Chapter MUNZIL to MUSNUD of M by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

followed by a string of males giving out the odour strongly. Can this be the mus peregrinus mentioned by St. Jerome (see MUSK), as P. Vincenzo supposes?

c. 1590.—“Here (in Tooman Bekhrad, n. of Kabul R.) are also mice that have a fine musky scent.”—Ayeen, by Gladwin (1800) ii. 166 ; [ed. Jarrett, ii. 406].

[1598.—“They are called sweet smelling Rattes, for they have a smell as if they were full of Muske.”—Linschoten, Hak. Soc.i.303.]

1653.—“Les rats d’Inde sont de deux sortes.…La deuxiesme espece que les Portugais appellent cheroso ou odoriferant est de la figure d’vn furet” (a ferret), “mais extremement petit, sa morseure est veneneuse. Lorsqu’il entre en vne chambre l’on le sent incontinent, et l’on l’entend crier krik, krik, krik.”—De la Boullaye-le- Gouz, ed. 1657, p. 256. I may note on this that Jerdon says of the Sorex murinus,—the large musk-rat of China, Burma, and the Malay countries, extending into Lower Bengal and Southern India, especially the Malabar coast, where it is said to be the common species (therefore probably that known to our author),—that the bite is considered venomous by the natives (Mammals, p. 54), [a belief for which, according to Blanford (l.c. p. 236), there is no foundation].

1672.—P. Vincenzo Maria, speaking of his first acquaintance with this animal (il ratto del musco), which occurred in the Capuchin Convent at Surat, says with simplicity (or malignity ?) : “I was astonished to perceive an odour so fragrant¹ in the vicinity of those most religious Fathers, with whom I was at the moment in conversation.”—Viaggio, p. 385.

1681.—“This country has its vermin also. They have a sort of Rats they call Muskrats, because they smell strong of musk. These the inhabitants do not eat of, but of all other sorts of Rats they do.”—Knox, p. 31.

1789.—H. Munro in his Narrative (p. 34) absurdly enough identifies this animal with the Bandicoot, q.v.

1813.—See Forbes, Or. Mem. i. 42 ; [2nd. ed. i. 26].

MUSLIN, s. There seems to be no doubt that this word is derived from Mosul (Mausal or Mausil) on the Tigris,² and it has been from an old date the name of a texture, but apparently not always that of the thin semi-transparent tissue to which we now apply it. Dozy (p. 323) says that the Arabs employ mausili in the same sense as our word, quoting the Arabian Nights (Macnaghten’s ed., i. 176, and ii. 159), in both of which the word indicates the material of a fine turban. [Burton (i. 211) translates ‘Mosul stuff,’ and says it may mean either of ‘Mosul fashion,’ or muslin.] The quotation from Ives, as well as that from Marco Polo, seems to apply to a different texture from what we call muslin.

1298.—“All the cloths of gold and silk that are called Mosolins are made in this country (Mausul).”—Marco Polo, Bk. i. chap. 5.

c. 1544.—“Almussoli est regio in Mesopotamia, in qua texuntur telae ex bombyce valde pulchrae, quae apud Syros et Aegyptios et apud mercatores Venetos appellantur mussoli, ex hoc regionis nomine. Et principes Aegyptii et Syri, tempore aestatis sedentes in loco honorauiliori induunt vestes ex hujusmodi mussoli.”—Andreae Bellunensis, Arabicorum nominum quae in libris Avicennae sparsim legebantur Interpretatio.

1573.—“…you have all sorts of Cotton-works, Handkerchiefs, long Fillets, Girdles…and other sorts, by the Arabians called Mossellini (after the Country Mussoli, from whence they are brought, which is situated in Mesopotamia), by us Muslin.”—Rauwolff, p. 84.

c. 1580.—“For the rest the said Agiani (misprint for Bagnani, Banyans) wear clothes of white mussolo or sessa (?) ; having their garments very long and crossed over the breast.”—Gasparo Balbi, f. 33b.

1673.—“Le drap qu’on estend sur les matelas est d’une toille aussy fine que de la mousceline.”—App. to Journal d’ Ant. Galland, ii. 198.

1685.—“I have been told by several, that muscelin (so much in use here for cravats) and Calligo (!), and the most of the Indian linens, are made of nettles, and I see not the least improbability but that they may be made of the fibres of them.”—Dr. Hans Sloane to Mr. Ray, in Ray Correspondence, 1848, p. 163.

c. 1760.—“This city (Mosul)’s manufacture is Mussolin [read Mussolen] (a cotton cloth) which they make very strong and pretty fine, and sell for the European and other markets.”—Ives, Voyage, p. 324.

MUSNUD, s. H.—Ar. masnad, from root sanad, ‘he leaned or rested upon it.’ The large cushion, &c., used by native Princes in India, in place of a throne.

1752.—“Salabat-jing…went through the ceremony of sitting on the musnud or throne.”—Orme, ed. 1803, i. 250.

1757.—“On the 29th the Colonel went to the Soubah’s Palace, and in the presence of all the Rajahs and great men of the court, led him to the Musland.…”—Reflexions by Luke Scrafton, Esq., ed.