"I send to-day per S.S. Arcot ... four fronds of the Raphia palm, called here Moale. They are just as sold and shipped up and down the coast. No doubt they were sent in Marco Polo's time in exactly the same state—i.e. stripped of their leaflets and with the tip broken off. They are used for making stages and ladders, and last long if kept dry. They are also made into doors, by being cut into lengths, and pinned through."
Some other object has recently been shown at Zanzibar as part of the wings of a great bird. Sir John Kirk writes that this (which he does not describe particularly) was in the possession of the R. C. priests at Bagamoyo, to whom it had been given by natives of the interior, and these declared that they had brought it from Tanganyika, and that it was part of the wing of a gigantic bird. On another occasion they repeated this statement, alleging that this bird was known in the Udoe (?) country, near the coast. The priests were able to communicate directly with their informants, and certainly believed the story. Dr. Hildebrand also, a competent German naturalist, believed in it. But Sir John Kirk himself says that 'what the priests had to show was most undoubtedly the whalebone of a comparatively small whale' (see letter of the present writer in Athenaeum, March 22nd, 1884).
(c. 1000?).—"El Haçan fils d'Amr et d'autres, d'après ce qu'ils tenaient de maint-personnages de l'Inde, m'ont rapporté des choses bien extraordinaires, au sujet des oiseaux du pays de Zabedj, de Khmêr (Kumār), du Senf et autres regions des parages de l'Inde. Ce que j'ai vu de plus grand, en fait de plumes d'oiseaux, c'est un tuyau que me montra Abou' l-Abbas de Siraf. Il était long de deux aunes environs capable, semblait-il, de contenir une outre d'eau.
"'J'ai vu dans l'Inde, me dit le capitaine Ismaïlawéih, chez un des principaux marschands, un tuyau de plume qui était près de sa maison, et dans lequel on versait de l'eau comme dans une grande tonne.... Ne sois pas étonné, me dit-il, car un capitaine du pays des Zindjs m'a conté qu'il avait vu chez le roi de Sira un tuyau de plume qui contenait vingt-cinq outres d'eau.'"—Livre des Mervailles d'Inde. (Par Van der Lith et Marcel Devic, pp. 62-63.)
ROCK-PIGEON. The bird so called by sportsmen in India is the Pterocles exustus of Temminck, belonging to the family of sand-grouse (Pteroclidae). It occurs throughout India, except in the more wooded parts. In their swift high flight these birds look something like pigeons on the wing, whence perhaps the misnomer.
ROGUE (Elephant), s. An elephant (generally, if not always a male) living in apparent isolation from any herd, usually a bold marauder, and a danger to travellers. Such an elephant is called in Bengal, according to Williamson, saun, i.e. sān [Hind. sānḍ, Skt. shaṇḍa]; sometimes it would seem gunḍā [Hind. gunḍā, 'a rascal']; and by the Sinhalese hora. The term rogue is used by Europeans in Ceylon, and its origin is somewhat obscure. Sir Emerson Tennent finds such an elephant called, in a curious book of the 18th century, ronkedor or runkedor, of which he supposes that rogue may perhaps have been a modification. That word looks like Port. roncador, 'a snorer, a noisy fellow, a bully,' which gives a plausible sense. But Littré gives rogue as a colloquial French word conveying the idea of arrogance and rudeness. In the following passage which we have copied, unfortunately without recording the source, the word comes still nearer the sense in which it is applied to the elephant: "On commence à s'apperceuoir dés Bayonne, que l'humeur de ces peuples tient vn peu de celle de ses voisins, et qu'ils sont rogues et peu communicatifs avec l'Estranger." After all however it is most likely that the word is derived from an English use of the word. For Skeat shows that rogue, from the French sense of 'malapert, saucy, rude, surly,' came to be applied as a cant term to beggars, and is used, in some old English passages which he quotes, exactly in the sense of our modern 'tramp.' The transfer to a vagabond elephant would be easy. Mr. Skeat refers to Shakspeare:—
"And wast thou fain, poor father,
To hovel thee with swine, and rogues forlorn?"
K. Lear, iv. 7.
1878.—"Much misconception exists on the subject of rogue or solitary elephants. The usually accepted belief that these elephants are turned out of the herds by their companions or rivals is not correct. Most of the so-called solitary elephants are the lords of some herds near. They leave their companions at times to roam by themselves, usually to visit cultivation or open country ... sometimes again they make the expedition merely for the sake of solitude. They, however, keep more or less to the jungle where their herd is, and follow its movements."—Sanderson, p. 52.
ROGUE'S RIVER, n.p. The name given by Europeans in the 17th and 18th centuries to one of the Sunderbund channels joining the Lower Hoogly R. from the eastward. It was so called from being frequented by the Arakan Rovers, sometimes Portuguese vagabonds, sometimes native Muggs, whose vessels lay in this creek watching their opportunity to plunder craft going up and down the Hoogly.
Mr. R. Barlow, who has partially annotated Hedges' Diary for the Hakluyt Society, identifies Rogue's River with Channel Creek, which is the channel between Saugor Island and the Delta. Mr. Barlow was, I believe, a member of the Bengal Pilot service, and this, therefore, must have been the application of the name in recent tradition. But I cannot reconcile this with the sailing directions in the English Pilot (1711), or the indications in Hamilton, quoted below.
The English Pilot has a sketch chart of the river, which shows, just opposite Buffalo Point, "R. Theeves," then, as we descend, the R. Rangafula, and, close below that, "Rogues" (without the word River), and still further below, Chanell Creek or R. Jessore. Rangafula R. and Channel Creek we still have in the charts.
After a careful comparison of all the notices, and of the old and modern charts, I come to the conclusion that the R. of Rogues must have been either what is now called Chingrī Khāl, entering immediately below Diamond Harbour, or Kalpī Creek, about 6 m. further down, but the preponderance of argument is in favour of Chingrī Khāl. The position of this quite corresponds with the R. Theeves of the old English chart; it corresponds in distance from Saugor (the Gunga Saugor of those days, which forms the extreme S. of what is styled Saugor Island now) with that stated by Hamilton, and also in being close to the "first safe anchoring place in the River," viz. Diamond Harbour. The Rogue's River was apparently a little 'above the head of the Grand Middle Ground' or great shoals of the Hoogly, whose upper termination is now some 7½ m. below Chingrī Khāl. One of the extracts from the English Pilot speaks of the "R. of Rogues, commonly called by the Country People, Adegom." Now there is a town on the Chingrī Khāl, a few miles from its entrance into the Hoogly, which is called in Rennell's Map Ottogunge, and in the Atlas of India Sheet Huttoogum. Further, in the tracing of an old Dutch chart of the 17th century, in the India Office, I find in a position corresponding with Chingrī Khāl, D'Roevers Spruit, which I take to be 'Robber's (or Rogue's) River.'
1683.—"And so we parted for this night, before which time it was resolved by ye Councill that if I should not prevail to go this way to Decca, I should attempt to do it with ye Sloopes by way of the River of Rogues, which goes through to the great River of Decca."—Hedges, Diary, Hak. Soc. i. 36.
1711.—"Directions to go up along the Western Shore.... The nearer the Shore the better the Ground until past the River of Tygers.[231] You may begin to edge over towards the River of Rogues about the head of the Grand Middle Ground; and when the Buffalow Point bears from you ½ N. ¾ of a Mile, steer directly over for the East Shore E.N.E."—The English Pilot, Pt. iii. p. 54.
" "Mr. Herring, the Pilot's Directions for bringing of Ships down the River of Hughley.... From the lower point of the Narrows on the Starboard side ... the Eastern Shore is to be kept close aboard, until past the said Creek, afterwards allowing only a small Birth for the Point off the River of Rogues, commonly called by the Country People, Adegom.... From the River Rogues, the Starboard (qu. larboard?) shore with a great ship ought to be kept close aboard all along down to Channel Trees, for in the offing lies the Grand Middle Ground."—Ibid. p. 57.
1727.—"The first safe anchoring Place in the River, is off the Mouth of a River about 12 Leagues above Sagor,[232] commonly known by the Name of Rogues River, which had that Appellation from some Banditti Portuguese, who were followers of Shah Sujah ... for those Portuguese ... after their Master's Flight to the Kingdom of Arackan, betook themselves to Piracy among the Islands at the Mouth of the Ganges, and this River having communication with all the Channels from Xatigam (see CHITTAGONG) to the Westward, from this River they used to sally out."—A. Hamilton, ii. 3 [ed. 1744].
1752.—"... 'On the receipt of your Honors' orders per Dunnington, we sent for Capt. Pinson, the Master Attendant, and directed him to issue out fresh orders to the Pilots not to bring up any of your Honors' Ships higher than Rogues River.'"[232]—Letter to Court, in Long, p. 32.
ROHILLA, n.p. A name by which Afghāns, or more particularly Afghāns settled in Hindustan, are sometimes known, and which gave a title to the province Rohilkand, and now, through that, to a Division of the N.W. Provinces embracing a large part of the old province. The word appears to be Pushtu, rōhēlah or rōhēlai, adj., formed from rōhu, 'mountain,' thus signifying 'mountaineer of Afghānistān.' But a large part of E. Afghānistān specifically bore the name of Roh. Keene (Fall of the Moghul Monarchy, 41) puts the rise of the Rohillas of India in 1744, when 'Ali Mahommed revolted, and made the territory since called Rohilkhand independent. A very comprehensive application is given to the term Roh in the quotation from Firishta. A friend (Major J. M. Trotter) notes here: "The word Rohilla is little, if at all, used now in Pushtu, but I remember a line of an ode in that language, 'Sádik Rohilai yam pa Hindubár gad,' meaning, 'I am a simple mountaineer, compelled to live in Hindustan'; i.e. 'an honest man among knaves.'"
c. 1452.—"The King ... issued farmáns to the chiefs of the various Afghán Tribes. On receipt of the farmáns, the Afgháns of Roh came as is their wont, like ants and locusts, to enter the King's service.... The King (Bahlol Lodi) commanded his nobles, saying,—'Every Afghán who comes to Hind from the country of Roh to enter my service, bring him to me. I will give him a jágír more than proportional to his deserts.'"—Táríkh-i-Shír-Sháhí, in Elliot, iv. 307.
c. 1542.—"Actuated by the pride of power, he took no account of clanship, which is much considered among the Afghans, and especially among the Rohilla men."—Ibid. 428.
c. 1612.—"Roh is the name of a particular mountain [-country], which extends in length from Swád and Bajaur to the town of Siwí belonging to Bhakar. In breadth it stretches from Hasan Abdál to Kábul. Kandahár is situated in this territory."—Firishta's Introduction, in Elliot, vi. 568.
1726.—"... 1000 other horsemen called Ruhelahs."—Valentijn, iv. (Suratte), 277.
1745.—"This year the Emperor, at the request of Suffder Jung, marched to reduce Ali Mahummud Khan, a Rohilla adventurer, who had, from the negligence of the Government, possessed himself of the district of Kutteer (Kathehar), and assumed independence of the royal authority."—In Vol. II. of Scott's E.T. of Hist. of the Dekkan, &c., p. 218.
1763.—"After all the Rohilas are but the best of a race of men, in whose blood it would be difficult to find one or two single individuals endowed with good nature and with sentiments of equity; in a word they are Afghans."—Seir Mutaqherin, iii. 240.
1786.—"That the said Warren Hastings ... did in September, 1773, enter into a private engagement with the said Nabob of Oude ... to furnish them, for a stipulated sum of money to be paid to the E. I. Company, with a body of troops for the declared purpose of 'thoroughly extirpating the nation of the Rohillas'; a nation from whom the Company had never received, or pretended to receive, or apprehend, any injury whatever."—Art. of Charge against Hastings, in Burke, vi. 568.
ROLONG, s. Used in S. India, and formerly in W. India, for fine flour; semolina, or what is called in Bengal soojee (q.v.). The word is a corruption of Port. rolão or ralão. But this is explained by Bluteau as farina secunda. It is, he says (in Portuguese), that substance which is extracted between the best flour and the bran.
1813.—"Some of the greatest delicacies in India are now made from the rolong-flour, which is called the heart or kidney of the wheat."—Forbes, Or. Mem. i. 47; [2nd ed. i. 32].
a. Ar. ruḳ'a. A letter, a written document; a note of hand.
1680.—"One Sheake Ahmud came to Towne slyly with several peons dropping after him, bringing letters from Futty Chaun at Chingalhatt, and Ruccas from the Ser Lascar...."—Fort St. Geo. Consns. May 25. In Notes and Exts. iii. 20. [See also under AUMILDAR and JUNCAMEER.]
" "... proposing to give 200 Pagodas Madaras Brahminy to obtain a Rocca from the Nabob that our business might go on Salabad (see SALLABAD)."—Ibid. Sept. 27, p. 35.
[1727.—"Swan ... holding his Petition or Rocca above his head...."—A. Hamilton, ed. 1744, i. 199.]
[b. An ancient coin in S. India; Tel. rokkam, rokkamu, Skt. roka, 'buying with ready money,' from ruch, 'to shine.'
[1875.—"The old native coins seem to have consisted of Varaghans, rookas and Doodoos. The Varaghan is what is now generally called a pagoda.... The rookas have now entirely disappeared, and have probably been melted into rupees. They varied in value from 1 to 2 Rupees. Though the coins have disappeared, the name still survives, and the ordinary name for silver money generally is rookaloo."—Gribble, Man. of Cuddapah, 296 seq.]
ROOK, s. In chess the rook comes to us from Span. roque, and that from Ar. and Pers. rukh, which is properly the name of the famous gryphon, the roc of Marco Polo and the Arabian Nights. According to Marcel Devic it meant 'warrior.' It is however generally believed that this form was a mistake in transferring the Indian rath (see RUT) or 'chariot,' the name of the piece in India.
ROOM, n.p. 'Turkey' (Rūm); ROOMEE, n.p. (Rūmī); 'an Ottoman Turk.' Properly 'a Roman.' In older Oriental books it is used for an European, and was probably the word which Marco Polo renders as 'a Latin'—represented in later times by firinghee (e.g. see quotation from Ibn Batuta under RAJA). But Rūm, for the Roman Empire, continued to be applied to what had been part of the Roman Empire after it had fallen into the hands of the Turks, first to the Seljukian Kingdom in Anatolia, and afterwards to the Ottoman Empire seated at Constantinople. Garcia de Orta and Jarric deny the name of Rūmī, as used in India, to the Turks of Asia, but they are apparently wrong in their expressions. What they seem to mean is that Turks of the Ottoman Empire were called Rūmī; whereas those others in Asia of Turkish race (whom we sometimes call Toorks), as of Persia and Turkestan, were excluded from the name.
c. 1508.—"Ad haec, trans euripum, seu fretum, quod insulam fecit, in orientali continentis plaga oppidum condidit, receptaculum advenis militibus, maximo Turcis; ut ab Diensibus freto divisi, rixandi cum iis ... causas procul haberent. Id oppidum primo Gogola (see GOGOLLA), dein Rumepolis vocitatum ab ipsa re...."—Maffei, p. 77.
1510.—"When we had sailed about 12 days we arrived at a city which is called Diuobandierrumi, that is 'Diu, the port of the Turks.'... This city is subject to the Sultan of Combeia ... 400 Turkish merchants reside here constantly."—Varthema, 91-92.
Bandar-i-Rūmī is, as the traveller explains, the 'Port of the Turks.' Gogola, a suburb of Diu on the mainland, was known to the Portuguese some years later, as Villa dos Rumes (see GOGOLLA, and quotation from Maffei above). The quotation below from Damian a Goes alludes apparently to Gogola.
1513.—"... Vnde Ruminu Turchorũque sex millia nostros continue infestabãt."—Emanuelis Regis Epistola, p. 21.
1514.—"They were ships belonging to Moors, or to Romi (there they give the name of Romi to a white people who are, some of them, from Armenia the Greater and the Less, others from Circassia and Tartary and Rossia, Turks and Persians of Shaesmal called the Soffi, and other renegades from all) countries."—Giov. da Empoli, 38.
1525.—In the expenditure of Malik Aiaz we find 30 Rumes at the pay (monthly) of 100 fedeas each. The Arabis are in the same statement paid 40 and 50 fedeas, the Coraçones (Khorāsānīs) the same; Guzerates and Cymdes (Sindis) 25 and 30 fedeas; Fartaquis, 50 fedeas.—Lembrança, 37.
1549.—"... in nova civitate quae Rhomaeum appellatur. Nomen inditum est Rhomaeis, quasi Rhomanis, vocantur enim in totâ Indiâ Rhomaei ii, quos nos communi nomine Geniceros (i.e. Janisaries) vocamus...."—Damiani a Goes, Diensis Oppugnatio—in De Rebus Hispanicis Lusitanicis, Aragonicis, Indicis et Aethiopicis.... Opera, Colon. Agr., 1602, p. 281.
1553.—"The Moors of India not understanding the distinctions of those Provinces of Europe, call the whole of Thrace, Greece, Sclavonia, and the adjacent islands of the Mediterranean Rum, and the men thereof Rumi, a name which properly belongs to that part of Thrace in which lies Constantinople: from the name of New Rome belonging to the latter, Thrace taking that of Romania."—Barros, IV. iv. 16.
1554.—"Also the said ambassador promised in the name of Idalshaa (see IDALCAN) his lord, that if a fleet of Rumes should invade these parts, Idalshaa should be bound to help and succour us with provisions and mariners at our expense...."—S. Botelho, Tombo, 42.
c. 1555.—"One day (the Emp. Humāyūn) asked me: 'Which of the two countries is greatest, that of Rūm or of Hindustan?' I replied: ... 'If by Rūm you mean all the countries subject to the Emperor of Constantinople, then India would not form even a sixth part thereof.'..."—Sidi 'Ali, in J. As., ser. I. tom. ix. 148.
1563.—"The Turks are those of the province of Natolia, or (as we now say) Asia Minor; the Rumes are those of Constantinople, and of its empire."—Garcia De Orta, f. 7.
1572.—
"Persas feroces, Abassis, e Rumes,
Que trazido de Roma o nome tem...."
Camões, x. 68.
[By Aubertin:
"Fierce Persians, Abyssinians, Rumians,
Whose appellation doth from Rome descend...."]
1579.—"Without the house ... stood foure ancient comely hoare-headed men, cloathed all in red downe to the ground, but attired on their heads not much vnlike the Turkes; these they call Romans, or strangers...."—Drake, World Encompassed, Hak. Soc. 143.
1600.—"A nation called Rumos who have traded many hundred years to Achen. These Rumos come from the Red Sea."—Capt. J. Davis, in Purchas, i. 117.
1612.—"It happened on a time that Rajah Sekunder, the Son of Rajah Darab, a Roman (Rumi), the name of whose country was Macedonia, and whose title was Zul-Karneini, wished to see the rising of the sun, and with this view he reached the confines of India."—Sijara Malayu, in J. Indian Archip. v. 125.
1616.—"Rumae, id est Turcae Europaei. In India quippe duplex militum Turcaeorum genus, quorum primi, in Asia orti, qui Turcae dicuntur; alii in Europa qui Constantinopoli quae olim Roma Nova, advocantur, ideoque Rumae, tam ab Indis quam a Lusitanis nomine Graeco Ῥωμαῖοι in Rumas depravato dicuntur."—Jarric, Thesaurus, ii. 105.
1634.—
"Allī o forte Pacheco se eterniza
Sustentando incansavel o adquirido;
Depois Almeida, que as Estrellas piza
Se fez do Rume, e Malavar temido."
Malaca Conquistada, ii. 18.
1781.—"These Espanyols are a very western nation, always at war with the Roman Emperors (i.e. the Turkish Sultans); since the latter took from them the city of Ashtenbol (Istambūl), about 500 years ago, in which time they have not ceased to wage war with the Roumees."—Seir Mutaqherin, iii. 336.
1785.—"We herewith transmit a letter ... in which an account is given of the conference going on between the Sultan of Room and the English ambassador."—Letters of Tippoo, p. 224.
ROOMAUL, s. Hind. from Pers. rūmāl (lit. 'face-rubber,') a towel, a handkerchief. ["In modern native use it may be carried in the hand by a high-born parda lady attached to her batwa or tiny silk handbag, and ornamented with all sorts of gold and silver trinkets; then it is a handkerchief in the true sense of the word. It may be carried by men, hanging on the left shoulder, and used to wipe the hands or face; then, too, it is a handkerchief. It may be as big as a towel, and thrown over both shoulders by men, the ends either hanging loose or tied in a knot in front; it then serves the purpose of a gulúband or muffler. In the case of children it is tied round the neck as a neckkerchief, or round the waist for mere show. It may be used by women much as the 18th century tucker was used in England in Addison's time" (Yusuf Ali, Mon. on Silk, 79; for its use to mark a kind of shawl, see Forbes Watson, Textile Manufactures, 123).] In ordinary Anglo-Indian Hind. it is the word for a 'pocket handkerchief.' In modern trade it is applied to thin silk piece-goods with handkerchief-patterns. We are not certain of its meaning in the old trade of piece-goods, e.g.:
[1615.—"2 handkerchiefs Rumall cottony."—Cock's Diary, Hak. Soc. i. 179.
[1665.—"Towel, Rumale."—Persian Glossary, in Sir T. Herbert, ed. 1677, p. 100.
[1684.—"Romalls Courge ... 16."—Pringle, Diary Ft. St. Geo., 1st ser. iii. 119.]
1704.—"Price Currant (Malacca) ... Romalls, Bengall ordinary, per Corge, 26 Rix Dlls."—Lockyer, 71.
1726.—"Roemaals, 80 pieces in a pack, 45 ells long, 1½ broad."—Valentijn, v. 178.
Rūmāl was also the name technically used by the Thugs for the handkerchief with which they strangled their victims.
[c. 1833.—"There is no doubt but that all the Thugs are expert in the use of the handkerchief, which is called Roomal or Paloo...."—Wolff, Travels, ii. 180.]
ROSALGAT, CAPE, n.p. The most easterly point of the coast of Arabia; a corruption (originally Portuguese) of the Arabic name Rās-al-ḥadd, as explained by P. della Valle, with his usual acuteness and precision, below.
1553.—"From Curia Muria to Cape Rosalgate, which is in 22½°, an extent of coast of 120 leagues, all the land is barren and desert. At this Cape commences the Kingdom of Ormus."—Barros, I. ix. 1.
" "Affonso d'Alboquerque ... passing to the Coast of Arabia ran along till he doubled Cape Roçalgate, which stands at the beginning of that coast ... which Cape Ptolemy calls Siragros Promontory (Σύαγρος ἄκρα)...."—Ibid. II. ii. 1.
c. 1554.—"We had been some days at sea, when near Rā'is-al-hadd the Damani, a violent wind so called, got up...."—Sidi 'Ali, J. As. S. ser. I. tom. ix. 75.
" "If you wish to go from Rásolhadd to Dúlsind (see DIUL-SIND) you steer E.N.E. till you come to Pasani ... from thence ... E. by S. to Rás Karáshí (i.e. Karāchī), where you come to an anchor...."—The Mohit (by Sidi 'Ali), in J.A.S.B., v. 459.
1572.—
"Olha Dofar insigne, porque manda
O mais cheiroso incenso para as aras;
Mas attenta, já cá est' outra banda
De Roçalgate, o praias semper avaras,
Começa o regno Ormus...."
Camões, x. 101.
By Burton:
"Behold insign Dofar that doth command
for Christian altars sweetest incense-store;
But note, beginning now on further band
of Roçalgaté's ever greedy shore,
yon Hormus Kingdom...."
1623.—"We began meanwhile to find the sea rising considerably; and having by this time got clear of the Strait ... and having past not only Cape Iasck on the Persian side, but also that cape on the Arabian side which the Portuguese vulgarly call Rosalgate, as you also find it marked in maps, but the proper name of which is Ras el had, signifying in the Arabic tongue Cape of the End or Boundary, because it is in fact the extreme end of that Country ... just as in our own Europe the point of Galizia is called by us for a like reason Finis Terrae."—P. della Valle, ii. 496; [Hak. Soc. ii. 11].
[1665.—"... Rozelgate formerly Corodamum and Maces in Amian. lib. 23, almost Nadyr to the Tropick of Cancer."—Sir T. Herbert, ed. 1677, p. 101.]
1727.—"Maceira, a barren uninhabited Island ... within 20 leagues of Cape Rasselgat."—A. Hamilton, i. 56; [ed. 1744, i. 57].
[1823.—"... it appeared that the whole coast of Arabia, from Ras al had, or Cape Raselgat, as it is sometimes called by the English, was but little known...."—Owen, Narr. i. 333.]
ROSE-APPLE. See JAMBOO.
ROSELLE, s. The Indian Hibiscus or Hib. sabdariffa, L. The fleshy calyx makes an excellent sub-acid jelly, and is used also for tarts; also called 'Red Sorrel.' The French call it 'Guinea Sorrel,' Oseille de Guinée, and Roselle is probably a corruption of Oseille. [See PUTWA.]
[ROSE-MALLOWS, s. A semi-fluid resin, the product of the Liquidambar altingia, which grows in Tenasserim; also known as Liquid Storax, and used for various medicinal purposes. (See Hanbury and Flückiger, Pharmacog. 271, Watt, Econ. Dict. V. 78 seqq.). The Burmese name of the tree is nan-ta-yoke (Mason, Burmah, 778). The word is a corruption of the Malay-Javanese rasamalla, Skt. rasa-mālā, 'Perfume garland,' the gum being used as incense (Encycl. Britann. 9th ed. xii. 718.)
1598.—"Rosamallia."—Linschoten, Hak. Soc. i. 150.]
ROTTLE, RATTLE, s. Arab. raṭl or riṭl, the Arabian pound, becoming in S. Ital. rotolo; in Port. arratel; in Span. arrelde; supposed to be originally a transposition of the Greek λίτρα, which went all over the Semitic East. It is in Syriac as līṭrā; and is also found as lītrīm (pl.) in a Phœnician inscription of Sardinia, dating c. B.C. 180 (see Corpus Inscriptt. Semitt. i. 188-189.)
c. 1340.—"The ritl of India which is called sīr (see SEER) weighs 70 mithḳāls ... 40 sīrs form a mann (see MAUND)."—Shihābuddīn Dimishkī, in Notes and Exts. xiii. 189.
[c. 1590.—"Ḳafíz is a measure, called also sáa' weighing 8 raṭl, and, some say, more."—Āīn, ed. Jarrett, ii. 55.
[1612.—"The bahar is 360 rottolas of Moha."—Danvers, Letters, i. 193.]
1673.—"... Weights in Goa:
| 1 Baharr | is | 3½ Kintal. |
| 1 Kintal | is | 4 Arobel or Rovel. |
| 1 Arobel | is | 32 Rotolas. |
| 1 Rotola | is | 16 Ounc. or 1l. Averd." |
| Fryer, 207. | ||
1803.—"At Judda the weights are:
| 15 Vakeeas | = 1 Rattle. |
| 2 Rattles | = 1 maund." |
| Milburn, i. 88. | |
ROUND, s. This is used as a Hind. word, raund, or corruptly raun gasht, a transfer of the English, in the sense of patrolling, or 'going the rounds.' [And we find in the Madras Records the grade of 'Rounder,' or 'Gentlemen of the Round,' officers whose duty it was to visit the sentries.
[1683.—"... itt is order'd that 18 Souldiers, 1 Corporall & 1 Rounder goe upon the Sloop Conimer for Hugly...."—Pringle, Diary Ft. St. Geo. 1st ser. ii. 33.]
ROUNDEL, s. An obsolete word for an umbrella, formerly in use in Anglo-India. [In 1676 the use of the Roundell was prohibited, except in the case of "the Councell and Chaplaine" (Hedges, Diary, Hak. Soc. ii. ccxxxii.)] In old English the name roundel is applied to a variety of circular objects, as a mat under a dish, a target, &c. And probably this is the origin of the present application, in spite of the circumstance that the word is sometimes found in the form arundel. In this form the word also seems to have been employed for the conical hand-guard on a lance, as we learn from Bluteau's great Port. Dictionary: "Arundela, or Arandella, is a guard for the right hand, in the form of a funnel. It is fixed to the thick part of the lance or mace borne by men at arms. The Licentiate Covarrubias, who piques himself on finding etymologies for every kind of word, derives Arandella from Arundel, a city (so he says) of the Kingdom of England." Cobarruvias (1611) gives the above explanation; adding that it also was applied to a kind of smooth collar worn by women, from its resemblance to the other thing. Unless historical proof of this last etymology can be traced, we should suppose that Arundel is, even in this sense, probably a corruption of roundel. [The N.E.D. gives arrondell, arundell as forms of hirondelle, 'a swallow.']
1673.—"Lusty Fellows running by their Sides with Arundels (which are broad Umbrelloes held over their Heads)."—Fryer, 30.
1676.—"Proposals to the Agent, &c., about the young men in Metchlipatam.
"Generall. I.—Whereas each hath his peon and some more with their Rondells, that none be permitted but as at the Fort."—Ft. St. Geo. Consn., Feb. 16. In Notes and Exts. No. I. p. 43.
1677-78.—"... That except by the Members of this Councell, those that have formerly been in that quality, Cheefes of Factorys, Commanders of Shipps out of England, and the Chaplains, Rundells shall not be worne by any Men in this Towne, and by no Woman below the Degree of Factors' Wives and Ensigns' Wives, except by such as the Governour shall permit."—Madras Standing Orders, in Wheeler, iii. 438.
1680.—"To Verona (the Company's Chief Merchant)'s adopted son was given the name of Muddoo Verona, and a Rundell to be carried over him, in respect to the memory of Verona, eleven cannon being fired, that the Towne and Country might take notice of the honour done them."—Ft. St. Geo. Consn. In Notes and Exts. No. II. p. 15.
1716.—"All such as serve under the Honourable Company and the English Inhabitants, deserted their Employs; such as Cooks, Water bearers, Coolies, Palankeen-boys, Roundel men...."—In Wheeler, ii. 230.
1726.—"Whenever the magnates go on a journey they go not without a considerable train, being attended by their pipers, horn-blowers, and Rondel bearers, who keep them from the Sun with a Rondel (which is a kind of little round sunshade)."—Valentijn, Chor. 54.
" "Their Priests go like the rest clothed in yellow, but with the right arm and breast remaining uncovered. They also carry a rondel, or parasol, of a Tallipot (see TALIPOT) leaf...."—Ibid. v. (Ceylon), 408.
1754.—"Some years before our arrival in the country, they (the E. I. Co.) found such sumptuary laws so absolutely necessary, that they gave the strictest orders that none of these young gentlemen should be allowed even to hire a Roundel-boy, whose business it is to walk by his master, and defend him with his Roundel or Umbrella from the heat of the sun. A young fellow of humour, upon this last order coming over, altered the form of his Umbrella from a round to a square, called it a Squaredel instead of a Roundel, and insisted that no order yet in force forbad him the use of it."—Ives, 21.
1785.—"He (Clive) enforced the Sumptuary laws by severe penalties, and gave the strictest orders that none of these young gentlemen should be allowed even to have a roundel-boy, whose business is to walk by his master, and defend him with his roundel or umbrella from the heat of the sun."—Carraccioli, i. 283. This ignoble writer has evidently copied from Ives, and applied the passage (untruly, no doubt) to Clive.
ROWANNAH, s. Hind. from Pers. rawānah, from rawā, 'going.' A pass or permit.
[1764.—"... that the English shall carry on their trade ... free from all duties ... excepting the article of salt, ... on which a duty is to be levied on the Rowana or Houghly market-price...."—Letter from Court, in Verelst, View of Bengal, App. 127.]
ROWCE, s. Hind. raus, rois, rauns. A Himālayan tree which supplies excellent straight and strong alpenstocks and walking-sticks, Cotoneaster bacillaris, Wall., also C. acuminata (N.O. Rosaceae). [See Watt, Econ. Dict. ii. 581.]
1838.—"We descended into the Khud, and I was amusing myself jumping from rock to rock, and thus passing up the centre of the brawling mountain stream, aided by my long pahārī pole of rous wood."—Wanderings of a Pilgrim, ii. 241; [also i. 112].
ROWNEE, s.
a. A fausse-braye, i.e. a subsidiary enceinte surrounding a fortified place on the outside of the proper wall and on the edge of the ditch; Hind. raonī. The word is not in Shakespear, Wilson, Platts or Fallon. But it occurs often in the narratives of Anglo-Indian siege operations. The origin of the word is obscure. [Mr. Irvine suggests Hind. rūndhnā, 'to enclose as with a hedge,' and says: "Fallon evidently knew nothing of the word raunī, for in his E. H. Dict. he translates fausse-braye by dhus, mattī kā pushtah; which also shows that he had no definite idea of what a fausse-braye was, dhus meaning simply an earthen or mud fort." Dr. Grierson suggests Hind. ramanā, 'a park,' of which the fem., i.e. diminutive, would be ramanī or rāonī; or possibly the word may come from Hind. rev, Skt. reṇu, 'sand,' meaning "an entrenchment of sand."]
1799.—"On the 20th I ordered a mine to be carried under (the glacis) because the guns could not bear on the rounee."—Jas. Skinner's Mil. Memoirs, i. 172. J. B. Fraser, the editor of Skinner, parenthetically interprets rounee here as 'counterscarp'; but that is nonsense, as well as incorrect.
[1803.—Writing of Hathras, "Renny wall, with a deep, broad, dry ditch behind it surrounds the fort."—W. Thorn, Mem. of the War in India, p. 400.]
1805.—In a work by Major L. F. Smith (Sketch of the Rise, &c., of the Regular Corps in the Service of the Native Princes of India) we find a plan of the attack of Aligarh, in which is marked "Lower Fort or Renny, well supplied with grape," and again, "Lower Fort, Renny or Faussebraye."
[1819.—"... they saw the necessity of covering the foot of the wall from an enemy's fire, and formed a defence, similar to our fausse-braye, which they call Rainee."—Fitzclarence, Journal of a Route to England, p. 245; also see 110.]
b. This word also occurs as representative of the Burmese yo-wet-ni, or (in Arakan pron.) ro-wet-ni, 'red-leaf,' the technical name of the standard silver of the Burmese ingot currency, commonly rendered Flowered-silver.
1796.—"Rouni or fine silver, Ummerapoora currency."—Notification in Seton-Karr, ii. 179.
1800.—"The quantity of alloy varies in the silver current in different parts of the empire; at Rangoon it is adulterated 25 per cent.; at Ummerapoora, pure, or what is called flowered silver, is most common; in the latter all duties are paid. The modifications are as follows:
"Rouni, or pure silver.
Rounika, 5 per cent. of alloy."
Symes, 327.
ROWTEE, s. A kind of small tent with pyramidal roof, and no projection of fly, or eaves. Hind. rāoṭī.
[1813.—"... the military men, and others attached to the camp, generally possess a dwelling of somewhat more comfortable description, regularly made of two or three folds of cloth in thickness, closed at one end, and having a flap to keep out the wind and rain at the opposite one: these are dignified with the name of ruotees, and come nearer (than the pawl) to our ideas of a tent."—Broughton, Letters, ed. Constable, p. 20.
[1875.—"For the servants I had a good rauti of thick lined cloth."—Wilson, Abode of Snow, 90.]
ROY, s. A common mode of writing the title rāī (see RAJA); which sometimes occurs also as a family name, as in that of the famous Hindu Theist Rammohun Roy.
ROZA, s. Ar. rauḍa, Hind. rauẓa. Properly a garden; among the Arabs especially the rauḍa of the great mosque at Medina. In India it is applied to such mausolea as the Taj (generally called by the natives the Tāj-rauẓa); and the mausoleum built by Aurungzīb near Aurungābād.