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aio, ‘the governor of a young noble’). [These again have been connected with L. Latin aidus, Fr. aide,
‘a helper.’]
1779.—“I was sitting in my own house in the compound, when the iya came down and cold me that her
mistress wanted a candle.”—Kitmutgar’s evidence, in the case of Grand v. Francis. Ext. in Echoes of
Old Calcutta, 225.
1782.—(A Table of Wages):— “Consumah.....10 (rupees a month). * * * * *
Eyah..... …5.”—India Gazette, Oct. 12.
1810.—“The female who attends a lady while she is dressing, etc.,
is called an Ayah.”—Williamson, V. M. i. 337.
1826.—“The lieutenant’s visits were now less frequent
than usual; one day, however, he came. … and on leaving the house I observed him slip something, which
I doubted not was money, into the hand of the Ayah, or serving woman, of Jane.”—Pandurang Hari,
71; [ed. 1873, i. 99].
1842.—“Here (at Simla) there is a great preponderence of Mahometans. I am told
that the guns produced absolute consternation, visible in their countenances. One Ayah threw herself
upon the ground in an agony of despair. … I fired 42 guns for Ghuzni and Cabul; the 22nd (42nd?) gun—which
announced that all was finished—was what overcame the Mahometans.”—Lord Ellenborough, in
Indian Administration 295. This stuff was written to the great Duke of Wellington!
1873.—“The white-
robed ayah flits in and out of the tents, finding a home for our various possessions, and thither we
soon retire.”—Fraser’s Mag., June, i. 99.
1879.—“He was exceedingly fond of his two children, and got
for them servants; a man to cook their dinner, and an ayah to take care of them.”—Miss Stokes, Indian
Fairy Tales, 7.
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