Chapter COPECK to CORCOPALI of C by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

COPECK to CORCOPALI

COPECK, s. This is a Russian coin, 1/100 of a ruble. The degeneration of coin denominations is often so great that we may suspect this name to preserve that of the dinar Kopeki often mentioned in the histories of Timur and his family. Kopek is in Turki, ‘dog,’ and Charmoy explains the term as equivalent to Abu-kalb, ‘Father of a dog,’ formerly applied in Egypt to Dutch crowns (Löwenthaler) bearing a lion. There could not be Dutch coins in Timur’s time, but some other Frank coin bearing a lion may have been so called, probably Venetian. A Polish coin with a lion on it was called by a like name (see Macarius, quoted below, p. 169). Another etymology of kopek suggested (in Chaudoir, Aperçu des Monnaies Russes) is from Russ. kopié, kopyé, a pike, many old Russian coins representing the Prince on horseback with a spear. [This is accepted by the N.E.D.] Kopeks are mentioned in the reign of Vassili III., about the middle of the 15th century, but only because regularly established in the coinage c. 1536. [See TANGA.]

1390.—(Timour resolved) “to visit the venerated tomb of Sheikh Maslahat…and with that intent proceeded to Tashkand…he there distributed as alms to worthy objects, 10,000 dinars kopaki.…”—Sharifuddin, in Extracts by M. Charmoy, Mem. Acad. St. P., vi. S., tome iii. p. 363, also note, p. 135.

1535.—“It was on this that the Grand Duchess Helena, mother of Ivan Vassilievitch, and regent in his minority, ordered, in 1535, that these new Dengui should be melted down and new ones struck, at the rate of 300 dengui, or 3 Roubles of Moscow à la grivenka, in Kopeks.…From that time accounts continued to be kept in Roubles, Kopeks, and Dengui.”—Chaudoir, Aperçu.

c. 1655.—“The pension in lieu of provisions was, for our Lord the Patriarch 25 copecks daily.”—Travels of the Patriarch Macarius, Or. Tr. Fund, i. 281.

1783.—“The Copeck of Russia, a copper coin, in name and apparently in value, is the same which was current in Tartary during the reign of Timur.”—Forster’s Journey, ed. 1808, ii. 332.

COPPERSMITH, s. Popular name both in H. (tambayat) and English of the crimson-breasted barbet (Xantholaema indica, Latham). See the quotation from Jerdon.

1862.—“It has a remarkably loud note, which sounds like took-took-took, and this it generally utters when seated on the top of some tree, nodding its head at each call, first to one side and then to another.…This sound and the motion of its head, accompanying it, have given origin to the name of ‘Coppersmith.’…”—Jerdon, ed. 1877, i. 316.

1879.—

“…In the mango-sprays
The sun-birds flashed; alone at his green forge
Toiled the loud Coppersmith.…”

The Light of Asia, p. 20.

1883.—“For the same reason mynas seek the tope, and the ‘blue jay,’ so-called, and the little green coppersmith hooting ventriloquistically.”—Tribes on my Frontier, 154.

COPRAH, s. The dried kernel of the coco-nut, much used for the expression of its oil, and exported largely from the Malabar ports. The Portuguese probably took the word from the Malayal. koppara, which is, however, apparently borrowed from the H. khopra, of the same meaning. The latter is connected by some with khapna, ‘to dry up.’ Shakespear however, more probably, connects khopra, as well as khopri, ‘a skull, a shell,’ and khappar, ‘a skull,’ with Skt. kharpara, having also the meaning of ‘skull.’ Compare with this a derivation which we have suggested (s.v.) as possible of coco from old Fr. and Span. coque, coco, ‘a shell’; and with the slang use of coco there mentioned. 1563.—“And they also dry these cocos…and these dried ones they call copra, and they carry them to Ormuz and to the Balaghat.”—Garcia, Colloq. f. 68b.

1578.—“The kernel of these cocos is dried in the sun, and is called copra.…From this same copra oil is made in presses, as we make it from olives.”—Acosta, 104.

1584.—“Chopra, from Cochin and Malabar.…”—Barret, in Hakl. ii. 413.

1598.—“The other Oyle is prest out of the dried Cocus, which is called Copra.…”—Linschoten, 101. See also (1602), Couto, Dec. I. liv. iv. cap. 8; (1606) Gouvea, f. 62b; [(1610) Pyrard de Laval, Hak. Soc. ii. 384 (reading kuppara for suppara);] (c. 1690) Rumphius, Herb. Amb. i. 7.

1727—“That tree (coco-nut) produceth…Copera, or the Kernels of the Nut dried, and out of these Kernels there is a very clear Oil exprest.”—A. Hamilton, i. 307; [ed. 1744, i. 308].

1860.—“The ordinary estimate is that one thousand full-grown nuts of Jaffna will yield 525 pounds of Copra