Chapter MELIQUE VERIDO to MISSAL of M by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

MELIQUE VERIDO to MISSAL

MELIQUE VERIDO, n.p. The Portuguese form of the style of the princes of the dynasty established at Bidar in the end of the 15th century, on the decay of the Bahmani kingdom. The name represents ‘Malik Barid.’ It was apparently only the third of the dynasty, ’Ali, who first took the title of (’Ali) Barid Shah.

1533.—“And as the folosomia (?) of Badur was very great, as well as his presumption, he sent word to Yzam Maluco (Nizamaluco) and to Verido (who were great Lords, as it were Kings, in the Decanim, that lies between the Balgat and Cambaya) … that they must pay him homage, or he would hold them for enemies, and would direct war against them, and take away their dominions.”—Correa, iii. 514.

1563.—“And these regents … concerted among themselves … that they should seize the King of Daquem in Bedar, which is the chief city and capital of the Decan; so they took him and committed him to one of their number, by name Verido; and then he and the rest, either in person or by their representatives, make him a salaam (çalema) at certain days of the year. … The Verido who died in the year 1510 was a Hungarian by birth, and originally a Christian, as I have heard on sure authority.”—Garcia, f. 35 and 35v.

c. 1601.—“About this time a letter arrived from the Prince Sultán Dániyál, reporting that (Malik) Ambar had collected his troops in Bidar, and had gained a victory over a party which had been sent to oppose him by Malik Barid.”—Ináyat Ullah, in Elliot, vi. 104.

MEM-SAHIB, s. This singular example of a hybrid term is the usual respectful designation of a European married lady in the Bengal Presidency; the first portion representing ma’am. Madam Sahib is used at Bombay; Doresani (see DORA.) in Madras. (See also BURRA BEEBEE.)

MENDY, s. Hind. mehndi, [menhdi, Skt. mendhika;] the plant Lawsonia alba, Lam., of the N. O. Lythraceae, strongly resembling the English privet in appearance, and common in gardens. It is the plant whose leaves afford the henna, used so much in Mahommedan countries for dyeing the hands, &c., and also in the process of dyeing the hair. Mehndi is, according to Royle, the Cyprus of the ancients (see Pliny, xii. 24). It is also the camphire of Canticles i. 14, where the margin of A. V. has erroneously cypress for cyprus.

[1813.—“After the girls are betrothed, the ends of the fingers and nails are dyed red, with a preparation from the Mendey, or hinna shrub.”—Forbes, Or. Mem. 2nd ed. i. 55; also see i. 22.]

c. 1817.—“… his house and garden might be known from a thousand others by their extraordinary neatness. His garden was full of trees, and was well fenced round with a ditch and mindey hedge.”—Mrs. Sherwood’s Stories, ed. 1873, p. 71.

MERCÁLL, MARCÁL, s. Tam. marakkal, a grain measure in use in the Madras Presidency, and formerly varying much in different localities, though the most usual was=12 sers of grain. [Also known as toom.] Its standard is fixed since 1846 at 800 cubic inches, and=1/400 of a garce (q.v.).

1554.—(Negapatam) “Of ghee (mamteiga) and oil, one mercar is=2½ canadas” (a Portuguese measure of about 3 pints).—A. Nunez, 36.

1803.—“… take care to put on each bullock full six mercalls or 72 seers.”—Wellington Desp., ed. 1837, ii. 85.

MERGUI, n.p. The name by which we know the most southern district of Lower Burma with its town; annexed with the rest of what used to be called the “Tenasserim Provinces” after the war of 1824–26. The name is probably of Siamese origin; the town is called by the Burmese Beit (Sir A. Phayre).

1568.—“Tenasari la quale è Città delle regioni del regno di Sion, posta infra terra due o tre maree sopra vn gran fiume … ed oue il fiume entra in mare e vna villa chiamata Mergi, nel porto della quale ogn’ anno si caricano alcune navi di verzino (see BRAZIL-wood and SAPPAN-wood), di nipa (q.v.), di belzuin (see BENJAMIN), e qualche poco di garofalo, macis, noci. …”—Ces. Federici, in Ramusio, iii. 327v.

[1684–5.—“A Country Vessel belonging to Mr. Thomas Lucas arriv’d in this Road from Merge.”—Pringle, Diary, Ft. St. Geo., 1st ser. iv. 19.

[1727.—“Merjee.” See under TENASSERIM.]