Chapter DONEY to DOORSUMMUND of D by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

DONEY to DOORSUMMUND

DONEY, DHONY, s. In S. India, a small native vessel, properly formed (at least the lower part of it) from a single tree. Tamil. toni. Dr. Gundert suggests as the origin Skt. drona, ‘a wooden vessel.’ But it is perhaps connected with the Tamil tonduga, ‘to scoop out’; and the word would then be exactly analogous to the Anglo-American ‘dug-out.’ In the J.R.A.S. vol. i. is a paper by Mr. Edye, formerly H.M.’s Master Shipwright in Ceylon, on the native vessels of South India, and among others he describes the Doni (p. 13), with a drawing to scale. He calls it “a huge vessel of ark-like form, about 70 feet long, 20 feet broad, and 12 feet deep; with a flat bottom or keel part, which at the broadest place is 7 feet;…the whole equipment of these rude vessels, as well as their construction, is the most coarse and unseaworthy that I have ever seen.” From this it would appear that the doney is no longer a ‘dug-out,’ as the suggested etymology, and Pyrard de Laval’s express statement, indicate it to have been originally.

1552.—Castanheda already uses the word as Portuguese: “foy logo cõtra ho tône.”—iii. 22.

1553.—“Vasco da Gama having started…on the following day they were becalmed rather more than a league and a half from Calicut, when there came towards them more than 60 tonés, which are small vessels, crowded with people.”—Barros, I. iv., xi.

1561.—The word constantly occurs in this form (toné) in Correa, e.g. vol. i. pt. 1, 403, 502, &c.

[1598.—“…certaine scutes or Skiffes called Tones.”—Linschoten, Hak. Soc. ii. 56.]

1606.—There is a good description of the vessel in Gouvea, f. 29.

c. 1610.—“Le basteau s’appelloit Donny, c’est à dire oiseau, pource qu’il estoit proviste de voiles.”—Pyrard de Laval, i. 65; [Hak. Soc. i. 86].

„ “La plupart de leurs vaisseaux sont d’une seule piece, qu’ils appellent Tonny, et les Portugais Almediés (Almadia).”—Ibid. i. 278; [Hak. Soc. i. 389].

1644.—“They have in this city of Cochin certain boats which they call Tones, in which they navigate the shallow rivers, which have 5 or 6 palms of depth, 15 or 20 cubits in length, and with a broad parana of 5 or 6 palms, so that they build above an upper story called Bayleu, like a little house, thatched with Ola (Ollah), and closed at the sides. This contains many passengers, who go to amuse themselves on the rivers, and there are spent in this way many thousands of cruzados.”—Bocarro MS.

1666.—“…with 110 paraos, and 100 catures (see PROW, CATUR) and 80 tonees of broad beam, full of people…the enemy displayed himself on the water to our caravels.”—Faria y Sousa, Asia Portug. i. 66.

1672.—“…four fishermen from the town came over to us in a Tony.”—Baldaeus, Ceylon (Dutch ed.), 89.

[1821.—In Travels on Foot through the Island of Ceylon, by J. Haafner, translated from the Dutch (Phillip’s New Voyages and Travels, v. 6, 79), the words “thonij,” “thony’s” of the original are translated Funny, Funnies; this is possibly a misprint for Tunnies, which appears on p. 65 as the rendering of “thonij’s.” See Notes and Queries, 9th ser. iv. 183.]

1860.—“Amongst the vessels at anchor (at Galle) lie the dows of the Arabs, the Patamars of Malabar, the dhoneys of Coromandel.”—Tennent’s Ceylon, ii. 103.

DOOB, s. H. dub, from Skt. durva. A very nutritious creeping grass (Cynodon dactylon, Pers.), spread very generally in India. In the hot weather of Upper India, when its growth is scanty, it is eagerly sought for horses by the ‘grass-cutters.’ The natives, according to Roxburgh, quoted by Drury, cut the young leaves and make a cooling drink from the roots. The popular etymology, from dhup, ‘sunshine,’ has no foundation. Its merits, its lowly gesture, its spreading quality, give it a frequent place in native poetry.

1810.—“The doob is not to be found everywhere; but in the low countries about Dacca…this grass abounds; attaining to a prodigious luxuriance.”—Williamson, V. M. i. 259.

DOOCAUN, s. Ar. dukkan, Pers. and H. dukan, ‘a shop’; dukandar, ‘a shopkeeper.’ 1554.—“And when you buy in the dukans (nos ducões), they don’t give picotaa (see PICOTA), and so the Dukándárs (os Ducamdares) gain.…”—A. Nunes, 22.

1810.—“L’estrade elevée sur laquelle le marchand est assis, et d’où il montre sa marchandise aux acheteurs, est proprement ce qu’on appelle dukan; mot qui signifie, suivant son étymologie, une estrade ou plateforme, sur laquelle on se peut tenir assis, et que nous traduisons improprement par boutique.”—Note by Silvestre de Sacy, in Relation de l’Egypte, 304.

[1832.—“The Dukhauns (shops) small, with the whole front open towards the street.”—Mrs. Meer Hassan Ali, Observations, ii. 36.]

1835.—“The shop (dookkán) is a square recess, or cell, generally about 6 or 7 feet high.… Its floor is even with the top of a mustabah, or raised seat of stone or brick, built against the front.”—Lane’s Mod. Egyptians, ed. 1836, ii. 9.