Chapter GUNGE to GUTTA PERCHA of G by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

GUNGE to GUTTA PERCHA

[GUNGE, s. Hind. ganj, ‘a store, store-house, market.’

[1762.—See under GOMASTA.

[1772.—“Gunge, a market principally for grain.”—Verelst, View of Bengal, Gloss. s.v.

[1858.—“The term Gunge signifies a range of buildings at a place of traffic, for the accommodation of merchants and all persons engaged in the purchase and sale of goods, and for that of their goods and of the shopkeepers who supply them.”—Sleeman, Journey through Oudh, i. 278.]

GUNJA, s. Hind. ganjha, ganja. The flowering or fruiting shoots of the female plant of Indian hemp (Cannabis sativa, L., formerly distinguished as C. indica), used as an intoxicant. (See BANG.)

[c. 1813.—“The natives have two proper names for the hemp (Cannabis sativa), and call it Gangja when young, and Siddhi when the flowers have fully expanded.”—Buchanan, Eastern India, ii. 865.]

1874.—“In odour and the absence of taste, ganjá resembles bhang. It is said that after the leaves which constitute bhang have been gathered, little shoots sprout from the stem, and that these, picked off and dried, form what is called ganjá.”—Hanbury & Fluckiger, 493.

GUNNY, GUNNY-BAG, s. From Skt. goni, ‘a sack’; Hind. and Mahr. gon, goni, ‘a sack, sacking.’ The popular and trading name of the coarse sacking and sacks made from the fibre of jute, much used in all Indian trade. Tat is a common Hind. name for the stuff. [With this word Sir G. Birdwood identifies the forms found in the old records—“Guiny Stuffes (1671),” “Guynie stuffs,” “Guinea stuffs,” “Gunnys” (Rep. on Old Records, 26, 38, 39, 224); but see under GUINEA-CLOTHS.]

c. 1590.—“Sircar Ghoraghat produces raw silk, gunneys, and plenty of Tanghion horses.”—Gladwin’s Ayeen, ed. 1800, ii. 9; [ed. Jarrett, ii. 123]. (But here, in the original, the term is parchah-i-tatband.)

1693.—“Besides the aforenamed articles Goeny-sacks are collected at Palicol.”—Havart (3), 14.

1711.—“When Sugar is pack’d in double Goneys, the outer Bag is always valued in Contract at 1 or 1½ Shahee.”—Lockyer, 244.

1726.—In a list of goods procurable at Daatzerom: “Goeni-zakken (Gunny bags).”—Valentijn, Chor. 40.

1727.—“Sheldon…put on board some rotten long Pepper, that he could dispose of in no other Way, and some damaged Gunnies, which are much used in Persia for embaling Goods, when they are good in their kind.”—A. Hamilton, ii. 15: [ed. 1744].

1764.—“Baskets, Gunny bags, and dubbers…Rs. 24.”—In Long, 384.

1785.—“We enclose two parwanehs…directing them each to despatch 1000 goonies of grain to that person of mighty degree.”—Tippoo’s Letters, 171.

1885.—“The land was so covered with them (plover) that the hunters shot them with all kind of arms. We counted 80 birds in the gunny-sack that three of the soldiers brought in.”—Boots and Saddles, by Mrs. Custer, p. 37. (American work.)

GUNTA, s. Hind. ghanta, ‘a bell or gong.’ This is the common term for expressing an European hour in modern Hindustani. [See PANDY.]

GUP, s. Idle gossip. P.—H. gap, ‘prat tle, tattle.’ The word is perhaps an importation from Turan. Vambéry gives Orient. Turki gep, geb, ‘word, saying, talk’; which, however, Pavet de Courteille suggests to be a corruption from the Pers. guftan, ‘to say’; of which, indeed, there is a form guptan. [So Platts, who also compares Skt. jalpa, which is the Bengali golpo, ‘babble.’] See quotation from Schuyler showing the use in Turkistan. The word is perhaps best known in England through an unamiable account of society in S. India, published under the name of “Gup,” in 1868.

1809–10.—“They (native ladies) sit on their cushions from day to day, with no other…amusement than hearing the gup-gup,’ or gossip of the place.”—Mrs. Sherwood’s Autobiog. 357.

1376.—“The first day of mourning goes by the name of gup, i.e. commemorative talk.”—Schuyler’s Turkistan, i. 151.

GUREEPURWUR, GURREEBNUWAUZ, ss. Ar.—P. Gharibparwar, Gharibnawaz, used in Hind. as respectful terms of address, meaning respectively ‘Provider of the Poor!’ ‘Cherisher of the Poor!’

1726.—“Those who are of equal condition bend the body somewhat towards each other and lay hold of each other by the beard, saying Grab-anemoas, i.e. I wish you the prayers of the poor.”—Valentijn, Chor. 109, who copies from Van Twist (1648), p. 55.

1824.—“I was appealed to loudly by both parties,