Chapter COMPRADORE to CONCAN of C by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

COMPRADORE to CONCAN

COMPRADORE, COMPODORE &c., s. Port. comprador, ‘purchaser,’ from comprar, ‘to purchase.’ This word was formerly in use in Bengal, where it is now quite obsolete; but it is perhaps still remembered in Madras, and it is common in China. In Madras the compradore is (or was) a kind of house-steward, who keeps the household accounts, and purchases necessaries. In China he is much the same as a Butler (q.v.). A new building was to be erected on the Bund at Shanghai, and Sir T. Wade was asked his opinion as to what style of architecture should be adopted. He at once said that for Shanghai, a great Chinese commercial centre, it ought to be Compradoric!

1533.—“Antonio da Silva kept his own counsel about the (threat of) war, because during the delay caused by the exchange of messages, he was all the time buying and selling by means of his compradores.”—Correa, iii. 562.

1615.—“I understand that yesterday the Hollanders cut a slave of theirs a-peeces for theft, per order of justice, and thrust their comprador (or cats buyer) out of dores for a lecherous knave.…”—Cock’s Diary, i. 19.

1711.—“Every Factory had formerly a Compradore, whose Business it was to buy in Provisions and other Necessarys. But the Hoppos have made them all such Knaves.…”Lockyer, 108.

[1748.—“Compradores.” See quotation under BANKSHALL.]

1754.—“Compidore. The office of this servant is to go to market and bring home small things, such as fruit, &c.”—Ives, 50.

1760–1810.—“All river-pilots and ships’ Compradores must be registered at the office of the Tung-che at Macao.”—‘Eight Regulations,’ from the Fankwae at Canton (1882), p. 28.

1782.—“Le Comprador est celui qui fournit généralement tout ce dont on a besoin, excepté les objets de cargaison; il y en a un pour chaque Nation: il approvisionne la loge, et tient sous lui plusieurs commis chargés de la fourniture des vaisseaux.”—Sonnerat (ed. 1782), ii. 236.

1785.—“Compudour … Sicca Rs. 3.” —In Seton-Karr, i. 107 (Table of Wages).

1810.—“The Compadore, or Kurz-burdar, or Butler-Konnah-Sircar, are all designations for the same individual, who acts as purveyor. … This servant may be considered as appertaining to the order of sircars, of which he should possess all the cunning.”—Williamson, V. M. i. 270.

See SIRCAR. The obsolete term Kurzburdar above represents Kharach-bardar “in charge of (daily) expenditure.”

1840.—“About 10 days ago … the Chinese, having kidnapped our Compendor, Parties were sent out to endeavour to recover him.”—Mem. Col. Mountain, 164.

1876.—“We speak chiefly of the educated classes, and not of ‘boys’ and compradores, who learn in a short time both to touch their caps, and wipe their noses in their masters’ pocket - handkerchiefs.”—Giles, Chinese Sketches, [p. 15].

1876.—

“An’ Massa Coe feel velly sore
An’ go an’ scold he compradore.”
Leland, Pidgin English Sing-Song, 26.

1882.—“The most important Chinese within the Factory was the Compradore … all Chinese employed in any factory, whether as his own ‘pursers,’ or in the capacity of servants, cooks, or coolies, were the Compradore’s own people.”—The Fankwae, p. 53.

CONBALINGUA, s. The common pumpkin, [cucurbita pepo. The word comes from the Malayal., Tel. or Can. kumbalam; kumbalanu, the pumpkin]. 1510.—“I saw another kind of fruit which resembled a pumpkin in colour, is two spans in length, and has more than three fingers of pulp … and it is a very curious thing, and it is called Comolanga, and grows on the ground like melons.”—Varthema, 161.

[1554.—“Conbalinguas.” See quotation under BRINJAUL.]

[c. 1610.—Couto gives a tradition of the origin of the kingdom of Pegu, from a fisherman who was born of a certain flower; “they also say that his wife was born of a Combalenga, which is an apple (pomo) very common in India of which they make several kinds of preserve, so cold that it is used in place of sugar of roses; and they are of the size and fashion of large melons; and there are some so large that it would be as much as a lad could do to lift one by himself. This apple the Pegús call Sapua.”—Dec. xii. liv. v. cap. iii.]

c. 1690.—“In Indiae insulis quaedam quoque Cucurbitae et Cucumeris reperiuntur species ab Europaeis diversae … harumque nobilissima est Comolinga, quae maxima est species Indicarum cucurbitarum.”—Rumphius, Herb. Amb. v. 395.

CONCAN, n.p. Skt. konkana, [Tam. konkanam], the former in the Pauranic lists the name of a people; Hind. Konkan and Kokan. The low country of Western India between the Ghauts and the sea, extending, roughly speaking, from Goa northward to Guzerat. But the modern Commissionership, or Civil Division,