrifice,' the old Hindu name of Allahabad, and especially of the river confluence, since remote ages a place of pilgrimage.
c. A.D. 638.—"Le royaume de Polo-ye-kia (Prayâga) a environ 5000 li de tour. La capitale, qui est située au confluent de deux fleuves, a environ 20 li de tour.... Dans la ville, il y a un temple des dieux qui est d'une richesse éblouissante, et où éclatent une multitude de miracles.... Si quel qu'un est capable de pousser le mépris de la vie jusqu' à se donner la mort dans ce temple, il obtient le bonheur eternel et les joies infinies des dieux.... Depuis l'antiquité jusqu' à nos jours, cette coutume insensée n'a pas cessé un instant."—Hiouen-Thsang, in Pèl. Boudd. ii. 276-79.
c. 1020.—"... thence to the tree of Barāgi, 12 (parasangs). This is at the confluence of the Jumna and Ganges."—Al-Birūnī, in Elliot, i. 55.
1529.—"The same day I swam across the river Ganges for my amusement. I counted my strokes, and found that I crossed over at 33 strokes. I then took breath and swam back to the other side. I had crossed by swimming every river that I had met with, except the Ganges. On reaching the place where the Ganges and Jumna unite, I rowed over in the boat to the Piâg side...."—Baber, 406.
1585.—"... Frõ Agra I came to Prage, where the riuer Jemena entreth into the mightie riuer Ganges, and Iemena looseth his name."—R. Fitch, in Hakl. ii. 386.
PRACRIT, s. A term applied to the older vernacular dialects of India, such as were derived from, or kindred to, Sanskrit. Dialects of this nature are used by ladies, and by inferior characters, in the Sanskrit dramas. These dialects, and the modern vernaculars springing from them, bear the same relation to Sanskrit that the "Romance" languages of Europe bear to Latin, an analogy which is found in many particulars to hold with most surprising exactness. The most completely preserved of old Prakrits is that which was used in Magadha, and which has come down in the Buddhist books of Ceylon under the name of Pali (q.v.). The first European analysis of this language bears the title "Institutiones Linguae Pracriticae. Scripsit Christianus Lassen, Bonnae ad Rhenum, 1837." The term itself is Skt. prākṛita, 'natural, unrefined, vulgar,' &c.
1801.—"Sanscrita is the speech of the Celestials, framed in grammatical institutes, Pracrita is similar to it, but manifold as a provincial dialect, and otherwise."—Sanskrit Treatise, quoted by Colebrooke, in As. Res. vii. 199.
PRAYA, s. This is in Hong-Kong the name given to what in most foreign settlements in China is called the Bund; i.e. the promenade or drive along the sea. It is Port. praia, 'the shore.'
[1598.—"Another towne towards the North, called Villa de Praya (for Praya is as much as to say, as strand)."—Linschoten, Hak. Soc. ii. 278.]
PRESIDENCY (and PRESIDENT), s. The title 'President,' as applied to the Chief of a principal Factory, was in early popular use, though in the charters of the E.I.C. its first occurrence is in 1661 (see Letters Patent, below). In Sainsbury's Calendar we find letters headed "to Capt. Jourdain, president of the English at Bantam" in 1614 (i. 297-8); but it is to be doubted whether this wording is in the original. A little later we find a "proposal by Mr. Middleton concerning the appointment of two especial factors, at Surat and Bantam, to have authority over all other factors; Jourdain named." And later again he is styled "John Jourdain, Captain of the house" (at Bantam; see pp. 303, 325), and "Chief Merchant at Bantam" (p. 343).
1623.—"Speaking of the Dutch Commander, as well as of the English President, who often in this fashion came to take me for an airing, I should not omit to say that both of them in Surat live in great style, and like the grandees of the land. They go about with a great train, sometimes with people of their own mounted, but particularly with a great crowd of Indian servants on foot and armed, according to custom, with sword, target, bow and arrows."—P. della Valle, ii. 517.
" "Our boat going ashore, the President of the English Merchants, who usually resides in Surat, and is chief of all their business in the E. Indies, Persia, and other places dependent thereon, and who is called Sign. Thomas Rastel[225] ... came aboard in our said boat, with a minister of theirs (so they term those who do the priest's office among them)."—Ibid. ii. 501-2; [Hak. Soc. i. 19].
1638.—"As soon as the Commanders heard that the (English) President was come to Suhaly, they went ashore.... The two dayes following were spent in feasting, at which the Commanders of the two Ships treated the President, who afterwards returned to Suratta.... During my abode at Suratta, I wanted for no divertisement; for I ... found company at the Dutch President's, who had his Farms there ... inasmuch as I could converse with them in their own Language."—Mandelslo, E.T., ed. 1669, p. 19.
1638.—"Les Anglois ont bien encore vn bureau à Bantam, dans l'Isle de Jaua, mais il a son President particulier, qui ne depend point de celuy de Suratta."—Mandelslo, French ed. 1659, p. 124.
" "A mon retour à Suratta ie trouvay dans la loge des Anglois plus de cinquante marchands, que le President auoit fait venir de tous les autres Bureaux, pour rendre compte de leur administration, et pour estre presens à ce changement de Gouuernement."—Ibid. 188.
1661.—"And in case any Person or Persons, being convicted and sentenced by the President and Council of the said Governor and Company, in the said East Indies, their Factors or Agents there, for any Offence by them done, shall appeal from the same, that then, and in every such case, it shall and may be lawful to and for the said President and Council, Factor or Agent, to seize upon him or them, and to carry him or them home Prisoners to England."—Letters Patent to the Governor and Company of Merchants of London, trading with the E. Indies, 3d April.
1670.—The Court, in a letter to Fort St. George, fix the amount of tonnage to be allowed to their officers (for their private investments) on their return to Europe:
| "Presidents and Agents, at Surat, Fort St. George, and Bantam |
5 tonns. |
| Chiefes, at Persia, the Bay (q.v.), Mesulapatam, and Macassar: Deputy at Bombay, and Seconds at Surat, Fort St. George, and Bantam |
3 tonns." |
| In Notes and Exts., No. i. p. 3. | |
1702.—"Tuesday 7th Aprill.... In the morning a Councill ... afterwards having some Discourse arising among us whether the charge of hiring Calashes, &c., upon Invitations given us from the Shabander or any others to go to their Countrey Houses or upon any other Occasion of diverting our Selves abroad for health, should be charged to our Honble Masters account or not, the President and Mr. Loyd were of opinion to charge the same.... But Mr. Rouse, Mr. Ridges, and Mr. Master were of opinion that Batavia being a place of extraordinary charge and Expense in all things, the said Calash hire, &c., ought not to be charged to the Honourable Company's Account."—MS. Records in India Office.
The book containing this is a collocation of fragmentary MS. diaries. But this passage pertains apparently to the proceedings of President Allen Catchpole and his council, belonging to the Factory of Chusan, from which they were expelled by the Chinese in 1701-2; they stayed some time at Batavia on their way home. Mr. Catchpole (or Ketchpole) was soon afterwards chief of an English settlement made upon Pulo Condore, off the Cambojan coast. In 1704-5, we read that he reported favourably on the prospects of the settlement, requesting a supply of young writers, to learn the Chinese language, anticipating that the island would soon become an important station for Chinese trade. But Catchpole was himself, about the end of 1705, murdered by certain people of Macassar, who thought he had broken faith with them, and with him all the English but two (see Bruce's Annals, 483-4, 580, 606, and A. Hamilton, ii. 205 [ed. 1744]). The Pulo Condore enterprise thus came to an end.
1727.—"About the year 1674, President Aungier, a gentleman well qualified for governing, came to the Chair, and leaving Surat to the Management of Deputies, came to Bombay, and rectified many things."—A. Hamilton, i. 188.
PRICKLY-HEAT, s. A troublesome cutaneous rash (Lichen tropicus) in the form of small red pimples, which itch intolerably. It affects many Europeans in the hot weather. Fryer (pub. 1698) alludes to these "fiery pimples," but gives the disease no specific name. Natives sometimes suffer from it, and (in the south) use a paste of sandal-wood to alleviate it. Sir Charles Napier in Sind used to suffer much from it, and we have heard him described as standing, when giving an interview during the hot weather, with his back against the edge of an open door, for the convenience of occasional friction against it. [See RED-DOG.]
1631.—"Quas Latinus Hippocrates Cornelius Celsus papulas, Plinius sudamina vocat ... ita crebra sunt, ut ego adhuc neminem noverim qui molestias has effugerit, non magis quam morsas culicum, quos Lusitani Mosquitas vocant. Sunt autem haec papulae rubentes, et asperae aliquantum, per sudorem in cutem ejectæ; plerumque a capite ad calcem usque, cum summo pruritu, et assiduo scalpendi desiderio erumpentes."—Jac. Bontii, Hist. Nat. &c., ii. 18, p. 33.
1665.—"The Sun is but just now rising, yet he is intolerable; there is not a Cloud in the Sky, not a breath of Wind; my horses are spent, they have not seen a green Herb since we came out of Lahor; my Indians, for all their black, dry, and hard skin, sink under it. My face, hands and feet are peeled off, and my body is covered all over with pimples that prick me, as so many needles."—Bernier, E.T. 125; [ed. Constable, 389].
[1673.—"This Season ... though moderately warm, yet our Bodies broke out into small fiery Pimples (a sign of a prevailing Crasis) augmented by Muskeetoe-Bites, and Chinces raising Blisters on us."—Fryer, 35.]
1807.—"One thing I have forgotten to tell you of—the prickly heat. To give you some notion of its intensity, the placid Lord William (Bentinck) has been found sprawling on a table on his back; and Sir Henry Gwillin, one of the Madras Judges, who is a Welshman, and a fiery Briton in all senses, was discovered by a visitor rolling on his own floor, roaring like a baited bull."—Lord Minto in India, June 29.
1813.—"Among the primary effects of a hot climate (for it can hardly be called a disease) we may notice prickly heat."—Johnson, Influence of Trop. Climates, 25.
PRICKLY-PEAR, s. The popular name, in both E. and W. Indies, of the Opuntia Dillenii, Haworth (Cactus Indica, Roxb.), a plant spread all over India, and to which Roxburgh gave the latter name, apparently in the belief of its being indigenous in that country. Undoubtedly, however, it came from America, wide as has been its spread over Southern Europe and Asia. On some parts of the Mediterranean shores (e.g. in Sicily) it has become so characteristic that it is hard to realize the fact that the plant had no existence there before the 16th century. Indeed at Palermo we have heard this scouted, and evidence quoted in the supposed circumstance that among the mosaics of the splendid Duomo of Monreale (12th century) the fig-leaf garments of Adam and Eve are represented as of this uncompromising material. The mosaic was examined by one of the present writers, with the impression that the belief has no good foundation. [See 8th ser. Notes and Queries, viii. 254.] The cactus fruit, yellow, purple, and red, which may be said to form an important article of diet in the Mediterranean, and which is now sometimes seen in London shops, is not, as far as we know, anywhere used in India, except in times of famine. No cactus is named in Drury's Useful Plants of India. And whether the Mediterranean plants form a different species, or varieties merely, as compared with the Indian Opuntia, is a matter for inquiry. The fruit of the Indian plant is smaller and less succulent. There is a good description of the plant and fruit in Oviedo, with a good cut (see Ramusio's Ital. version, bk. viii. ch. xxv.). That author gives an amusing story of his first making acquaintance with the fruit in S. Domingo, in the year 1515.
Some of the names by which the Opuntia is known in the Punjab seem to belong properly to species of Euphorbia. Thus the Euphorbia Royleana, Bois., is called tsūī, chū, &c.; and the Opuntia is called Kābulī tsūī, Gangi sho, Kanghi chū, &c. Gangi chū is also the name of an Euphorbia sp. which Dr. Stewart takes to be the E. Neriifolia, L. (Punjab Plants, pp. 101 and 194-5). [The common name in Upper India for the prickly pear is nāgphanī, 'snake-hood,' from its shape.] This is curious; for although certain cactuses are very like certain Euphorbias, there is no Euphorbia resembling the Opuntia in form.
The Zaḳūm mentioned in the Āīn (Gladwin, 1800, ii. 68; [Jarrett, ii. 239; Sidi Ali, ed. Vambery, p. 31] as used for hedges in Guzerat, is doubtless Euphorbia also. The Opuntia is very common as a hedge plant in cantonments, &c., and it was much used by Tippoo as an obstruction round his fortifications. Both the E. Royleana and the Opuntia are used for fences in parts of the Punjab. The latter is objectionable, from harbouring dirt and reptiles; but it spreads rapidly both from birds eating the fruit, and from the facility with which the joints take root.
1685.—"The Prickly-Pear, Bush, or Shrub, of about 4 or 5 foot high ... the Fruit at first is green, like the Leaf.... It is very pleasant in taste, cooling and refreshing; but if a Man eats 15 or 20 of them they will colour his water, making it look like Blood."—Dampier, i. 223 (in W. Indies).
1764.—
"On this lay cuttings of the prickly pear;
They soon a formidable fence will shoot."
Grainger, Bk. i.
[1829.—"The castle of Bunai ... is covered with the cactus, or prickly pear, so abundant on the east side of the Aravali."—Tod, Annals, Calcutta reprint, i. 826.]
1861.—"The use of the prickly pear" (for hedges) "I strongly deprecate; although impenetrable and inexpensive, it conveys an idea of sterility, and is rapidly becoming a nuisance in this country."—Cleghorn, Forests and Gardens, 285.
PROME, n.p. An important place in Pegu above the Delta. The name is Talaing, properly Brun. The Burmese call it Pyé or (in the Aracanese form in which the r is pronounced) Pré and Pré-myo ('city').
1545.—"When he (the K. of Bramaa) was arrived at the young King's pallace, he caused himself to be crowned King of Prom, and during the Ceremony ... made that poor Prince, whom he had deprived of his Kingdom, to continue kneeling before him, with his hands held up.... This done he went into a Balcone, which looked on a great Market-place, whither he commanded all the dead children that lay up and down the streets, to be brought, and then causing them to be hacked very small, he gave them, mingled with Bran, Rice, and Herbs, to his Elephants to eat."—Pinto, E.T. 211-212 (orig. clv.).
c. 1609.—"... this quarrel was hardly ended when a great rumour of arms was heard from a quarter where the Portuguese were still fighting. The cause of this was the arrival of 12,000 men, whom the King of Pren sent in pursuit of the King of Arracan, knowing that he had fled that way. Our people hastening up had a stiff and well fought combat with them; for although they were fatigued with the fight which had been hardly ended, those of Pren were so disheartened at seeing the Portuguese, whose steel they had already felt, that they were fain to retire."—Bocarro, 142. This author has Prom (p. 132) and Porão (p. 149). [Also see under AVA.]
1755.—"Prone ... has the ruins of an old brick wall round it, and immediately without that, another with Teak Timber."—Capt. G. Baker, in Dalrymple, i. 173.
1795.—"In the evening, my boat being ahead, I reached the city of Peeaye-mew, or Prome, ... renowned in Birman history."—Symes, pp. 238-9.
PROW, PARAO, &c., s. This word seems to have a double origin in European use; the Malayāl. pāṛu, 'a boat,' and the Island word (common to Malay, Javanese, and most languages of the Archipelago) prāū or prāhū. This is often specifically applied to a peculiar kind of galley, "Malay Prow," but Crawfurd defines it as "a general term for any vessel, but generally for small craft." It is hard to distinguish between the words, as adopted in the earlier books, except by considering date and locality.