Henry Yule

“ A natural object, or animal, made an object of worship. From Port. fetiço, feitiço, or fetisso (old Span. fechizo) , apparently from factitius, signifying first 'artificial,' and then 'unnatural,' 'wrought by charms,' &c. The word is not Anglo-Indian; but it was at an early date applied by the Portuguese to the magical figures, &c., used by natives in Africa and India, and has thence been adopted into French and English. ”

“ Blanford says: "I have often observed this habit: the head is lowered, the animal pauses in its flight, and the water is just touched, I believe, by the tongue or lower jaw. I have no doubt that some water is drunk, and this is the opinion of both Tickell and M‘Master. The former says that flying-foxes in confinement drink at all hours, lapping with their tongues. The latter has noticed many other bats drink in the evening as well as the flying-foxes." (Mammalia of India, 258) . ”

“ I have been positively assured by natives that on the Odeypore lake in Rajputana, the crocodiles rise to catch these bats, as they follow in line, touching the water. Fancy fly-fishing for crocodile with such a fly! ”

“ This term for a European is very old in Asia, but when now employed by natives in India is either applied (especially in the South) specifically to the Indian-born Portuguese, or, when used more generally, for 'European,' implies something of hostility or disparagement. (See Sonnerat and Elphinstone below.) In South India the Tamil P'arangi, the Singhalese Parangi, mean only 'Portuguese,' [or natives converted by the Portuguese, or by Mahommedans, any European (Madras Gloss. s.v.) . St. Thomas's Mount is called in Tam. Parangi Malai, from the original Portuguese settlement] . ”

“ And knowing that a distinction of titles is, in many respects necessary, we do order that when the Apprentices have served their times, they be stiled Writers; and when the Writers have served their times, they be stiled Factors, and Factors having served their times to be stiled Merchants; and Merchants having served their times to be stiled Senior Merchants."—Ext. ”

“ For example, they have bats—I mean those birds that fly by night and have no feathers of any kind; well, their birds of this kind are as big as a goshawk!"—Marco Polo, Bk. iii. ch. 17. c. 1328:—"There be also bats really and truly as big as kites. These birds fly nowhither by day, but only when the sun sets. Wonderful! By day they hang themselves up on trees by the feet, with their bodies downwards, and in the daytime they look just like big fruit on the tree."—Friar Jordanus, p. ”

“ What Latham writes is, in describing the Passarage Bustard, which, he says, is the size of the Little Bustard: "Inhabits India. Called Passarage Plover.... I find that it is known in India by the name of Oorail; by some of the English called Flercher." (Suppt. to Gen. Synopsis of Birds, 1787, 229.) Here we understand "the English" to be the English in India, and Flercher to be a clerical error for some form of "floriken." [Flercher is not in N.E.D.]
1875.—"In the rains it is always matter of emulation at Rajkot, who shall shoot the first purple-crested florican."—Wyllie's Essays, 358. ”

“ Fool Rack is originally, as will be seen from Garcia and Acosta, the name of the strongest distillation from toddy or sura, the 'flower' (p'hūl, in H. and Mahr.) of the spirit. But the 'striving after meaning' caused the English corruption of this name to be applied to a peculiarly abominable and pernicious spirit, in which, according to the statement of various old writers, the stinging sea-blubber was mixed, or even a distillation of the same, with a view of making it more ardent. ”

“ It constantly occurs in the account statements of the 16th century, e.g. of Nunez (1554) as a money of account, of which 4 went to the silver tanga, [see TANGA] 20 to the Pardao. In Milburn (1813) it is a pice or copper coin, of which 50 went to a rupee. Prof. Robertson Smith suggests that this may be the Ar. denomination of a small coin used in Egypt, faḍḍa (i.e. 'silverling') . It may be an objection that the letter ẓwād used in that word is generally pronounced in India as a z. The faḍḍa is the Turkish pāra, 1⁄40 of a piastre, an infinitesimal value now. ”

“ Thus the chief criminal Court at Madras and Bombay, up to 1863, was termed the Foujdary Adawlut, corresponding to the Nizamut Adawlut of Bengal. (See ADAWLUT.)
[1802.—"The Governor in Council of Fort St. George has deemed it to be proper at this time to establish a Court of Fozdarry Adaulut."—Procl. in Logan, Malabar, ii. 350; iii. 351.]
FOWRA, s. In Upper India, a mattock or large hoe; the tool generally employed in digging in most parts of India. Properly speaking (H.) phāoṛā. ”

“ Properly a military commander (P. fauj, 'a military force,' fauj-dār, 'one holding such a force at his disposal') , or a military governor of a district. But in India, an officer of the Moghul Government who was invested with the charge of the police, and jurisdiction in criminal matters. Also used in Bengal, in the 18th century, for a criminal judge. ”

“ In Seton-Karr, i. 98.
1807.—"The floriken is a species of the bustard.... The cock is a noble bird, but its flight is very heavy and awkward ... if only a wing be broken ... he will run off at such a rate as will baffle most spaniels.... There are several kinds of the floriken ... the bastard floriken is much smaller.... Both kinds ... delight in grassy plains, keeping clear of heavy cover."—Williamson, Oriental Field Sports, 104.
1813.—"The florican or curmoor (Otis houbara, Lin.) exceeds all the Indian wild fowl in delicacy of flavour."—Forbes, Or. Mem. ii. 275; [2nd ed. i. 501] . ”

“ As fast as I hear of one hog, another begins to grunt, and then another and another, until I find that there is a whole herd of them.'"—Hajji Baba, ed. 1835, p. 432.
1825.—"Europeans, too, are very little known here, and I heard the children continually calling out to us, as we passed through the villages, 'Feringhee, ue Feringhee!'"—Heber, ii. 43.
1828.—"Mr. Elphinstone adds in a note that in India it is a positive affront to call an Englishman a Feringhee."—Life of E. ii. 207. ”

“ This, which is the smallest of all coins, the elephant feels about till he finds."—Caraccioli's Life of Clive, i. 288.
1803.—"The pay I have given the boatmen is one gold fanam for every day they do not work, and two gold fanams for every day they do."—From Sir A. Wellesley, in Life of Munro, i. 342. FAN-PALM, s. The usual application of this name is to the Borassus flabelliformis, L. (see BRAB, PALMYRA) , which is no doubt the type on which our ladies' fans have been formed. ”

“ Mem. iii. 246; [2nd ed. ii. 269] .
[1869.—"They (in Batchian) are almost the only people in the Archipelago who eat the great fruit-eating bats called by us 'flying foxes' ... they are generally cooked with abundance of spices and condiments, and are really very good eating, something like hare."—Wallace, Malay Archip., ed. 1890, p. 256.]
1882.—"... it is a common belief in some places that emigrant coolies hang with heads downward, like flying-foxes, or are ground in mills for oil."—Pioneer Mail, Dec. 13, p. 579.
FOGASS, s. A word of Port. origin used in S. India ”

“ Originally a commercial agent; the executive head of a factory. Till some 55 years ago the Factors formed the third of the four classes into which the covenanted civil servants of the Company were theoretically divided, viz. Senior Merchants, Junior Merchants, factors and writers. ”

“ But these bats were not seen on every tree."—Sidi 'Ali, 91.
[c. 1590.—Writing of the Sarkār of Kābul, 'Abul Faẓl says: "There is an animal called a flying-fox, which flies upward about the space of a yard." This is copied from Baber, and the animal meant is perhaps the flying squirrel.—Āīn, ed. Jarrett, ii. 406.
[1623.—"I saw Batts as big as Crows."—P. della Valle, Hak. Soc. i. 103.]
1813.—"The enormous bats which darken its branches frequently exceed 6 feet in length from the tip of each wing, and from their resemblance to that animal are not improperly called flying-foxes."—Forbes, Or. ”

“ Piscash (as they paid formerly at Hugly) and 2,000 r. more yearly on account of Jidgea, which they are willing to pay, they may on that condition have a grant to be Custome Free."—Nabob's Letter to Vizier (MS.) , in Hedges' Diary, July 18; [Hak. Soc. i. 101] .
1689.—"... by her came Bengal Peons who brought in several letters and a firmaun from the new Nabob of Bengal."—Wheeler, i. 213.
c. 1690.—"Now we may see the Mogul's Stile in his Phirmaund to be sent to Surat, as it stands translated by the Company's Interpreter."—A. Hamilton, i. 227; [ed. 1744, i. 230] .
FISCAL, s. Dutch Fiscaal ”

“ Middleton, John Havard, and Francis Barne, elected the three principal Factors. John Havard, being present, willingly accepted."—Sainsbury, i. 111.
c. 1610.—"Les Portugais de Malaca ont des commis et facteurs par toutes ces Isles pour le trafic."—Pyrard de Laval, ii. 106. [Hak. Soc. ii. 170] .
1653.—"Feitor est vn terme Portugais signifiant vn Consul aux Indes."—De la Boullaye-le-Gouz, ed. 1657, p. 538. ”

“ Writers, £7. Peons got 4 rupees a month. P. 392.)
1711.—Lockyer gives the salaries at Madras as follows: "The Governor, £200 and £100 gratuity; 6 Councillors, of whom the chief (2nd?) had £100, 3d. £70, 4th. £50, the others £40, which was the salary of 6 Senior Merchants. 2 Junior Merchants £30 per annum; 5 Factors, £15; 10 Writers, £5 ”