Chapter MARWÁREE to MATROSS of M by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

i. 158].

1789.—“Masulipatam, which last word, by the bye, ought to be written Machlipatan (Fish-town), because of a Whale that happened to be stranded there 150 years ago.”—Note on Seir Mutaqherin, iii. 370.

c. 1790.—“… cloths of great value … from the countries of Bengal, Bunaras, China, Kashmeer, Boorhanpoor, Mutchliputtun, &c.”—Meer Hussein Ali, H. of Hydur Na’ik, 383.

MATE, MATY, s. An assistant under a head servant; in which sense or something near it, but also sometimes in the sense of a ‘head-man,’ the word is in use almost all over India. In the Bengal Presidency we have a mate-bearer for the assistant body-servant (see BEARER); the mate attendant on an elephant under the mahout; a mate (head) of coolies or jomponnies (qq. v.) (see JOMPON), &c. And in Madras the maty is an under-servant, whose business it is to clean crockery, knives, &c., to attend to lamps, and so forth.

The origin of the word is obscure, if indeed it has not more than one origin. Some have supposed it to be taken from the English word in the sense of comrade, &c.; whilst Wilson gives metti as a distinct Malayalam word for an inferior domestic servant, [which the Madras Gloss. derives from Tamil mel, ‘high’]. The last word is of very doubtful genuineness. Neither derivation will explain the fact that the word occurs in the Ain, in which the three classes of attendants on an elephant in Akbar’s establishment are styled respectively Mahawat, Bhoi, and Meth; two of which terms would, under other circumstances, probably be regarded as corruptions of English words. This use of the word we find in Skt. dictionaries as menha, mentha, and menda, ‘an elephant-keeper or feeder.’ But for the more general use we would query whether it may not be a genuine Prakrit form from Skt. mitra, ‘associate, friend’? We have in Pali metta, ‘friendship,’ from Skt. maitra.

c. 1590.—“A met’h fetches fodder and assists in caparisoning the elephant. Met’hs of all classes get on the march 4 dáms daily, and at other times 3½.”—Ain, ed. Blochmann, i. 125.

1810.—“In some families mates or assistants are allowed, who do the drudgery.”—Williamson, V. M. i. 241.

1837.—“One matee.”—See Letters from Madras, 106.

1872.—“At last the morning of our departure came. A crowd of porters stood without the veranda, chattering and squabbling, and the mate distributed the boxes and bundles among them.”—A True Reformer, ch. vi.

1873.—“To procure this latter supply (of green food) is the daily duty of one of the attendants, who in Indian phraseology is termed a mate, the title of Mahout being reserved for the head keeper” (of an elephant).—Sat. Rev. Sept. 6, 302.

MATRANEE, s. Properly Hind. from Pers. mihtarani; a female sweeper (see MEHTAR). [In the following extract the writer seems to mean Bhathiyaran or Bhathiyarin, the wife of a Bhathiyara or inn-keeper.

[1785.—“… a handsome serai … where a number of people, chiefly women, called metrahnees, take up their abode to attend strangers on their arrival in the city.”— Diary, in Forbes, Or. Mem. 2nd ed. ii. 404.]

MATROSS, s. An inferior class of soldier in the Artillery. The word is quite obsolete, and is introduced here because it seems to have survived a good deal longer in India than in England, and occurs frequently in old Indian narratives. It is Germ. matrose, Dutch matroos, ‘a sailor,’ identical no doubt with Fr. matelot. The origin is so obscure that it seems hardly worth while to quote the conjectures regarding it. In the establishment of a company of Royal Artillery in 1771, as given in Duncan’s Hist. of that corps, we have besides sergeants and corporals, “4 Bombardiers, 8 Gunners, 34 Matrosses, and 2 Drummers.” A definition of the Matross is given in our 3rd quotation. We have not ascertained when the term was disused in the R.A. It appears in the Establishment as given by Grose in 1801 (Military Antiq. i. 315). As far as Major Duncan’s book informs us, it appears first in 1639, and has disappeared by 1793, when we find the men of an artillery force divided (excluding sergeants, corporals, and bombardiers) into First Gunners, Second Gunners, and Military Drivers. 1673.—“There being in pay for the Honourable East India Company of English and Portuguese, 700, reckoning the Montrosses and Gunners.”—Fryer, 38.

1745.—“… We were told with regard to the Fortifications, that no Expense should be grudged that was necessary for the Defence of the Settlement, and in 1741, a Person was sent out in the character of an Engineer for our Place; but … he lived not to come among us; and therefore, we could only judge of his Merit and Qualifications by the Value of his Stipend, Six Pagodas a Month, or about Eighteen Pence a Day, scarce the Pay of a common Matross. …”—Letter from Mr. Barnett to the Secret Committee, in Letter to a Proprietor