Section II. runs:

"_Standards._—The primary standard of weight shall be called SER, and

shall be a weight of metal in the possession of the Government of India,

which weight, when weighed in a vacuum, is equal to the weight known in

France as the kilogramme des Archives."

Again, Act XXXI. of 1872, called "_The Indian Weights and Measures of

Capacity Act_," repeats in substance the same preamble and prescription of

standard weight. It is not clear to us what the separate object of this

second Act was. But with the death of Lord Mayo the whole scheme fell to

the ground. The _ser_ of these Acts would be = 2.2 lbs. avoirdupois, or

0.143 of a pound greater than the 80 tola _ser_.

1554.—"_Porto Grande de Bemgala._—'The MAUND (_mão_) with which they

weigh all merchandize is of 40 CERES, each CER 18-2/5 ounces; the said

MAUND weighs 46½ _arratels_ (ROTTLE).'"—_A. Nunes_, 37.

1648.—"One CEER weighs 18 _peysen_ ... and makes ¾ pound troy

weight."—_Van Twist_, 62.

1748.—"Enfin on verse le tout un SERRE de l'huile."—_Lett. Edif._ xiv.

220.

SEER-FISH, s. A name applied to several varieties of fish, species of the

genus _Cybium_. When of the right size, neither too small nor too big,

these are reckoned among the most delicate of Indian sea-fish. Some kinds

salt well, and are also good for preparing as TAMARIND-FISH. The name is

sometimes said to be a corruption of Pers. _sīah_ (qu. Pers. 'black?') but

the quotations show that it is a corruption of Port. _serra_. That name

would appear to belong properly to the well-known saw-fish (_Pristis_)—see

_Bluteau_, quoted below; but probably it may have been applied to the fish

now in question, because of the serrated appearance of the rows of finlets,

behind the second dorsal and anal fins, which are characteristic of the

genus (see _Day's Fishes of India_, pp. 254-256, and plates lv., lvi.).

1554.—"E aos Marinheiros hum PEIXE CERRA par mes, a cada hum."—_A. Nunez,

Livro dos Pesos_, 43.

" "To Lopo Vaaz, Mestre of the firearms (_espingardes_), his pay

and provisions.... And for his three workmen, at the rate of 2 measures

of rice each daily, and half a SEER FISH (_peixe serra_) each monthly,

and a maund of firewood each monthly."—_S. Botelho, Tombo_, 235.

1598.—"There is a fish called PIEXE SERRA, which is cut in round pieces,

as we cut Salmon and salt it. It is very good."—_Linschoten_, 88; [Hak.

Soc. ii. 11].

1720.—"PEYXE SERRA is ordinarily produced in the Western Ocean, and is so

called" etc. (describing the _Saw-fish_).... "But in the Sea of the

Islands of Quirimba (_i.e._ off Mozambique) there is a different PEYXE

SERRA resembling a large corvina,[239] but much better, and which it is

the custom to pickle. When cured it seems just like ham."—_Bluteau,

Vocab._ vii. 606-607.

1727.—"They have great Plenty of SEER-FISH, which is as savoury as any

Salmon or Trout in Europe."—_A. Hamilton_, i. 379; [ed. 1744, i. 382].

[1813.—"... the robal, the SEIR-FISH, the grey mullet ... are very

good."—_Forbes, Or. Mem._ 2nd ed. i. 36.]

1860.—"Of those in ordinary use for the table the finest by far is the

SEIR-FISH,[240] a species of Scomber, which is called _Tora-malu_ by the

natives. It is in size and form very similar to the salmon, to which the

flesh of the female fish, notwithstanding its white colour, bears a very

close resemblance, both in firmness and in flavour."—_Tennent's Ceylon_,

i. 205.

SEERPAW, s. Pers. through Hind. _sar-ā-pā_—'cap-a-pie.' A complete suit,

presented as a _Khilat_ (KILLUT) or dress of honour, by the sovereign or

his representative.

c. 1666.—"He ... commanded, there should be given to each of them an

embroider'd Vest, a Turbant, and a Girdle of Silk Embroidery, which is

that which they call SER-APAH, that is, an Habit from head to

foot."—_Bernier_, E.T. 37; [ed. _Constable_, 147].

1673—"Sir George Oxendine ... had a _Collat_ (KILLUT) or SERPAW, a Robe

of Honour from Head to Foot, offered him from the Great Mogul."—_Fryer_,

87.

1680.—"Answer is returned that it hath not been accustomary for the

Governours to go out to receive a bare _Phyrmaund_ (FIRMAUN), except

there come therewith a SERPOW or a Tasheriffe (TASHREEF)."—_Ft. St. Geo.

Consn._ Dec. 2, in _N. & E._ No. iii. 40.

1715.—"We were met by Padre Stephanus, bringing two SEERPAWS."—In

_Wheeler_, ii. 245.

1727.—"As soon as he came, the King embraced him, and ordered a SERPAW or

a royal Suit to be put upon him."—_A. Hamilton_, i. 171 [ed. 1744].

1735.—"The last Nabob (Sadatulla) would very seldom suffer any but

himself to send a SEERPAW; whereas in February last Sunta Sahib, Subder

Ali Sahib, Jehare Khan and Imaum Sahib, had all of them taken upon them

to send distinct SEERPAWS to the President."—In _Wheeler_, iii. 140.

1759.—"Another deputation carried six costly SEERPAWS; these are garments

which are presented sometimes by superiors in token of protection, and

sometimes by inferiors in token of homage."—_Orme_, i. 159.

SEETULPUTTY, s. A fine kind of mat made especially in Eastern Bengal, and

used to sleep on in the cold weather. [They are made from the split stems

of the _mukta pata_, _Phrynium dichotomum_, Roxb. (see _Watt, Econ. Dict._

vi. pt. i. 216 _seq._).] Hind. _sītalpaṭṭī_, 'cold-slip.' Williamson's

spelling and derivation (from an Arab. word impossibly used, see SICLEEGUR)

are quite erroneous.

1810.—"A very beautiful species of mat is made ... especially in the

south-eastern districts ... from a kind of reedy grass.... These are

peculiarly slippery, whence they are designated 'SEEKUL-PUTTY' (_i.e._

polished sheets).... The principal uses of the 'SEEKUL-PUTTY' are to be

laid under the lower sheet of a bed, thereby to keep the body

cool."—_Williamson, V.M._ ii. 41.

[1818.—"Another kind (of mat) the SHĒĒTŬLŬPATĒĒS, laid on beds and

couches on account of their coolness, are sold from one roopee to five

each."—_Ward, Hindoos_, i. 106.]

1879.—In _Fallon's Dicty._ we find the following Hindi riddle:—

"_Chīnī kā piyālā ṭūṭā, kóī joṛtā nahīn;

Mālī jī kā bāg lagā, koī toṛtā nahīn;

Sītal-pãṭĭ bichhī, koī sotā nahīn;

Rāj-bansī mūā, koī rotā nahīn._"

Which might be rendered:

"A china bowl that, broken, none can join;

A flowery field, whose blossoms none purloin;

A royal scion slain, and none shall weep;

A SĪTALPAṬṬĪ spread where none shall sleep."

The answer is an Egg; the Starry Sky; a Snake (_Rãj-bansī_, 'royal

scion,' is a placatory name for a snake); and the Sea.

SEMBALL, s. Malay-Javan. _sāmbil_, _sāmbal_. A spiced condiment, the curry

of the Archipelago. [Dennys (_Descr. Dict._ p. 337) describes many

varieties.]

1817.—"The most common seasoning employed to give a relish to their

insipid food is the _lombock_ (_i.e._ red-pepper); triturated with salt

it is called SAMBEL."—_Raffles, H. of Java_, i. 98.

SEPOY, SEAPOY, s. In Anglo-Indian use a native soldier, disciplined and

dressed in the European style. The word is Pers. _sipāhī_, from _sipāh_,

'soldiery, an army'; which J. Oppert traces to old Pers. _spāda_, 'a

soldier' (_Le peuple et la Langue des Mèdes_, 1879, p. 24). But _Sbah_ is a

horseman in Armenian; and sound etymologists connect _sipāh_ with _asp_, 'a

horse'; [others with Skt. _padāti_, 'a foot-soldier']. The original word

_sipāhī_ occurs frequently in the poems of Amīr Khusrū (c. A.D. 1300),

bearing always probably the sense of a 'horse-soldier,' for all the

important part of an army then consisted of horsemen. See _spāhī_ below.

The word _sepoy_ occurs in Southern India before we had troops in Bengal;

and it was probably adopted from Portuguese. We have found no English

example in print older than 1750, but probably an older one exists. The

India Office record of 1747 from Fort St. David's is the oldest notice we

have found in extant MS. [But see below.]

c. 1300.—"Pride had inflated his brain with wind, which extinguished the

light of his intellect, and a few SIPĀHĪS from Hindustan, without any

religion, had supported the credit of his authority."—_Amīr Khusrū_, in

_Elliot_, iii. 536.

[1665.—"Souldier—SUPPYA and Haddee."—_Persian Gloss._ in _Sir T.

Herbert_, ed. 1677, p. 99.]

1682.—"As soon as these letters were sent away, I went immediately to Ray

Nundelall's to have y^e SEAPY, or Nabob's horseman, consigned to me, with

order to see y^e _Perwanna_ put in execution; but having thought better

of it, y^e Ray desired me to have patience till tomorrow morning. He

would then present me to the Nabob, whose commands to y^e SEAPY and

Bulchunds _Vekeel_ would be more powerfull and advantageous to me than

his own."—_Hedges, Diary_, Hak. Soc. i. 55, _seq._ Here we see the word

still retaining the sense of 'horseman' in India.

[1717.—"A Company of SEPOYS with the colours."—_Yule_, in _ditto_, II.

ccclix. On this Sir H. Yule notes: "This is an occurrence of the word

SEPOY, in its modern signification, 30 years earlier than any I had been

able to find when publishing the A.-I. Gloss. I have one a year earlier,

and expect now to find it earlier still."

[1733.—"You are next ... to make a complete survey ... of the number of

fighting SEPOYS...."—_Forrest, Bombay Letters_, ii. 55.]

1737.—"Elle com tota a força desponivel, que eram 1156 soldados pagos em

que entraram 281 chegados na não Mercês, e 780 SYPAES ou _lascarins_

(LASCAR), recuperon o territorio."—_Bosquejo das Possesões Portuguezas no

Oriente_, &c., _por Joaquim Pedro Celestino Soares_, Lisboa, 1851, p. 58.

1746.—"The Enemy, by the best Intelligence that could be got, and best

Judgment that could be formed, had or would have on Shore next Morning,

upwards of 3000 _Europeans_, with at least 500 _Coffrys_, and a number of

CEPHOYS and Peons."—_Ext. of Diary_, &c., in App. to _A Letter to a

Propr. of the E.I. Co._, London, 1750, p. 94.

[1746.—Their strength on shore I compute 2000 Europeans SEAPIAHS and 300

Coffrees."—_Letter from Madras_, Oct. 9, in _Bengal Consultations_.

_Ibid._ p. 600, we have SEAPIES.]

1747.—"At a Council of War held at Fort St. David the 25th December,

1747.

Present:—

Charles Floyer, Esq., Governor.

George Gibson

John Crompton

William Brown

John Holland

John Rodolph de Gingens

John Usgate

Robert Sanderson.

* * *

"It is further ordered that Captn. Crompton keep the Detachment under his

Command at Cuddalore, in a readiness to march to the CHOULTRY over

against the Fort as soon as the Signal shall be made from the Place, and

then upon his firing two Muskets, Boats shall be sent to bring them here,

and to leave a serjeant at Cuddalore Who shall conduct his SEAPOYS to the

Garden Guard, and the Serjeant shall have a Word by which He shall be

received at the Garden."—_Original MS. Proceedings_ (in the India

Office).

" The Council of Fort St. David write to Bombay, March 16th, "if

they could not supply us with more than 300 Europeans, We should be glad

of Five or Six Hundred of the best Northern People their way, as they are

reported to be much better than ours, and not so liable to Desertion."

In Consn. May 30th they record the arrival of the ships Leven, Warwick,

and Ilchester, Princess Augusta, "on the 28th inst., from Bombay,

(bringing) us a General from that Presidency,[241] as entered No. 38,

advising of having sent us by them sundry stores and a Reinforcement of

Men, consisting of 70 European Soldiers, 200 _Topasses_ (TOPAZ), and 100

well-trained SEAPOYS, all of which under the command of Capt. Thomas

Andrews, a Good Officer...."

And under July 13th. "... The Reinforcement of SEPOYS having arrived from

Tellicherry, which, with those that were sent from Bombay, making a

formidable Body, besides what are still expected; and as there is far

greater Dependance to be placed on those People than on our own PEONS ...

many of whom have a very weakly Appearance, AGREED, that a General Review

be now had of them, that all such may be discharged, and only the

Choicest of them continued in the Service."—_MS. Records in India

Office._

1752.—"... they quitted their entrenchments on the first day of March,

1752, and advanced in order of battle, taking possession of a rising

ground on the right, on which they placed 50 Europeans; the front

consisted of 1500 SIPOYS, and one hundred and twenty or thirty

French."—_Complete Hist. of the War in India_, 1761, pp. 9-10.

1758.—A Tabular Statement (_Mappa_) of the Indian troops, 20th Jan. of

this year, shows "Corpo de SIPAES" with 1162 "SIPAES

promptos."—_Bosquejo_, as above.

" "A stout body of near 1000 SEPOYS has been raised within these

few days."—In _Long_, 134.

[1759.—"Boat rice extraordinary for the Gentoo SEAPOIS...."—_Ibid._ 174.]

1763.—"The Indian natives and Moors, who are trained in the European

manner, are called SEPOYS."—_Orme_, i. 80.

1763.—"Major Carnac ... observes that your establishment is loaded with

the expense of more Captains than need be, owing to the unnecessarily

making it a point that they should be Captains who command the SEPOY

Battalions, whereas such is the nature of SEPOYS that it requires a

peculiar genius and talent to be qualified for that service, and the

Battalion should be given only to such who are so without regard to

rank."—_Court's Letter_, of March 9. In _Long_, 290.

1770.—"England has at present in India an establishment to the amount of

9800 European troops, and 54,000 SIPAHIS well armed and

disciplined."—_Raynal_ (tr. 1777), i. 459.

1774.—"SIPAI sono li soldati Indiani."—_Della Tomba_, 297.

1778.—"La porta del Ponente della città sì custodiva dalli SIPAIS soldati

Indiani radunati da tutte le tribù, e religioni."—_Fra Paolino, Viaggio_,

4.

1780.—"Next morning the SEPOY came to see me.... I told him that I owed

him my life.... He then told me that he was not very rich himself, as his

pay was only a pagoda and a half a month—and at the same time drew out

his purse and offered me a rupee. This generous behaviour, so different

to what I had hitherto experienced, drew tears from my eyes, and I

thanked him for his generosity, but I would not take his money."—_Hon. J.

Lindsay's Imprisonment, Lives of Lindsays_, iii. 274.

1782.—"As to Europeans who run from their natural colours, and enter into

the service of the country powers, I have heard one of the best officers

the Company ever had ... say that he considered them no otherwise than as

so many SEAPOYS; for acting under blacks they became mere blacks in

spirit."—_Price, Some Observations_, 95-96.

1789.—

"There was not a captain, nor scarce a SEAPOY,

But a Prince would depose, or a Bramin destroy."

_Letter of Simpkin the Second_, &c., 8.

1803.—"Our troops behaved admirably; the SEPOYS astonished

me."—_Wellington_, ii. 384.

1827.—"He was betrothed to the daughter of a SIPAHEE, who served in the

mud-fort which they saw at a distance rising above the jungle."—_Sir W.

Scott, The Surgeon's Daughter_, ch. xiii.

1836.—"The native army of the E. I. Company.... Their formation took

place in 1757. They are usually called SEPOYS, and are light and

short."—In _R. Phillips, A Million of Facts_, 718.

1881.—"As early as A.D. 1592 the chief of Sind had 200 natives dressed

and armed like Europeans: these were the first 'SEPOYS.'"—_Burton's

Camoens, A Commentary_, ii. 445.

The French write _cipaye_ or _cipai_:

1759.—"De quinze mille CIPAYES dont l'armée est censée composée, j'en

compte à peu près huit cens sur la route de Pondichery, chargé de sucre

et de poivre et autres marchandises, quant aux Coulis, ils sont tous

employés pour le même objet."—_Letter of Lally to the Governor of

Pondicherry_, in _Cambridge's Account_, p. 150.

c. 1835-38.—

"Il ne criant ni Kriss ni zagaies,

Il regarde l'homme sans fuir,

Et rit des balles des CIPAYES

Qui rebondissent sur son cuir."

_Th. Gautier, L'Hippopotame_.

Since the conquest of Algeria the same word is common in France under

another form, viz., _spāhī_. But the _Spāhī_ is totally different from the

_sepoy_, and is in fact an irregular horseman. With the Turks, from whom

the word is taken, the _spāhī_ was always a horseman.

1554.—"Aderant magnis muneribus praepositi multi, aderant praetoriani

equites omnes SPHAI, Garipigi, Ulufagi, Gianizarorum magnus numerus, sed

nullus in tanto conventu nobilis nisi ex suis virtutibus et fortibus

factis."—_Busbeq, Epistolae_, i. 99.

[1562.—"The SPACHI, and other orders of horsemen."—_J. Shute, Two Comm._

(Tr.) fol. 53 ro. _Stanf. Dict._ where many early instances of the word

will be found.]

1672.—"Mille ou quinze cents SPAHIZ, tous bien équippés et bien montés

... terminoient toute ceste longue, magnifique, et pompeuse

cavalcade."—_Journal d'Ant. Galland_, i. 142.

1675.—"The other officers are the _sardar_ (SIRDAR), who commands the

Janizaries ... the SPAHI _Aga_, who commands the SPAHIES or _Turkish_

Horse."—_Wheeler's Journal_, 348.

[1686.—"I being providentially got over the river before the SPIE

employed by them could give them intelligence."—_Hedges, Diary_, Hak.

Soc. i. 229.]

1738.—"The Arab and other inhabitants are obliged, either by long custom

... or from fear and compulsion, to give the SPAHEES and their company

the _mounah_ ... which is such a sufficient quantity of provision for

ourselves, together with straw and barley for our mules and

horses."—_Shaw's Travels in Barbary_, ed. 1757, p. xii.

1786.—"Bajazet had two years to collect his forces ... we may

discriminate the janizaries ... a national cavalry, the SPAHIS of modern

times."—_Gibbon_, ch. lxv.

1877.—"The regular cavalry was also originally composed of tribute

children.... The SIPAHIS acquired the same pre-eminence among the cavalry

which the janissaries held among the infantry, and their seditious

conduct rendered them much sooner troublesome to the

Government."—_Finlay, H. of Greece_, ed. 1877, v. 37.

SERAI, SERYE, s. This word is used to represent two Oriental words entirely

different.

A. Hind. from Pers. _sarā_, _sarāī_. This means originally an edifice, a

palace. It was especially used by the Tartars when they began to build

palaces. Hence _Sarāī_, the name of more than one royal residence of the

Mongol Khāns upon the Volga, the _Sarra_ of Chaucer. The Russians retained

the word from their Tartar oppressors, but in their language _sarai_ has

been degraded to mean 'a shed.' The word, as applied to the Palace of the

Grand Turk, became, in the language of the Levantine Franks, _serail_ and

_serraglio_. In this form, as P. della Valle lucidly explains below, the

"striving after meaning" connected the word with Ital. _serrato_, 'shut

up'; and with a word _serraglio_ perhaps previously existing in Italian in

that connection. [_Seraglio_, according to Prof. Skeat (_Concise Dict._

s.v.) is "formed with suffix _-aglio_ (L. _-aculum_) from Late Lat.

_serare_, 'to bar, shut in'—Lat. _sera_, a 'bar, bolt'; Lat. _serere_, 'to

join together.'] It is this association that has attached the meaning of

'women's apartments' to the word. _Sarai_ has no such specific sense.

But the usual modern meaning in Persia, and the only one in India, is that

of a building for the accommodation of travellers with their pack-animals;

consisting of an enclosed yard with chambers round it.

Recurring to the Italian use, we have seen in Italy the advertisement of a

travelling menagerie as _Serraglio di Belve_. A friend tells us of an old

Scotchman whose ideas must have run in this groove, for he used to talk of

'a _Serragle_ of blackguards.' In the Diary in England of Annibale Litolfi

of Mantua the writer says: "On entering the tower there is a _Serraglio_ in

which, from grandeur, they keep lions and tigers and cat-lions." (See

_Rawdon Brown's Calendar of Papers in Archives of Venice_, vol. vi. pt.

iii. 1557-8. App.) [The _Stanf. Dict._ quotes Evelyn as using the word of a

place where persons are confined: 1644. "I passed by the Piazza Judea,

where their _seraglio_ begins" (_Diary_, ed. 1872, i. 142).]

c. 1584.—"At SARAIUM Turcis palatium principis est, vel aliud amplum

aedificium, non a _Czar_[242] voce Tatarica, quae regem significat,

dictum; vnde Reineccius SARAGLIAM Turcis vocari putet, ut _regiam_. Nam

aliae quoque domus, extra Sultani regiam, nomen hoc ferunt ... vt ampla

Turcorum hospitia, sive diversoria publica, quae vulgo _Caravasarias_

(CARAVANSERAY) nostri vocant."—_Leunclavius_, ed. 1650, p. 403.

1609.—"... by it the great SURAY, besides which are diuers others, both

in the city and suburbs, wherein diuers neate lodgings are to be let,

with doores, lockes, and keys to each."—_W. Finch_, in _Purchas_, i. 434.

1614.—"This term SERRAGLIO, so much used among us in speaking of the

Grand Turk's dwelling ... has been corrupted into that form from the word

SERAI, which in their language signifies properly 'a palace.'... But

since this word _serai_ resembles _serraio_, as a Venetian would call it,

or _seraglio_ as we say, and seeing that the palace of the Turk is

(_serrato_ or) shut up all round by a strong wall, and also because the

women and a great part of the courtiers dwell in it barred up and shut

in, so it may perchance have seemed to some to have deserved such a name.

And thus the real term SERAI has been converted into SERRAGLIO."—_P.

della Valle_, i. 36.

1615.—"Onely from one dayes Journey to another the _Sophie_ hath caused

to bee erected certaine kind of great harbours, or huge lodgings (like

hamlets) called _caravan_-SARA, or SURROYES, for the benefite of

_Caravanes_...."—_De Montfart_, 8.

1616.—"In this kingdome there are no Innes to entertaine strangers, only

in great Townes and Cities are faire Houses built for their receit, which

they call SARRAY, not inhabited, where any Passenger may haue roome

freely, but must bring with him his Bedding, his Cooke, and other

necessaries."—_Terry_, in _Purchas_, ii. 1475.

1638.—"Which being done we departed from our SERRAY (or Inne)."—_W.

Bruton_, in _Hakl._ v. 49.

1648.—"A great SARY or place for housing travelling folk."—_Van Twist_,

17.

[1754.—"... one of the Sciddees (SEEDY) officers with a party of men were

lodged in the SORROY...."—_Forrest, Bombay Letters_, i. 307.]

1782.—"The stationary tenants of the SERAUEE, many of them women, and

some of them very pretty, approach the traveller on his entrance, and in

alluring language describe to him the varied excellencies of their

several lodgings."—_Forster, Journey_, ed. 1808, i. 86.

1825.—"The whole number of lodgers in and about the SERAI, probably did

not fall short of 500 persons. What an admirable scene for an Eastern

romance would such an inn as this afford!"—_Heber_, ed. 1844, ii. 122.

1850.—"He will find that, if we omit only three names in the long line of

the Delhi Emperors, the comfort and happiness of the people were never

contemplated by them; and with the exception of a few SARÁÍS and

bridges,—and these only on roads traversed by the imperial camps—he will

see nothing in which purely selfish considerations did not prevail."—_Sir

H. M. Elliot_, Original Preface to _Historians of India, Elliot_, I.

xxiii.

B. A long-necked earthenware (or metal) flagon for water; a GOGLET (q.v.).

This is Ar.—P. _ṣurāḥī_. [This is the _doraḳ_ or _ḳulleh_ of Egypt, of

which Lane (_Mod. Egypt._ ed. 1871, i. 186 _seq._) gives an account with

illustrations.]

c. 1666.—"... my _Navab_ having vouchsafed me a very particular favour,

which is, that he hath appointed to give me every day a new loaf of his

house, and a SOURAY of the water of _Ganges_ ... SOURAY is that

Tin-flagon full of water, which the Servant that marcheth on foot before

the Gentleman on horseback, carrieth in his hand, wrapt up in a sleeve of

red cloath."—_Bernier_, E.T. 114; [ed. _Constable_, 356].

1808.—"We had some bread and butter, two SURAHEES of water, and a bottle

of brandy."—_Elphinstone_, in _Life_, i. 183.

[1880.—"The best known is the gilt silver work of Cashmere, which is

almost confined to the production of the water-vessels or SARAIS, copied

from the clay goblets in use throughout the northern parts of the

Panjab."—_Birdwood, Indust. Arts of India_, 149.]

SERANG, s. A native boatswain, or chief of a LASCAR crew; the skipper of a

small native vessel. The word is Pers. _sarhang_, 'a commander or

overseer.' In modern Persia it seems to be used for a colonel (see _Wills_,

80).

1599.—"... there set sail two Portuguese vessels which were come to

Amacao (MACAO) from the City of Goa, as occurs every year. They are

commanded by Captains, with Pilots, quartermasters, clerks, and other

officers, who are Portuguese; but manned by sailors who are Arabs, Turks,

Indians, and Bengalis, who serve for so much a month, and provide

themselves under the direction and command of a chief of their own whom

they call the SARANGHI, who also belongs to one of these nations, whom

they understand, and recognise and obey, carrying out the orders that the

Portuguese Captain, Master, or Pilot may give to the said

SARANGHI."—_Carletti, Viaggi_, ii. 206.

1690.—"Indus quem de hoc Ludo consului fuit scriba satis peritus ab

officio in nave suâ dictus _le_ SARÀNG, Anglicè BOATSWAIN seú

BOSON."—_Hyde, De Ludis Orientt._ in _Syntagma_, ii. 264.

[1822.—"... the ghaut SYRANGS (a class of men equal to the kidnappers of

Holland and the crimps of England)...."—_Wallace, Fifteen Years in

India_, 256.]

SERAPHIN. See XERAFIN.

SERENDĪB, n.p. The Arabic form of the name of Ceylon in the earlier Middle

Ages. (See under CEYLON.)

SERINGAPATAM, n.p. The city which was the capital of the Kingdom of Mysore

during the reigns of Hyder Ali and his son Tippoo. Written

_Sri-raṅga-paṭṭana_, meaning according to vulgar interpretation 'Vishnu's

Town.' But as both this and the other Srirangam (_Seringam_ town and

temple, so-called, in the Trichinopoly district) are on islands of the

Cauvery, it is possible that _ranga_ stands for _Lanka_, and that the true

meaning is 'Holy-Isle-Town.'

[SERPEYCH, s. Pers. _sarpech_, _sarpesh_; an ornament of gold, silver or

jewels, worn in front of the turban; it sometimes consists of gold plates

strung together, each plate being set with precious stones. Also a band of

silk and embroidery worn round the turban.

[1753.—"... a fillet. This they call a SIRPEACH, which is wore round the

turban; persons of great distinction generally have them set with

precious stones."—_Hanway_, iv. 191.

[1786.—"SURPAISHES." See under CULGEE.

[1813.—"SERPEYCH." See under KILLUT.]

SETT, s. Properly Hind. _seṭh_, which according to Wilson is the same word

with the Cheṭṭi (see CHETTY) or _Sheṭṭi_ of the Malabar Coast, the

different forms being all from Skt. _śreshṭha_, 'best, or chief,'

_śresṭhi_, 'the chief of a corporation, a merchant or banker.' C. P. Brown

entirely denies the identity of the S. Indian _sheṭṭi_ with the Skt. word

(see CHETTY).

1740.—"The SETS being all present at the Board inform us that last year

they dissented to the employment of Fillick Chund (&c.), they being of a

different caste; and consequently they could not do business with

them."—In _Long_, p. 9.

1757.—"To the SEATS Mootabray and Roopchund the Government of

Chandunagore was indebted a million and a half Rupees."—_Orme_, ii. 138

of reprint (Bk. viii.).

1770.—"As soon as an European arrived the Gentoos, who know mankind

better than is commonly supposed, study his character ... and lend or

procure him money upon bottomry, or at interest. This interest, which is

usually 9 per cent. at this, is higher when he is under a necessity of

borrowing of the CHEYKS.

"These CHEYKS are a powerful family of Indians, who have, time

immemorial, inhabited the banks of the Ganges. Their riches have long ago

procured them the management of the bank belonging to the

Court...."—_Raynal_, tr. 1777, i. 427. Note that by _Cheyks_ the Abbé

means SETTS.

[1883.—"... from the Himalayas to Cape Comorin a security endorsed by the

Mathura SETH is as readily convertible into cash as a Bank of England

Note in London or Paris."—_F. S. Growse, Mathura_, 14.]

SETTLEMENT, s. In the Land Revenue system of India, an estate or district

is said to be _settled_, when instead of taking a quota of the year's

produce the Government has agreed with the cultivators, individually or in

community, for a fixed sum to be paid at several periods of the year, and

not liable to enhancement during the term of years for which the agreement

or _settlement_ is made. The operation of arranging the terms of such an

agreement, often involving tedious and complicated considerations and

enquiries, is known as the process of _settlement_. A _Permanent

Settlement_ is that in which the annual payment is fixed in perpetuity.

This was introduced in Bengal by Lord Cornwallis in 1793, and does not

exist except within that great Province, [and a few districts in the

Benares division of the N.W.P., and in Madras.]

[SEVEN PAGODAS, n.p. The Tam. _Mavallipuram_, Skt. _Mahabalipura_, 'the

City of the Great Bali,' a place midway between SADRAS and Covelong. But in

one of the inscriptions (about 620 A.D.) a King, whose name is said to have

been Amara, is described as having conquered the chief of the Mahamalla

race. Malla was probably the name of a powerful highland chieftain subdued

by the Chalukyans. (See _Crole, Man. of Chingleput_, 92 _seq._). Dr. Oppert

(_Orig. Inhabit._, 98) takes the name to be derived from the Malla or Palli

race.

SEVEN SISTERS, or BROTHERS. The popular name (Hind. _sāt-bhāī_) of a

certain kind of bird, about the size of a thrush, common throughout most

parts of India, _Malacocercus terricolor_, Hodgson, 'Bengal babbler' of

Jerdon. The latter author gives the native name as _Seven Brothers_, which

is the form also given in the quotation below from _Tribes on My Frontier_.

The bird is so named from being constantly seen in little companies of

about that number. Its characteristics are well given in the quotations.

See also _Jerdon's Birds_ (Godwin-Austen's ed., ii. 59). In China certain

birds of starling kind are called by the Chinese _pa-ko_, or "Eight

Brothers," for a like reason. See _Collingwood's Rambles of a Naturalist_,

1868, p. 319. (See MYNA.)

1878.—"The SEVEN SISTERS pretend to feed on insects, but that is only

when they cannot get peas ... sad-coloured birds hopping about in the

dust, and incessantly talking whilst they hop."—_Ph. Robinson, In My

Indian Garden_, 30-31.

1883.—"... the SATBHAI or 'Seven Brothers' ... are too shrewd and knowing

to be made fun of.... Among themselves they will quarrel by the hour, and

bandy foul language like fishwives; but let a stranger treat one of their

number with disrespect, and the other six are in arms at once.... Each

Presidency of India has its own branch of this strange family. Here (at

Bombay) they are brothers, and in Bengal they are sisters; but

everywhere, like Wordsworth's opinionative child, they are

seven."—_Tribes on My Frontier_, 143.

SEVERNDROOG, n.p. A somewhat absurd corruption, which has been applied to

two forts of some fame, viz.:

A. _Suvarna-druga_, or _Suwandrug_, on the west coast, about 78 m. below

Bombay (Lat. 17° 48′ N.). It was taken in 1755 by a small naval force from

Tulajī Angria, of the famous piratical family. [For the commander of the

expedition, Commodore James, and his monument on Shooter's Hill, see

_Douglas, Bombay and W. India_, i. 117 _seq._]

B. _Savandrug_; a remarkable double hill-fort in Mysore, standing on a

two-topped bare rock of granite, which was taken by Lord Cornwallis's army

in 1791 (Lat. 12° 55′). [Wilks (_Hist. Sketches_, Madras reprint, i. 228,

ii. 232) calls it _Savendy Droog_, and _Savendroog_.]

SEYCHELLE ISLANDS, n.p. A cluster of islands in the Indian Ocean,

politically subordinate to the British Government of Mauritius, lying

be-between 3° 40′ & 4° 50′ S. Lat., and about 950 sea-miles east of Mombas

on the E. African coast. There are 29 or 30 of the Seychelles proper, of

which Mahé, the largest, is about 17 m. long by 3 or 4 wide. The principal

islands are granitic, and rise "in the centre of a vast plateau of coral"

of some 120 m. diameter.

These islands are said to have been visited by Soares in 1506, and were

known vaguely to the Portuguese navigators of the 16th century as the Seven

Brothers (_Os sete Irmanos_ or _Hermanos_), sometimes Seven Sisters (_Sete

Irmanas_), whilst in Delisle's Map of Asia (1700) we have both "les Sept

Frères" and "les Sept Sœurs." Adjoining these on the W. or S.W. we find

also on the old maps a group called the _Almirantes_, and this group has

retained that name to the present day, constituting now an appendage of the

Seychelles.

The islands remained uninhabited, and apparently unvisited, till near the

middle of the 18th century. In 1742 the celebrated Mahé de la Bourdonnais,

who was then Governor of Mauritius and the Isle of Bourbon, despatched two

small vessels to explore the islands of this little archipelago, an

expedition which was renewed by Lazare Picault, the commander of one of the

two vessels, in 1774, who gave to the principal island the name of _Mahé_,

and to the group the name of _Iles de Bourdonnais_, for which _Iles Mahé_

(which is the name given in the _Neptune Orientale_ of D'Apres de

Manneville, 1775, pp. 29-38, and the charts), seems to have been

substituted. Whatever may have been La Bourdonnais' plans with respect to

these islands, they were interrupted by his engagement in the Indian

campaigns of 1745-46, and his government of Mauritius was never resumed. In

1756 the Sieur Morphey (Murphy?), commander of the frigate _Le Cerf_, was

sent by M. Magon, Governor of Mauritius and Bourbon, to take possession of

the Island of Mahé. But it seems doubtful if any actual settlement of the

islands by the French occurred till after 1769. [See the account of the

islands in _Owen's Narrative_, ii. 158 _seqq._]

A question naturally has suggested itself to us as to how the group came by

the name of the _Seychelles Islands_; and it is one to which no trustworthy

answer will be easily found in English, if at all. Even French works of

pretension (_e.g._ the _Dictionnaire de la Rousse_) are found to state that

the islands were named after the "Minister of Marine, Herault de Séchelles,

who was eminent for his services and his able administration. He was the

first to establish a French settlement there." This is quoted from La

Rousse; but the fact is that the only man of the name known to fame is the

Jacobin and friend of Danton, along with whom he perished by the

guillotine. There never was a Minister of Marine so called! The name

SÉCHELLES first (so far as we can learn) appears in the _Hydrographie

Française_ of Belin, 1767, where in a map entitled _Carte réduite du Canal

de Mozambique_ the islands are given as _Les Iles_ SÉCHEYLES, with two

enlarged plans _en cartouche_ of the _Port de Sécheyles_. In 1767 also

Chev. de Grenier, commanding the _Heure du Berger_, visited the Islands,

and in his narrative states that he had with him the chart of Picault,

"envoyé par La Bourdonnais pour reconnoître les isles des Sept Frères,

_lesquelles ont été depuis nommée iles Mahé et ensuite_ ILES SÉCHELLES." We

have not been able to learn by whom the latter name was given, but it was

probably by Morphey of the _Cerf_; for among Dalrymple's Charts (pub.

1771), there is a "_Plan of the Harbour adjacent to_ Bat River _on the

Island_ Seychelles, _from a French plan made in_ 1756, _published by_

Bellin." And there can be no doubt that the name was bestowed in honour of

Moreau de Séchelles, who was _Contrôleur-Général des Finances_ in France in

1754-56, _i.e._ at the very time when Governor Magon sent Capt. Morphey to

take possession. One of the islands again is called _Silhouette_, the name

of an official who had been _Commissaire du roi près la Compagnie des

Indes_, and succeeded Moreau de Séchelles as Controller of Finance; and

another is called _Praslin_, apparently after the Duc de Choiseul Praslin

who was Minister of Marine from 1766 to 1770.

The exact date of the settlement of the islands we have not traced. We can

only say that it must have been between 1769 and 1772. The quotation below

from the Abbé Rochon shows that the islands were not settled when he

visited them in 1769; whilst that from Capt. Neale shows that they were

settled before his visit in 1772. It will be seen that both Rochon and

Neale speak of Mahé as "the island Seychelles, or Sécheyles," as in Belin's

chart of 1767. It seems probable that the cloud under which La Bourdonnais

fell, on his return to France, must have led to the suppression of his name

in connection with the group.

The islands surrendered to the English Commodore Newcome in 1794, and were

formally ceded to England with Mauritius in 1815. SEYCHELLES appears to be

an erroneous English spelling, now however become established. (For

valuable assistance in the preceding article we are indebted to the

courteous communications of M. James Jackson, Librarian of the _Société de

Géographie_ at Paris, and of M. G. Marcel of the _Bibliothèque Nationale_.

And see, besides the works quoted here, a paper by M. Elie Pujot, in

_L'Explorateur_, vol. iii. (1876) pp. 523-526).

The following passage of Pyrard probably refers to the Seychelles:

c. 1610.—"Le Roy (des Maldives) enuoya par deux foys vn très expert

pilote pour aller descouvrir vne certaine isle nommée _pollouoys_, qui

leur est presque inconnuë.... Ils disent aussi que le diable les y

tourmentoit visiblement, et que pour l'isle elle est fertile en toutes

sortes de fruicts, et mesme ils ont opinion que ces gros Cocos medicinaux

qui sont si chers-là en viennent.... Elle est sous la hauteur de dix

degrés au delà de la ligne et enuiron six vingt lieuës des

Maldiues...."—(see COCO-DE-MER).—_Pyrard de Laval_, i. 212. [Also see Mr.

Gray's note in Hak. Soc. ed. i. 296, where he explains the word

_pollouoys_ in the above quotation as the Malay _pulo_, 'an island,' Malé

_Fólávahi_.]

1769.—"The principal places, the situation of which I determined, are the

SECHEYLES ISLANDS, the flat of Cargados, the Salha da Maha, the island of

Diego Garcia, and the Adu isles. The island SECHEYLES has an exceedingly

good harbour.... This island is covered with wood to the very summit of

the mountains.... In 1769 when I spent a month here in order to determine

its position with the utmost exactness, Secheyles and the adjacent isles

were inhabited only by monstrous crocodiles; but a small establishment

has since been formed on it for the cultivation of cloves and

nutmegs."—_Voyage to Madagascar and the E. Indies by the Abbé Rochon_,

E.T., London, 1792, p. liii.

1772.—"The island named SEYCHELLES is inhabited by the French, and has a

good harbour.... I shall here deliver my opinion that these islands,

where we now are, are the Three Brothers and the adjacent islands ... as

there are no islands to the eastward of them in these latitudes, and many

to the westward."—_Capt. Neale's Passage from Bencoolen to the Seychelles

Islands in the Swift Grab._ In _Dunn's Directory_, ed. 1780, pp. 225,

232.

[1901.—"For a man of energy, perseverance, and temperate habits,

SEYCHELLES affords as good an opening as any tropical colony."—_Report of

Administrator_, in _Times_, Oct. 2.]

SHA, SAH, s. A merchant or banker; often now attached as a surname. It is

Hind. _sāh_ and _sāhu_ from Skt. _sādhu_, 'perfect, virtuous, respectable'

'_prudhomme_'). See SOWCAR.

[c. 1809.—"... the people here called Mahajans (MAHAJUN), SAHU, and

Bahariyas, live by lending money."—_Buchanan Hamilton, E. India_, ii.

573.]

SHABASH! interj. 'Well done!' 'Bravo!' Pers. _Shā-bāsh_. 'Rex fias!'[243]

[Rather _shād-bāsh_, 'Be joyful.']

c. 1610.—"Le Roy fit rencontre de moy ... me disant vn mot qui est commun

en toute l'Inde, à savoir SABATZ, qui veut dire grand mercy, et sert

aussi à louer vn homme pour quelque chose qu'il a bien fait."—_Pyrard de

Laval_, i. 224.

[1843.—"I was awakened at night from a sound sleep by the repeated

SAVĀSHES! _wāh! wāhs!_ from the residence of the thanndar."—_Davidson,

Travels in Upper India_, i. 209.]

SHABUNDER, s. Pers. _Shāh-bandar_, lit. 'King of the Haven,'

Harbour-Master. This was the title of an officer at native ports all over

the Indian seas, who was the chief authority with whom foreign traders and

ship-masters had to transact. He was often also head of the Customs. Hence

the name is of prominent and frequent occurrence in the old narratives.

Portuguese authors generally write the word _Xabander_; ours _Shabunder_ or

_Sabundar_. The title is not obsolete, though it does not now exist in

India; the quotation from Lane shows its recent existence in Cairo, [and

the Persians still call their Consuls _Shāh-bandar_ (_Burton, Ar. Nights_,

iii. 158)]. In the marine Malay States the _Shābandar_ was, and probably

is, an important officer of State. The passages from Lane and from

Tavernier show that the title was not confined to seaports. At Aleppo

Thevenot (1663) calls the corresponding official, perhaps by a mistake,

'_Scheik_ BANDAR' (_Voyages_, iii. 121). [This is the office which King

Mihrjān conferred upon Sindbad the Seaman, when he made him "his agent for

the port and registrar of all ships that entered the harbour" (_Burton_,

iv. 351)].

c. 1350.—"The chief of all the Musulmans in this city (_Kaulam_—see

QUILON) is Mahommed SHĀHBANDAR."—_Ibn Batuta_, iv. 100.

c. 1539.—"This King (of the Batas) understanding that I had brought him a

Letter and a Present from the Captain of _Malaca_, caused me to be

entertained by the XABANDAR, who is he that with absolute Power governs

all the affairs of the Army."—_Pinto_ (orig. cap. xv.), in _Cogan's

Transl._ p. 18.

1552.—"And he who most insisted on this was a Moor, XABANDAR of the

Guzarates" (at Malacca).—_Castanheda_, ii. 359.

1553.—"A Moorish lord called Sabayo (SABAIO) ... as soon as he knew that

our ships belonged to the people of these parts of Christendom, desiring

to have confirmation on the matter, sent for a certain Polish Jew who was

in his service as SHABANDAR (_Xabandar_), and asked him if he knew of

what nation were the people who came in these ships...."—_Barros_, I. iv.

11.

1561.—"... a boatman, who, however, called himself XABANDAR."—_Correa,

Lendas_, ii. 80.

1599.—"The SABANDAR tooke off my Hat, and put a Roll of white linnen

about my head...."—_J. Davis_, in _Purchas_, i. 12.

[1604.—"SABINDAR." See under KLING.]

1606.—"Then came the SABENDOR with light, and brought the Generall to his

house."—_Middleton's Voyage_, E. (4).

1610.—"The SABANDER and the Governor of _Mancock_ (a place scituated by

the River)...."—_Peter Williamson Floris_, in _Purchas_, i. 322.

[1615.—"The opinion of the SABINDOUR shall be taken."—_Foster, Letters_,

iv. 79.]

c. 1650.—"Coming to Golconda, I found that the person whom I had left in

trust with my chamber was dead: but that which I observ'd most

remarkable, was that I found the door seal'd with two Seals, one being

the Cadi's or chief Justice's, the other the SHA-BANDER'S or Provost of

the Merchants."—_Tavernier_, E.T. Pt. ii. 136; [ed. _Ball_, ii. 70].

1673.—"The SHAWBUNDER has his Grandeur too, as well as receipt of Custom,

for which he pays the King yearly 22,000 _Thomands_."—_Fryer_, 222.

1688.—"When we arrived at Achin, I was carried before the SHABANDER, the

chief Magistrate of the City...."—_Dampier_, i. 502.

1711.—"The Duties the Honourable Company require to be paid here on Goods

are not above one fifth Part of what is paid to the SHABANDER or

Custom-Master."—_Lockyer_, 223.

1726.—Valentyn, v. 313, gives a list of the SJAHBANDARS of Malakka from

1641 to 1725. They are names of Dutchmen.

[1727.—"SHAWBANDAAR." See under TENASSERIM.]

1759.—"I have received a long letter from the Shahzada, in which he

complains that you have begun to carry on a large trade in salt, and

betel nut, and refuse to pay the duties on those articles ... which

practice, if continued, will oblige him to throw up his post of

SHAHBUNDER Droga (DAROGA)."—_W. Hastings_ to the Chief at Dacca, in _Van

Sittart_, i. 5.

1768.—"... two or three days after my arrival (at Batavia), the landlord

of the hotel where I lodged told me he had been ordered by the SHEBANDAR

to let me know that my carriage, as well as others, must stop, if I

should meet the Governor, or any of the council; but I desired him to

acquaint the SHEBANDAR that I could not consent to perform any such

ceremony."—_Capt. Carteret_, quoted by transl. of _Stavorinus_, i. 281.

1795.—"The descendant of a Portuguese family, named Jaunsee, whose origin

was very low ... was invested with the important office of SHAWBUNDER, or

intendant of the port, and receiver of the port customs."—_Symes_, p.

160.

1837.—"The Seyd Mohammad El Mahroockee, the SHAHBENDAR (chief of the

Merchants of Cairo) hearing of this event, suborned a common

fellah...."—_Lane's Mod. Egyptians_, ed. 1837, i. 157.

SHADDOCK, s. This name properly belongs to the West Indies, having been

given, according to Grainger, from that of the Englishman who first brought

the fruit thither from the East, and who was, according to Crawfurd, an

interloper captain, who traded to the Archipelago about the time of the

Revolution, and is mentioned by his contemporary Dampier. The fruit is the

same as the POMMELO (q.v.). And the name appears from a modern quotation

below to be now occasionally used in India. [Nothing definite seems to be

known of this Capt. Shaddock. Mr. R. C. A. Prior (7 ser. _N. & Q._, vii.

375) writes: "Lunan, in '_Hortus Jamaicensis_,' vol. ii. p. 171, says,

'This fruit is not near so large as the shaddock, which received its name

from a Capt. Shaddock, who first brought the plant from the East Indies.'

The name of the captain is believed to have been Shattock, one not uncommon

in the west of Somersetshire. Sloane, in his 'Voyage to Jamaica,' 1707,

vol. i. p. 41 says, 'The seed of this was first brought to Barbados by one

Capt. Shaddock, commander of an East Indian ship, who touch'd at that

island in his passage to England, and left its seed there.'" Watt (_Econ.

Dict._ ii. 349) remarks that the Indian vernacular name _Batāvī nībū_,

'Batavian lime,' suggests its having been originally brought from Batavia.]

[1754.—"... pimple-noses (POMMELO), called in the West Indies, CHADOCKS,

a very fine large fruit of the citron-kind, but of four or five times its

size...."—_Ives_, 19.]

1764.—

"Nor let thy bright impatient flames destroy

The golden SHADDOCK, the forbidden fruit...."—_Grainger_, Bk. I.

1803.—"The SHADDOCK, or pumpelmos (POMMELO), often grows to the size of a

man's head."—_Percival's Ceylon_, 313.

[1832.—"Several trays of ripe fruits of the season, viz., kurbootahs

(SHADOCK), kabooza (melons)...."—_Mrs. Meer Hassan Ali, Observations_, i.

365.]

1878.—"... the splendid SHADDOCK that, weary of ripening, lays itself

upon the ground and swells at ease...."—_In My Indian Garden_, 50.

[1898.—

"He has stripped my rails of the SHADDOCK frails and the green unripened

pine."

_R. Kipling, Barrack Room Ballads_, p. 130.]

SHADE (TABLE-SHADE, WALL-SHADE), s. A glass guard to protect a candle or

simple oil-lamp from the wind. The oldest form, in use at the beginning of

the last century, was a tall glass cylinder which stood on the table, the

candlestick and candle being placed bodily within in. In later days the

universal form has been that of an inverted dome fitting into the

candlestick, which has an annular socket to receive it. The _wall-shade_ is

a bracket attached to the wall, bearing a candle or cocoa-nut oil lamp,

protected by such a shade. In the wine-drinking days of the earlier part of

last century it was sometimes the subject of a challenge, or forfeit, for a

man to empty a wall-shade filled with claret. The second quotation below

gives a notable description of a captain's outfit when taking the field in

the 18th century.

1780.—"Borrowed last Month by a Person or Persons unknown, out of a

private Gentleman's House near the Esplanade, a very elegant Pair of

Candle SHADES. Whoever will return the same will receive a reward of 40

_Sicca Rupees_.—N.B. The Shades have private marks."—_Hicky's Bengal

Gazette_, April 8.

1789.—"His tent is furnished with a good large bed, mattress, pillow,

&c., a few camp-stools or chairs, a folding table, a pair of SHADES for

his candles, six or seven trunks with table equipage, his stock of linen

(at least 24 shirts); some dozens of wine, brandy, and gin; tea, sugar,

and biscuit; and a hamper of live poultry and his milch-goat."—_Munro's

Narrative_, 186.

1817.—"I am now finishing this letter by candle-light, with the help of a

handkerchief tied over the SHADE."—_T. Munro_, in _Life_, i. 511.

[1838.—"We brought carpets, and chandeliers, and WALL SHADES (the great

staple commodity of Indian furniture), from Calcutta...."—_Miss Eden, Up

the Country_, 2nd ed. i. 182.]

SHAGREEN, s. This English word,—French _chagrin_; Ital. _zigrino_; Mid.

High Ger. _Zager_,—comes from the Pers. _saghrī_, Turk. _ṣāghrī_, meaning

properly the croupe or quarter of a horse, from which the peculiar

granulated leather, also called _sāghrī_ in the East, was originally made.

Diez considers the French (and English adopted) _chagrin_ in the sense of

vexation to be the same word, as certain hard skins prepared in this way

were used as files, and hence the word is used figuratively for gnawing

vexation, as (he states) the Ital. _lima_ also is (_Etym. Worterbuch_, ed.

1861, ii. 240). He might have added the figurative origin of _tribulation_.

[This view is accepted by the _N.E.D._; but Prof. Skeat (_Concise Dict._)

denies its correctness.]

1663.—"... à Alep ... on y travaille aussi bien qu'à Damas le SAGRI, qui

est ce qu'on appelle CHAGRIN en France, mais l'on en fait une bien plus

grande quantité en Perse.... Le SAGRI sa fait de croupe d'âne,"

&c.—_Thevenot, Voyages_, iii. 115-116.

1862.—"SAGHREE, or _Keemookt_, Horse or Ass-Hide."—_Punjab Trade Report_,

App. ccxx.; [For an account of the manufacture of _kimukht_, see _Hoey,

Mon. on Trades and Manufactures of N. India_, 94.]

SHAITAN, Ar. 'The Evil One; Satan.' _Shaitān kā bhāī_, 'Brother of the

Arch-Enemy,' was a title given to Sir C. Napier by the Amīrs of Sind and

their followers. He was not the first great English soldier to whom this

title had been applied in the East. In the romance of _Cœur de Lion_, when

Richard entertains a deputation of Saracens by serving at table the head of

one of their brethren, we are told:

"Every man sat stylle and pokyd othir;

They saide: 'This is the _Develys brothir_,

That sles our men, and thus hem eetes...."

[c. 1630.—"But a Mountebank or Impostor is nick-named SHITAN-Tabib,

_i.e._ the Devil's Chirurgion."—_Sir T. Herbert_, ed. 1677, p. 304.

1753.—"God preserve me from the SCHEITHAN Alragim."—_Hanway_, iii. 90.]

1863.—"Not many years ago, an eccentric gentleman wrote from Sikkim to

the Secretary of the Asiatic Society in Calcutta, stating that, on the

snows of the mountains there were found certain mysterious footsteps,

_more than 30 or 40 paces asunder_, which the natives alleged to be

SHAITAN'S. The writer at the same time offered, if Government would give

him leave of absence for a certain period, etc., to go and trace the

author of these mysterious vestiges, and thus this strange creature would

be discovered _without any expense to Government_. The notion of catching

SHAITAN _without any expense to Government_ was a sublime piece of

Anglo-Indian tact, but the offer was not accepted."—_Sir H. Yule, Notes

to Friar Jordanus_, 37.

SHALEE, SHALOO, SHELLA, SALLO, &c., s. We have a little doubt as to the

identity of all these words; the two latter occur in old works as names of

cotton stuffs; the first two (Shakespear and Fallon give _sālū_) are names

in familiar use for a soft twilled cotton stuff, of a Turkey-red colour,

somewhat resembling what we call, by what we had judged to be a

modification of the word, _shaloon_. But we find that Skeat and other

authorities ascribe the latter word to a corruption of _Chalons_, which

gave its name to certain stuffs, apparently bed-coverlets of some sort.

Thus in Chaucer:

"With shetes and with CHALONS faire yspredde."—_The Reve's Tale._

On which Tyrwhitt quotes from the _Monasticon_, "... _aut pannos pictos qui

vocantur_ CHALONS _loco lectisternii_." See also in _Liber Albus_:

"La charge de CHALOUNS et draps de Reynes...."—p. 225, also at p. 231.

c. 1343.—"I went then to _Shāliyāt_ (near Calicut—see CHALIA) a very

pretty town, where they make the stuffs (qu. SHĀLĪ?) that bear its

name."—_Ibn Batuta_, iv. 109.

[It is exceedingly difficult to disentangle the meanings and derivations of

this series of words. In the first place we have SALOO, Hind. _sālū_, the

Turkey-red cloth above described; a word which is derived by Platts from

Skt. _śālū_, 'a kind of astringent substance,' and is perhaps the same word

as the Tel. _sālū_, 'cloth.' This was originally an Indian fabric, but has

now been replaced in the bazars by an English cloth, the art of dyeing

which was introduced by French refugees who came over after the Revolution

(see 7 ser. _N. & Q._ viii. 485 _seq._). See PIECE-GOODS, SALOOPAUTS.

[c. 1590.—"SÁLU, per piece, 3 R. to 2 M."—_Āīn_, i. 94.

[1610.—"SALLALLO, blue and black."—_Danvers, Letters_, i. 72.

[1672.—"SALLOOS, made at Gulcundah, and brought from thence to Surat, and

go to England."—In _Birdwood, Report on Old Records_, 62.

[1896.—"SALU is another fabric of a red colour prepared by dyeing English

cloth named _mārkīn_ ('American') in the _āl_ dye, and was formerly

extensively used for turbans, curtains, borders of female coats and

female dress."—_Muhammad Hadi, Mon. on Dyes_, 34.

Next we have SHELAH, which may be identical with Hind. _selā_, which Platts

connects with Skt. _chela_, _chaila_, 'a piece of cloth,' and defines as "a

kind of scarf or mantle (of silk, or lawn, or muslin; usually composed of

four breadths depending from the shoulders loosely over the body: it is

much worn and given as a present, in the Dakkhan); silk turban." In the

Deccan it seems to be worn by men (_Herklots, Qanoon-e-Islam_, Madras

reprint, 18). The _Madras Gloss._ gives SHEELAY, Mal. _shīla_, said to be

from Skt. _chīra_, 'a strip of cloth,' in the sense of clothes; and SULLAH,

Hind. _sela_, 'gauze for turbans.'

[c. 1590.—"SHELAH, from the Dek'han, per piece, ½ to 2 M."—_Āīn_, i. 95.

[1598.—"CHEYLA," in _Linschoten_, i. 91.

[1800.—"SHILLAS, or thin white muslins.... They are very coarse, and are

sometimes striped, and then called _Dupattas_ (see DOOPUTTY)."—_Buchanan,

Mysore_, ii. 240.]

1809.—"The SHALIE, a long piece of coloured silk or cotton, is wrapped

round the waist in the form of a petticoat, which leaves part of one leg

bare, whilst the other is covered to the ancle with long and graceful

folds, gathered up in front, so as to leave one end of the SHALIE to

cross the breast, and form a drapery, which is sometimes thrown over the

head as a veil."—_Maria Graham_, 3. [But, as Sir H. Yule suggested, in

this form the word may represent SAREE.]

1813.—"Red SHELLAS or SALLOES...."—_Milburne_, i. 124.

[ " "His SHELA, of fine cloth, with a silk or gold thread

border...."—_Trans. Lit. Soc. Bo._ iii. 219 _seq._

[1900.—"SELA _Dupatta_—worn by men over shoulders, tucked round waist,

ends hanging in front ... plain body and borders richly ornamented with

gold thread; white, yellow, and green; worn in full dress, sometimes

merely thrown over shoulders, with the ends hanging in front from either

shoulder."—_Yusuf Ali, Mon. on Silk_, 72.

The following may represent the same word, or be perhaps connected with

P.—H. _chilla_, 'a selvage, gold threads in the border of a turban, &c.'

[1610.—"TSYLE, the corge, Rs. 70."—_Danvers, Letters_, i. 72.]

1615.—"320 pieces red ZELAS."—_Foster, Letters_, iv. 129. The same word

is used by _Cocks, Diary_, Hak. Soc. i. 4.

SHAMA, s. Hind. _shāmā_ [Skt. _syāma_, 'black, dark-coloured.'] A favourite

song-bird and cage-bird, _Kitta cincla macrura_, Gmel. "In confinement it

imitates the notes of other birds, and of various animals, with ease and

accuracy" (_Jerdon_). The long tail seems to indicate the identity of this

bird rather than the _mainā_ (see MYNA) with that described by Aelian. [Mr.

M‘Crindle (_Invasion of India_, 186) favours the identification of the bird

with the _Mainā_.]

c. A.D. 250.—"There is another bird found among the Indians, which is of

the size of a starling. It is particoloured; and in imitating the voice

of man it is more loquacious and clever than a parrot. But it does not

readily bear confinement, and yearning for liberty, and longing for

intercourse with its kind, it prefers hunger to bondage with fat living.

The Macedonians who dwell among the Indians, in the city of Bucephala and

thereabouts ... call the bird κερκίων ('Taily'); and the name arose from

the fact that the bird twitches his tail just like a wagtail."—_Aelian,

de Nat. Anim._ xvi. 3.

SHAMAN, SHAMANISM, s. These terms are applied in modern times to

superstitions of the kind that connects itself with exorcism and

"devil-dancing" as their most prominent characteristic, and which are found

to prevail with wonderful identity of circumstance among non-Caucasian

races over parts of the earth most remote from one another; not only among

the vast variety of Indo-Chinese tribes, but among the Dravidian tribes of

India, the Veddahs of Ceylon, the races of Siberia, and the red nations of

N. and S. America. "Hinduism has assimilated these 'prior superstitions of

the sons of Tur,' as Mr. Hodgson calls them, in the form of Tantrika

mysteries, whilst, in the wild performance of the Dancing Dervishes at

Constantinople, we see, perhaps, again, the infection of Turanian blood

breaking out from the very heart of Mussulman orthodoxy" (see _Notes to

Marco Polo_, Bk. II. ch. 50). The characteristics of Shamanism is the

existence of certain sooth-sayers or medicine-men, who profess a special

art of dealing with the mischievous spirits who are supposed to produce

illness and other calamities, and who invoke these spirits and ascertain

the means of appeasing them, in trance produced by fantastic ceremonies and

convulsive dancings.

The immediate origin of the term is the title of the spirit-conjuror in the

Tunguz language, which is _shaman_, in that of the Manchus becoming

_saman_, pl. _samasa_. But then in Chinese _Sha-măn_ or _Shi-măn_ is used

for a Buddhist ascetic, and this would seem to be taken from the Skt.

_śramana_, Pali _samana_. Whether the Tanguz word is in any way connected

with this or adopted from it, is a doubtful question. W. Schott, who has

treated the matter elaborately (_Über den Doppelsinn des Wortes_ Schamane

_und über den tungusichen_ Schamanen-_Cultus am Hofe der Mandju Kaisern_,

Berlin Akad. 1842), finds it difficult to suppose any connection. We,

however, give a few quotations relating to the two words in one series. In

the first two the reference is undoubtedly to Buddhist ascetics.

c. B.C. 320.—"Τοὺς δὲ Σαρμάνας, τοὺς μὲν ἐντιμοτάτους Ὑλοβίους φησὶν

ὀνομάζεσθαι, ζῶντας ἐν ταῖς ὕλαις ἀπὸ φύλλων καὶ καρπῶν ἀγρίων, ἐσθῆτας

δ' ἔχειν ἀπὸ φλοῖων δενδρέιων, ἀφροδισίων χωρὶς καὶ οἴνου."—From

_Megasthenes_, in _Strabo_, xv.

c. 712.—"All the SAMANÍS assembled and sent a message to Bajhrá, saying,

"We are _násik_ devotees. Our religion is one of peace and quiet, and

fighting and slaying is prohibited, as well as all kinds of shedding of

blood."—_Chach Náma_, in _Elliot_, i. 158.

1829.—"_Kami_ is the Mongol name of the spirit-conjuror or sorcerer, who

before the introduction of Buddhism exercised among the Mongols the

office of Sacrificer and Priest, as he still does among the Tunguzes,

Manjus, and other Asiatic tribes.... In Europe they are known by the

Tunguz name SCHAMAN; among the Manjus as SAMAN, and among the Tibetans as

_Hlaba_. The Mongols now call them with contempt and abhorrence _Böh_ or

_Böghe_, _i.e._ 'Sorcerer,' 'Wizard,' and the women who give themselves

to the like fooleries _Udugun_."—_I. J. Schmidt, Notes to Sanang Setzen_,

p. 416.

1871.—"Among Siberian tribes, the SHAMANS select children liable to

convulsions as suitable to be brought up to the profession, which is apt

to become hereditary with the epileptic tendencies it belongs

to."—_Tylor, Primitive Culture_, ii. 121.

SHAMBOGUE, s. Canar. _shāna-_ or _sāna-bhoga_; _shanāya_, 'allowance of

grain paid to the village accountant,' Skt. _bhoga_, 'enjoyment.' A village

clerk or accountant.

[c. 1766.—"... this order to be enforced in the accounts by the

SHANBAGUE."—_Logan, Malabar_, iii. 120.

[1800.—"SHANABOGA, called SHANBOGUE by corruption, and CURNUM by the

Musulmans, is the village accountant."—_Buchanan's Mysore_, i. 268.]

1801.—"When the whole KIST is collected, the SHANBOGUE and potail (see

PATEL) carry it to the teshildar's cutcherry."—_T. Munro, in Life_, i.

316.

SHAMEEANA, SEMIANNA, s. Pers. _shamiyāna_ or _shāmiyāna_ [very doubtfully

derived from Pers. _shāh_, 'king,' _miyāna_, 'centre'], an awning or flat

tent-roof, sometimes without sides, but often in the present day with

CANAUTS; sometimes pitched like a porch before a large tent; often used by

civil officers, when on tour, to hold their court or office proceedings

_coram populo_, and in a manner generally accessible. [In the early records

the word is used for a kind of striped calico.]

c. 1590.—"The SHĀMYĀNAH-awning is made of various sizes, but never more

than of 12 yards square."—_Āīn_, i. 54.

[1609.—"A sort of Calico here called SEMIJANES are also in abundance, it

is broader than the Calico."—_Danvers, Letters_, i. 29.]

[1613.—"The Hector having certain chueckeros (CHUCKER) of fine SEMIAN

chowters."—_Ibid._ i. 217. In _Foster_, iv. 239, SEMANES.]

1616.—"... there is erected a throne foure foote from the ground in the

Durbar Court from the backe whereof, to the place where the King comes

out, a square of 56 paces long, and 43 broad was rayled in, and covered

with fair SEMIAENES or Canopies of Cloth of Gold, Silke, or Velvet ioyned

together, and sustained with Canes so covered."—_Sir T. Roe_, in

_Purchas_, i.; Hak. Soc. i. 142.

[1676.—"We desire you to furnish him with all things necessary for his

voyage, ... with bridle and sadle, SEMEANOES, canatts

(CANAUT)...."—_Forrest, Bombay Letters_, i. 89.]

1814.—"I had seldom occasion to look out for gardens or pleasure grounds

to pitch my tent or erect my SUMMINIANA or SHAMYANA, the whole country

being generally a garden."—_Forbes, Or. Mem._ ii. 455; 2nd ed. ii. 64. In

ii. 294 he writes SHUMEEANA].

1857.—"At an early hour we retired to rest. Our beds were arranged under

large canopies, open on all sides, and which are termed by the natives

'SHAMEANAHS.'"—_M. Thornhill, Personal Adventures_, 14.

SHAMPOO, v. To knead and press the muscles with the view of relieving

fatigue, &c. The word has now long been familiarly used in England. The

Hind. verb is _chāmpnā_, from the imperative of which, _chāmpō_, this is

most probably a corruption, as in the case of BUNOW, PUCKEROW, &c. The

process is described, though not named, by Terry, in 1616: "Taking thus

their ease, they often call their Barbers, who tenderly gripe and smite

their Armes and other parts of their bodies instead of exercise, to stirre

the bloud. It is a pleasing wantonnesse, and much valued in these hot

climes." (In _Purchas_, ii. 1475). The process was familiar to the Romans

under the Empire, whose slaves employed in this way were styled _tractator_

and _tractatrix_. [Perhaps the earliest reference to the practice is in

Strabo (_McCrindle, Ancient India_, 72).] But with the ancients it seems to

have been allied to vice, for which there is no ground that we know in the

Indian custom.

1748.—"SHAMPOOING is an operation not known in Europe, and is peculiar to

the Chinese, which I had once the curiosity to go through, and for which

I paid but a trifle. However, had I not seen several China merchants

SHAMPOOED before me, I should have been apprehensive of danger, even at

the sight of all the different instruments...." (The account is good, but

too long for extract.)—_A Voyage to the E. Indies in 1747 and 1748._

London, 1762, p. 226.

1750-60.—"The practice of CHAMPING, which by the best intelligence I

could gather is derived from the Chinese, may not be unworthy

particularizing, as it is little known to the modern

Europeans...."—_Grose_, i. 113. This writer quotes _Martial_, iii. Ep.

82, and _Seneca_, Epist. 66, to show that the practice was known in

ancient Rome.

1800.—"The Sultan generally rose at break of day: after being CHAMPOED,

and rubbed, he washed himself, and read the Koran for an hour."—_Beatson,

War with Tippoo_, p. 159.

[1810.—"SHAMPOEING may be compared to a gentle kneading of the whole

person, and is the same operation described by the voyagers to the

Southern and Pacific ocean."—_Wilks, Hist. Sketches_, Madras reprint, i.

276.]

" "Then whilst they fanned the children, or CHAMPOOED them if they

were restless, they used to tell stories, some of which dealt of marvels

as great as those recorded in the 1001 Nights."—_Mrs. Sherwood,

Autobiog._ 410.

" "That considerable relief is obtained from SHAMPOING, cannot be

doubted; I have repeatedly been restored surprisingly from severe

fatigue...."—_Williamson, V. M._ ii. 198.

1813.—"There is sometimes a voluptuousness in the climate of India, a

stillness in nature, an indescribable softness, which soothes the mind,

and gives it up to the most delightful sensations: independent of the

effects of opium, CHAMPOING, and other luxuries indulged in by oriental

sensualists."—_Forbes, Or. Mem._ i. 35; [2nd ed. i. 25.]

SHAN, n.p. The name which we have learned from the Burmese to apply to the

people who call themselves the _great T'ai_, kindred to the Siamese, and

occupying extensive tracts in Indo-China, intermediate between Burma, Siam,

and China. They are the same people that have been known, after the

Portuguese, and some of the early R. C. Missionaries, as LAOS (q.v.); but

we now give the name an extensive signification covering the whole race.

The Siamese, who have been for centuries politically the most important

branch of this race, call (or did call themselves—see De la Loubère, who is

very accurate) _T'ai-Noe_ or 'Little T'ai,' whilst they applied the term

_T'ai-Yai_, or 'Great T'ai,' to their northern kindred or some part of

these;[244] sometimes also calling the latter _T'ai-güt_, or the 'Ta'i left

behind.' The T'ai or Shan are certainly the most numerous and widely spread

race in Indo-China, and innumerable petty Shan States exist on the borders

of Burma, Siam, and China, more or less dependent on, or tributary to,

their powerful neighbours. They are found from the extreme north of the

Irawadi Valley, in the vicinity of Assam, to the borders of Camboja; and in

nearly all we find, to a degree unusual in the case of populations

politically so segregated, a certain homogeneity in language, civilisation,

and religion (Buddhist), which seems to point to their former union in

considerable States.

One branch of the race entered and conquered Assam in the 13th century, and

from the name by which they were known, _Ahom_ or _Aham_, was derived, by

the frequent exchange of aspirant and sibilant, the name, just used, of the

province itself. The most extensive and central Shan State, which occupied

a position between Ava and Yunnan, is known in the Shan traditions as

Mung-_Mau_, and in Burma by the Buddhisto-classical name of _Kauśāmbi_

(from a famous city of that name in ancient India) corrupted by a usual

process into _Ko-Shan-pyi_ and interpreted to mean 'Nine-Shan-States.'

Further south were those T'ai States which have usually been called LAOS,

and which formed several considerable kingdoms, going through many

vicissitudes of power. Several of their capitals were visited and their

ruins described by the late Francis Garnier, and the cities of these and

many smaller States of the same race, all built on the same general

quadrangular plan, are spread broadcast over that part of Indo-China which

extends from Siam north of Yunnan.

Mr. Cushing, in the Introduction to his _Shan Dictionary_ (Rangoon, 1881),

divides the Shan family by dialectic indications into the _Ahoms_, whose

language is now extinct, the _Chinese Shan_ (occupying the central

territory of what was _Mau_ or Kauśāmbi), the _Shan_ (_Proper_, or Burmese

Shan), _Laos_ (or Siamese Shan), and Siamese.

The term SHAN is borrowed from the Burmese, in whose peculiar orthography

the name, though pronounced _Shān_, is written _rham_. We have not met with

its use in English prior to the Mission of Col. Symes in 1795. It appears

in the map illustrating his narrative, and once or twice in the narrative

itself, and it was frequently used by his companion, F. Buchanan, whose

papers were only published many years afterwards in various periodicals

difficult to meet with. It was not until the Burmese war of 1824-1826, and

the active investigation of our Eastern frontier which followed, that the

name became popularly known in British India. The best notice of the Shans

that we are acquainted with is a scarce pamphlet by Mr. Ney Elias, printed

by the Foreign Dept. of Calcutta in 1876 (_Introd. Sketch of the Hist. of

the Shans, &c._). [The ethnology of the race is discussed by J. G. Scott,

_Upper Burma Gazetteer_, i. pt. i. 187 _seqq._ Also see _Prince Henri

d'Orleans, Du Tonkin aux Indes_, 1898; _H. S. Hallett, Among the Shans_,

1885, and _A Thousand Miles on an Elephant_, 1890.]

Though the name as we have taken it is a Burmese oral form, it seems to be

essentially a genuine ethnic name for the race. It is applied in the form

SAM by the Assamese, and the Kakhyens; the Siamese themselves have an

obsolete SIẼM (written _Sieyam_) for themselves, and SIENG (_Sieyang_) for

the Laos. The former word is evidently the _Sien_, which the Chinese used

in the compound _Sien-lo_ (for Siam,—see _Marco Polo_, 2nd ed. Bk. iii. ch.

7, note 3), and from which we got, probably through a Malay medium, our

SIAM (q.v.). The Burmese distinguish the Siamese Shans as _Yudia_ (see

JUDEA) Shans, a term perhaps sometimes including Siam itself. Symes gives

this (through Arakanese corruption) as 'Yoodra-Shaan,' and he also (no

doubt improperly) calls the Manipūr people 'Cassay Shaan' (see CASSAY).

1795.—"These events did not deter Shanbuan from pursuing his favourite

scheme of conquest to the westward. The fertile plains and populous towns

of Munnipoora and the CASSAY SHAAN, attracted his ambition."—_Symes_, p.

77.

" "Zemee (see JANGOMAY), Sandapoora, and many districts of the

YOODRA SHAAN to the eastward, were tributary, and governed by CHOBWAS,

who annually paid homage to the Birman king."—_Ibid._ 102.

" "SHAAN, or SHAN, is a very comprehensive term given to different

nations, some independent, others the subjects of the greater

states."—_Ibid._ 274.

c. 1818.—"... They were assisted by many of the _Zaboà_ (see CHOBWA) or

petty princes of the SCIAM, subject to the Burmese, who, wearied by the

oppressions and exactions of the Burmese Mandarins and generals, had

revolted, and made common cause with the enemies of their cruel

masters.... The war which the Burmese had to support with these enemies

was long and disastrous ... instead of overcoming the SCIAM (they) only

lost day by day the territories ... and saw their princes range

themselves ... under the protection of the King of Siam."—_Sangermano_,

p. 57.

1861.—

"Fie, Fie! Captain Spry!

You are surely in joke

With your wires and your trams,

Going past all the SHAMS

With branches to _Bam-you_ (see BAMO), and end in A-SMOKE."

_Ode on the proposed Yunnan Railway._

_Bhamo_ and _Esmok_ were names constantly recurring in the late Capt.

Spry's railway projects.

SHANBAFF, SINABAFF, &c., s. Pers. _shānbāft_. A stuff often mentioned in

the early narratives as an export from Bengal and other parts of India.

Perhaps indeed these names indicate two different stuffs, as we do not know

what they were, except that (as mentioned below) the _sinabaff_ was a fine

white stuff. _Sīnabāff_ is not in Vuller's _Lexicon_. _Shānabāf_ is, and is

explained as _genus panni grossioris, sic descripta_ (E. T.): "A very

coarse and cheap stuff which they make for the sleeves of _ḳabās_ (see

CABAYA) for sale."—_Bahār-i-'Ajam._ But this cannot have been the character

of the stuffs sent by Sultan Mahommed Tughlak (as in the first quotation)

to the Emperor of China. [Badger (quoted by _Birdwood, Report on Old

Records_, 153) identifies the word with _sīna-bāfta_, 'China-woven'

cloths.]

1343.—"When the aforesaid present came to the Sultan of India (from the

Emp. of China) ... in return for this present he sent another of greater

value ... 100 pieces of SHĪRĪNBĀF, and 500 pieces of SHĀNBĀF."—_Ibn

Batuta_, iv. 3.

1498.—"The overseer of the Treasury came next day to the Captain-Major,

and brought him 20 pieces of white stuff, very fine, with gold embroidery

which they call _beyramies_ (BEIRAMEE), and other 20 large white stuffs,

very fine, which were named SINABAFOS...."—_Correa_, E.T. by _Ld.

Stanley_, 197.

[1508.—See under ALJOFAR.]

1510.—"One of the Persians said: 'Let us go to our house, that is, to

Calicut.' I answered, 'Do not go, for you will lose these fine SINABAPH'

(which were pieces of cloth we carried)."—_Varthema_, 269.

1516.—"The quintal of this sugar was worth two ducats and a half in

Malabar, and a good SINABÁFFO was worth two ducats."—_Barbosa_, 179.

[ " "Also they make other stuffs which they call _Mamonas_

(_Maḥmūdīs_?), others _duguazas_ (_dogazīs_?), others _chautares_ (see

CHOWTARS, under PIECE-GOODS), others SINABAFAS, which last are the best,

and which the Moors hold in most esteem to make shirts of."—_Ibid._,

Lisbon ed. 362.]

SHASTER, s. The Law books or Sacred Writings of the Hindus. From Skt.

_śāstra_, 'a rule,' a religious code, a scientific treatise.

1612.—"... They have many books in their Latin.... Six of these they call

XASTRA, which are the bodies; eighteen which they call _Purána_

(POORANA), which are the limbs."—_Couto_, V. vi. 3.

1630.—"... The Banians deliver that this book, by them called the

SHASTER, or the Book of their written word, consisted of these three

tracts."—_Lord's Display_, ch. viii.

1651.—In _Rogerius_, the word is everywhere misprinted IASTRA.

1717.—"The six SASTRANGÓL contain all the Points and different Ceremonies

in Worship...."—_Phillips's Account_, 40.

1765.—"... at the capture of _Calcutta_, A.D. 1756, I lost many curious

_Gentoo_ manuscripts, and among them two very correct and valuable copies

of the _Gentoo_ SHASTAH."—_J. Z. Holwell, Interesting Hist. Events_, &c.,

2d ed., 1766, i. 3.

1770.—"The SHASTAH is looked upon by some as a commentary on the _vedam_,

and by others as an original work."—_Raynal_ (tr. 1777), i. 50.

1776.—"The occupation of the Bramin should be to read the _Beids_, and

other SHASTERS."—_Halhed, Gentoo Code_, 39.

[SHASTREE, s. Hind. _śāstrī_ (see SHASTER). A man of learning, one who

teaches any branch of Hindu learning, such as law.

[1824.—"Gungadhur SHASTREE, the minister of the Baroda state, ... was

murdered by Trimbuckjee under circumstances which left no doubt that the

deed was perpetrated with the knowledge of Bajerow."—_Malcolm, Central

India_, 2nd ed. i. 307.]

SHAWL, s. Pers. and Hind. _shāl_, also _doshāla_, 'a pair of shawls.' The

Persian word is perhaps of Indian origin, from Skt. _śavala_, 'variegated.'

Sir George Birdwood tells us that he has found among the old India records

"Carmania SHELLS" and "Carmania SHAWOOLS," meaning apparently _Kermān

shawls_. He gives no dates unfortunately. [In a book of 1685 he finds

"SHAWLES Carmania" and "Carmania Wooll"; in one of 1704, "CHAWOOLS"

(_Report on Old Records_, 27, 40). Carmania goats are mentioned in a letter

in _Forrest, Bombay Letters_, i. 140.] In Meninski (published in 1680)

_shāl_ is defined in a way that shows the humble sense of the word

originally:

"Panni viliores qui partim albi, partim cineritii, partim nigri esse

solent ex lana et pillis caprinis; hujusmodi pannum seu telam injiciunt

humeris Dervisii ... instar stolae aut pallii." To this he adds, "Datur

etiam sericea ejusmodi tela, fere instar nostri multitii, sive simplicis

sive duplicati." For this the 2nd edition a century later substitutes:

"_Shāl-i-Hindī_" (Indian shawl). "Tela _sericea_ subtilissima ex India

adferri solita."

c. 1590.—"In former times SHAWLS were often brought from Kashmír. People

folded them in four folds, and wore them for a very long time.... His

Majesty encourages in every possible way the (_shāl-bāfī_) manufacture of

SHAWLS in Kashmír. In Lahór also there are more than 1000

workshops."—_Āīn_ i. 92. [Also see ed. _Jarrett_, ii. 349, 355.]

c. 1665.—"Ils mettent sur eux a toute saison, lorsqu'ils sortent, une

CHAL, qui est une maniere de toilette d'une laine très-fine qui se fait a

Cachmìr. Ces CHALS ont environ deux aunes (the old French _aune_, nearly

47 inches English) de long sur une de large. On les achete vingt-cinq ou

trente écus si elles sont fines. Il y en a même qui coûtent cinquante

écus, mais ce sont les très-fines."—_Thevenot_, v. 110.

c. 1666.—"Ces CHALES sont certaines pièces d'étoffe d'une aulne et demie

de long, et d'une de large ou environ, qui sont brodées aux deux bouts

d'une espèce de broderie, faite au métier, d'un pied ou environ de

large.... J'en ai vu de ceux que les _Omrahs_ font faire exprès, qui

coutoient jusqu'à cent cinquante Roupies; des autres qui sont de cette

laine du pays, je n'en ai pas vu qui passaient 50 Roupies."—_Bernier_,

ii. 280-281; [ed. _Constable_, 402].

1717.—"... Con tutto ciò preziosissime nobilissime e senza comparazione

magnifiche sono le tele che si chiamano SCIAL, si nella lingua

Hindustana, come ancora nella lingua Persiana. Tali SCIAL altro non sono,

che alcuni manti, che si posano sulla testa, e facendo da man destra, e

da man sinistra scendere le due metà, con queste si cinge...."—_MS.

Narrative of Padre Ip. Desideri._

[1662.—"Another rich Skarf, which they call SCHAL, made of a very fine

stuff."—_J. Davies, Ambassador's Trav._, Bk. vi. 235, _Stanf. Dict._]

1727.—"When they go abroad they wear a SHAWL folded up, or a piece of

White Cotton Cloth lying loose on the Top of their Heads."—_A. Hamilton_,

ii. 50; [SHAUL in ed. 1744, ii. 49].

c. 1760.—"Some SHAWLS are manufactured there.... Those coming from the

province of Cachemire on the borders of Tartary, being made of a peculiar

kind of silky hair, that produces from the loom a cloth beautifully

bordered at both ends, with a narrow flowered selvage, about two yards

and a half long, and a yard and a half wide ... and according to the

price, which is from ten pounds and upwards to fifteen shillings, join,

to exquisite fineness, a substance that renders them extremely warm, and

so pliant that the fine ones are easily drawn through a common ring on

the finger."—_Grose_, i. 118.

1781.—Sonnerat writes CHALLES. He says: "Ces étoffes (faites avec la

laine des moutons de Tibet) surpassent nos plus belles soieries en

finesse."—_Voyage_, i. 52.

It seems from these extracts that the large and costly shawl, woven in

figures over its whole surface, is a modern article. The old shawl, we see,

was from 6 to 8 feet long, by about half that breadth; and it was most

commonly white, with only a _border_ of figured weaving at each end. In

fact what is now called a RAMPOOR CHUDDER when made with figured ends is

probably the best representation of the old shawl.

SHEEAH, SHIA, s. Arab. _shī'a_, _i.e._ 'sect.' A follower (more properly

the followers collectively) of the Mahommedan 'sect,' or sects rather,

which specially venerate 'Ali, and regard the Imāms (see IMAUM), his

descendants, as the true successors to the Caliphate. The Persians (since

the accession of the 'SOPHY' dynasty, (q.v.)) are _Shī'as_, and a good many

of the Moslems in India. The sects which have followed more or less secret

doctrines, and the veneration of hereditary quasi-divine heads, such as the

Karmathites and Ismaelites of Musulman history, and the modern BOHRAS (see

BORA) and "Mulāḥis," may generally be regarded as _Shī'a_. [See the

elaborate article on the sect in _Hughes, Dict. of Islām_, 572 _seqq._]

c. 1309.—"... dont encore il est ainsi, que tuit cil qui croient en la

loy Haali dient que cil qui croient en la loy Mahommet sont mescréant; et

aussi tuit cil qui croient en la loy Mahommet dient que tuit cil qui

croient en la loy Haali sont mescréant."—_Joinville_, 252.

1553.—"Among the Moors have always been controversies ... which of the

four first Caliphs was the most legitimate successor to the Caliphate.

The Arabians favoured Bubac, Homar, and Otthoman, the Persians

(_Parseos_) favoured Alle, and held the others for usurpers, and as

holding it against the testament of Mahamed ... to the last this schism

has endured between the Arabians and the Persians. The latter took the

appellation XIÁ, as much as to say 'Union of one Body,' and the Arabs

called them in reproach _Raffady_ [_Rāfiḍī_, a heretic (lit.

'deserter')], as much as to say 'People astray from the Path,' whilst

they call themselves ÇUNY (see SUNNEE), which is the contrary."—_Barros_,

II. x. 6.

1620.—"The Sonnite adherents of tradition, like the Arabs, the Turks, and

an infinite number of others, accept the primacy of those who actually

possess it. The Persians and their adherents who are called _Shias_

(SCIAI), _i.e._ 'Sectaries,' and are not ashamed of the name, believe in

the primacy of those who have only claimed it (without possessing it),

and obstinately contend that it belongs to the family of Alì only."—_P.

della Valle_, ii. 75; [conf. Hak. Soc. i. 152].

1626.—"He is by Religion a Mahumetan, descended from Persian Ancestors,

and retaineth their opinions, which differing in many points from the

Turkes, are distinguished in their Sectes by tearmes of SEAW and

_Sunnee_."—_Purchas, Pilgrimage_, 995.

1653.—"Les Persans et _Keselbaches_ (KUZZILBASH) se disent SCHAÌ ... si

les Ottomans estoient SCHAÌS, ou de la Secte de Haly, les Persans se

feroient _Sonnis_ qui est la Secte des Ottomans."—_De la

Boullaye-le-Gouz_, ed. 1657, 106.

1673.—"His Substitute here is a CHIAS Moor."—_Fryer_, 29.

1798.—"In contradistinction to the _Soonis_, who in their prayers cross

their hands on the lower part of the breast, the SCHIAHS drop their arms

in straight lines."—_G. Forster, Travels_, ii. 129.

1805.—"The word SH'EEAH, or SHEEUT, properly signifies a troop or sect

... but has become the distinctive appellation of the followers of Aly,

or all those who maintain that he was the first legitimate _Khuleefah_,

or successor to Moohummad."—_Baillie, Digest of Mah. Law_, II. xii.

1869.—"La tolerance indienne est venue diminuer dans l'Inde le fanatisme

Musulman. Là _Sunnites_ et SCHIITES n'ont point entre eux cette animosité

qui divise les Turcs et les Persans ... ces deux sectes divisent les

musulmans de l'Inde; mais comme je viens de dire, elles n'excitent

généralement entre eux aucune animosité."—_Garcin de Tassy, Rel. Mus._,

p. 12.

SHEERMAUL, s. Pers.—Hind. _shīrmāl_, a cake made with flour, milk and

leaven; a sort of _brioche_. [The word comes from Pers. _shīr_, 'milk,'

_māl_, 'crushing.' Riddell (_Domest. Econ._ 461) gives a receipt for what

he calls "_Nauna Sheer Mhal_," _nān_ being Pers., 'bread.']

[1832.—"The dishes of meetah (_miṭhā_, 'sweet') are accompanied with the

many varieties of bread common to Hindoostaun, without leaven, as

SHEAH-MAUL, _bacherkaunie_ (BAKIR-KHANI), _chapaatie_ (CHUPATTY), &c.;

the first two have milk and ghee mixed with the flour, and nearly

resemble our pie-crust."—_Mrs. Meer Hassan Ali, Observations_, i. 101.

[SHEIKH, s. Ar. _shaikh_; an old man, elder, chief, head of an Arab tribe.

The word should properly mean one of the descendants of tribes of genuine

Arab descent, but at the present day, in India, it is often applied to

converts to Islam from the lower Hindu tribes. For the use of the word in

the sense of a saint, see under PEER.

[1598.—"Lieftenant (which the Arabians called ZEQUEN)."—_Linschoten_,

Hak. Soc. i. 24.

[1625.—"They will not haue them iudged by any Custome, and they are

content that their XEQUE doe determine them as he list."—_Purchas,

Pilgrimage_, ii. 1146.

1727.—"... but if it was so, that he (Abraham) was their SHEEK, as they

alledge, they neither follow him in Morals or Religion."—_A. Hamilton_,

ed. 1744, i. 37.

[1835.—"Some parents employ a SHEYKH or fikee to teach their boys at

home."—_Lane, Mod. Egypt._, ed. 1871, i. 77.]

SHERBET, s. Though this word is used in India by natives in its native

(Arab. and Pers.) form _sharbat_,[245] 'draught,' it is not a word now

specially in Anglo-Indian use. The Arabic seems to have entered Europe by

several different doors. Thus in Italian and French we have _sorbetto_ and

_sorbet_, which probably came direct from the Levantine or Turkish form

_shurbat_ or _shorbat_; in Sp. and Port. we have _xarabe_, _axarabe_

(_ash-sharāb_, the standard Ar. _sharāb_, 'wine or any beverage'), and

_xarope_, and from these forms probably Ital. _sciroppo_, _siroppo_, with

old French _ysserop_ and mod. French _sirop_; also English _syrup_, and

more directly from the Spanish, _shrub_. Mod. Span. again gets, by

reflection from French or Italian, _sorbete_ and _sîrop_ (see _Dozy_, 17,

and _Marcel Devic_, s.v. _sirop_). Our _sherbet_ looks as if it had been

imported direct from the Levant. The form _shrāb_ is applied in India to

all wines and spirits and prepared drinks, _e.g._ Port-_shraub_,

Sherry-_shraub_, LALL-SHRAUB, Brandy-_shraub_, Beer-_shraub_.

c. 1334.—"... They bring cups of gold, silver, and glass, filled with

sugar-candy-water; _i.e._ syrup diluted with water. They call this

beverage SHERBET" (_ash-shurbat_).—_Ibn Batuta_, iii. 124.

1554.—"... potio est gratissima praesertim ubi multa nive, quae

Constantinopoli nullo tempore deficit, fuerit refirgerata, _Arab_ SORBET

vocant, hoc est, potionem Arabicam."—_Busbeq._ Ep. i. p. 92.

1578.—"The physicians of the same country use this XARAVE (of tamarinds)

in bilious and ardent fevers."—_Acosta_, 67.

c. 1580.—"Et saccharo potum jucundissimum parant quem SARBET

vocant."—_Prosper Alpinus_, Pt. i. p. 70.

1611.—"In Persia there is much good wine of grapes which is called XARÀB

in the language of the country."—_Teixeira_, i. 16.

c. 1630.—"Their liquor may perhaps better delight you; 'tis faire water,

sugar, rose-water, and juyce of Lemons mixt, call'd SHERBETS or ZERBETS,

wholsome and potable."—_Sir T. Herbert_, ed. 1638, p. 241.

1682.—"The Moores ... dranke a little milk and water, but not a drop of

wine; they also dranke a little SORBET, and _jacolatt_ (see

JOCOLE)."—_Evelyn's Diary_, Jan 24.

1827.—"On one occasion, before Barak-el-Hadgi left Madras, he visited the

Doctor, and partook of his SHERBET, which he preferred to his own,

perhaps because a few glasses of rum or brandy were usually added to

enrich the compound."—_Sir W. Scott, The Surgeon's Daughter_, ch. x.

1837.—"The Egyptians have various kinds of SHERBETS.... The most common

kind (called simply SHURBÁT or SHURBÁT _sook'har_ ...) is merely sugar

and water ... lemonade (_ley'moónáteh_, or SHARÁB _el-leymoón_) is

another."—_Lane, Mod. Egypt._, ed. 1837, i. 206.

1863.—"The Estate overseer usually gave a dance to the people, when the

most dissolute of both sexes were sure to be present, and to indulge too

freely in the SHRUB made for the occasion."—_Waddell, 29 Years in the W.

Indies_, 17.

SHEREEF, s. Ar. _sharīf_, 'noble.' A dignitary descended from Mahommed.

1498.—"The ambassador was a white man who was XARIFE, as much as to say a

_creligo_" (_i.e._ _clerigo_).—_Roteiro_, 2nd ed. 30.

[1672.—"SCHIERIFI." See under CASIS.

[c. 1666.—"The first (embassage) was from the CHERIF of

Meca...."—_Bernier_, ed. _Constable_, 133.

1701.—"... y^e SHREIF of Judda...."—_Forrest, Bombay Letters_, i. 232.]