Chapter SPIN to SUCKET of S by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

Stick-insect. — The Phasmidae or spectres … present as close a resemblance to small branches, or leafless twigs, as their congeners do to green leaves. …”—Tennent, Ceylon, i. 252.

[STICKLAC, s. Lac encrusted on sticks, which in this form is collected in the jungles of Central India.

[1880.—“Where, however, there is a regular trade in stick-lac, the propagation of the insect is systematically carried on by those who wish for a certain and abundant crop.”—Ball, Jungle Life, 308.]

STINK-WOOD, s. Foetidia Mauritiana, Lam., a myrtaceous plant of Mauritius, called there Bois puant. “At the Carnival in Goa, one of the sports is to drop bits of this stink-wood into the pockets of respectable persons.”—Birdwood (MS.).

STRIDHANA, STREEDHANA, s. Skt. stri-dhana, ‘women’s property.’ A term of Hindu Law, applied to certain property belonging to a woman, which follows a law of succession different from that which regulates other property. The term is first to be found in the works of Jones and Colebrooke (1790–1800), but has recently been introduced into European scientific treatises. [See Mayne, Hindu Law, 541 seqq.]

1875.—“The settled property of a married woman … is well known to the Hindoos under the name of stridhan.”—Maine, Early Institutions, 321.

STUPA. See

TOPE.

SUÁKIN, n.p. This name, and the melancholy victories in its vicinity, are too familiar now to need explanation. Arab. Sawákin.

c. 1331.—“This very day we arrived at the island of Sawakin. It is about 6 miles from the mainland, and has neither drinkable water, nor corn, nor trees. Water is brought in boats, and there are cisterns to collect rain water. …”—Ibn Batuta, ii. 161–2.

1526.—“The Preste continued speaking with our people, and said to Don Rodrigo that he would have great pleasure and complete contentment, if he saw a fort of ours erected in Macuha, or in Çuaquem, or in Zyla.”—Correa, iii. 42; [see Dalboquerque, Comm. ii. 229].

[c. 1590.—“… thence it (the sea) washes both Persia and Ethiopia where are Dahlak and Suakin, and is called (the Gulf of) Omán and the Persian Sea.”—Ain, ed. Jarrett, ii. 121.]

SUCKER-BUCKER, n.p. A name often given in N. India to Upper Sind, from two neighbouring places, viz., the town of Sakhar on the right bank of the Indus, and the island fortress of Bakkar or Bhakkar in the river. An alternative name is Roree-Bucker, from Rohri, a town opposite Bakkar, on the left bank, the name of which is probably a relic of the ancient town of Aror or Alor, though the site has been changed since the Indus adopted its present bed. [See McCrindle, Invasion of India, 352 seqq.]

c. 1333.—“I passed 5 days at Lahari … and quitted it to proceed to Bakar. They thus call a fine town through which flows a canal derived from the river Sind.”—Ibn Batuta, iii. 114–115.

1521.—Shah Beg “then took his departure for Bhakkar, and after several days’ marching arrived at the plain surrounding Sakhar.”—Turkhan Nama, in Elliot, i. 311.

1554.—“After a thousand sufferings we arrived at the end of some days’ journey, at Siawan (Sehwan), and then, passing by Patara and Darilja, we entered the fortress of Bakr.”—Sidi’ Ali, p. 136.

[c. 1590.—“Bhakkar (Bhukkar) is a notable fortress; in ancient chronicles it is called Mamsúrah.”—Ain, ed. Jarrett, ii. 327.]

1616.—“Buckor, the Chiefe Citie, is called Buckor Succor.”—Terry, [ed. 1777, p. 75].

1753.—“Vient ensuite Bukor, ou comme il est écrit dans la Géographie Turque, Peker, ville située sur une colline, entre deux bras de l’Indus. qui en font une île … la géographie … ajoute que Louhri (i.e. Rori) est une autre ville située vis-à-vis de cette île du côté meridional, et que Sekar, autrement Sukor, est en même position du còté septentrional.”—D’Anville, p. 37.

SUCKET, s. Old English. Wright explains the word as ‘dried sweetmeats or sugar-plums.’ Does it not in the quotations rather mean loaf-sugar? [Palmer (Folk Etymol. 378) says that the original meaning was