Chapter GINGERLY to GINGI of G by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

account of the ‘towne of Gyngham’ in the Paston Letters, ed. Gairdner, iii. 357.” (8th ser. Notes and Queries, iv. 386.)]

c. 1567.—Cesare Federici says there were at Tana many weavers who made “ormesini e gingani di lana e di bombaso”—ginghams of wool and cotton.—Ramusio, iii. 387v.

1602.—“With these toils they got to Arakan, and took possession of two islets which stood at the entrance, where they immediately found on the beach two sacks of mouldy biscuit, and a box with some ginghams (guingões) in it.”—De Couto, Dec. IV. liv. iv. cap. 10.

1615.—“Captain Cock is of opinion that the ginghams, both white and browne, which yow sent will prove a good commodity in the Kinge of Shashmahis cuntry, who is a Kinge of certaine of the most westermost ilandes of Japon…and hath conquered the ilandes called The Leques.”—Letter appd. to Cock’s Diary, ii. 272.

1648.—“The principal names (of the stuffs) are these: Gamiguins, Baftas, Chelas (see PIECE-GOODS), Assamanis (asmanis? sky-blues), Madafoene, Beronis (see BEIRAMEE), Tricandias, Chittes (see CHINTZ), Langans (see LUNGOOTY?), Toffochillen (Tafsila, a gold stuff from Mecca; see ADATI, ALLEJA), Dotias (see DHOTY).”— Van Twist, 63.

1726.—In a list of cloths at Pulicat: “Gekeperde Ginggangs (Twilled ginghams) Ditto Chialones (shaloons?)”—Valentijn, Chor. 14.

Also

“Bore (?) Gingganes driedraad.”—v. 128.

1770.—“Une centaine de balles de mouchoirs, de pagnes, et de guingans, d’un très beau rouge, que les Malabares fabriquent à Gaffanapatam, où ils sont établis depuis très longtemps.”—Raynal, Hist. Philos., ii. 15, quoted by Littré.

1781.—“The trade of Fort St. David’s consists in longcloths of different colours, sallamporees, morees, dimities, Ginghams, and succatoons.”—Carraccioli’s L. of Clive, i. 5. [Mr. Whiteway points out that this is taken word for word from Hamilton, New Account (i. 355), who wrote 40 years before.]

“Sadras est renommé par ses guingans, ses toiles peintes; et Paliacate par ses mouchoirs.”—Sonnerat, i. 41.

1793.—“Even the gingham waistcoats, which striped or plain have so long stood their ground, must, I hear, ultimately give way to the stronger kerseymere (q.v.).”— Hugh Boyd, Indian Observer, 77.

1796.—“Guingani are cotton stuffs of Bengal and the Coromandel coast, in which the cotton is interwoven with thread made from certain barks of trees.”—Fra Paolino, Viaggio, p. 35.

GINGI, JINJEE, &c., n.p. Properly Chenji, [Shenji; and this from Tam. shingi, Skt. sringi, ‘a hill’]. A once celebrated hill-fortress in S. Arcot, 50 [44] m. N.E. of Cuddalore, 35 m. N.W. from Pondicherry, and at one time the seat of a Mahratta principality. It played an important part in the wars of the first three-quarters of the 18th century, and was held by the French from 1750 to 1761. The place is now entirely deserted.

c. 1616.—“And then they were to publish a proclamation in Negapatam, that no one was to trade at Tevenapatam, at Porto Novo, or at any other port of the Naik of Ginja, or of the King of Massulapatam, because these were declared enemies of the state, and all possible war should be made on them for having received among them the Hollanders.…”—Bocarro, p. 619.

1675.—“Approve the treaty with the Cawn [see KHAN] of Chengie.”—Letter from Court to Fort St. Geo. In Notes and Exts., No. i. 5.

1680.—“Advice received…that Santogee, a younger brother of Sevagee’s, had seized upon Rougnaut Pundit, the Soobidar of Chengy Country, and put him in irons.” —Ibid. No. iii. 44.

1752.—“It consists of two towns, called the Great and Little Gingee.…They are both surrounded by one wall, 3 miles in circumference, which incloses the two towns, and five mountains of ragged rock, on the summits of which are built 5 strong forts.… The place is inaccessible, except from the east and south-east.…The place was well supplied with all manner of stores, and garrisoned by 150 Europeans, and sepoys and black people in great numbers.…”— Cambridge, Account of the War, &c., 32-33.