Chapter PENANG to PEON of P by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

etymology, thinking the name was first given to some short-winged sea-bird with a white head, and then transferred to the penguin. And Terry, if to be depended on, supports this view. [So Prof. Skeat (Concise Dict., s.v.): “In that case, it must first have been given to another bird, such as the auk (the puffin is common in Anglesey), since the penguin’s head is black.”]

1674.—

“So Horses they affirm to be
Mere Engines made by Geometry,
And were invented first from Engins,
As Indian Britons were from Penguins.”

Hudibras, Pt. I. Canto ii. 57.

[1869.—In Lombock ducks “are very cheap and are largely consumed by the crews of the rice ships, by whom they are called Baly-soldiers, but are more generally known elsewhere as penguin-ducks.”—Wallace, Malay Archip. ed. 1890, p. 135.]

PEON, s. This is a Portuguese word peão (Span. peon); from pé, ‘foot,’ and meaning a ‘footman’ (also a pawn at chess), and is not therefore a corruption, as has been alleged, of Hind. piyada, meaning the same; though the words are, of course ultimately akin in root. It was originally used in the sense of ‘a foot-soldier’; thence as ‘orderly’ or messenger. The word Sepoy was used within our recollection, and perhaps is still, in the same sense in the city of Bombay. The transition of meaning comes out plainly in the quotation from Ives. In the sense of ‘orderly,’ peon is the word usual in S. India, whilst chuprassy (q.v.) is more common in N. India, though peon is also used there. The word is likewise very generally employed for men on police service (see BURKUNDAUZE). [Mr. Skeat notes that Piyun is used in the Malay States, and Tambi or Tanby at Singapore]. The word had probably become unusual in Portugal by 1600; for Manoel Correa, an early commentator on the Lusiads (d. 1613), thinks it necessary to explain piões by ‘gente de pé.’ 1503.—“The Çamorym ordered the soldier (pião) to take the letter away, and strictly forbade him to say anything about his having seen it.”—Correa, Lendas, I. i. 421.

1510.—“So the Sabayo, putting much trust in this (Rumi), made him captain within the city (Goa), and outside of it put under him a captain of his with two thousand soldiers (piães) from the Balagate. …”—Ibid. II. i. 51.

1563.—“The pawn (pião) they call Piada, which is as much as to say a man who travels on foot.”—Garcia, f. 37.

1575.—

“O Rey de Badajos era alto Mouro
Con quatro mil cavallos furiosos,
Innumeros piões, darmas e de ouro,
Guarnecidos, guerreiros, e lustrosos.”

Camões, iii. 66.

By Burton:

“The King of Badajos was a Moslem bold,
with horse four thousand, fierce and furious knights,
and countless Peons, armed and dight with gold,
whose polisht surface glanceth lustrous light.”

1609.—“The first of February the Capitaine departed with fiftie Peons. …”—W. Finch, in Purchas, i. 421.

c. 1610.—“Les Pions marchent après le prisonnier, lié avec des cordes qu’ils tiennent.”—Pyrard de Laval, ii. 11; [Hak. Soc. ii. 17; also i. 428, 440; ii. 16].

[1616.—“This Shawbunder (see SHABUNDER) imperiously by a couple of Pyons commanded him from me.”—Foster, Letters, iv. 351.]

c. 1630.—“The first of December, with some Pe-unes (or black Foot-boyes, who can pratle some English) we rode (from Swally) to Surat.”—Sir T. Herbert, ed. 1638, p. 35.

[For “black” the ed. of 1677 reads “olive-coloured,” p. 42.]

1666.—“… siete cientos y treinta y tres mil peones.”—Faria y Sousa, i. 195.

1673.—“The Town is walled with Mud, and Bulwarks for Watch-Places for the English peons.”—Fryer, 29.

„ “… Peons or servants to wait on us.”—Ibid. 26.

1687.—“Ordered that ten peons be sent along the coast to Pulicat … and enquire all the way for goods driven ashore.”—In Wheeler, i. 179.

1689.—“At this Moors Town, they got a Peun to be their guide to the Mogul’s nearest Camp. … These Peuns are some of the Gentous or Rashbouts (see RAJPOOT), who in all places along the Coast, especially in Seaport Towns, make it their business to hire themselves to wait upon Strangers.”—Dampier, i. 508.

„ “A Peon of mine, named Gemal, walking abroad in the Grass after the Rains, was unfortunately bit on a sudden by one of them” (a snake).—Ovington, 260.

1705.—“.… pions qui sont ce que nous appellons ici des Gardes. …”—Luillier, 218.

1745.—“Dès le lendemain je fis assembler dans la Forteresse où je demeurois en qualité d’Aumonier,