Chapter LACKERAGE to LANCHARA of L by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

LACKERAGE to LANCHARA

LACKERAGE. (See KHIRAJ.).

LALL-SHRAUB, s. Englishman’s Hind. lal-sharab, ‘red wine. The universal name of claret in India.

[c. 1780.—“To every plate are set down two glasses; one pyramidal (like hobnob glasses in England) for Loll Shrub (scilicet, claret); the other a common sized wineglass for whatever beverage is most agreeable.”—Diary of Mrs. Fay, in Busteed, Echoes, 123.]

LALLA, s. P.—H. lala. In Persia this word seems to be used for a kind of domestic tutor; now for a male nurse, or as he would be called in India, ‘child’s bearer.’ In N. India it is usually applied to a native clerk writing the vernacular, or to a respectable merchant. [For the Pers. usage see Blochmann, Ain, i. 426 note.] [1765.—“Amongst the first to be considered, I would recommend Juggut Seet, and one Gurdy Loll.”—Verelst, App. 218.

[1841.—“Where there are no tigers, the Lalla (scribe) becomes a shikaree.”—Society in India, ii. 176.]

LAMA, s. A Tibetan Buddhist monk. Tibet. bLama (b being silent). The word is sometimes found written Llama; but this is nonsense. In fact it seems to be a popular confusion, arising from the name of the S. American quadruped which is so spelt. See quotation from Times below.

c. 1590.—“Fawning Court doctors … said it was mentioned in some holy books that men used to live up to the age of 1000 years … and in Thibet there were even now a class of Lamahs or Mongolian devotees, and recluses, and hermits that live 200 years and more. …”—Badaoni, quoted by Blochmann, Ain, i. 201.

1664.—“This Ambassador had in his suit a Physician, which was said to be of the Kingdom of Lassa, and of the Tribe Lamy or Lama, which is that of the men of the Law in that country, as the Brahmans are in the Indies … he related of his great Lama that when he was old, and ready to die, he assembled his council, and declared to them that now he was passing into the Body of a little child lately born. …”—Bernier, E.T. 135; [ed. Constable, 424].

1716.—“Les Thibetaines ont des Religieux nommés Lamas.”—In Lettres Edif. xii. 438.

1774.—“… ma questo primo figlio … rinunziò la corona al secondo e lui difatti si fece religioso o lama del paese.”—Della Tomba, 61.

c. 1818.—

“The Parliament of Thibet met—
The little Lama, called before it,
Did there and then his whipping get,
And, as the Nursery Gazette
Assures us, like a hero bore it.”

T. Moore, The Little Grand Lama.

1876.—“… Hastings … touches on the analogy between Tibet and the high valley of Quito, as described by De la Condamine, an analogy which Mr. Markham brings out in interesting detail. … But when he enlarges on the wool which is a staple of both countries, and on the animals producing it, he risks confirming in careless readers that popular impression which might be expressed in the phraseology of Fluelen—‘’Tis all one; ’tis alike as my fingers is to my fingers, and there is Llamas in both.”—Rev. of Markham’s Tibet, in Times, May 15.

The passage last quoted is in jesting vein, but the following is serious and delightful:—

1879.—“The landlord prostrated himself as reverently, if not as lowly, as a Peruvian before his Grand Llama.”—Patty’s Dream, a novel reviewed in the Academy, May 17.

LAMASERY, LAMASERIE, s. This is a word, introduced apparently by the French R. C. Missionaries, for a lama convent. Without being positive, I would say that it does not represent any Oriental word (e.g. compound of lami and serai), but is a factitious French word analogous to nonnerie, vacherie, laiterie, &c.

[c. 1844.—“According to the Tartars, the Lamasery of the Five Towers is the best place you can be buried in.”—Huc, Travels in Tartary, i. 78.]

LAMBALLIE, LOMBALLIE, LOMBARDIE, LUMBANAH, &c., s. Dakh. Hind. Lambara, Mahr. Lamban, with other forms in the languages of the Peninsula. [Platts connects the name with Skt. lamba, ‘long, tall’; the Madras Gloss. with Skt. lampata, ‘greedy.’] A wandering tribe of dealers in grain, salt, &c.,