Chapter LOVE-BIRD to LUNKA of L by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

LOVE-BIRD to LUNKA

LOVE-BIRD, s. The bird to which this name is applied in Bengal is the pretty little lorikeet, Loriculus vernalis, Sparrman, called in Hind. latkan or ‘pendant,’ because of its quaint habit of sleeping suspended by the claws, head downwards.

LUBBYE, LUBBEE, s. [Tel. Labbi, Tam. Ilappai]; according to C. P. Brown and the Madras Gloss. a Dravidian corruption of ’Arabi. A name given in S. India to a race, Mussulmans in creed, but speaking Tamil, supposed to be, like the Moplahs of the west coast, the descendants of Arab emigrants by inter- marriage with native women. “There are few classes of natives in S. India, who in energy, industry, and perseverance, can compete with the Lubbay”; they often, as pedlars, go about selling beads, precious stones, &c.

1810.—“Some of these (early emigrants from Kufa) landed on that part of the Western coast of India called the Concan; the others to the eastward of C. Comorin; the descendants of the former are the Nevayets; of the latter the Lubbè a name probably given to them by the natives, from that Arabic particle (a modification of Lubbeik) corresponding with the English here I am, indicating attention on being spoken to. The Lubbè pretend to one common origin with the Nevayets, and attribute their black complexion to inter- marriage with the natives; but the Nevayets affirm that the Lubbè are the descendants of their domestic slaves, and there is certainly in the physiognomy of this very numerous class, and in their stature and form, a strong resemblance to the natives of Abyssinia.”—Wilks, Hist. Sketches, i. 243.

1836.—“Mr. Boyd … describes the Moors under the name of Cholias (see CHOOLIA); and Sir Alexander Johnston designates them by the appellation of Lubbes These epithets are however not admissible; for the former is only confined to a particular sect among them, who are rather of an inferior grade; and the latter to the priests who officiate in their temples; and also as an honorary affix to the proper names of some of their chief men.”—Simon Casie Chitty on the Moors of Ceylon, in J.R. As. Soc. iii. 338.

1868.—“The Labbeis are a curious caste, said by some to be the descendants of Hindus forcibly converted to the Mahometan faith some centuries ago. It seems most probable, however, that they are of mixed blood. They are, comparatively, a fine strong active race, and generally contrive to keep themselves in easy circumstances. Many of them live by traffic. Many are smiths, and do excellent work as such. Others are fishermen, boatmen and the like. …”—Nelson, Madura Manual, Pt. ii. 86.

1869.—In a paper by Dr. Shortt it is stated that the Lubbays are found in large numbers on the East Coast of the Peninsula, between Pulicat and Negapatam. Their headquarters are at Nagore, the burial place of their patron saint Nagori Mir Sahib. They excel as merchants, owing to their energy and industry.—In Trans. Ethn. Soc. of London, N.S. vii. 189–190.

LUCKERBAUG s. Hind. lakra, lagra, lakarbaggha, lagarbaggha, ‘a hyena.’ The form lakarbagha is not in the older dicts. but is given by Platts. It is familiar in Upper India, and it occurs in Hickey’s Bengal Gazette, June 24, 1781. In some parts the name is applied to the leopard, as the extract from Buchanan shows. This is the case among the Hindi-speaking people of the Himãalaya also (see Jerdon). It is not clear what the etymology of the name is, lakar, lakra meaning in their everyday sense, a stick or piece of timber. But both in Hind. and Mahr., in an adjective form, the word is used for ‘stiff, gaunt, emaciated,’ and this may be the sense in which it is applied to the hyena. [More probably the name refers to the bar-like stripes on the animal.] Another name is harvagh, or (apparently) ‘bone-tiger,’ from its habit of gnawing bones.

c. 1809.—“It was said not to be uncommon in the southern parts of the district (Bhagalpur) … but though I have offered ample rewards, I have not been able to procure a specimen, dead or alive; and the leopard is called at Mungger Lakravagh”

„ “The hyaena or Lakravagh in this district has acquired an uncommon degree of ferocity.”—F. Buchanan, Eastern India, iii. 142–3.

[1849.—“The man seized his gun and shot the hyena, but the ‘lakkabakka’ got off.”—Mrs. Mackenzie, Life in the Mission, ii. 152.]

LUCKNOW n.p. Properly Lakhnau; the well-known capital of the Nawabs and Kings of Oudh, and the residence of the Chief Commissioner of that British Province, till the office was united to that of the Lieut.-