Chapter GINDY to GINGER of G by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

GINDY to GINGER

GINDY, s. The original of this word belongs to the Dravidian tongues; Malayal. kindi; Tel. gindi; Tam. kinni, from v. kinu, ‘to be hollow’; and the original meaning is a basin or pot, as opposed to a flat dish. In Malabar the word is applied to a vessel resembling a coffee-pot without a handle, used to drink from. But in the Bombay dialect of H., and in Anglo-Indian usage, gindi means a wash-hand basin of tinned copper, such as is in common use there (see under CHILLUMCHEE).

1561.—“…guindis of gold.…”— Correa, Lendas, II. i. 218.

1582.—“After this the Capitaine Generall commanded to discharge theyr Shippes, which were taken, in the whiche was bound store of rich Merchaundize, and amongst the same these peeces following:

“Foure great Guyndes of silver.…”

Castañeda, by N. L., f. 106.

1813.—“At the English tables two servants attend after dinner, with a gindey and ewer, of silver or white copper.”—Forbes, Or. Mem. ii. 397; [2nd ed. ii. 30; also i. 333].

1851.—“…a tinned bason, called a gendee.…”—Burton, Scinde, or the Unhappy Valley, i. 6.

GINGALL, JINJALL, s. H. janjal, ‘a swivel or wall-piece’; a word of uncertain origin. [It is a corruption of the Ar. jaza’il (see JUZAIL).] It is in use with Europeans in China also.

1818.—“There is but one gun in the fort, but there is much and good sniping from matchlocks and gingals, and four Europeans have been wounded.”—Elphinstone, Life, ii. 31.

1829.—“The moment the picket heard them, they fired their long ginjalls, which kill a mile off.”—Shipp’s Mem. iii. 40.

[1900.—“Gingals, or Jingals, are long tapering guns, six to fourteen feet in length, borne on the shoulders of two men and fired by a third. They have a stand, or tripod, reminding one of a telescope.…”—Ball, Things Chinese, 38.]

GINGELI, GINGELLY, &c. s. The common trade name for the seed and oil of Sesamum indicum, v. orientale. There is a H. [not in Platts’ Dict.] and Mahr. form jinjali, but most probably this also is a trade name introduced by the Portuguese. The word appears to be Arabic al-juljulan, which was pronounced in Spain al-jonjolin (Dozy and Engelmann, 146-7), whence Spanish aljonjoli, Italian giuggiolino, zerzelino, &c., Port. girgelim, zirzelim, &c., Fr. jugeoline, &c., in the Philippine Islands ajonjoli. The proper H. name is til. It is the [Greek Text] shsamon of Dioscorides (ii. 121), and of Theophrastus (Hist. Plant. i. 11). [See Watt, Econ. Dict. VI. ii. 510 seqq.]

1510.—“Much grain grows here (at Zeila) …oil in great quantity, made not from olives, but from zerzalino.”—Varthema, 86.

1552.—“There is a great amount of gergelim.”—Castanheda, 24.

[1554.—“…oil of Jergelim and quoquo (Coco).”—Botelho, Tombo, 54.]

1599.—“…Oyle of Zezeline, which they make of a Seed, and it is very good to eate, or to fry fish withal.”—C. Fredericke, ii. 358.

1606.—“They performed certain anointings of the whole body, when they baptized, with oil of coco-nut, or of gergelim.”— Gouvea, f. 39.

c. 1610.—“I’achetay de ce poisson frit en l’huile de gerselin (petite semence comme nauete dont ils font huile) qui est de tresmauvais goust.”—Mocquet, 232.

[1638.—Mr. Whiteway notes that “in a letter of Amra Rodriguez to the King, of Nov. 30 (India Office MSS. Book of the Monssons, vol. iv.), he says: ‘From Masulipatam to the furthest point of the Bay of Bengal runs the coast which we call that of Gergilim.’ They got Gingeli thence, I suppose.”]

c. 1661.—“La gente più bassa adopra un altro olio di certo seme detto Telselin, che è una spezie del di setamo, ed è alquanto amarognolo.”—Viag. del P. Gio. Grueber, in Thevenot, Voyages Divers.

1673.—“Dragmes de Soussamo ou graine de Georgeline.”—App. to Journal d’Ant. Galland, ii. 206.

1675.—“Also much Oil of Sesamos or Jujoline is there expressed, and exported thence.”—T. Heiden, Vervaerlyke Schipbreuk, 81.

1726.—“From Orixa are imported hither (Pulecat), with much profit, Paddy, also…Gingeli-seed Oil…”—Valentijn, Chor. 14.

“An evil people, gold, a drum, a wild” horse, an ill conditioned woman, sugarcane, Gergelim, a Bellale (or cultivator) without foresight—all these must be wrought sorely to make them of any good.”—Native Apophthegms translated in Valentijn, v. (Ceylon) 390.

1727.—“The Men are bedaubed all over with red Earth, or Vermilion, and are continually squirting gingerly Oyl at one another.”—A. Hamilton, i. 128; [ed. 1744, i. 130].

1807.—“The oil chiefly used here, both for food and unguent, is that of Sesamum, by the English called Gingeli, or sweet oil.”—F. Buchanan, Mysore, &c. i. 8.

1874.—“We know not the origin of the word Gingeli, which Roxburgh remarks was (as it is now) in common use